Attack of the Doc!

Rating: 9/10

Director and Writer: Chris Gore

Style: Documentary

Time: 87 minutes

Review by Mike Szymanski

There’s a show in television history that was groundbreaking, hysterical edgy and pushed major boundaries. It’s a show you’ve never hear of, and it’s a show you wish were on today.

But it can never be. G4TV and “Attack of the Show!” were at a time when gaming, the internet, cable TV shows and reality television were in their infancy. The show broke norms, set up innovations that have been replicated on other shows, and made a home for geeks like no other show ever did when it debuted in 2005.

Fans of Chris Gore (of which I’m one), and his reviews in Film Threat magazine, also know that he has been hawking this doc project and trying to raise money for it for years. He finally got it done, and it’s well worth the wait.

The network G4 focused on video games and launched in 2002 and it’s flagship show was “Attack of the Show!” starring a skinny scrawny nerd named Kevin Periera and a cast of unpredictable geeks. He had a series of beautiful co-hosts but none connected with him as well as Olivia Mum, who later joined “The Daily Show,” “The Newsroom” and “X-Men: Apocalypse” as Psylocke.

The pair were instant hits in the burgeoning world of gaming, and this TV show was the first to mix the internet, Twitter, live social media feedback, and everything nerdy all in one show.

Gore came on to do usually brief, but often comical reviews, many times coming out with an armful of DVDs and then flinging them off as he gave one-word often-harsh reviews.

No one knew how to make content to promote video games, which everyone knew was becoming the biggest form of entertainment. These guys made that content. And is it small wonder that late-night shows eventually borrowed their ideas of wacky stunts and crazy games among the guests.

There was that time when Olivia, and later Kevin, jumped into a giant chocolate cream pie, and their reminiscings of that moment is as gross as it sounds.

They were also the first show to be allowed to broadcast from Comic-Con the big comic book convention in San Diego. In some ways, their show put the wacky cosplay convention on the map, and every famous celebrity attending also appeared on their show.

Then they became international, covering the Consumer Electronics Show and Adult Video News porn awards in Las Vegas and the Tokyo Game Show.

Pop icons such as Tony Hawk, James Cameron, Wil Wheaton, John Cena, Peter Jackson, Kumail Nanjiani, Whitney Cummings, Joe Rogan, Stan Lee, Anthony Daniels, Joan Rivers, Chris Hardwick and many others show up in this fast-paced whirlwind documentary that details the show, the network, and ultimately its downfall.

Zach Selwyn who was on the original show, creates some songs that he sings about their historic moments on the show. He laments how you cannot wear fat suits, have a murder master class, answer boob phones, or shoot at your producers anymore on shows. Then, there’s the Pedo-Bear. Can’t do that no more.

Before influencers became a thing, and before TikTok got wound up, this show was a big hit and even shared a Shorty Award with “Sesame Street.”

The show let nerds feel cool, and you’ll be cool too if you catch this entertaining doc.

It will truly make you long for a show like that again, and wished you discovered it long ago. It will definitely make you want to look up more about it — a lot is on YouTube. And, that’s the mark of a very successful documentary.

The documentary is now on VOD and TVOD.

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