tried to watch the recent snooker, but ruined again by endless commentator yapping

[timseal]

I am getting pretty annoyed with the commentary.
They repeat themselves an awful lot. I can predict what they are going to say sometimes - someone (no, it wasn't Maguire) knocked the cushion after missing an easy ball.. I knew that Michael Holt was going to be mentioned shortly afterwards. They talked about him like it was the first time they'd ever had that conversation.
Virgo is the worst, he makes a lot of mistakes. (I find myself grumbling "No John, the black WILL pot, it is quite obvious..")
Griffiths and Taylor are probably the best.
Do you think the BBC are trying to make it more of a Test Match Special kind of thing? I love TMS but that stuff won't work for snooker. It's not that kind of game.

Oh, and Eurosport (the British commentary anyway) is far worse in my opinion. It sounds like they are under a mandate to keep talking as much as possible, whether they have anything decent to say or not.

[magicman]

Commentating is a goldilocks scenario where it needs to be 'just right.' Willie is knowledgable but talks incessantly, Virgo makes too many mistakes, and generally whoever is talking less is more imo. What irritates me is when the camera angle alters to see the object ball dropping into the pocket when the huge amount of side or controlled path of the white is the 'interesting' part of the shot. So many times we see a cut away when I want to see the cueball Sometimes a pocket camera is fine if the white is just stunning off for position, but twenty times a frame we miss the level of control shown by the players on the cueball because the director doesn't know snooker!

[timseal]

What irritates me is when the camera angle alters to see the object ball dropping into the pocket when the huge amount of side or controlled path of the white is the 'interesting' part of the shot. So many times we see a cut away when I want to see the cueball Sometimes a pocket camera is fine if the white is just stunning off for position, but twenty times a frame we miss the level of control shown by the players on the cueball because the director doesn't know snooker!

YES. I couldn't agree more.
The worst example is the closeup shot of a ball as it rolls across the cloth, from the side angle! It's surely very difficult camera work, but absolutely pointless as the viewer sees no context at all. The whole crowd can see what is happening, but on TV we don't have a clue until the last tenth of a second when the pocket leaps into view.

It happens on cricket too, someone hits a ball towards the boundary but the TV keeps us in suspense by not revealing a fielder's presence until the last possible moment.

Surely TV is supposed to be able to give us a better view, not creating false suspense to trick us into finding it exciting?

They have a great overhead camera that gets about one minute of air time per tournament. I suggest that viewers would benefit from a lot more use of this kind of perspective.

And, as we all know, don't move on the shot until the ball goes in the pocket!

(disclaimer: I've been fuming about this for a while, but not had an appropriate chance to vent.)

[the montrealer]

hi i like the comments made by Dennis Taylor he certainly knows which shot the player is about to play and very funny at times.

[magicman]

I'll qualify what I'm about to say by commenting that I like the humour shown by presenters/commentators, BUT there are situations occurring now when the crowd laugh when a player is at the table. This must be disconcerting for the pro and I've seen players actually on the shot, feathering the cueball, when the audience spontaneously erupt into laughter because of some commentators quip. Well out or order imo. Keep the humour by all means, but be aware of when it's appropriate to share your wit with the world!

[Nigel1982]

I've watched snooker on both BBC and Eurosport (UK version) and the commentary on BBC is better by a country mile. It's embarrassing listening to the commentary on Eurosport as time and time again they keep calling the next shot wrong.

In a sport like Darts, it's okay to have someone like Sid Waddell (even though i'm not a huge fan of him myself) because the sport is fast paced and it doesn't require too much thinking behind it. In snooker, it's so much more tactical and the average snooker fan might not be able to identify certain situations in the match, what the next shot maybe or where the player is trying to position the cue ball etc. That is why it's so important to have someone who knows what they are talking about to explain it to the casual viewer. I agree with most on here that Dennis Taylor is a fantastic commentator and so is some of the others such as Terry Griffiths, John Virgo, Steve Davis and even Ken Doherty. For me, I want the commentator to explain why a particular shot is good or bad, why a player played one shot rather than another. It's good to have a professional/ex-pro's point of view for me to gain an insight as to what a pro might be thinking in a certain situation.

Willie Thorne on the other hand, is a terrible commentator. I really don't need to hear from him in every tournament about how good a player he was on the practice table. It's not about you Willie.

[Harv]

Willie 'full ball contact' Thorne is a legend. Every time we go to the masters we end up chatting to him in the bookies lol

Also when he commentates nearly every shot is 'wrong' then when it works and the player has perfect position he's like 'oh well this time it turned out ok'

LMAO legend.

[Sayaka]

I cannot bear John Virgo, he wrecks every frame for me with his stupid "WHERE'S THE CUE BALL GOING?!", and wittering on and on and on incessantly. If there are two matches on at the same time, I use him to decide which one to watch - ie the one he isn't commentating on. In the last Worlds he made some terrible personal comments about Stephen Hendry about how he was too old etc - just before Stephen did his wonderful 147 which shut Virgo up for once (hooray!)

Dennis Taylor on the other hand is excellent - I love his commentary. Very knowledgeable and knows when to be quiet to allow us to enjoy a good break-build etc.

[brendan147]

Dennis Taylor on the other hand is excellent - I love his commentary. Very knowledgeable and knows when to be quiet to allow us to enjoy a good break-build etc.

He is former World Champion and he know what he want to talk about/silent. It is the best when he do the commentary together with Steve Davis.

Keep it up Taylor...!!!

[legod]

I love the commentary and I think Willie Thorne is great.
Can't understand what all the fuss is about.

[csmarkus]

For me, the commentary produces 50-60% of the value. I like them all, Mike Hallett and Joe Johnson on Eurosport and all the former players commentating on BBC. Unfortunately, I can only receive Eurosport with Hungarian commentary and it is a joke for anyone knowing a little about the game.

So, if anyone is unsatisfied with the BBC commentary, send the sound to me please.

[cantpotforshíte]

John Virgo is the only one that I absoutely cannot listen to. My cat knows more about snooker than he does. Like another poster mentioned here, I find myself constantly talking back at the TV - 'No it won't', 'No he isn't', 'Actually you're wrong again- he's not playing for that ...' And he doesn't know when to shut up and let the play do the talking. Truly abysmal commentator.

I can bear Willie Thorne because he calls the shots, from a break building perspective, very well indeed. It's a pity about his conceit/insecurities or whatever it is that makes him so overly critical - that can be a bit onerous at times.

The rest of the bunch, I like.
Everton and Griffiths are pure class. Taylor is good, And I'm hoping to hear a lot more from Darren Morgan. These four know when to keep quiet and let us enjoy the good stuff.

[spike]

Neil Foulds is one of my favourite commentators these days, though he has done little commentary for the BBC of late it seems. Maybe this has something to do with Ken Doherty, Steve Davis and John Parrott who are spending more time in the commentary box..

[hotpot]

I think its time for a change from Parrot and Davis now , it needs revitalising as good as they both are and are legends of the game I think its time for new faces . I would like to see a rotational systems to give all a crack at it

[jaguarf1]

I always wondered how would it be if Mike Strutter commented snooker