STFU

So, I've been watching Poker After Dark, on NBC, and it's not bad. It has the flavor of High Stakes poker, but it's in a tournament format. They show most (all?) of the hands, and most of the time the interactions between the players are featured. Shana Hiatt does exit interviews, and is available throughout if a player feels like getting up to talk to her about what's going on.

All of that is very cool. It even seemed for a while like they were going to not have any commentary, and let the players' conversation and actions be the whole of the entertainment.

But, it turns out there's this annoying announcer, who not only makes informational statements (some of which are useful, but most of which are completely redundant with either the graphics or the obvious actions of the players), but also makes these snarky comments out of the blue, and pretends to be involved in conversations at the table, even though it's obvious he's adding his comments in a studio after-the-fact.)

Here are some examples:

Sheiky rakes in the chips, while Annie's in the middle of a story. The announcer drowns out the story I want to hear to share this pithy thought:
Ann: Shawn wins the pot

Annie: David Grey against Sam [Grizzle] with his crippled hand.
Ann: Sounds like a pay-per-view event.

Sheiky: Don't do that to Steve
Ann: Sheiky the peacemaker.

Gus: Alright, let's try something new [as he pushes all-in].
Ann: Yeah, how about someone calling a raise.

Annie: All-in
Ann: Annie's taking a page out of Gustav's book.

Gus Hansen: I hit my man right away.
Announcer: If Gus keeps hitting men, he may as well sign with Don King.

Gus shows AKs to the hole camera, and we hear the insightful:
Announcer: Another big hand for Gus.

Gus: I guess I could stack them a little bigger.
Ann: Ya think, Gussie?

[Doyle folds T2]
Ann: How do you not play your own hand, Doyle?!?

Mike Matusow: I'm not creative. I'm not here to be creative.
Ann: Oh come on, Mikey, you're a poker artiste.

[out of nowhere]
Ann: David still nursing the tail end of that drink.

David Grey: Wherefor are you Dolly?
Ann: Easy there, Shakespeare.

Ann: Carlos is rockin' the tower of power chip configuration...

[Moneymaker plays his first hand.]
Ann: Nice of you to join us, Moneymaker!

Ann: You think Chris Ferguson wears a suit to bed, like PJs?

Ann: [Johnny Chan] kind of looks like Superman, with that curl. Now we just have to get him a cape.

[After Chan makes a flush (and a straight) on the river]
Ann: Johnny makes a runner-runner straight, and Doyle's stack is now extremely short.

I think the show could be revolutionary, if they just drop any commentary (other than the lead-in for each segment after returning from commercial). If there's silence, so be it. I think the fan base knows how to tell what's going on in a hand without needing to be spoonfed information like:

3 players to the flop.
Daniel's betting with 9-high.
Gus wins the pot.
etc.

I've read other complaints about this, so I hope for next season NBC will either eliminate/replace him, or get him to tone it down.