TWiT Network may lose namesake show

Leo Laporte, the 'Chief TWiT' over at the TWiT network is pondering with what to do to the extremely popular TWiT namesake show.

Leo's latest news post explained that the TWiT show would not be happening this week (or next week), but the shock was this paragraph:

I'll decide what happens to TWiT, the show, when I come back, but at this point it looks like it's on life support and the heart monitor is flatlining.

I think Leo's been suffering from the pain of organising a show that's formed from several disconnected people with lives/jobs and shows of their own. It's a noble task, but notoriously difficult. This is confirmed in his comment:

Take A Break - Submitted by Leo Laporte on Mon, 2006-10-23 00:15

It's not I who want to take a break. I'm here every week ready to record, edit, and post a show. I gladly put in more time on the show than all the other TWiTs put together, but if the other TWiTs decide not to show there's not much I can do about it.

At this point I have a couple of choices. I could re-cast the show with people who will actually show up, but is it a TWiT without Patrick and John?

Or I could put TWiT to rest and come up with something to replace it. Neither choice is desirable, especially since we have a sponsor who is paying to be on this show in particular, but frankly it's more than I can handle trying to keep this cast together.

As I said, I'm going to defer a decision until I come back from the cruise.

-- Leo Laporte, Chief TWiT

I've read a lot of the comments on Digg, TWiT and the Save TWiT blog post, and although I agree with some of the 'recast' comments, I also see a trend of comments about not needing John C Dvorak or Patrick Norton and I really disagree with those comments.

I love TWiT, have been a regular listener for quite some time, and think the regulars of Leo, Dvorak, Patrick and the increasingly regular Wil Harris bring a very good base to the show. I would like to see some new faces to the show though, Wil's appearences are great, as are Jerry E Pournelle, and David Prager's.

There must be a fairly long list of people willing to take part in TWiT shows from time to time and I think it would keep the show fresh, while also allowing the regulars to have the odd week off without leaving a gap on the panel. I liked the idea one person put forward in their comment that they should grab a random passer-by and bring them into the show... I would of course change this slightly, to be that they should possibly contact a blogger/developer/regular commenter/forum person that's doing something interesting/topical and get them to take part (hint hint).

Lastly, I just want to wish Leo and the TWiT team the best and hope that the show continues in as strong manour as it has done for the past 73 episodes.