Face the Ace premieres with lackluster ratings

[Steve Ruddock]

NBC's Face the Ace went all-in on Saturday night, and lost. The much hyped show debuted in last place according to TVbytheNumbers.com with a paltry .4 rating.

Poker enthusiasts have been flooding the online forums with their thoughts on the show, and while many players enjoyed the show's format, they were also left scratching their heads over a few things.

One of the biggest gripes has been host Steve Schirripa of Soprano's fame. A very strange choice considering Schirripa has no poker experience, and is a B-list celebrity at best. With the abundance of quality poker commentators out there (hell, they have half a dozen already on the show as players!) NBC definitely fell short in this decision.

Face the Ace will be on in the 9pm time-slot again next Saturday, before it transitions to a once a month telecast, on Saturday afternoons: With the horrible debut, and very little chance to gain an audience before becoming a once a month show, I'd be surprised if the show airs all seven scheduled episodes before being cancelled.

Which is too bad, because the concept seems very solid. Perhaps they will revamp the show in the future.

[DrunkyDoggy]

Another thing. From what I can tell, it didn't play in Canada (Well my region at least). It showed it was going to play on the guide, but when I tuned in to watch, it was infomercials for the whole hour.

Was forced to watch it on youtube the next day.

[Steve Ruddock]

Certain markets in the US didn't carry it either, Chicago, and I think Detroit

[DrunkyDoggy]

Then that would make sense because we get our Internet feed from Detroit.