“Las Vegas” ran for five seasons on NBC, and it still holds up as one of the better shows about the casino business. The premise is simple: Ed Deline, a strict ex-CIA officer, runs the day-to-day operations of the Montecito, a fictional hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip. When Ed leaves, his former Marine protégé Danny McCoy takes over as the new president of operations.
Trailer, via TechDware.
The Cast
| Role | Actor |
|---|---|
| Ed Deline | James Caan |
| Danny McCoy | Josh Duhamel |
| Samantha Marquez | Vanessa Marcil |
| Delinda Deline | Molly Sims |
| A.J. Cooper | Tom Selleck |
What Works
The show balances comedy and drama well. The employees deal with everything from casino security to restaurant management and valet parking, and the writers keep the stakes high enough to matter without tipping into soap opera territory. The pilot cost $5 million to produce, making it the most expensive pilot in NBC history, and the series was built around a set at Culver Studios in California that stood in for the Montecito.
The Changes
The show underwent significant change over its run. Ed Deline’s character was originally written as a man who spent most of his time in a surveillance room watching camera footage. Caan pushed back against that, insisting the character be “more elastic, so there could be some humor.” He got the role rewritten, and the show became more about Ed as a person than about him watching screens.
Nikki Cox’s character, Mary, started as an escort in the pilot before her title was changed to events planner. Marsha Thomason left the series after the second season. These shifts reshaped the show’s identity, and the final season, which sees Danny become the new president of operations, closes the arc the series opened with.
The Verdict
“Las Vegas” is a solid, entertaining show that knows what it wants to be. It is not perfect — the show’s tendency to treat the casino as a playground for rich people can feel dated now — but it commits fully to its world and its characters. The cast is strong, the writing is sharp, and the series earns its place in the canon of television about Las Vegas.
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