Premiering Tonight: "Viva Laughlin"

By Jason Snell – October 18, 2007

Viva Laughlin (CBS, Sundays at 8, special tonight): Ripley Holden (Lloyd Owen) wants to open a big Vegas-style casino in downscale Laughlin, Nevada. Millionaire Nicky Fontana (Hugh Jackman) and Ripley’s mistress Bunny (Melanie Griffith) are conniving to ruin him. There’s also a dead body in his casino and two detectives (Eric Winter and D.B. Woodside) are on the case, threatening to blow Ripley’s family apart. Oh, and did I mention that everybody lip-syncs and dances in a series of musical numbers?

Don’t get me wrong, I love — love — the BBC’s Blackpool (aired in America as Viva Blackpool), which mixed romance and crime and, yes, lip-synced musical numbers, with stunning flair.

This show? Not so much.