Okay, I’m not going to lie to you: I’m not going to spend a whole lot of time regaling you with information about Style’s new show, “Ruby,” which focuses on Ruby Gettinger, a woman in Savannah, GA, who’s battling with weight issues…like, to the point where, at her highest, she weighed 700 pounds. I’m not anti-Style by any means, but…okay, look, here’s the thing: I’m a heavyset guy, and I need to lose weight, too, but I’ve never been terribly overly interested in “The Biggest Loser” (I thought I had become a regular viewer this season, but it just didn’t end up keeping my attention), and, ultimately, I’m just not that enthralled with the idea of watching Ruby’s quest to lose weight. I wish her well, sure, and she seems like a really nice lady, but based on what I saw in the clips they provided before the panel and the things that were said during the panel, I’m not very fond of her “you skinny people” and “us fat people” mindset. I don’t get the impression that she means it in a bad way, but, still, it somehow feels like sides are being drawn…and I’m a little concerned about what side I’m on, frankly.

Thankfully, I was far more interested in the proceedings when G4 put the spotlight on their signature series, “Attack of the Show,” hosted by Kevin Pereira and Olivia Munn. I’ve really only caught the show a couple of times, but I’ve always been entertained by it, and having gotten more than a few laughs from Kevin and Olivia (as well as their producer, Gavin Purcell) during the course of their panel, I’m thinking I might need to check it out more often in the future. At the very least, I’ll be pursuing an interview with them as soon as I get back.

I was approached by one of my peers after the panel, and since he’d never seen the show before, he asked me if it was really as much about frat-boy humor as it was made to appear by the footage they offered up during the panel. Funny thing is, I’d never gotten the impression that it was that kind of show. I’d always gotten the impression that it was more a show for people who might ordinarily be labeled as nerds or geeks but refuse to let themselves be dragged down by a description like that…so, yeah, they focus on gaming and technology and shows like “Heroes” and “Lost,” but they also get a giggle from a fart joke, too.

Purcell acknowledged that it was a difficult balance to maintain sometimes. “(It) really has to do with the intelligent angle you try to take on things,” he said. “We always try to think of things the smarter way. We’ve got to believe our audience has come up, and a lot of them are not the guys that were on the football team. They’re the guys that were on the chess team or the AV club…and the funny thing is that those guys are the popular people now. So it’s really
important for us to be smart and serve that audience.”

“I think our audience was perhaps picked on by that stereotypical jock type,” agreed Pereira. “Yes, they exist and they’re out there, and we love them and try to serve them as well. But for the most part, our audience is that hip, cool guy now that is coming of age. So while they may still like those typical male things, it is a fine line to walk. And I think,
again, Gavin is right; it’s absolutely the tone that we take. We’ll show the same clips, we’ll talk about the same movies and the Internet and real-life happenings, but our take on it is going to be, I think, a little bit higher-brow at times.”

Lastly, E! trotted out the man, the myth, the legend, and the host of “The Soup,” Mr. Joel McHale…and, yes, that really is how they introduced him. You will no doubt be unsurprised to learn that McHale provided a non-stop flurry of comedy, so let’s sit back and enjoy a few highlights, shall we?

* “I ran into the Kardashians, and I thought they were going to jump me…and they said they love the show. And I was like, ‘I’ve called you dead behind the eyes, like, 300 times!”

* “I have not met Tyra (Banks). She is a foot-and-a-half taller than me, so I can’t come face-to-face with her. But, no, I have not seen her yet. And I have no idea what she’s going to do. My guess is she’ll start talking about herself.”

* “When I was watching ‘The Partridge Family’ in ’77, I said, ‘Somehow, that Danny guy and I are going to be intermingled. Somehow, we will cross paths.'”

* “Ed (Boyd, producer of ‘The Soup’) will send out an e-mail, like, at 6:00 in the morning, saying, ‘I found this clip on Mongolian television where a yak herder set himself on fire by accident. It’s going to be great for the show.'”

* “If it just goes ‘Blankety-blank Of Love,’ then we’ll be covering it, whether it’s Bret Michaels (or) Flavor Flav. I mean,
we cover all the big reality shows. We cover all the shows that people watch, like ‘American Idol’ (and) ‘The Bachelor.’ Like, this summer we’ve got ‘America’s Got Talent’ and stuff like that. But it’s when we find shows like ‘Dutch Oven’… you guys know what “Dutch Oven” is? With C.W. Butch, who made an appearance on one of our specials. It’s those really great little shows like ‘Pants Off, Dance Off’ and things like that that I love seeing on the show. Or, like, ‘Groomer Has It.’ I mean, an entire show about washing dogs? That’s a great idea!”

And to bring this whole entry full circle, McHale admitted that “we’ve signed a six-show contract with Ruby. We were just talking backstage, and her family members are going, ‘You’re going to wind up on that show, Ruby.’ And it’s probably true.”

Well, there’s one way I might end up watching “Ruby.”