Norman Chad On the WSOP: "The Viewers Don't Care"

[Self Made]

Did you ever wonder why ESPN only finds time for about 11 hands in a typical World Series of Poker show (a little more than one hand for each of the 9 participants at a final table), but finds time to show Phil Hellmuth throwing Frisbees? Thanks to Norman Chad I now know: it's because "the viewers don't care." Chad says about the WSOP "It's part reality show, part sitcom, part docudrama. And the results, as we see, don't even matter. The viewers don't care. They just want to see the episode again where two guys argue over who put the ante in."

Or perhaps it's ESPN that doesn't care... about their viewers. How can we expect quality poker from a network that views the show's potential audience as channel-surfers who may stop to veg out for a few minutes if they can't find a Friends rerun? ESPN won't be able to produce good poker TV until they gain some respect for their customers and realize that we, unlike them, might actually care about what we're watching. My only hope is that ESPN executives will start applying their poker-show logic to football coverage... and get themselves fired.

Link

Ya know, Norman Chad isn't actually making any production decisions, right?

[pernicus53]

Consider the source here. Chad is a cynical, hypersarcastic, rude know-it-all.

[FireStorm]

You can bash Chad all you want, but he's basically 100% right. You, the OP, may care, as do the hardcore players here on 2p2. Maybe some live players and pros care too about content. That's where it ends. 90% of viewers of the WSOP are recreational, sporadic, bad players who have only early-level understanding of the game. They're not worried about the number of hands shown, past history between opponents, or +/-EV of scenarios. This 90% want to see POT SIZE - $380,000. They want to see AK all in preflop against JJ so they can talk about the importance of winning races next time they're at their local cardroom. They want the dramatics of Prahlad vs. Lisandro and Matusow vs. Sheikhan.

ESPN makes these episodes in order to cater to the casual viewer. Ratings would plummet if episodes were geared towards only hardcore players. Don't expect this to stop anytime soon.

[SellingtheDrama]

This is the same network that has brought us Tilt and that football show a couple years back (can't remember the name). Why should this be any different?

[mattgoody]

playmakers

[Jazzy3113]

[ QUOTE ]
You can bash Chad all you want, but he's basically 100% right. You, the OP, may care, as do the hardcore players here on 2p2. Maybe some live players and pros care too about content. That's where it ends. 90% of viewers of the WSOP are recreational, sporadic, bad players who have only early-level understanding of the game. They're not worried about the number of hands shown, past history between opponents, or +/-EV of scenarios. This 90% want to see POT SIZE - $380,000. They want to see AK all in preflop against JJ so they can talk about the importance of winning races next time they're at their local cardroom. They want the dramatics of Prahlad vs. Lisandro and Matusow vs. Sheikhan.

ESPN makes these episodes in order to cater to the casual viewer. Ratings would plummet if episodes were geared towards only hardcore players. Don't expect this to stop anytime soon.

[/ QUOTE ]

[DonkeyChip]

There is a PT Barnum quote that goes something like: Nobody ever went broke under-estimating the taste of the American public. ...or something like that.

I never would have thought some of the reality shows or Dancing with the Stars or American Idol would be even remotely popular but...here we are.

[Phanekim]

I like the broadcast the way it is. You say all this junk but how are you gonna make it better? I almost can garantee that your way will not garner interest as much as espn does. Espn does a great broadcast with its parameters.

[Dr. Tre]

You can tell they dont care about the quality of their poker coverage when they do things like not have the pro players at the featured table, but instead, other players who have been camera whores. Dmitri Nobles was there last year donking off chips and such. Jamie Gold was getting really lucky. That one punk blond kid was there. But ESPN made sure they got minimal coverage of Allen Cunningham.
I think I read in a blog somewhere that in the ME this year, Scotty Ngyen wasnt at the featured table when they were down to like 2 or 3 tables (something like that). If this is true....Also, I read that Moneymaker was at the featured table the first day. Why? Why not have some high name pro be there before they get knocked out. This is a perfect time to put a Phil Ivey or Howard Lederer big name they like.
Has anyone been to ESPN.com's poker page? It is complete trash. Their main writer has some crappy debate every week of what to do between him and some guy named Cosmo(??). They bicker and argue whether or not 99 is good enough to raise with or whether or not they should fold QQ to a raise. Nothing advanced. Nothing even mildly complex. And then they have Bernard Lee write about how good of a short stacked player he is. Who cares? Why should anyone read about the amazing tournament travels of someone whose great accomplishments is to squeek ITM with 3 BBs left. Has he ever won a tournament? Has he ever gotten a top 5? Why does ESPN award a column to someone like this? A semi retarded monkey can fold cards for 10 straight hours if you train him. [/end rant]