Tilt

After watching the first four episodes of Tilt it's pretty easy to gather that the show is far fetched and promotes the idea of cheating. If you're looking for REAL poker, go watch re-runs of the WSOP on ESPN Classic or World Poker Tour on Travel Channel, but if you just want a fun show with a poker theme embedded into it, then give Tilt a try. Michael Madsen's character is laugh out loud funny with some of his one liners, and granted the acting from the others is below par, you can't really set the bar high for ESPN shows, especially after Playmakers. So again, if you want a few cheap laughs and just enjoy poker in general, give this show a shot. If you're looking to brush up on your skills and try to play in next years WSOP, then save the criticism and go read Super System! :)

I was going to wait until this series ended to review it, but why bother? This is simply a killer series. The story is pretty complicated, with subplots galore surrounding each character, but that's not why I watch it. Michael Madsen is perfect as poker baddie Don Everest- ruthless, conniving, and dressed to kill in those 80s collars and vests. And best of all is the assortment of characters, dialog, and voice-over narration that you get during the poker sequences. As if that weren't enough, they added one of my favorite actors, Robert Forster, in the last episode. The only unfortunate part is that it's hard to get up to speed if you missed the first few episodes, due to all the different plot aspects. At this point it's better to wait for a catch-up night, or buy the full DVD set when it comes out.

To sum up, the story is contrived, but who cares? The cast is great and the poker sequences alone are worth watching it for. Kudos to ESPN for their best series yet!!! Like MM says before the deal, "Let's rock and roll, baby".

I would be lying if I didn't say I was disappointed with the TV series, "Tilt". I thought Rounders was a brilliant movie, and expected the TV show to be at least close to as good as the movie. My impression after watching the first few episodes was that a lot of the acting was bad (except for Madsen, of course), the writing was cheesy, and there wasn't that much actual poker playing involved. Tha being said, however, I watched the whole series without missing an episode. Despite its flaws, the show is interesting, and makes sure that you want to watch the next episode to see what happens. If you haven't seen it yet, don't expect "Rounders: The Series", but expect a show that is fun to watch, and will have you quote lines from it with your friends.

*spoilers if you haven't seen the finale...read at your own peril...*

Okay, so how predictable was that??

All the good guys won; all the bad guys got what they deserved; and the guy who straddled the line between the two got the brass ring because he (pardon the horrible pun) played his cards right.

And so we drink a final toast to Seymour...the cop goes home to Iowa...our three young heroes leave the field of battle vindicated and much, much richer.

What can they do for a season two?? A new bad guy for us to hate?? New unknown card players for us to cheer on to victory? And Lowball making another interesting visit to the house of ill repute?!?!?!?

It was interesting and novel for one go-round...sort of the way Survivor was for the first season...but won't this get predictable if they try it again?

I did enjoy the poker scenes, although there were certainly blatant errors (I even saw one tonight...when you watch the finale, look at the screen closely on Clark's last hand and see if you spot what I did). It was nice to see the sprinkling of the well-known players throughout the series. But I'd much rather watch the reruns of the WSOP if it came down to a choice between that and another season of this show.

I'll give the season a 6 out of 10...good acting for the most part (although Michael Madsen did seem a bit flat to me most of the time...but maybe that was the jaded part of his character). Points off for such a predictable plot and finale. There was just one more cliché they could have thrown in to make the fairy tale complete...reveal that Miami was Seymour's long lost granddaughter or niece or some distant relative (I thought about daughter, but that kind of destroys the part of the storyline that she was playing to raise money for her father's bail with Seymour's assistance).

But, of course, I will tune in for at least the first episode of another season...if nothing else to see the real-life pros wander in and out of that very realistic-looking set.

P.S. (added after second viewing a few minutes ago): ACK! I just caught the final scene...which I somehow missed the first time. That changes everything...and potentially changes the cast for next season (if there is one). Not quite such a tidy ending as it first appeared. Hmm....

Network: ESPN; Genre: Drama, Crime; Content Rating: TV-14 (language, strong sexual content, brutal violence); Available: DVD; Perspective: Contemporary (star range: 1 - 4);

Seasons Reviewed: Complete Series (1 season)

Following in the footsteps of their first drama series, the controversial "Playmakers", ESPN's "Tilt" takes an unflattering look at the world of high stakes Las Vegas poker. "Playmakers" was an admirable failure, riddle with as many accomplishments as clichés. "Tilt" takes advantage of the national surge in interest for Texas Hold'Em, then turns around and bites the hand that fed it that opportunity. How dare the public not have recognized a game that has been around since the old west until now. There was some cynical fun in "Playmakers" take on football, but "Tilt" is an angry, bitter, relentlessly soul-sucking experience that is so single-minded in its attempt to demonize Vegas that the city could consider a defamation suit.

When family man and cop Lee (Chris Bauer, "The Wire") sits down at the high stakes table he gets cleaned out by Don "The Matador" Everest. It turns out that Don is not only a legend in the poker world, but a strong arm of the casino sent to make sure that the house wins at all costs. If Lee wasn't enough of a pit bull bent on bringing down Everest, three pro poker players (Eddie Cibrian, Kristin Lehman, and Todd Williams), who were also at one time ruined by The Matador, team up to bring him down during the national poker championships.

The poker action is as exciting as poker action gets. But creators Brian Koppelman and David Levien don't trust that poker will hold the narrative (a more talented team could have made it work), so they fill the stories with mobster, FBI agents, scam artists and a little murder mystery. Their Vegas is a full-on sadistic nightmare of a city, more "The Sopranos" than "Las Vegas", that sucks people in and eats them alive like a big neon monster. If the casino owners aren't crooked enough, the cops and judges are. Every few minutes somebody is being brutally beaten, casually murdered or tortured all set to trashing rock music. Nothing wrong with being loud, except when it is used as a transparent attempt to cover up a thread-bare nonsensical story.

None of the characters are the slightest bit likable. Everybody growls and snarls either out of revenge or detachment or sheer black-and-white evil for the sake of evil. B-movie staple Michael "pardon me while I never clear my throat" Madsen is the worst as Everest. This unconvincing tough guy has 2 purposes: threatening in a gruff voice and beating while yelling in a gruff voice.

The show is filled with monologues relating poker to life while saying nothing at all. On paper, on HBO or FX, this might not be a recipe for disaster, but Koppelman and Levien have a Jerry Bruckheimer/Michael Bay sense of subtlety and ESPN doesn't have the experience or sense of quality control to rein them in. Under their eye a simple poker revenge drama becomes a loud, tacky, empty-headed, testosterone-fueled piece of punishment. "Tilt" is cheesy, B-movie stuff – and not the fun kind either.

* / 4