Just when I thought that the Bravo Celebrity show couldn't get worse

[Easy E]

... it did.

The poker play went from ridiculous (in episode #1) to a complete joke (in the "West Wing" episode). And the show was LESS entertaining than the first one (the hat routine was the only amusing moment)

I don't think I'll be able to make myself watch any more of these shows. Some comments on this episode:

Phil, don't waste your time attributing ANY intelligent play to this- your comments such as "he's playing great poker right now" are ludicrous, to the point of being a farce. You look stupid trying to gild this pig.

Also, I can't decide if the "any two cards can win" message is worth the disturbing new message- "if you're clueless at poker, you have no chance and shouldn't play."

Or maybe I'm taking this all too personally... but the poker play is atrocious and the show is REALLY getting on my nerves. Thank the goddesses that we have a new WPT show tonight (I'm looking FORWARD to VInce, that's how bad it's gotten!).... even if it is a made-for-television invitation event, somewhat similar to the UB Aruba farce of last year.

[Schmed]

I dialed it in for the first couple of minutes and it's obvious that it's not going to work.

[mrbaseball]

It was embarrassingly bad. The poker was truly horrible and unwatchable.

Watching purebred fish call and check without a clue doesn't do much I don't think for the growth of poker or for the enterainment value of watching it.

This program is a real bad idea. WPT and WSOP are at least interesting to watch. Watching bad players who admittedly have no clue has no entertainment value at all.

[hutz]

I didn't watch it and don't intend to watch it. The first episode was horrible enough to make me skip right past the second one when setting my VCR taping schedule for the week. I barely made it through the first episode. I have never been a big fan of the whole Hollywood scene. This show's treating celebrities (many of whom are pseudo-celebrities) as if they have poker skills when they obviously don't only solidifies my disdain for "Hollyweird."

As for the contrived WPT "event" -- I won't watch it, either, for political reasons. Force-feeding an all-woman field is insulting on many levels, not the least of which is that it implies the women couldn't make it to the final table of an event on their own merits. It also highlights the hypocrisy of the PC crowd in that having an all-female event is acceptable but if there were an event that excluded women, racial minorities, etc., it would be protested to hell and back.

Now, let's see if I can step off this soap box without tripping . . . . /images/graemlins/laugh.gif

[Nottom]

I actually that Bussfield played pretty well. He seemed to go on tilt towards the end, but I think he was the best player on the show so far (not that that is anything to be proud of)

[LikesToLose]

I found that I couldn't even watch the show. The checks all around the table for 2 rounds just doesn't make it interesting. The also is no fear in the hearts of the players. If they lose or win, it doesn't matter because all the proceeds go to charity. Lack of skill and lack of drama = lack of ratings.

The play-by-play calling is 'horrific' as well.

But the all woman thing, I think is great TV and that is what the WPT is really all about. I applaud it because it will help keep the show running and the fishies coming.

Mark

[eMarkM]

I've only seen the first show and the poker wasn't that great. And that was with someone like Affleck who has some idea of what he's doing. Let's try and look at this show from the point of view of a non-poker player. From that perspective, it's not horrible, it's just celebs hamming it up and having fun. No, it doesn't have the drama of Mark Seif staring down Hon Lee, but it's not meant to be taken too seriously. At least they're getting some real celebs for this, not some "surreal life" has beens. Hey, my wife would rather watch this than the other poker shows because she knows who these people are. The first show had good ratings, it's good for poker even if it's not that entertaining to us diehards.

[Easy E]

As for the contrived WPT "event" -- I won't watch it, either, for political reasons. Force-feeding an all-woman field is insulting on many levels, not the least of which is that it implies the women couldn't make it to the final table of an event on their own merits.

I agree with you, but I think that promoting to a particular target audience isn't a bad thing necessarily- see SPIKE TV. Maybe that will get more women interested in playing, much like soccer got a boost in the US from Mia and the Olympic team.

It also highlights the hypocrisy of the PC crowd in that having an all-female event is acceptable but if there were an event that excluded women, racial minorities, etc., it would be protested to hell and back.
Have to agree here as well, though this is a tougher area. Poker, unlike other fields where discrimination of one type or another has been a problem, is pretty neutral as a whole towards particular groups, so having group-only events doesn't seem to serve as much purpose as it might in other areas.
However, with some of the pigs at the tables, maybe excluding others will allow less-represented groups to become more comfortable with playing poker (weak, I know)

Granting that the show is bad from real poker standpoint, look at the Jerry Springer/Oprah/Reality shows crowds that may be enticed to visit and play the internet sites and local poker rooms. /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[bunky9590]

Bussfield was nice and aggressive, but had moments of complete lunacy. John was so horrible, supreme calling station, had aces and NEVER RAISED on a seriously non threatning board!!!!! O M G! At least Allison Janney was easy on the eyes.

[TimTimSalabim]

[ QUOTE ]
As for the contrived WPT "event" -- I won't watch it, either, for political reasons. Force-feeding an all-woman field is insulting on many levels, not the least of which is that it implies the women couldn't make it to the final table of an event on their own merits. It also highlights the hypocrisy of the PC crowd in that having an all-female event is acceptable but if there were an event that excluded women, racial minorities, etc., it would be protested to hell and back.


[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, it would be like if they put on a special NBA game with the best white players in the league. And then they said, hey, we're just trying to encourage more white people to play basketball.