Tag Archives: billiards reality TV

In a Man’s World – “Emily”

At least since Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis disguised themselves as women to escape the police and mafia and join Sweet Sue and her all-female band the Society Syncopators in Some Like It Hot (1959), audiences have generally guffawed at men acting in drag. Tom Hanks jumpstarted his acting career by turning Kip into Buffy in Bosom Buddies. Dustin Hoffman got an Oscar nomination playing Dorothy Michaels in Tootsie. The Wayans brothers in White Chicks. Martin Lawrence in Big Momma’s House. Robin Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire. The list goes on and on.

For women, the on-screen gender metamorphosis has not only been less common, but also is more often done for nobler purposes, specifically fighting societal stereotypes (e.g., Just One of the Guys; She’s the Man; Mulan; The Ballad of Little Jo).

With the new Bravo series In a Man’s World, executive producer (and Triple Crown of Acting winner) Viola Davis sought to dig deeper into the sexism women encounter every day by shifting the focus from fighting stereotypes to exposing the sexism head-on through real-life, temporary gender transformation. With this kind of social experiment, In a Man’s World can be seen as a cultural successor to John Howard Griffin’s autobiographical account Black Like Me, Norah Vincent’s memoir Self-Made Man, and even the reality franchise series Undercover Boss.

With four episodes having aired thus far, In a Man’s World documents the experiences of women who tackle gender issues and explore what it’s like to experience the world as a man. Aided by Oscar-winning makeup artist Dave Elsey and his wife Lou, vocal coach Tom Burke, and movement coach Esco Jouléy, the women ‘become’ men and interact in front of hidden cameras with the same people – specifically the same men – who have historically harassed them as women.

In a Man’s World premiered on October 1 this year with “Emily,” named after the episode’s protagonist, Emily “The Billiards Bombshell” Duddy.  Currently ranked #14 in the Women’s Professional Billiards Association, Ms. Duddy is no stranger to the pool-watching couch-potato crowd, as she was a cast member of the 2015 TruTV show The Hustlers.

Ms. Duddy is also a notable choice because, by her own admission, she has relied on her looks and femininity to stand out in a male-dominated business where she’s constantly subjected to demeaning comments that focus on her sex, not her ability.

It’s not a total surprise that the producers of In a Man’s World opted to make billiards the milieu for the inaugural episode.  Like many sports, competitive billiards operates with considerable pay inequality between genders. Top ranked men earn $84,222 compared to women who earn $15,600. But, even away from the tournaments, the palpable sexism that many women have encountered, or currently encounter, playing pool is both disgusting and debilitating.

Emily becomes Alex

The “Emily” episode crystalizes this point.  In a hidden-camera match against William “The Godfather” Finnegan at Amsterdam Billiards, she is verbally mocked and insulted 28 times, with comments such as “Gimme a good rack, like the rack you got” and “You’re in a man’s game in a man’s world.”  While some might argue this is the standard jeering and one-upmanship in a sport heavy on braggadocio, pomposity, and intimidation, it is glaringly telling that when Ms. Duddy returns in makeup and prosthetics as a “rugged, sexy cowboy” named Alex, s/he receives none of the same mockeries.

The emphasis on Mr. Finnegan as a Neanderthal nemesis, clinging to a chauvinistic era where it’s time for “women to go in the kitchen and cook [him] some food,” allows the episode to score easy points with its viewers. It’s impossible not to watch and sympathize with Ms. Duddy, her billiards buds Jennifer Barretta and Jackie, and the other estimated 8.8 million women who play pool.[1] On what planet is Mr. Finnegan’s pronouncement tolerable that in the pool games he organizes, “Only men can play. I don’t let women play. Don’t want ’em to play. They’re too slow. Most men don’t want to lose to the women. When I lost to a woman, I really don’t feel good. It’s the male ego: we feel that we’re more dominant.”?

But, ironically, Mr. Finnegan comes across as such a caricature that, as Andy Dehnart wrote in his review on Reality Blurred, “[Finnegan] becomes the problem: not institutionalized sexism in professional billiards, but one guy who acts like an ass.”

Furthermore, the physical, emotional and psychological changes that Ms. Duddy had to endure to transform from Emily to Alex are watered-down by the episode’s highly incredible ending. After losing a match to Mr. Finnegan, Ms. Duddy does her grand reveal and shows that Emily and Alex are the same person. Mr. Finnegan is awestruck! Amazed! Flabbergasted!

The Hustlers

Cast of The Hustlers, including Finnegan (3rd from left) and Duddy (6th from left).

