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Not Playing With A Full Deck: Televised Poker

February 21, 2007

When I was young, I would follow my big brother to the arcade and watch him play Pong, or Pac Man, or maybe even a little skee ball. I’d crane my neck and watch him work his magic, try to learn his strategy, understand his style, and hopefully retain a thing or two for when I got older, and could play these games myself.

But, ultimately, I just got bored, because—and this is important—watching other people play games while you sit idly by and watch is boring.

Which brings me to the present, as I flip channels, and come across televised poker. I’m instantly four years old again, waiting for a turn that will never come, and my mind wanders, and I just get bored.

What is it about poker on television? What am I missing?

It began simply enough, buried in a terrible time slot in one of the lesser ESPN networks, mostly as a cheap way to kill time, and a good opportunity for the Las Vegas Department of Tourism to run a glut of “what happens here, stays here” ads for prospective gamblers.

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Still "Lost"

February 08, 2007

It came back last night, like a piece of that plane washing to shore. It’s the “non-stop season,” sixteen episodes of LOST, back-to-back, taking us into May. And how did they kick it off?

With the same old stuff that buried the show in the first place.

"Lost" returned with another annoying flashback to a character’s pre-lost life. This time it was a look at Juliet, showing how she was recruited into the ranks of The Others. I know the purpose of the flashbacks: They’re to give us a greater understanding of the characters and what motivates them.

And while some of the back-stories of these people are fascinating, especially those of the core group (Jack, Kate, Locke, and Hurley, to name a few), some of them are so fuzzy and foggy (with no discernable link to the ongoing story other than the character being present in a different time and place) that they bring the show to a screeching halt. And that was the case again last night.

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