Celebrity Pool

I was watching Bravo the other night and saw a commercial for a new series called Celebrity Pool. I can understand the appeal of watching poker on TV, celebrity or otherwise (picking up strategies, etc.), but who’s going to watch this? I can think of few things less interesting than watching other people play billiards. My personal version of hell would be spending eternity sitting in a fiery pit with my eyelids propped open being forced to watch Tom Green and John Salley shoot pool.

Posted by chuck at March 9, 2005 1:21 PM

Comments

Ridiculous. A colleague of mine was actually involved in a taping and pitch of a new spoof show for Comedy Central-Spike TV called “Celebrity Dungeons and Dragons” You guessed it,…….F level celebs playing Dungeons and Dragons all the while tongue in cheek and goofing off.

God bless America.

Side TV note:

I watched my 1st ever episode of “Deadwood” last night on DVD. Episode 1, season 1 via Netflix. Pretty cool, I was amazed at how well it was done. Completely blown away. Al Swearengen is one of the old west’s truly great tragic characters. I actually stayed in Deadwood in the black hills on my way out LA when I moved. I saw Wild Bill and Calamity Jane’s grave, maybe that puts the show over for me more actualy being there, but the show is one of TV’s great works and I’ve only seen one episode. Really well done, can’t say enough about it. I need to get more DVDs, this show is currently at the top of the Andy Power rankings for the entertainment world.

Posted by: Andy Gorzalski at March 9, 2005 1:58 PM

Andy, I’m glad to hear that you’re getting into Deadwood. You’ll notice how the show will get better as the storylines flesh out during the first season. The season one finale is one of the best hours of tv i’ve ever seen. The season two premiere aired this past Sunday. It starts with a bang. Speaking of Sunday night TV, I know you’re a big fan of Arrested Development. I can’t believe they’re talking about yanking it.

Posted by: chuck at March 9, 2005 2:29 PM

Andy, as your trusted friend, I’m advising you to watch the rest of season as soon as you can fit it in. I found myself in the middle of several arguments last year when I told people I thought Deadwood was better than the Sopranos. Last year’s Sopranos was not consistently as good as Deadwood, and David Milch would never write a script where the entire show is based upon an Al Swearengen existential dream.

Al Swearengen is really one of the most remarkable characters ever written for television. Is there anyone in TV’s history so likeable but still so reprehensible at the same time? Andy, as you work your way through season 1, you’re going to come across an episode that ends with Swearengen behind his own bar, drinking shots and reflecting on the state of his life. After I first saw that episode, I nearly jumped out of my chair and ran around for no reason. It sent a 200-proof jolt of energy straight through me it was so fuckin’ great, to borrow some Deadwood language.

I do get a bit defensive about the show, though, with people who go after the language, saying it’s a reason they don’t watch. The language, in the context of the rest of the show, is not that bad. It also opens up a different area for Milch to explore some humor when he’s not having his characters swear while feeding some dead guy to the pigs. Besides, the language helps make Swearengen more effective, and anyone who counters by saying it’s a hack trick can go fuck themselves.

Posted by: Jim at March 9, 2005 2:50 PM

I don’t see why everyone is pissed about this show. Yea, they aren’t great pool players, but they never claimed to be. It’s for charity for God’s sake. And why did Janette Lee do this show? Because the probably paid her a bundle to do it that’s why. Why does phil gordon do celeb. poker? Anyway, Debra Wilson’s boobs looked great.

Posted by: mike at March 20, 2005 11:08 AM