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Sin City is getting another shot at the small screen.
And this time the angle will be a retro theme, as in let's go back 52 years.
The latest incarnation of Las Vegas as backdrop for a TV show is a new program called simply "Vegas," which premieres on American television on Tuesday, September 25, 2012, at 10 p.m. ET on CBS.
The setting for the show is Las Vegas in the year 1960, when things were just getting started in the town that would eventually become the world's capital of gambling.
Ranchers still owned most of the land in the area, casinos were few and wanted to multiply, and organized crime was rapidly descending to get its share of the coming money pie.
Add it all up and the mix becomes an explosive cauldron of personalities, plots and action--in TV genre terms, it's part Western and part crime drama, with a pinch of sitcom sprinkled in.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, in a preview of the show, described it thusly: "Randy Quaid stars in 'Vegas' as Ralph Lamb, a real-life Las Vegas sheriff whose own adventures in law enforcement inspired the series. Viewers meet Lamb as he gallops after an airplane that spooks his cattle herd. All the man wants to do is ranch in peace, but he's quickly called upon by the city's mayor, who served with Lamb in World War II, to investigate the murder of the Nevada governor's niece after Las Vegas' sheriff goes AWOL. By the pilot's end, Lamb has the job permanently.
"The plane that so annoyed Lamb also brings to town his future nemesis, mobster Vincent Savino, played by Michael Chiklis, who's come to check on his investment in the Savoy Casino, which is not making money. Lamb and Savino tussle (as) the mayor and district attorney appear to be in the pockets of Savino and other casino owners."
Also starring in the show are Carrie-Ann Moss, Jason O'Mara and Taylor Handley.
So what are the new program's chances of breaking through the clutter of the 500-channel TV universe and breaking out as a bonafide TV hit?
As they say in Vegas, bet the ranch on it!
That's because, in general, television shows about Las Vegas are usually successful.
Probably the best-known Vegas-themed TV show was the one called "Vega$," not to be confused with the new show of the same name but different spelling.
"Vega$" ran three seasons, from 1978-81, on ABC, and starred Robert Urich as Dan Tanna, a casino house detective who cruised the Strip in a signature red 1957 Thunderbird, solving crimes and occasionally mixing it up with local Mafiosi trying to muscle the casino.
More recently, a show called "Las Vegas" ran for five seasons, from 2003-08, on NBC.
For the first four years of its run, the program starred washed up movie actor James Caan as a mob-connected, retired CIA operative brought in to run a failing Vegas casino.
The prickly Caan had enough after four seasons and was replaced in the cast for Season No. 5 by a new casino boss played by Tom Selleck.
Unfortunately, viewers didn't take to the replacement and ratings sagged, leading to the show's cancellation.
A reality TV show called "Pawn Stars," about the day-to-day activities at a Las Vegas pawn shop, currently airs on the History Channel and is the top-rated program on cable television and one of the top-rated shows in all of TV.
By Tom Somach
Gambling911.com Staff Writer
