Arena

(Note: I have not seen any shows with the previous hosts. Therefore, I'm not qualified to judge how good the show is in relation to previous incarnations. I can only talk about how good the show is in general.) "Arena" is a perfectly mediocre show on G4 that some will love, and others will absolutely loathe. It features teams of gamers competing against each other in multi-player games in a tournament-style match up. Honestly, watching other people play video games is a slight step above watching other people play golf. But hey, some people like it. I personally found it to be okay, but in games like Unreal Tournament (which I have zero familiarity with), the action can move so fast that it's difficult to keep up.

The show treats video games with respect, like it is a real sport. The commentators, Lee and Kevin, do a decent job of summarizing the action for people who can't follow it (like me), but they can easily go off on a tangent and risk leaving the audience behind in the dust. Basically, they are there to make sure that the people watching have just enough of a grasp on the action to understand who is winning, which is really all you need to know.

Overall, the show is mildly entertaining video game fare from a network that is increasingly dropping its video game content. If you're flipping by G4, it's worth at least 5 minutes.