Leo Laporte‘s last day of hosting The Screen Savers was tonight. Leo’s been doing the TechTV thing for six years, and his departure from a full-time TechTV schedule comes as Comcast bought the network for about $300 million.
I don’t think I need to relaunch into a history of how much I have loved TSS over the past few years (like the fact that I still have a spindle of 100 DivX’d episodes from 2001-2, that video I did a while back, and the 4000+ posts I have to my name on the Leoville forums). Sufficed to say, Leo’s helped me learn a lot and have fun while doing it. TSS was a regular staple in my TV diet for a couple years straight.
It’s funny, too, because I’ve still been trying to figure out just why I loved that darn show so much. The answer came to me while I was watching another one of my favorite shows from the past, Home Improvement. The Screen Savers IS Tool Time, and Leo’s Tim “the Tool Man” Taylor (just substitute the grunts with “Buy my book!”). It’s a show where you don’t even realize you’re learning; you just have fun watching, and the people who make the show have just as much fun as you do. It’s relaxed, it’s comfortable… and it works.
TSS will still be a great show; there’s a lot of talent among the crew (including the kilt-wearing Patrick Norton and the “dark tipper” Kevin Rose), and Leo will still make some appearances. Leo’s also been doing two weekend shows on KFI 640, a California AM radio station with an Internet stream available.
Thanks, Leo, and keep up the great work.