By Todd Anderson
That’s a wrap!
If our year at Poker Night in America were a symphony, you could say we ended on a crescendo this week with the first ever Ladies Night event at the Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood Florida. Everyone had a really great time and the livestream was a hit. I guess we might have to do that again sometime.
Continuing with the symphony metaphor, our year at Poker Night had some high highs and some low lows. In October we lost our good friend and colleague Joe Sartori. I saw him in Vegas over G2E the first week in October and less then four weeks later he passed away after a brief fight with cancer. Joe was easily one of the best guys I’ve ever known. He is missed.
As for the highs I think we filmed our best stuff to date and I’m looking forward to Season Two, which starts January 5th. We kicked off Season Two filming last July at Maryland Live and somehow ended up with Phil Hellmuth in a baby costume. The next month we went to Turning Stone and shot the first Poker Night at the Movies features with Jennifer Tilly, Phil Laak, and Richard Roeper reviewing famous movie poker scenes. Later we went to the Rivers in Pittsburgh and again saw Jennifer Tilly charm her fans and fellow players. Oh and then we saw Phil Hellmuth get called a “cucumber” by a young upstart poker pro. Good stuff.
Of course launching the show the last Sunday in June was a big moment for us. A lot of hard work went into getting to that moment. Since then we’ve aired 29 original episodes of Poker Night in America and shot another 26 episodes for our Season 2.
Good News!! CBS Sports Network really likes the show and they have renewed Poker Night for two more seasons. Not only that but we’ve collectively agreed that the show needs a more stable timeslot, so starting January 5 PNIA will air every week at 10pm EST on Monday nights.
As for the show, you’ll be seeing some changes starting with Season 2. The graphics will be undergoing a transformation. We’ll be going to a more traditional format in showing the players and their hole cards. I think it’s safe to say that the show will always be a work in progress and we’ll continue to make it better.
So in 2015 expect to see more and more of your favorite poker players both on and off the felt as we create 52 new episodes of Poker Night in America.