Does late night poker appeal to those who might like to take up poker but haven't yet? Maybe Stewart Rueben could comment authoritatively on this?
Provided it was tightly edited and presented (a Steve Davis / Andrew Martin double act) then chess could work provided that :
The games were Blitz or bullet with a commentary.
There was some focus on the individual players and that those chosen were socially acceptable to Joe Public.
There was interactive betting functionality on the blitz games
There was a beginners feature of around 5 minutes
There was a glamour element maybe with Kostenuik comparing the show.
Perhaps a feature on a recent exotically located tournament by Judith Chalmers (!)
In short, with enough variety and not too much technical chess (nothing on Q vs R endings for example) it could be made to work.
John
who I thought were measured on the PItman scale. Is it not known if CJ de Mooi would have known the correct answer 
