Vegas

I binge watched Vegas and really enjoyed the blast from the Sixties. The plot was suspenseful, most episodes were taut and compelling. A few weak spots. Quaid, physically perfect for the Sheriff role, was very hammy in that role. He's a solid, charismatic actor; needed to be reined in (can't avoid the pun) here. The character of his youngest son was irritating--basically a hormonal nincompoop totally wrong as a sheriff's deputy. Not the fault of the actor who played it with energy and soul, just the writing. The mobster characters and story lines were just great, the working of the casino fascinating and true to life. Carrie Ann Moss, Michael Chiklis, and Sarah Jones were wonderful in their roles. I enjoyed this season, could have happily watched more, too bad.

The sets and costuming really made me feel like I was looking at photos from my childhood. And Ralph Lamb had been a personal hero of mine. I look forward to some interesting, if fictionalized stories of the early days when the test site was bombing above ground and most of the Las Vegas Vally was ranch land. I have hopes for this show, providing the writers are as good as the actors they've acquired for it.

If anyone is interested in old Las Vegas and how it was, I also recommend watching DESERT BLOOM with JoBeth Williams and Jon Voigt. The emergency drill scene in this movie made my mom cry because she remembered doing the sane drills growing up here.

I respectfully suggest that 3 members of a family, all who live on a ranch together, would not be likely to wear 3 different hat styles in the American West. Rancher-turned-sheriff Ralph, purportedly a former rodeo competitor, wears a pinch front (not a rodeo man's style), his brother, also a rancher, wears a cattleman (spot on for a rancher), and Ralph'S son sports a bull rider crown, but I am not aware of his claiming any rodeo experience.

A hat is not just apparel in the West, it says who you are, what you do and where you are from, so I would expect these fellows to all wear the same style hat. I like the show, but it is distracting in this era of authenticity to see such a mistake in what you call "wardrobe," but I call "gear!" Perhaps it is time to engage an expert on Western customs.

"Vegas" has everything you need for a good, old police story. Based on true events that follow the life and work of the sheriff of Las Vegas. All the characters in the series are clearly defined, without unnecessary drama nonsense. It is a Lamb sheriff, who was for many years the sheriff in Las Vegas since the first casino to mid seventies. Dennis Quaid portrays a rancher who became a sheriff and who catches the first time in the fight against organized crime, sexual predators and maniacs at the time far, far from that described in the CSI: Las Vegas. No microscope, DNA laboratories. There are only a fist, shotgun and boot in the butt.

Vegas is real entertainment. Not the typical TV show that airs most of the time, it has a real story and real characters set in a real place and time. It escapes the foul locker room humor of the so called comedy. It doesn't follow the CBS worn out cop show procedural plot lines. What it does do is present a place and time that are different from every other New York grimy modern day cop show loaded with violence. While it deals with the mob and with law and order it does so in a way that is artfully crafted by the writers. It weaves it's plot in and around the Vegas that was just beginning to grow and not the neon metropolis that exists now. The writers touch on bits and pieces of Vegas history that are nicely blended with the storyline. But most of all Vegas presents a cast of characters played by excellent talent that the viewers are just now beginning to build a relationship with as the season progresses. Interrupted by debates, the election, Hurricane Sandy, and other events, this show is just beginning to get in the saddle. Given a fair shot this is a great show just beginning to emerge from the rest of the worn out fare of nighttime television.