Without the makeup and prosthetics, Mr. Finnegan too transforms, from a caveman to Mr. Woke Progressive. After watching the video footage, he proclaims, “She proved to us how we look at women, which now it shows to me that we’re wrong,” said Finnegan. “Women can compete in the man’s world of pool and now I understand. My tournaments that like I said I only invite men, as of today, will change.”

Maybe it’s all genuine.  Shit, I hope it is.  But, Mr. Finnegan is no stranger to television, having also acted with Ms. Duddy on The Hustlers.

Hashtag progress? Or hashtag realityTV?  Only time will tell.

[1] National Sporting Goods Association (2012).

Cake Boss – “Painters, Pool and Pink”

National Football League defensive end Justin Tuck’s achievements on the gridiron are commendable: two-time Super Bowl winner, two-time Pro Bowl performer, two-time NFC Champion, almost 500 career tackles. But, his accomplishments off the field are equally impressive, specifically the 2008 launch of his charitable initiative R.U.S.H. for Literacy that encourages children to READ, UNDERSTAND, SUCCEED and HOPE and embrace literacy throughout their lives.

To date, R.U.S.H. has raised more than $2 million, with the majority of those funds generated by “Tuck’s Celebrity Billiards Tournament,” an annual event first launched in 2009 and held at the SLATE bar and billiards club. The upscale extravaganza features a who’s-who of athletic and Hollywood royalty, as well as “Buddy” Valastro, the Cake Boss celebrity chef, who produced a magnificent billiards-themed cake for the event in the 2009 Season 2 episode “Painters, Pool and Pink.” The entire episode is available to watch here.

https://youtu.be/2YVbW-7CnlU

TLC’s Cake Boss is one of at least seven cake-based reality shows to have hit the airwaves in recent years. Now entering its sixth season, it is arguably the most popular, with an average 2 million viewers. The show stars Bartolo “Buddy” Valastro Jr., the proprietor of the family-owned Carlo’s Bake Shop in Hoboken, NJ, as well as his immediate and extended family members who work in the shop as bakers, decorators, sculptors and storefront managers. Buddy’s personality is warm and large, contributing to the show’s success, which, in turn, has contributed to the shop’s success and appeal as modern tourist attraction. Carlo’s Bakery Way, at Washington and Newark Streets in Hoboken, is a street renamed in honor of the Cake Boss establishment.

Cake BossCarlo’s Bake Shop fame is attributable to their highly-detailed, one-of-a-kind, themed cakes, which are the focus of the Cake Boss episodes. Those cake themes have included a fire station, an Indricotherium, Mount Rushmore, a roulette board, and a life-size replica of comedian Betty White.

In “Painters, Pool and Pink,” the former New York Giant Mr. Tuck is planning his premier billiards fundraiser and recruits Mr. Valastro to provide (donate) a billiards-themed cake for the event. Mr. Valastro, a self-proclaimed pool star (allegedly once known as the “Hoboken Hustler”), is honored to prepare the dessert, though he also craves a chance to play in the tournament. Speaking to his culinary crew, he says, “You know how much I love to play pool. I’d love to show them how I roll.”

That opportunity emerges when one player drops out, thereby creating the standard pabulum of manufactured reality television tension, since none of his bake squad has confidence in his ability. Says one baker, “What do you know about shooting pool? You’re going to get killed.” And, indeed it appears that way when he goes to practice one afternoon. But, he more than compensates when he is paired with former New York Jet Kerry Rhodes, and accompanied by a good bit of hand-slapping and chest-bumping, makes it as far as the semi-finals.

Cake BossFar more interesting than Mr. Valastro’s pool ambitions is his kitchen team’s ability to create a billiards-themed cake. The base is made out of red velvet cake (“Justin’s favorite”), which is then smothered with cream cheese. The pockets are carved out before layering the cake with green fondant, a sugary dough used to cover cakes, to resemble the baize of the table. Cereal treats are used to build up the walls, which are “dirty iced” before more fondant is applied. Then, to achieve the wood-grain appearance, a special tool and brushstroke is applied for texturing. Finally, cue sticks, chalk and pool balls, all expertly made from fondant, are gently placed on the table, prompting Mr. Valastro to proudly boast that the cake “looked just like a mini pool table…I mean, my kids could have played pool on this table.”

The cake is revealed at the end of the tournament, as celebrities such as Anthony Anderson, Vivica A. Fox, Eli Manning, Kelly Rowland, Michael Strahan, and Osi Umenyiora gallivant nearby. Even Billiard Congress of America Hall-of-Famer Jeannette “The Black Widow” Lee is in on the action. Available to provide on-site expertise to the tournament players and guests, The Black Widow ultimately pops up in the “Painters, Pool and Pink” episode…passing out slices of cake.

