Las Vegas (TV series)

Las Vegas
Genre Comedy-drama
Created by Gary Scott Thompson
Starring James Caan
Josh Duhamel
Nikki Cox
James Lesure
Vanessa Marcil
Molly Sims
Marsha Thomason
Tom Selleck
Opening theme "A Little Less Conversation" by Elvis Presley on US TV broadcasts (Let it Ride by Charlie Clouser was used in international and DVD versions)
Country of origin United States
Language(s) English
No. of seasons 5
No. of episodes 106 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s) Gary Scott Thompson
Matt Pyken
Kim Newton
Justin Falvey
Darryl Frank
Scott Steindorff
Producer(s) Universal Media Studios
DreamWorks Television
Location(s) Las Vegas, Nevada
Montecito Resort & Casino (fictional)
Running time 44 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel NBC
Picture format 480i (SDTV)
1080i (HDTV)
Original run September 22, 2003 (2003-09-22) – February 15, 2008 (2008-02-15)

Las Vegas was an American television series broadcast by NBC from September 22, 2003 to February 15, 2008. The show focuses on a team of people working at the ficticional Montecito Resort & Casino dealing with issues that arise within the working environment, ranging from valet parking and restaurant management to casino security. The series originally aired on Monday nights, though NBC later moved the series to Friday nights first to 9 PM Eastern/8 PM Central and then to 10 PM Eastern/9 PM Central. The show is currently in syndication and airs in the United States (on TNT).

The series originally centered around Ed Deline (James Caan), a strict ex-CIA officer who went from being Head of Security to becoming President of Operations of the Montecito, whose job is to run the day-to-day operations of the casino. Following his departure from the series in Season 5, former Marine Danny McCoy (Josh Duhamel), Ed's former protégé, became the Montecito's new President of Operations.

The series abruptly ended with a cliffhanger because NBC canceled Las Vegas in the off season following season five.

TNT has been airing reruns of the series since the fall of 2007.

Contents

Cast and characters

Main cast and characters

Recurring cast and characters

Notable guest stars

Notable cameos

Crossing Jordan crossover

Las Vegas is set in the same universe as fellow NBC series Crossing Jordan. In the Season 2 episode "Two of a Kind," a case brought Dr. Jordan Cavanaugh (Jill Hennessy) and Det. Woody Hoyt (Jerry O'Connell) to Las Vegas. Woody and Sam got very well acquainted and maintained a long-distance relationship. However, as of the Season 4 episode "History of Violins," the relationship seemed to be over. Jordan and Danny also become involved, but both agreed it was only for fun, and no relationship came from it.

Episodes ordered by airdate:

Other crossovers

The Montecito Hotel and Casino has appeared in multiple shows — Heroes, Knight Rider,[1] Medium,[2] Monk,[3] Passions, and Stargate Atlantis (in an "Alternate Universe") — when characters from those shows visited Las Vegas. Of these, only the daytime soap Passions included Las Vegas characters in cameo roles:[4] Nikki Cox appeared as Mary Connell. The final season of Las Vegas also featured a crossover episode of sorts with one of the highest rated TV shows from the 1980s. During the episode, several cast members of the hit TV show Magnum P.I. including guest stars Roger Mosley and Larry Manetti appeared on the program with Las Vegas regular Tom Selleck. Manetti and Mosley essentially played millionaire older versions of their characters from Magnum P.I. in the episode.

The Las Vegas episode "The Story of Owe" mentions a Dunder-Mifflin convention, obliquely linking to The Office.[5]

Opening sequence

Different theme songs have been used, depending on where, how or when the show is aired. In France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, UK, The Netherlands and other countries the theme song is Let It Ride by Charlie Clouser and Jon Ingoldsby, while in other countries, such as the USA and Canada, the theme song is A Little Less Conversation (the Memories – The '68 Comeback Special version) by Elvis Presley. For the American DVD, as well as the episodes available for viewing on NBC's website, Clouser's song is used with the exception of the pilot episode on the American DVDs.

