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Broadcast live from San Francisco, California, the show premiered on May 11, 1998 with Leo Laporte as host. The show's very first caller (by accident) was Laporte's mother. He functioned as a technical advisor to viewers experiencing difficulties with their personal computers (or "personal confusers", as Laporte jocularly referred to them). Such individuals were encouraged to contact the show via e-mail, telephone or webcam, with telephone/webcam users serving as on-air participants. Laporte also welcomed in-studio guests (including Martin Sargent, Roger Chang, Brett Larson, Hahn Choi and others), who expertly highlighted and reviewed various technology products with a novice perspective in mind.
In 2001, Laporte decided to focus solely on another TechTV program, The Screen Savers, and Becky Worley became the lead Call for Help host (briefly joined by Scott Herriott as co-host). Later that year, Chris Pirillo took over the lead hosting duties, with Cat Schwartz, Morgan Webb, and TechLive correspondent Laura Burstein serving as rotating co-hosts. In 2003, Pirillo left TechTV for publicly unspecified reasons, and Laporte returned as lead host alongside Cat Schwartz. Morgan Webb left her CFH co-hosting duties (and her other show, The Screen Savers) to co-host TechTV's X-Play.
Call for Help performed an annual "Call-for-Help-a-Thon" on December 26, 2002. The live telecast lasted eighteen hours in 2002, and twelve in 2003, during which viewers with questions pertaining to new technology gifts called in.
In December 2003, the original animated cartoon opening and theme music were replaced with a new live-action sequence, featuring Laporte and Schwartz, and a different song. A new version of the show's logo was introduced.
In May 2004, TechTV and G4 merged to form G4techTV. Call for Help, despite being the network's second-highest rated show (ranked just below X-Play in viewership), did not appeal to the combined channel's target demographic in the opinion of G4 executives, and was cancelled immediately. The final United States edition of Call for Help, taped two days prior, aired on May 21, 2004.
Read more about this topic: Call For Help (television Program)
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