The new "Vegas" TV Show on CBS

[Alan Mendelson]

I watched the new Vegas TV show on CBS and I was disappointed. I guess my opinion was tainted because I knew in advance that it was shot here in the Los Angeles suburb of Valencia at one of the studios in the City of Santa Clarita. I wanted more about "Vegas" and the movie "Casino" set the bar too high for a TV series about the mob.

Because so many of us know the "real Vegas" it is hard to mesmerize us with any fictional Vegas show or any show that tries to recapture the Vegas that really was in the past.

Rather than an hour of this show, some of the old Travel Channel shows on Vegas gambling, or the history of the hotels would have been more interesting.

Sorry, this show won't have me watching again.

I would like to commend KCBS-TV Channel 2 which did go to LV to interview former mayor and mob lawyer Oscar Goodman about his memories about the mob and Vegas. He's coming out with a book on his life with the mob. Unfortunately the story on Channel 2 News failed to capture the look of the new Vegas today -- comparing it to the Vegas in the TV series. And missing from the Goodman story were his own thoughts about the future of Vegas, and maybe a look at his own restaurant.

[jatki]

We watched it last night because it was set in the early sixties and that's an interesting part of the LV history. The show wasn't that good and the acting was terrible, but the cars were cool. That shot of downtown seemed so computer generated. I won't be watching it again unless it happens to be on wherever I'm at.

[Alan Mendelson]

It wasn't computer generated. They built the street at the studio.

[Vegas Vic]

Watched it online today (was at the Detroit Tiger game last night) and the show was more than acceptable given the intent of the initial episode which was to lay the foundation of how Lamb became the sheriff. Any scenes of casinos / Fremont St. are merely setting pieces at this point in the story and any expectation to see an in-depth look at the casino industry of 1960 (ala the movie Casino) in just one episode will naturally fall short. I don't think the writers and producers made the show for the Vegas history buffs (count me in as being one) but for the casual viewer who has only a present-day knowledge of, let's say, post-Mirage Las Vegas. The acting is certainly not Emmy award caliber but isn't as pathetic as reality TV crap. I will be looking in on future episodes but not next week. I'll actually be in Las Vegas and who goes to Las Vegas to watch a TV show about Las Vegas. :P

[Alan Mendelson]

I saw only two scenes with slot machines. Were those early 1960 slots? I've owned a few mechanical slots over the years but they were from the 1940s and 1930s and smaller in size than what appeared on the TV show.

When the other "Vegas" with the fictional casino Montecito Resort & Casino on NBC was shot at a studio in Culver City, which is also a suburb of Los Angeles near LAX, those were actual, modern slot machines with lights working but NO sound effects. The sound track was added. Customers and dealers and cocktail waitresses were "mouthing" the words in conversations.

[Vegas Vic]

I saw only two scenes with slot machines. Were those early 1960 slots? I've owned a few mechanical slots over the years but they were from the 1940s and 1930s and smaller in size than what appeared on the TV show.

When the other "Vegas" with the fictional casino Montecito Resort & Casino on NBC was shot at a studio in Culver City, which is also a suburb of Los Angeles near LAX, those were actual, modern slot machines with lights working but NO sound effects. The sound track was added. Customers and dealers and cocktail waitresses were "mouthing" the words in conversations.

Interesting back story about that other Vegas program. I was a fan of that show if only to SMH at how preposterous it was that the security staff (all 3 or 4 of them), and the other assorted casino minions all wielded such influential power. I also kept looking for the visual clues as to where the Montecito would be located that particular episode, anywhere from Green Valley Ranch to the Venetian, and sometimes, the casino would magically be moved up and down the Strip in the same show. It was entertaining to be sure.

[Alan Mendelson]

The movie Groundhog Day (1993) was shot at KCAL and in the opening scene you can see a dark haired Alan Mendelson walking through the newsroom exchanging a greeting with another newsroom worker. And you can see other newsroom personnel working on computers, talking and interacting. And it was all silent. Our lips moved and no sounds came out so we wouldn't interfere with the lines of Bill Murray and the other actors. The newsroom sounds were added later.

The newsroom staff was hired to be extras. I think they paid us $35 each and fed us.

And then there was that magical moment when Andie MacDowell's eyes locked with mine...

[Vegas Vic]

The movie Groundhog Day (1993) was shot at KCAL and in the opening scene you can see a dark haired Alan Mendelson walking through the newsroom exchanging a greeting with another newsroom worker.

How many takes for this scene because you kept mugging for the camera?

[Alan Mendelson]

How many takes for this scene because you kept mugging for the camera?

LOL We shot the scene three times. But we waited for the "stars" for more than four hours to come out of their "star trailers" to shoot it.

Gee, you don't want to know about Andie and me?? LOL

[Vegas Vic]

Gee, you don't want to know about Andie and me?? LOL

What, you didn't see the cover story in People magazine that was done back then?

[Vegas Vic]

"You know that 'Vegas' isn't actually filmed in Las Vegas. CBS built a replica outside of L.A. It looks so much like the real thing that Prince Harry turned up naked." - Craig Ferguson