Las Vegas

I came back from the USA yesterday morning, and was too tired from jet lag to play much. And I didn't want to sleep during the day, as only by sleeping "regular" hours I can get back my sleep cycle to normal. So I was lying on the sofa most of the day, watching 10 episodes of Las Vegas from the DVD set of the complete first season I had just bought in the US. And I must say I like the series, I will get the second season from Amazon.

In a way Las Vegas reminds me of CSI. Not just because both play in the same city, but because the basic structure is the same. There is a large cast of permanents, and half of each episode is about the developing relationships of the cast. The other half is telling the stories of the people passing through. Unlike CSI, not all of the stories are about crime, but as the main heroes are working in casino security, many of them are.

James Caan is playing Big Ed Deline, the main hero, the head of security, later promoted to chief of operations. And having an Oscar winning actor in the leading role does the series no harm, he is rather convincing in his "tough guy with a heart" role. The remainder of the cast is acting okay, although the main criterion of choice in casting seems to have been to be pretty. Which is important in a series which is all about sex and money. :) I use the word "sex" in the loosest sense here, this is American TV, you don't get to see anything sexier than girls in bikinis or a naked back. Up to where I watched, the romantic relationships between the characters were rather shallow. The pilot starts with Big Ed catching his daughter in bed with his protegé Danny McCoy, but the daughter soon dumps Danny, and you see him flirting with everybody else of the female cast soon.

The more interesting part of the stories is about how a casino is being run, and how people from out of town behave there, when they get the "fever". According to Raph Koster's Theory of Fun, we are having fun when we learn something. And watching the casino in action from behind the scenes, with its permanent surveillance and special treatment of the high rollers is a learning experience. And the stories of people trying to cheat the casino, of the lure of gambling, and the relationships between the guests are all believable enough.

I don't have a rating by numbers system. But I would rate Las Vegas as being less good than CSI, about as good as NCIS, and better than CSI:Miami.