Thursday, September 11, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury

Cover story: Reality check TV

Murder, theft, addiction--TV finally gets Vegas right

By Andrew Kiraly

Somewhere in heaven, Dan Tanna is leaning on the hood of his '57 Thunderbird--parked in the middle of his warehouse office at the Desert Inn, of course--looking down on Las Vegas and wondering what the hell happened over the past two decades. Themed casinos, corporations, blue men, roller coasters, dance clubs? The "Vega$" lead man shakes his handsomely shaggy head in wonder.

Reality happened, that's what, and Sept. 22's premiere of "Las Vegas"--starring James Caan, Nikki Cox, Molly Sims and enough hunks and hotties to fill out three daytime soaps--will seal the deal. When the slick primetime drama, perhaps outhyped only by Pepsi Vanilla, hits TVs nationwide, it'll complete a triptych of shows that might be said to reflect a new Vegas.

No, no, no, not "New Vegas"--that sounds too much like a buzzword--but just "new Vegas," i.e., a city happily amenable to a realistic portrayal: its crimes and fictions, fixations and addictions. Along with "Lucky" and "CSI," "Las Vegas" reflects a city that, on the verge of its 100th anniversary, is at least acting a lot more grown up these days. Consider: Our "What Happens Here, Stays Here" ad campaign is generating heavy buzz (and--ha ha!--offending milquetoast locals); we've got a nice, seedy political corruption scandal brewing--an ugly but unmistakable earmark of big-city cred; and we've finally got some Vegas-based TV shows that don't involve a blazer-clad P.I. rescuing dancers in distress every episode. Er, no offense to you or your hair, Mr. Tanna.

It's not exactly a Golden Age, but Vegas' TV rep is finally getting some substance instead of the same old slickness.

"The thing that's great about Las Vegas is it doesn't pretend to be anything other than what it is," says Jon Hein, creator of the popular TV website Jumptheshark.com. "As long as 'CSI' continues to be No. 1, you'll see Vegas-based shows left and right popping up. And if 'Las Vegas' does well, it'll definitely open the floodgates for a whole lot of different Vegas stuff."

What happens here,

slays here

Las Vegas has always been a lure for the big and small screen. But, barring "Vega$," there hadn't been a show inextricably associated with Las Vegas until "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" debuted on CBS in October 2000. Not only did the intense, brainy drama unleash a deluge of forensics-fixated imitators, but many credit it with sparking anew the nation's ever-smoldering fascination with Las Vegas. And to think that Hollywood execs originally tried talking "CSI" creator and executive producer Anthony Zuiker out of locating the show in his hometown.

"Putting it in Las Vegas was always my first choice," says Zuiker. "People did try to talk me out of it. 'Could you try this show in New York? Chicago? Does it have to be Las Vegas?' My answer was always yes. Why would it be Las Vegas? Because I know the town."

Like Gil Grissom knows forensics, it turns out. "The first thing they asked me when I pitched the pilot was, 'Could you write 100 episodes?'" Zuiker says. "The answer, of course, had to be yes. The reason why is because I've been here for 32 1/2 years. I grew up in town, went to Woodbury Junior High, to Chaparral High School [class of 1986], because we used to play crapless craps at Caesars or hang out at the Golden Nugget for $2 steaks and go to Odyssey Records. When you know the town that well, you can very easily bring a freshness and newness to television in terms of Vegas because you know all the ins and outs."

Many chalk up the enduring success of "CSI" not only to people's fascination with detective work, but to the show's sense of place--or, rather, how that sense of place stays integral to the show without hogging the spotlight.

"During Vegas' late-'90s 'bring your kids phase,' 'CSI' wouldn't have worked in that sort of environment," says Hein. "You need that implied seediness that says, 'This is what happens after dark in Las Vegas.' In that sense, Vegas is a great place to set the show. Vegas has an inherent sense of drama and characters are easy to build there. Then again, you have to have a good show. I don't think setting 'Whoopi' in Las Vegas is going to help it out any."

On the other hand, "Lucky" couldn't be set anywhere else. The Emmy-nominated FX drama--which was recently canceled despite a vocal cult following and ratings that weren't criminal--reveled gleefully in Vegas' shadows. Main character Michael "Lucky" Linkletter (John Corbett of My Big Fat Greek Wedding fame) is a charming character--and an essentially cynical creation: a down-and-out professional gambler trying to kick his card jones, who discovers he can best help others through gambling. Only in Vegas could there exist a saint who performs good works by embracing his sins. It should come as no surprise that creators Mark and Robb Cullen have whole branches of family tree that make a living at the tables. Though "Lucky" won't be back for another season, the show's subversive take on Las Vegas--and its rainbow coalition of thugs, mercenaries and con artists--might get a second life in the rerun circuit.

