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So is "Vegas" a winner or a loser?
No, not the City of Las Vegas, that's been a winner for years.
We mean the new TV show that debuted on CBS Tuesday night about Las Vegas in the year 1960.
Gambling911.com watched the premiere episode Tuesday along with the rest of America and our verdict is:
Winner!
The one-hour primetime drama was a bit cartoonish at times, such as in one early scene where a cattle rancher played by Dennis Quaid fights and defeats six attackers at once, just like Batman did in another TV series that actually aired in the 1960s.
And "Vegas" wasn't short on Las Vegas-style cliches, either, portraying everything from buxom showgirls and naughty cocktail waitresses to crooked casino dealers and classic mobster casino bosses.
But the bottom line was that the program was highly entertaining and kept you watching, which means good ratings, which means the show should make money, which means it likely will stay on the air for a while.
And it appears as if America agrees with our thumbs-up verdict.
After the premiere, CBS announced that the episode not only won its time slot, it was watched by a whopping 14.7 million viewers in the U.S., the best debut numbers for a CBS drama in 10 years.
In addition, CBS said, "Vegas" also won the hour with the most households watching (9.3 million), the highest percentage of households watching (15%) and, perhaps most importantly, because that's what the advertisers crave, the most viewers aged 18-49 watching (2.5 million).
The key, of course, will be the ratings for the show's second week.
If the second week's numbers exceed the first week's, then that means the show is definitely a hit, as almost everybody who watched the first week watched again the second week, plus word of mouth from those first-week watchers spurred friends, relatives and colleagues who didn't watch the first episode to tune in for the second.
But, if the second week's ratings are down from the first week's, then that means the show is likely toast--as in it's done--because it would indicate that many people who watched the first week out of curiosity didn't like what they saw and didn't watch the next week, plus that there wasn't too much positive word of mouth bringing in new viewers.
When it comes to television ratings, they are just like a game of craps or roulette or any other Vegas casino game.
There's no sure thing.
By Tom Somach
Gambling911.com Staff Writer
