[CaryDarling]

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Having one name pro and nine unknowns at a table will fetch just as many viewers as having nine name pros and one unknown -

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That is quite untrue. One of the members of the Wednesday Discussion group here in Vegas is a writer who is heavy into the tv scene of poker. He's always at the HSP tapings etc., he knows a lot of the dish going on behind the scenes.

Anyway, just so I could clarify that this is not coming from me, and I can't quote you exact numbers every poker show *this was pre HSP 1* was losing viewership steadily, with the exception of Poker Superstars and Celebrity Poker Showdown...the consensus of producers, behind the scenes big wigs etc, was that this was due to the "unknown player" factor.

when you tune into Poker Superstars, you are seeing exactly that...superstars. When tuning into Celebrity Poker Showdown, you aren't seeing either celebrities or poker, but they are familiar faces...while on the other hand you tune into WPT, you may have a pro make the FT, but that could be a Pro only those who are heavy fans, or followers of the game might recognize...the whole argument actually made sense.

I personally can't stand to watch shows like Poker Dome, or anything amateur related. My motto has always been, if I want to watch a bunch of unknowns play bad poker for two hours I will just hit one of the 59 local card rooms, at least then, I can make money off of them. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]