And if it rankled the city's casino suits or mild suburbanites who constantly remind us that (groan) families live here, Jeanne Corcoran, production manager for the Nevada Film Office, has her own mantra: Hey, whether it's "Lucky" or "Malcolm in the Middle" shooting its season opener here, it's free advertising. She sees in the recent spate of shows that reveal Vegas' not-so-neon underbelly a source of enduring fascination for the rest of America--and a confirmation of Vegas' newly embraced adult-playground status.

"The old adage 'There's no such thing as bad publicity' really applies here," she says. "Vegas has a naughty mystique, and with ad campaigns like 'What Happens Here, Stays Here,' we're discovering it's a marketable mystique. If TV shows play off that as well, that's even better." While gaming execs might blanch and squirm at, say, "Las Vegas'" image of casino security honchos having no problem roughing up poker cheats, in their own way, they're following suit with their move toward a Las Vegas more in touch with grown-up realities.

"If you look at what's going on on a corporate level, most of the major properties are skewing toward more adult-oriented entertainment," says Corcoran. "We're getting back to a sexier, more sizzling Las Vegas. And if the TV shows take this and run with it a little, the portrayal might not always be positive, but it will be memorable."

Free advertising?

If that's the case, then "Las Vegas" is set to be a bonanza of Vegas boosterism--gritty, primetime drama style, of course. Then again, some tube mavens are already raising eyebrows at the show's approach; they wonder how long the unabashedly flashy program will remain in the game.

"When I saw the promo for 'Las Vegas' that said it was starring Las Vegas as itself, I definitely thought that might be a problem," says Hein. "If they do that, I think it can become cliche very quickly, and I don't think it'll work if they do that. I've only seen one episode, and I could see it going that way. But I hope it doesn't."

Zuiker himself has seen his share of Vegas-based scripts that don't dazzle so much as daze. "When you read scripts by people who aren't from Vegas, you can really tell the difference," he says. "They go right to the cliche, right to the Strip, right to the dance club, right to the high-roller. That can carry an episode, but it can't carry a series."

With "Las Vegas," only air time will tell. But during a summer press tour promoting the show, "Las Vegas" executive producer and creator Gary Scott Thompson hinted that the show won't be all neon and naughtiness.

"[T]hat's one of the things we're trying to accomplish, is that these people actually live in Las Vegas," he said. "So to see things outside of the hotel and casinos as well, what their lives are like, their family lives, their homes, what they do on an everyday basis. Everyone just thinks of Vegas as that Strip. It's almost 2 million people now, and it's spread out through the whole valley."

The second episode, he said, will deal with gambling addiction. Said James Caan, who will play Ed Deline, security boss for the Montecito hotel-casino: "Addictiveness is addictiveness...I know I've read in some states now where they claim video poker...it's worse than alcohol."

So, gaming suits and execs, maybe you shouldn't expect "Las Vegas" to be a star-spangled infomercial for all things Vegas.

"Every city has light and dark, every city has good and bad," says Corcoran. "Sometimes the bad is what people find most fascinating. 'Las Vegas' looks like a very stylish, fast-paced, character-driven, high-style soap opera, and that's a good thing. If L.A. could live with 'Beverly Hills 90210,' we should be able to live with 'Las Vegas.'"

Get real

Some predict the success or failure of "Las Vegas" will determine whether others decide to gamble on their own Vegas-based shows. Corcoran says that two pilots--one of them for a major network--are gearing up to shoot here. But even if the Vegas trend folds, the state film office will still make decent coin on the constant stream of reality TV and game shows that hit town. Household names such as "Street Smarts," "Monster Garage," "Trigger Happy TV" (and not-so-household names such as "I'd Do Anything," "Tattoo You," "The Wife Swap" and "Rich Guy, Poor Guy") regularly parachute into town to take advantage of one of Vegas' more overlooked resources: people.

"We're ideal for reality TV," says Corcoran. "We have 37 million different people circulating through here every year, and that's a rich resource for producers. Plus, you just can't fake Las Vegas."

That's what drew John Axelson, who along with Barbara Weintraub produces "Diva Detectives," set to air next month on the Women's Entertainment network. The reality show follows the adventures of three female P.I.s on the job.

"Shooting it in Las Vegas was like adding another character to the show," Axelson says. "`Diva Detectives' is a people-driven, story-driven show, and Las Vegas gave us a great cross-section of people. You've got people who are new, people who have been there for a long time, people who are desperate, the whole gamut. And for some reason, it's pretty easy to find all of them in Las Vegas. Vegas served all the different masters it had to serve."

Even this humble reality show--highlighted by one episode when the divas retrieve a cherished dog from a woman's mean ex-boyfriend--might show viewers some things they won't find in travel guides.

"One thing really surprised me above all," says Axelson. "I had no idea you guys had a monsoon season."