Depending on how old you are, you’re probably lamenting – to different extents – the news that G4 will be re-branded(Opens in a new window) as the Esquire Network.

If you enjoyed early G4, this is a big shock. If you enjoyed TechTV, this is probably old hat but still disappointing. If you enjoyed ZDTV, you probably work in my building. Regardless, the last vestigial remains of a geek- and gamer-oriented network will disintegrate in April to make way for Esquire, a station that NBCUniversal executive Bonnie Hammer (who killed Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Farscape and turned the Sci-Fi Channel into Syfy) wants to be “a Bravo for men.”

Wow, this is a stupid idea. Here’s why.

First, the Esquire Network’s content is blatantly ripping off content. It’s getting Knife Fight, a “men’s” version of Top Chef. It’s getting The Getaway, a celebrity travel show. It’s basically getting shows for men on subjects that never had to be fundamentally for women. Even men watch Bravo for Top Chef, and travel has always been a unisex subject. Fashion is the one area where men have been arguably overlooked, but it’s doubtful you can drum up nearly as much attention from most men over fashion as you can over video games and tech toys without again retreading content that is already available. There’s a reason every men’s magazine, including Esquire, peppers their fashion stories with generous helpings of gadgets and entertainment.

Second, by cutting out all “geek” content (and there was already precious little) from G4 by turning it into Esquire, the network is abandoning an audience that can be a cash cow. Geeks and gamers like buying things, and while we might not be big on getting tons of shoes or suits, we’re always the first to buy video games (a now almost $25 billion a year industry, according to the ESA), electronic toys, and branded merchandise from properties we like.

Third, Esquire (and Hammer) assume that gamers and geeks don’t watch TV. That’s ridiculous. We watch TV unconventionally, but that’s because we’ve found better content elsewhere. If you air it, we will come, and instead of shying away from the incredibly popular online content that has grown and made the careers of personalities on Youtube, Blip.tv, and Twitch.tv, Hammer should embrace the idea that we’re willing to watch people play video games and talk about video games all the time. Reality TV became the cheap poison of Syfy because it’s so easy to air, but the online content geeks watch is even easier. Whether it’s Let’s Play on YouTube(Opens in a new window), live-streamed game marathons on Twitch.tv, or video game reviews and commentary from Blistered Thumbs and Machinima, we’re happy to watch stuff about video games. Anything about video games.

G4 was NBCUniversal’s opportunity to embrace new technology and show how it heavily influences a large audience that tends to spend a large amount of disposable income. Instead, it seems that Hammer has decided to write off geeks and gamers entirely and accept us as weird future-children who only watch content online. G4 could have boldly pushed back towards the directions of TechTV and ZDTV and offered more geek-oriented content, not less. It could have reached out to online content channels and integrated them into programming, making Web videos mainstream beyond being mocked by Daniel Tosh. It could have tried to take advantage of the large and growing population of gamers, (average age: 30+, according to the ESA) who spend money on video games and other merchandise.

Instead, NBCUniversal decided to take the path of least resistance with the property by tearing it down, destroying any part of what made it unique, and building it up into a Frankenstein’s monster of cooking, travel, and fashion, things we already have in spades. Now the only vestige of gaming coverage on television is on Spike, and that’s just sad.

Geeks and gamers didn’t leave television, television left geeks and gamers. Hammer created a self-fulfilling prophecy of a generation of geeks watching only online content by deciding to kill any content that would actually appeal to them. Meanwhile, I’ll be waiting with bated breath to see how long it takes before reruns of Cops and Ghost Hunters start showing on Esquire in four-hour blocks.