Episodes

DVD releases

Name Ep # Region 1 Region 2 Region 4
Season One 23 January 4, 2005 March 14, 2005
November 28, 2005
Season Two 24 September 13, 2005 December 5, 2005
November 28, 2005
Season Three 23 September 12, 2006 November 30, 2006 November 15, 2006
Season Four 17 September 11, 2007 October 29, 2007 April 1, 2009
Season Five 19 July 22, 2008 October 13, 2008 December 2, 2009

Season information

The show has five complete seasons, all of them are available on DVD. The show was renewed for the fifth season on February 27, 2007.[6] On March 2, 2007, it was announced that James Caan and Nikki Cox would be leaving the series. Caan's departure is because he wants to return to acting in feature films, while Cox's departure seems to stem from budget cuts.[7] Tom Selleck replaced James Caan as head boss in Season 5. In the final season, only 19 episodes of the originally planned 22 episode season were filmed at the time the show was cancelled. The final episode was a cliffhanger with many issues left unresolved and will remain unresolved according to TV Guide Canada. At one point, Michael Ausiello of TV Guide said that there are plans, should a proper resolution not be possible, to have the characters of Danny McCoy and Delinda Deline cameo in an episode of Knight Rider carrying a newborn.[8] Due to Knight Rider being canceled, a cameo appearance of Danny and Delinda never came to fruition.[9]

Nielsen Ratings

Season Timeslot (EDT) Season Premiere Season Finale TV Season Rank Viewers
(in millions)
1 Monday 9 PM September 22, 2003 May 17, 2004 2003–2004 #27 11.83
2 Monday 9 PM September 13, 2004 May 23, 2005 2004–2005 #33 11.42
3 Monday 9 PM (September 19, 2005 – December 5, 2005)

Friday 9 PM (January 2, 2006 – May 12, 2006)

September 19, 2005 May 12, 2006 2005–2006 #46 10.51
4 Friday 9 PM October 27, 2006 March 9, 2007 2006–2007 #54 9.0
5 Friday 10 PM September 28, 2007 February 15, 2008 2007–2008 #65 8.55

Location

The location of the fictional Montecito has changed from season to season. Some of the first episodes were shot at the Monte Carlo and Mandalay Bay. Because of its similarity to Mandalay Bay, many of the show visuals place the Montecito at the far southern end of The Las Vegas Strip, albeit usually across the street from Luxor on the airport side of Las Vegas Boulevard. The exact location and rotation of the building seems to vary a lot within this area, indeed the CGI zoom shots of the building exterior in the season two episode, "Montecito Lancers", shows the building in three slightly differing locations for three different shots. There were also a few interior and exterior shots filmed in Dana Point, CA, at the St. Regis Hotel in Monarch Beach, CA. In Season 5, the Montecito seems to have the consistent location across from Luxor.[10]

Many of Mandalay Bay's interiors and exteriors (including its wave pool) have been used as Montecito exteriors, although (according to the Internet Movie Database) the actual set of Montecito is located at Culver Studios, in Culver City, California, so the interiors are a replica of the Mandalay Bay. The Season 3 set of Las Vegas has been said to be the biggest set for a TV show ever.

During the first season of the show, many of the Montecito's suites overlooked various parts of the middle part of the Strip, placing the hotel near where The Venetian, Flamingo Las Vegas, or The Mirage are currently, before the more consistent location at the southern end of the Strip was finalized.

During the first season, except for the pilot episode, the sets were built as needed for filming.

Some episodes were shot using interior and exterior shots of Green Valley Ranch, including a shot of the pool and spa area where in one episode Everlast holds a concert.

In Season 3, Ed Deline's office appears to be in the middle of the strip, overlooking Harrah's, Caesars Palace, The Mirage, and The Venetian, which puts the Montecito near where Treasure Island is located. This is inconsistent with the flyover shots of the Montecito, which would place Ed's office over two miles away. Closer examination of the window scene shows that The Mirage's marquee over their driveway has been edited to read "Montecito." In Season 4, episode 2 "Died in Plain Sight," there is a scene in Ed Deline's office where again we can see an overview of The Mirage and Caesars Palace. Again it's a confirmation that Ed Deline's office would be where Treasure Island is located.

According to an episode that originally aired in December 2005, the Montecito is located about 1.5 miles from Wynn Las Vegas. It's possible that this distance is in a straight line ("as the crow flies") as opposed to a reference to actual driving distance. This distance is inconsistent with long shots that place the Montecito near the airport, Luxor and Mandalay Bay, but is in line with Season 3 visual references noted above.

Other episodes show aerial shots of the Montecito that make it appear to be situated at the corner of Giles St. and Reno Ave., about half a mile from Mandalay Bay and across from Luxor

In the episode "Father of the Bride Redux", it's shown that the Montecito also operates a property in Hawaii called the Montecito Royal Hawaiian Villas, managed by Casey Manning's brother Vic.

Spin-off fiction

The Las Vegas tie-in novel High Stakes Game, by Jeff Mariotte tells the tale of what could have occurred between the Season 2 finale and the Season 3 premiere when the casino was destroyed and rebuilt and the characters briefly went their separate ways. A second novel, also by Jeff Mariotte called Sleight of Hand was launched in 2007.

References

External links