Pocket pool is very popular.
Grab a Brew.

And Jonathan Winters!

saw a great Twilight Zone episode the other day called 'a game of pool' with jack klugman which was terrific.
Will have to see if I can hunt that down.

I've played a lot of pool in Manhattan (some of my family live there). They have different rules and some variations of 8-ball pool but the average player there is inferior to those who play in UK. They have an obsession with hitting the ball as hard as they can, even when these is no need or advantage to be gained from doing so. Subtlety doesn't rule there.
Too late to die Young

Yes. Loved him. I'm not offended by comics who swear, but he was hilarious without having to cuss.

Again, if they do, they aren't places most average people frequent. In my younger days, I wasn't a bar-hopper, but I did make it to most of the ones in the town I used to live - population appx 50,000.
Most places didn't have any pool tables, and the ones which did were pretty much dives.

And, most bars which have pool tables are not places where the average person is going to go.
Huh? I would estimate that more than 50% of the bars in the US have at least one pool table. It is very popular in the US, just not watched a lot on television.
GO
SIXERS
!!!
Phillies
Fly
Eagles
Fly

And, most bars which have pool tables are not places where the average person is going to go.
Little bit similar in Britain, pubs/bars with pool tables normally have a bad reputation, but are usually handy for picking up drugs without getting ripped off!
To play on a full sized snooker table though you have to go to a club, they're just too big for bars. It surprising though the people you see attending snooker tournaments in the audience, women in their 80s and stuff like that, people you would never see in a million years in a snooker club.

No, it is just a niche activity. In the 1970's and 1980's it was real cool to have a pool-table. But, things have changed and people would rather have game rooms with video games or home theaters rather than have a huge portion of your basement taken up by a pool table.
And, most bars which have pool tables are not places where the average person is going to go.

I think it's just that they're not good at it. Their insistence on wearing full body pads and helmet hinders the American players ability to perform to the standards of their European counterparts.

It's real popular at bars. Not much to watch on TV. I agree, I also hate all these damn poker tournaments on sports channels.

I think the thing with poker (and I'm a massive fan and player FWIW) is that you really have to have some knowledge of the game to be into it. But yes you are right about your assumptions, though there is far less money around than there used to be since black friday (where the yanks were banned from playing online, although they can in New jersey and Nevada now). So there are actually less poker tv shows now, far less.

Yeah, poker is a dreadful game to watch! I guess it is cheap to televise and presumably they get a lot sponsorship money from the poker sites.

It's popular but not as a spectator sport. I'm still trying to figure out why there are so many poker shows.
The future is in the hands of a man who has none.
(As in no future, as opposed to no hands.)

I'm thinking it isn't.