Las Vegas

Big, loud, brash, fun -- just like the city...Hits the jackpot. [22 Sept 2003, p.1E]

Created by Gary Scott Thompson ("The Fast and the Furious"), Las Vegas appears to have all the ingredients of a compulsively watchable guilty pleasure. [22 Sept 2003, p.D01]

Sometimes it takes a little while for a show to hit its stride, and watching Las Vegas for the first half of its first season was a crapshoot. ... So the series pumped up the guest-star quotient. That's when the fun began, around the turn of this year, when people as diverse as Paris Hilton, Sean Astin, Dennis Hopper, and Sugar Ray's Mark McGrath began showing up.

Las Vegas is as flattering to companies like the MGM Mirage Inc. as "The Love Boat" once was to Princess Cruises. Yet the show still manages to be slick, fast-paced and engaging, a remake of the remake of "Ocean's Eleven," in which all the good-looking people work for the casino, not against it.

The multiplicity of story lines and characters turns Las Vegas into a complex undertaking, but Caan, Duhamel and their excellent castmates make it work, brilliantly. [22 Sept 2003, p.4E]

Of the 36 new network shows premiering this fall, Las Vegas is among the more promising. [22 Sept 2003, p.B7]

Certainly, anyone looking for fast-paced, neon-lit entertainment will find Las Vegas one of the season's surprisingly better bets.

It has a zest, from the voice-over to the sharp writing and sexy cast, that was completely unexpected. Duhamel has star appeal, and Caan is can't-miss.

It doesn't always feel realistic, but it works on its own terms: What happens in Las Vegas stays in "Las Vegas." [22 Sept 2003, p.42]

Much of the tone is supplied by an acting ensemble that keeps it light and unforced, combined with some sharp editing. There's a bit too much voiceover, all from Duhamel's McCoy, but it is effective in establishing his mindset. Las Vegas, like the city itself, has guilty pleasure written all over it.

While there's nothing particularly compelling or memorable about Las Vegas, it is an undeniably fun action romp with an appealing cast. [22 Sept 2003]