13-01-2024, 03:52 PM
(13-01-2024, 03:44 AM)RhysJR Wrote: Seema Jaswal starting the week on primetime ITV (The FA Cup draw) and ending it on primetime BBC. Shaun Murphy was tonight's pundit and on air at close to 00:30 despite him having to play at 13:00 today.
I'm still not sure how to judge active players being pundits/commentators on tournaments they are playing in; on one hand, I'd rather them concentrate on their playing and preperations, but on the other it adds a different perspective and more recent experience to the coverage, which should be a positive. It hasn't done any harm to the two player-pundits this week as they have both made the semi-finals
On Seema she presented the FA Cup draw last Monday evening on ITV then presented the snooker highlights after Newsnight on BBC Two
As for snooker pundits the BBC is damned if they do or don't, they got complaints a few years ago from Judd Trump himself they had no current players then they got the likes of Trump himself, Kyren Wilson & Jack Lisowski involved in the World Championship. Most of those names are still involved but they don't commentate until they go out of the tournament. Mark Allen did some matches early in the week on the Masters but he wasn't due to start until Wednesday and as for Murphy he seems to be the only one involved the whole way through and he seemed to replace Alan McManus when he went exclusively to Eurosport. Hendry has said on his excellent cue tips channel he doesn't know how Murphy does it where he can commentate in the morning at the Crucible and play in the evening. He made the point Murphys recent TV tournament wins were on ITV when he hasn't been commentating.