Vega$

This had to be one of the coolest shows on television. The thing that really made it great was the pacing of the show and its mix of the old Las Vegas and what Vegas was becoming. The other thing that made this show what it was were the numerous cameos of some of the brightest stars that would appear in Vegas on a regular basis such as Dean Martin, Wayne Newton and other members of the Vegas elite. However, all the glitz and glamour would never have mattered if it wasn't for the late great Robert Urich who made this role his own.

Vega$...the show where P.I. Dan Tanna drives his car into his living room...Vega$...where Dan Tanna never runs after the bad guy, he walks after him (and still manages to catch up with them) ...Vega$... featuring Tony Curtis as the man who appears in the opening credits and precious little elsewhere in the show...Vega$...where a glitzy showbiz soundtrack and a montage of glittering casino shots actually masks a show about a fairly shabby P.I. surrounded by badly dressed guest stars. I think this show deserves repeating for it was totally unlike any detective show before or since; think CSI meets Magnum P.I. meets Night of a 1000 stars and you get close as to what this show was like.

Great, breezy show whose best feature is that it was filmed on location in fabulous Las Vegas. Created by Spelling-Goldberg productions in the same vein as its previous heavyweight crime series Starsky & Hutch and Charlie's Angels, it featured the same types of plots, music, action and parade of beautiful people and period heavies only now in a much more exciting locale!

Robert Urich was perfectly cast as private detective and Vietnam vet Dan Tanna, replete with a showgirl secretary, Beatrice and bumbling guy Friday, Binzer. Tony Curtis was really only present during the first season as casino owner Philip Roth, whose retainer to watch over his various Vegas hotel holdings basically allowed Dan to do a lot of pro-bono detective work. After appearing in the pilot, Greg Morris didn't join the regular cast as Lt. Dave Nelson until season 2 and then stayed through the series' end effectively replacing Tony Curtis' Roth as the authority figure in Dan's world. And no one could forget Tanna's amazing drive-in pad.

While there seemed to efforts to try and make Tanna a deeper character with complex emotions, we're talking seventies TV, so it was unfulfilled. Things had to be wrapped up with a neat, little bow in an hour with no time wasted on a character's personal struggles. Same thing with the plots which were great on the surface but rarely fully developed. But it was escapism at it's best given the setting and the setup.

Before I begin this commentary of the classic Aaron Spelling series,I wanted to point out that its star actor Robert Urich(who recently passed away of cancer on April 15,2002)who was in several detective/private eye series before premiering on this show which ran from four seasons on the ABC network(from 1978-1981),and to me this one stands out from all the rest. Hard hitting,fast paced with all of the lights,crooks,serial murderers,showgirls,and hard money with a lot of rockem sockem action. Also in this series were Antonio Fargas(aka Huggy Bear on another Aaron Spelling series "Starsky and Hutch")as Urich's right hand man,and also featured Greg Morris(aka Mission:Impossible) as Urich's boss. I like the first three seasons of the show,but when the show got to the fourth and final season,it completely dried up. Great premise and with such style! Urich however,hwo has a knack of solving crimes his own way,and always got the bad guy would reprise that role again in the 1980's with Spenser:For Hire which also starred Avery Brooks that also ran on the ABC network as well(from 1985-1991). Kudos to Robert Urich,one of the coolest,toughest detectives ever to grace the TV screen. He will be truly missed.

I am very surprised that there are not several comments already on here about this show! Vega$ is one of the many, many, many Spelling Drama's. I don't know what it is with him, but the magic he makes when he creates a show is incredible! This particular show had most of what the rest of his hits & non-hit shows have...Style! Its simple, take a detective in Nevada, all the casinos, showgirls, the bad guys, & the late70's early 80's & you have Vega$. The show lacked in speed. It ran dry often. All & all though, it is a fun show. I look at it now & compare Vega$ to Vegas now. Anytime it airs give it a try. 1-10 (7)