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Sunday, October 14, 2007
Viva Laughlin
Episode 1.06: Jack worries when Danielle, one of his classmates, doesn't come to school. He suspects that she is being abused by her father. Source:SpoilerFix.com
What it’s about: Based on a BBC series called Blackpool, Viva Laughlin is about a guy who opens a brand new casino in a smaller city in Nevada. Did I mention that this is a musical?
What’s good: Oh sweet Lord, how I love this show. If you’d told me that CBS was going to put on an Americanized remake of an interesting but not great Brit-drama and that the characters would spontaneously start singing, I wouldn’ve told you that sounded like certain disaster. To have it turn out to be the best network show of the season (or at least my personal favorite – by a very wide margin – is damn near miraculous.
It’s important to note for the skeptical (though this might not allay any reservations) that the songs are not original compositions, but pop tunes spanning the last 40 or 50 years. “Viva Las Vegas” and Blondie’s “One Way or Another” are some notable ones. The characters don’t lip synch or merely sing…they sing along with the original track, so you can hear both at once…an interesting and confident stylistic choice.
Cast is also great. Lloyd Owen, a british actor with a long career behind him plays the lead, and he’s got just the right amount of smarmy confidence and, when the story calls for it, abject fear. And, somehow, they got Hugh Jackman (Wolverine from Oklahoma!) to play the bad guy! Melanie Griffith makes an appearance as well as a sort of washed-up femme fatale.
Viva Laughlin is totally ridiculous and extremely fun to watch. It reminded me a lot of the early seasons of Nip/Tuck, only without the mean-streak and pretentious aspirations. Oh, and with singing.
What’s not so good: Hell, I don’t know. I just really, really love this show.
Will it be a hit? FOR SURE !!!!!! ************************************* Viva Laughlin Preview - New Series From CBS
VIVA LAUGHLIN, the new mystery drama with music, will have a special preview on Thursday, Oct. 18 (10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) following CSI before moving to its regular Sunday (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) time period on Oct. 21 to take advantage of a two week window in the schedule without football overruns.
As always, I'm fairly pessimistic when it comes to Americanized remakes of BBC shows. The urge to 'retool' usually results in destroying what made the show fundamentally enjoyable (Coupling, anyone?).
Blackpool was a great BBC drama entirely because of an outstanding cast, which included the amazing David Tennant, David Morrissey, and Sarah Parish. It is unlikely that the US (and CBS!) will be able to reproduce the chemistry that is essential to making this concept work.
For my vote, watch the original and see that the Brits are more than capable of producing entertaining television.
Viva Laughlin
ReplyDeleteWhat it’s about: Based on a BBC series called Blackpool, Viva Laughlin is about a guy who opens a brand new casino in a smaller city in Nevada. Did I mention that this is a musical?
What’s good: Oh sweet Lord, how I love this show. If you’d told me that CBS was going to put on an Americanized remake of an interesting but not great Brit-drama and that the characters would spontaneously start singing, I wouldn’ve told you that sounded like certain disaster. To have it turn out to be the best network show of the season (or at least my personal favorite – by a very wide margin – is damn near miraculous.
It’s important to note for the skeptical (though this might not allay any reservations) that the songs are not original compositions, but pop tunes spanning the last 40 or 50 years. “Viva Las Vegas” and Blondie’s “One Way or Another” are some notable ones. The characters don’t lip synch or merely sing…they sing along with the original track, so you can hear both at once…an interesting and confident stylistic choice.
Cast is also great. Lloyd Owen, a british actor with a long career behind him plays the lead, and he’s got just the right amount of smarmy confidence and, when the story calls for it, abject fear. And, somehow, they got Hugh Jackman (Wolverine from Oklahoma!) to play the bad guy! Melanie Griffith makes an appearance as well as a sort of washed-up femme fatale.
Viva Laughlin is totally ridiculous and extremely fun to watch. It reminded me a lot of the early seasons of Nip/Tuck, only without the mean-streak and pretentious aspirations. Oh, and with singing.
What’s not so good: Hell, I don’t know. I just really, really love this show.
Will it be a hit? FOR SURE !!!!!!
*************************************
Viva Laughlin Preview - New Series From CBS
I know what I like, and I like this Show !!!
You decide if you like Viva Laughlin:
copy and paste or double click on these links:
New Clip on Viva Laughlin:
http://cosmopost.com/SizzleRecap.html
http://youtube.com/watch?v=FDVpwO4fWb0
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Dr1Gw3emoKk&mode=related&search
http://www.mefeedia.com/entry/3325824/
http://www.upn.com/primetime/viva_laughlin/
VIVA LAUGHLIN, the new mystery drama with music, will have a special preview on Thursday, Oct. 18 (10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) following CSI before moving to its regular Sunday (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) time period on Oct. 21 to take advantage of a two week window in the schedule without football overruns.
Thursday, Oct. 18
10:00-11:00 PM VIVA LAUGHLIN (Special Preview)
Sunday, Oct. 21
8:00-9:00 PM VIVA LAUGHLIN (Time Period Premiere)
As always, I'm fairly pessimistic when it comes to Americanized remakes of BBC shows. The urge to 'retool' usually results in destroying what made the show fundamentally enjoyable (Coupling, anyone?).
ReplyDeleteBlackpool was a great BBC drama entirely because of an outstanding cast, which included the amazing David Tennant, David Morrissey, and Sarah Parish. It is unlikely that the US (and CBS!) will be able to reproduce the chemistry that is essential to making this concept work.
For my vote, watch the original and see that the Brits are more than capable of producing entertaining television.
Lindsay/Cincinnati