Vegas
CBS | Release Date: September 25, 2012
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
68
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 30 Critic Reviews
Positive:
21
Mixed:
9
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Stream On
Buy on

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
People WeeklyTom GliattoNov 28, 2012
Season 1 Review: One of the fall's best new dramas. [26 Nov 2012, p.48]
70
Denver PostJoanne OstrowSep 25, 2012
Season 1 Review: Vegas is likely to be successful simply because, at heart, it's a CBS crime procedural with cowboy threads. Read full review
60
Zap2it (Inside the Box)Rick PorterSep 25, 2012
Season 1 Review: Where the show stumbles a little is in the case itself. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)Matt Zoller SeitzSep 25, 2012
Season 1 Review: Vegas isn't art and doesn't knock itself out pretending otherwise. But its no-fuss directness is appealing, and Quaid's ropy scowl keeps it centered. Read full review
70
The Huffington PostMaureen RyanSep 25, 2012
Season 1 Review: I'll keep watching, given the caliber of the cast and the solidly made pilot, and I'll hope that Vegas gives these actors more to do than standing over bodies and leveling shotguns at city slickers. Read full review
60
Philadelphia InquirerDavid HiltbrandSep 25, 2012
Season 1 Review: Vegas has a lot of things going for it: star power, period ambience, and a compelling Vegas central conflict. But despite all that, the show doesn't feel like it's hit the jackpot. Read full review
60
Boston GlobeMatthew GilbertSep 25, 2012
Season 1 Review: The debut isn't disastrous by any means, it just doesn't crackle. Read full review
80
Miami HeraldGlenn GarvinSep 25, 2012
Season 1 Review: The new CBS cop drama Vegas--a cross between Gunsmoke, The Untouchables and a Sheriff Joe Arpaio reality show--is wildly entertaining. Read full review
60
Philadelphia Daily NewsEllen GraySep 25, 2012
Season 1 Review: People who like their procedurals with punch--there's plenty of punching, not to mention kicking, in the pilot--might like CBS' period cop show just the way it is. But if I'm going to stay with Vegas, I'm going to need to be wooed a little. Read full review
70
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob OwenSep 25, 2012
Season 1 Review: If Vegas goes the "Good Wife" route and focuses on characters and politics, it could develop into a worthwhile series. Read full review
50
SalonWilla PaskinSep 25, 2012
Season 1 Review: Vegas is not embarrassing. But it is just a gussied-up procedural, which would be fine, if it weren't so blatantly aiming to be something more. Read full review
70
TimeJames PoniewozikSep 25, 2012
Season 1 Review: While the pilot didn't blow me away, there's enough in its premise (the mob comes to Las Vegas in the early '60s), its casting (Michael Chiklis as a gangster and Dennis Quaid as his sheriff adversary) and its seeming ambition that make me more interested in it than in most new shows this fall. Read full review
70
TV Guide MagazineMatt RoushSep 25, 2012
Season 1 Review: It's a solid premise executed with the usual CBS professionalism. Read full review
60
VarietyBrian LowrySep 25, 2012
Season 1 Review: Yet if the premise sets up a promising square-off of titans, the premiere retreats to a rather predictable, time-killing murder mystery, which serves to establish Lamb's new role, but also smacks more of CBS' stodgier procedurals than a character-driven drama. Read full review
67
Boston HeraldMark A. PerigardSep 25, 2012
Season 1 Review: Unlike other period dramas, notably AMC's "Mad Men" and Starz's "Magic City," Vegas doesn't cram the hour with topical references. Here, they're more subtle and jarring. Read full review
75
HitfixAlan SepinwallSep 25, 2012
Season 1 Review: Quaid and Chiklis will keep me watching for a while, but in the long run I'd like to see a more ambitious approach to the material. Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsDavid HinckleySep 25, 2012
Season 1 Review: Chiklis is terrific. Too often, though, Vegas plays like a comic book, without much depth to its characters. Read full review
40
PopMattersLesley SmithSep 25, 2012
Season 1 Review: Some of this talent is visible in the premiere episode's poetic counterbalancing of empty landscapes and claustrophobic casino back-offices, and actors' convincing performances.... When it comes to plotting and scripting, though, Vegas is far less sure-footed. Read full review
88
USA TodayRobert BiancoSep 24, 2012
Season 1 Review: What you end up with may not have the makings of a great drama at the Homeland/Breaking Bad level--but it could produce an extremely entertaining, refreshingly hackney-free weekly procedural, with the crimes playing out against a background of interesting characters and flashy time-travel sets. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesRobert LloydSep 24, 2012
Season 1 Review: It's not a perfect show, but to judge by its pilot, it has good bones and excellent prospects, with a cast that knows just how much fun it can have before it seems as if it is just having fun. Read full review
60
The New York TimesMike HaleSep 24, 2012
Season 1 Review: It's all just window dressing on a standard crime drama, however, and while the pilot sets up running story lines involving the gangster and the officials he controls, they feel squeezed and a little perfunctory. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesLori RacklSep 24, 2012
Season 1 Review: What Vegas lacks in the whodunit department it makes up for with the bigger narrative about a town up for grabs and the two men vying to get their hands on it. Read full review
63
New York PostLinda StasiSep 24, 2012
Season 1 Review: Chiklis chews scenery--in a good, very good way--and Quaid is terrific, but both deserve far better than what they're given here. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleDavid WiegandSep 24, 2012
Season 1 Review: Whether you see the seams or not, though, what matters is that it all works, and we'll keep watching, if only to see Quaid and Chiklis square off against each other week after week. Read full review
67
NewsdayDiane WertsSep 21, 2012
Season 1 Review: CBS' sustained level of series craftsmanship is certainly admirable--their dramas all look sharp and function smoothly--but that doesn't go so far when even a sweeping period piece in a distinct locale with superior stars seems to roll off the same assembly line. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyDarren FranichSep 21, 2012
Season 1 Review: There's plenty to enjoy in this period drama. [28 Sep 2012, p.64]
70
Wall Street JournalNancy DeWolf SmithSep 21, 2012
Season 1 Review: The stage is thus set for an epic showdown between the dogged Lamb and Vincent, under whose calm facade lies a vicious shark of a man. Read full review
75
Uncle BarkyEd BarkSep 20, 2012
Season 1 Review: It has the makings of a damned fine weekly hour of good vs. evil, with Quaid against Chiklis as the crowd-pleasing main event. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterTim GoodmanSep 20, 2012
Season 1 Review: CBS has managed to create a period piece without relying solely on that factor as the cool conceit. Read full review
67
Washington PostHank StueverSep 14, 2012
Season 1 Review: A large supporting cast helps Vegas appear to be compelling and classy. And then CBS lapses into its old habit, as Lamb and company squander all this intriguing potential trying to solve their first of many cases. Read full review
Current TV Shows
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 92 The Pitt: Season 2
2 90 The Celebrity Traitors UK: Season 1
3 88 Rivals
4 87 Hacks: Season 5
5 87 Industry: Season 4
6 87 Genndy Tartakovsky's Primal:...
7 85 The Beatles Anthology
8 85 The Traitors [UK]: Season 4
9 85 Bait: Season 1
10 84 Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!
11 83 Lord of the Flies
12 83 Riot Women: Season 1
13 83 For All Mankind: Season 5
14 81 The Muppet Show (2026)
15 80 Outlander (2014): Season 8
16 80 The Other Bennet Sister: Season 1
17 80 The Mighty Nein: Season 1
18 80 The Comeback: Season 3
19 80 The American Revolution
20 80 One Piece (2023): Season 2
SEE ALL