Pasadena, Calif. -- G4 will enter the reality genre now that the network targeted toward young men has found the perfect subject: The Block, a snowboarder-owned hotel in Lake Tahoe, Calif.
During its presentation at the Television Critics Association Tour here, G4 executives also introduced a retro-video-game-inspired animated series, Code Monkeys.
The reality show, which is also the name of the specialty hotel, will debut Jan. 15. Cameras will shadow the staff, owners and rowdy patrons of the property, owned by snowboarding legend Marc Frank Montoya and hotelier Liko Smith. The hotel's motto: "Have fun, but don't break my stuff."
G4 president Neal Tiles said he became aware of the property when he saw a brief segment on the hotel on another network. "I knew our audience would be totally jazzed about it," he added. "It's nothing we're setting up," not a created competition, he noted, but an ongoing business with the same demographic draw as the network.
Although it features snowboarding, the hotel operates year-round and its owners said they will "create a draw" during summer months, which are actually the busiest tourist season in the region.
The animated show -- which has the appearance of the blocky, pixelated characters of the earliest video games -- is the brain child of Adam de la Pena (The Man Show).Critics questioned whether the network’s core audience might be too young to get the visual references to video games older than they are, but de la Pena noted that early games, such as Frogger, remain strong sellers.
