Loose Slots, Looser Screenplay
I’m not sure if I’ll end up writing a full review of Las Vegas. After all, I’ve only been to the town once, and Phil and Lisa go there all the time — heck, they even got married there. And Lisa is the show’s official recapper, so I guess a review from her is unlikely.
In any event, I watched the Las Vegas pilot. This time of year, I’m reminded that pilots really make terrible episodes in terms of judging how a show’s going to turn out. After all, they’re spiked with exposition and designed to sell a series to network execs, not to viewers. So it goes with Vegas — too many characters, too much explanation, and way too much drama of the over-the-top sort. I thought Nikki Cox was really good, but her scenes with Josh Duhamel were ridiculous and redundant. (“It’s the family business! The family business!”) Duhamel also bears a striking resemblance to Farscape’s Ben Browder — even more than Chuck from Amazing Race 4 — which kept creeping me out.
James Caan was, of course, James Caan. If there’s anything that bodes well for this series, it’s that.