Bravo announces "Celebrity Poker Showdown 4" this fall

[John]

BRAVO ANTES UP FOR A FOURTH TOURNAMENT OF 'CELEBRITY POKER SHOWDOWN'

HIT SERIES WILL RETURN WITH SIX ALL-NEW EPISODES THIS FALL WITH HOST DAVE FOLEY



LOS ANGELES -- July 22, 2004 -- This fall, Bravo will present more high-stakes action featuring Hollywood's biggest and brightest stars, when "Celebrity Poker Showdown" returns for a fourth tournament of television's hottest poker show. A new six-episode tournament will premiere this fall featuring twenty-five new celebrity poker players and returning host Dave Foley and poker expert Phil Gordon.

"Celebrity Poker Showdown" has continued to garner incredible ratings, quickly becoming the network's second highest rated original series, behind "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy." This season "Celebrity Poker Showdown" has expanded from one hour to two and has moved to a new night, Thursdays, and has established an average audience of approximately one million viewers each week.

The new tournament will once again be filmed before a live audience at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. Each episode of "Celebrity Poker Showdown" will feature five celebrities competing against each other for a piece of the $250,000 prize pool in a game of No Limit Texas Hold'em poker for the charity of their choice. Each week a new crop of stars will take to the table to challenge their peers. The winner from each week's game will go on to compete in the championship final sixth episode – and then a new tournament will begin all over again with twenty five new celebrities. Viewers will have the inside track on the hands the different players are holding via hidden cameras. They will also be able to hear from the eliminated players, who will watch the remainder of their respective matches from the 'Loser's Lounge,' via closed circuit television.

The finale of the current tournament of "Celebrity Poker Showdown" will air on Thursday, August 12 at 9:00pm ET. Musician Dave Navarro and NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon will face off against the winners of the next three games for the $100,000 first place prize. Past winners include Nicole Sullivan ("King of Queens") and Maura Tierney ("ER").

"Celebrity Poker Showdown" is produced by Picture This Television in association with Bravo. Marcia Mulé and Bryan Scott, Andrew Hill Newman and Joshua Malina are the executive producers.

[Boredom]

My goodness - they're just cranking these out, aren't they? I'm kind of amazed - I thought they mght wait until Winter to go for four. But I guess the ratings are hot and they don't want to lose them... too much poker could be a bad idea, though.

[John]

Maybe they'll scrape the barrel a little deeper this time, and bring in some fresh blood rather than rehashing the same old celebrities over and over again, who continue to claim that they've never played before.

[Ilikai]

Fresh blood would be good, now to figure out how to become a celeb so I can go play!

[gigohead]

I hope they can get some celebrity A listers who play like Ben Affleck, Tobey McGwire and Brad Pitt (he plays a teacher to bratty celebrity kids in Ocean's Eleven).

I hope Norm gets another invite. I like him LOTS!

[Maveno]

I agree with you John. Enough with these players who've played CPS already.
Regardless though, I'll still watch.

[ChefWinduAZ]

I hope there is a Season 5 and then when that has finished they have a show where they bring back the champs from all five seasons and the winner of that game is the ultimate Celebrity Poker Showdown Champion.

[Boredom]

That would work, but some people have gotten to the final table twice (aka David Cross). If he hadn't gotten back, though, it would have worked wonderfully.

[splatty]

Well, I'm just addicted to this show. For now, I'm not sick of the returnees, but we'll see if it gets old come season 5.

[paulvons]

Well, I really like the game itself so it doesn't matter that much to me who they have on or if they have players return. I just don't think they should have celebrities on who are so unfamiliar with the game that they need help getting through almost every hand. Thanks