Bar Rescue – “Empty Pockets”

“This bar will never be profitable if we don’t monetize those pool tables,” bellows Jon Taffer, the star of the reality series Bar Rescue, as he bemoans the disastrous condition of Zanzibar, the Denver billiards bar he has been tasked with saving in the March 2013 episode “Empty Pockets.”  “Real billiards operations monetize their tables in a number of ways.  First, they charge you for every hour then they play.  Then they often put in a drink minimum.  [Zanzibar is] making no effort to monetize these pool tables.”

Empty PocketsLike all episodes of Bar Rescue, the Spike TV hit show that first aired in 2011, “Empty Pockets” adheres to the series’ well-tread, and highly engaging, formula.  A desperate bar owner (in this case, Ami, the proprietor of Zanzibar Billiards) fears his establishment is on the verge of closing.  He calls Bar Rescue, which results in Jon Taffer, a long-time food and beverage industry consultant, descending upon the bar and doing a combination of reconnaissance and surveillance, before introducing himself to the owner to boldly proclaim his findings.  Tempers flair, egos are stomped on, initial training ensues, and then the bar is put through a “stress test” to see how well the bar’s employees handle a busy night.

Empty PocketsIn the case of Zanzibar, the stress test is an unmitigated debacle, exposing multiple failure points, including a dictatorial owner, an overworked kitchen, an illegible system for taking orders, wasteful bartending, and an absence of help on the billiards floor, which has 10 Brunswick Gold Crown pool tables that occupy 50% of the bar’s square footage.  Taffer’s pronouncement:  “This place is a disaster.  And the owner is the biggest disaster of them all.”

But, since this is reality TV, all invective ultimately furthers the end goal.  Ami and Taffer put their outrage (and near physical blows) behind them, and start planning for the future, specifically, the three-day turnaround in which Zanzibar will be transformed, physically, culturally, and thematically (to give greater emphasis to the billiards).

One fundamental set of changes is to the menu.  To create a “lot of fun in the billiard room” and enable the kitchen to deliver food in 10 minutes or less, Taffer and his team create a “sticks (cues) and balls” menu, which includes BBQ glazed meatballs, Polish sausages on a stick, and “rack spuds.”

Another overhaul is behind the bar. Taffer and his team created a list of six special, billiard-themed cocktails.  The potables include The Break (1.5 oz vodka + 1 oz orange juice + 1 oz pineapple juice, topped with club soda), the Hustler (1.3 oz 90-proof vodka + 2 slices jalapeno + 2 slices cucumber + .75 oz lime juice + 1 oz simple syrup), as well as the 8 Ball, the Scratch, the Corner Pocket, and the Trick Shot.

Empty PocketsThe pool area is also reworked.  One of the tables is removed and replaced with a billiard counter so that the pool (formerly free) can be monetized, such as through the sale of the Billiards Special (4 beer well drafts + 2 appetizers + 1 hour of pool = $19.95).  The tables are re-felted and re-leveled (by Thin Air Billiards) and set up with detail lighting on the bottom (by LED Baseline Inc).  A final touch, and the grand reveal, is renaming Zanzibar as Solids & Stripes, a “Badass Billiards Bar,” that celebrates Ami’s love of America with his love of pool.

All these changes result in a glorious opening three days later, a motivated and recharged staff, happy patrons, lots of warm embraces, and a 50% increase in sales, including $1000 from just the billiards area.

Having never been to Zanzibar (either before or after the rescue), I was curious how the changes held up, as one criticism of Bar Rescue is that, in some cases, the results wane once the cameras stop rolling.

The most obvious post-rescue change is that the bar reverted back to its old name Zanzibar.  (Based on a Facebook thread on Zanzibar’s home page, it sounds like this reversal happened around the same time the episode aired.)  The second change, based on viewing the bar’s website and seeing it on Google Earth, is that it reverted back to “FREE POOL EVERYDAY!!”  and, apparently, added three additional Brunswick tables, bringing the total to 12.  The reviews on Yelp are pretty mixed, though most suggest a lot of the customer-facing changes didn’t stick. One “serious billiards and snooker player” recently described the pool hall atmosphere as “having plenty of space, [but] the [tables] by the wall have no space for the cue stick. This place feels like it can and has the potential to be a lot better, better decor, better quality, better atmosphere and slightly cleaner.”  That review was balanced by others that equate free pool with good pool.

If anyone has been to Zanzibar recently, please comment and share your thoughts.  I know I plan to shoot some billiards there the next time I’m in Denver.

The full episode of Bar Rescue – “Empty Pockets” is available to watch free on Spike TV.