Philadelphia Inquirer - Double trouble: ESPN darts show falters; fans say it misses mark

Philadelphia Inquirer - Double trouble: ESPN darts show falters; fans say it misses mark: "Double trouble: ESPN darts show falters; fans say it misses mark
By Jeff McLane
Inquirer Staff Writer

To Bill Davis, it was like he never got a chance to pull his own darts.

To ESPN, the darts thrown were nowhere near the bull's-eye.

Just three episodes into the eight-episode arc of the World Series of Darts, ESPN pulled the rookie series from its key 7 p.m. Tuesday time slot last week.

For Davis, a world-class darts player featured in the first hourlong show, and for the growing fraternity of American darts players, the prime-time exposure was just the jolt the game needed.

But so-so ratings - a 0.4, which equates to 334,900 households - didn't justify having the World Series of Darts as a lead-in to the hugely popular World Series of Poker (a 1.0 rating), according to ESPN.

And now the WSOD finds itself without a permanent home while Davis and his brethren question ESPN's presentation of the game they love and cherish."