Despite the popularity of billiards on television, the US networks have not looked kindly on it. For many years, billiards was not a popular game to be played on television, but with the advent of The Hustler movie in 1961, it began to get a bit more attention. The popularity of billiards increased dramatically after the movie, and organized billiards exploded in the 1960s.
The Hustler starred Jackie Gleason and was a smash hit. He played the role of Minnesota Fats in the movie. The number of billiards rooms in America doubled after the film was released. The movie had a huge impact on organized billiards' popularity. In fact, by the mid-60s, billiards was on television.
Ten-Twenty, the first billiards game program on television, was it. Frank Oliva, a billiards evangelist, developed the game. It was a variation to the classic 14-1 straight game of pool. The game was timed so that each player could score 10 point per inning. 100 points was the ideal match score. The game consisted 8 innings of play. The eighth inning was where the players could try to score 20 more points.
In the early 1960s, Frank Oliva decided to bring the game of pool out of the basement of pool halls, and started a billiards game show called Ten-Twenty. The show featured professional billiards players as well as celebrities competing against one another. The scores were calculated based on the score of each snooker player.
Cisero Murphy was among those who participated in the billiards program. The show also featured amateur "pool sharks" like "Cowboy" Jimmy Moore, Jimmy Caras, and Dennis Orcollo.
This show was a big hit and billiards became very popular on television. However, billiards became less popular in the 1970s and 1980s. By then, there were fewer billiards games on television. The return of billiards to television was possible only with the 2005 launch Ballbreakers. Ballbreakers lasted one year, and made a lot of mistakes. The show's decision not to allow contestants to take more than one shot made it look like a sketch comedy show. However, the show ended in failure and was eventually cancelled.
In the mid-1970s, the billiards game show Pick Pockets also made a big impact. Jimmy O'Connor, the host of the show, was a fun and jovial character. Although the show was old-fashioned, it had charm. The show featured several celebrities including Sid Caesar, Mickey Rooney, and Little Joey Canton. Willie "Mr. Pocket Billilliards" Mosconi was the show's star. He is considered to be the greatest pool player ever. He also set a straight pool world mark in 1954. He won the World Straight Pool Championship 15 times.
There were also several celebrities who played billiards, including Sid Caesar, Bill Cosby and Buddy Hackett. The show also featured a $1000 charity prize.