Viva Laughlin

The first time the hero starts dancing to "Via Los Vegas" and hops on the casino table I let it pass. The third time, when Bunny starts singing "One Way or Another" by Blondie, and go into a dancing routine, I clicked the show off an erase it from my DVR.

Why did they do this? Were they trying to make it different then "Las Vegas"? They succeeded but it's awful. I suppose if you like musical it will work for you but I don't find the musical form that entertaining.

It looked like it could of been a good story but they messed it up for me my making it into a musical. What next, turn CSI into a musical? Have singing, rotten corpse?

Viva Laughlin looks like it was done in Bollywood.

This may be the WORST television show EVER made!!! Forget the bad acting. Forget the bad plot and story. It's a television musical! How much worse can it get? Melanie Griffith looks like a jack-o-lantern with all of the surgery she has had. The rest of the cast is a bunch of nobodies you have never heard of and should never have to hear from again. I mean really, breaking into song after almost every scene? What a nightmare! This show has to go!! I can't believe they pre-empted "Without a Trace" for this garbage. Who wrote this garbage? CBS should be ashamed of themselves for airing this junk! Is CBS really this desperate? It is AWFUL! Cancel, cancel, cancel, PLEASE!

I live close enough to the real Laughlin to be able to spend lots of time there, and so I was looking forward to this series. But what a joke! It was obvious that nothing was filmed there, except a few establishing shots of the Colorado Belle. I also laughed at references to 'Laughlin PD' (the town is considered a rural area and is served by Las Vegas Police) and especially the aged boyfriend introduced as 'a professor at the University'. Um...would this be Bullhead Community College, the closest thing to higher learning and a considerable distance across the river? It follows that I was so very disappointed at the lack of realism. This is Laughlin! Where are the queues of old people waiting for the buffet to open? Where are the chain-smoking old ladies with their key rings full of players cards? The folks hooked both to their oxygen and their slot machines dropping their dollars? The man arguing that his two-for-one should be valid at weekends? Thinking about it, I lament the show's cancellation; sometimes something so bad is actually quite good - for laughs.

Viva Laughlin is perhaps the most strange new show to come along in quite some time. Lloyd Owen, who was excellent in Monarch of the Glenn is terrible in this role. He does perhaps the worst job ever for an English actor attempting to do an American accent. Close on his heels is executive producer/ actor Hugh Jackman. Both come off sounding totally flat and could do to take some voice lessons. While they're at the lessons, perhaps some singing lessons would also be in order. The show has an annoying habit of the actors spontaneously launching into song at totally irrelevant times. Thus far all the singing has been terrible with the only bright spot being Elvis singing back-up. Think of the t.v. show Las Vegas on a really bad hair day combined with Grease and High School Musical. It's not a pleasant combination.

The overall plot is generally interesting and there are some big name actors involved but the package as a whole probably appeals to far few people to be viable.

Attention, there will be no talent! This is what should be played before the show starts. I haven't seen "Blackpool" but if it's anything like Viva Laughlin then i don't really care. Not only was this show hard to watch but it was incredibly presumptuous. With annoying, unrelatable stock characters trying to slip smoothly into likable characters was like watching the proverbial grass growing. And just when you think that maybe halfway through the show they might have a twist to interest you in seeing the next episode.. well there isn't! No one wants another compulsively suspicious detective chasing thin air or a family who is so boring and cliché that you'd rather go to sleep because that'd be more entertaining than watching this show! And what on earth is with the singing(miming)? And who wants yet another casino show? HUH? SERIOUSLY??!! ARGH!! Can I be the first but hopefully not the last to say, "What the hell Hugh Jackman!" I mean talk about cringe-worthy experiences! I am all for a new series, i'm very open to new ideas and even old ideas made better but this "Viva Laughlin" is garbage, maybe worse because some garbage can be recycled into something better.