Product Description

The complete first season of the tv series las vegas. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 01/04/2005 Starring: James Caan Nikki Cox Rating: Nr

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3123 in DVD
• Brand: Universal
• Released on: 2005-01-04
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Box set, Color, DVD, Widescreen, Dolby, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Spanish, French
• Number of discs: 3
• Running time: 996 minutes

Amazon.com
Slick, stylish, and fast-paced, Las Vegas is a high-tech hybrid of 1970s' Vega$ and 1980s' Hotel. Created by Gary Scott Thompson (The Fast and the Furious), season 1 includes all 23 episodes of the NBC dramedy's. Set in the fictional Montecito Resort and Casino, the show revolves around surveillance expert and ex-Marine Danny McCoy (Josh Duhamel, Win a Date with Tad Hamilton). McCoy reports to the president of operations and ex-CIA operative "Big" Ed Deline (the inimitable James Caan). If Duhamel is the show's charisma, Caan is the gravitas. The attractive cast is rounded out by Vanessa Marcil as casino host Sam Marquez, Nikki Cox as event coordinator Mary Connell, James Lesure as valet Mike Cannon, Marsha Thomason as pit boss Nessa Holt, Cheryl Ladd as Deline's wife Jillian, and model Molly Sims as Deline's daughter Delinda.

From the start, Las Vegas has attracted a diverse array of guest stars, from musicians, like Little Richard ("New Orleans"), to movie stars, like Sean "Samwise" Astin ("You Can't Take It With You"). Even "Mr. Las Vegas" himself, Wayne Newton, puts in an appearance ("Pros and Cons"). Other notable guests include Elliot Gould ("Jokers and Fools"), Jean-Claude Van Damme ("Die Fast, Die Furious"), and Alec Baldwin ("Hellraisers and Heartbreakers"), hot off his Oscar-nominated turn in The Cooler.

First used in heist hit Ocean's 11, Elvis Presley's "A Little Less Conversation" (JXL remix) is the Las Vegas theme song. On the DVD set, however, it's replaced by "Let It Ride" on all episodes except the pilot. Also, the subtitle "Uncut and Uncensored" indicates footage too hot for network TV, but the additions are minor. While a few seconds have been added to the more risqué sex/poolside scenes, any other changes from the original broadcast are difficult to detect. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Customer Reviews

A Fun Guilty Pleasure
Last year, when this show came on, I dismissed as yet another trendy crime show. I chose not to watch it, but my dad really got into it. Every now and then, I'd see bits and pieces of the show, and for the most part, I liked what I saw, whether it was actual plot, beautiful women, or great panoramic views of Las Vegas. Eventually, I started watching the show, and here is my final conclusion: my first assumption was not far off, but maybe that's not such a bad thing.
The series centers around the security team of the fictional Monticeto Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. The team is headed by Ed Deline (James Caan), an ex-CIA operative who apparently can make grown men cry using nothing but a fork. Ed's right-hand man is Danny McCoy (Josh Duhamel), a former Marine. And he isn't an actual part of the security team, valet Mike Cannon (James Lesure) often lends a helping hand to investigations due to his engineering degree (even though he could be doing other things, he prefers to be a valet). The rest of the main cast includes the Entertainment Director (and possibly ex-escort) Mary Connell (Nikki Cox), Casino Host Samantha Jane Marquez (Vanessa Marcil), pit boss Nessa Holt (Marsha Thompson), and Ed's sexually active daughter Delinda (Molly Sims), who eventually becomes the host of the Monticeto's main restaurant, Mystique. Each character brings something different to the casino. Sam is a cold and calculating woman who can get almost anything done for a client. Nessa is one of Vegas' best and most intelligent pit bosses. Mary has a good eye for talent and is the softie of the group. And Delinda's "knowledge" of what is hip transformed Mystique into one of Vegas' most popular restaurants.
The stories are pretty episodic. For the most part, plots involve cheaters, murders, thieves, and scams from other casinos, but that doesn't mean that things are limited to those events. One of my favorite episodes involves a power loss throughout the city. In addition to the episodic plots, there are a few mini-arcs that develop throughout the season. Ed and Danny's relationship is put to the test when, in the first thing that happens in the entire series, Ed catches Danny sleeping with Delinda. Danny and Mary's "relationship troubles" is probably the most developped arc. Danny and Mary grew up together in Vegas, and they have a very special bond (I won't say what it is). This storyline is both a strength and a weakness for the show, because it is an interesting story, but at the same time, the writers have trouble giving the actors good dialogue in which to tell the story. In the episode where a lot of their history is revealed, I both liked and hated the scenes with the two of them going through the events (they were stuck in an elevator, so they had a lot of time to talk).
For a first season show, Las Vegas must have had a HUGE budget. Not only did they have James Caan as a regular, but they got some very famous, and probably very expensive guest stars, such as Wayne Newton, Jean Claude Van Damme, Sugar Ray and Mark McGrath, Penn and Teller, Paul Anka, Blue Man Group, and Alec Baldwin. Other guest stars of note include Jon Lovitz (who probably would have been in the first category a few years ago), Sean Astin, Elliot Gould, and Harry Groener (the guy who played the Mayor on Buffy the Vampire Slayer). Furthermore, since the show was only filmed in Vegas for the pilot, they had to reconstruct the casino they used for all subsequent shows. The set is a very loyal adaptation of the interior of the Mandalay Bay, and it looks very expensive.
A few of the biggest surprises that I found with this show dealt with its crew. The creator, Gary Scott Thompson, is responsible for some of my most hated movies ever, yet, not only do I enjoy this show, I find it leagues ahead of said films. Also, one of the producers/writers is Rebecca Rand Kirchner, who worked on a few of my all-time favorite shows, so when I saw her name, I was really excited.
Ok, having gone over the good stuff, it is time to address the negatives. A lot of things that happen seem very unrealistic, such as Jon Lovitz's winning streak, Mike's ability to beat an expert poker player after a huge absence from the game, or Sam coming in second place in a competitive eating contest (the girl looks like she weighs 100 pounds, and in the context of the episode, I think it would have been much funnier for her to have to lose). Also, in the first few episodes, events were narrated by Danny, which was not very insightful. Fortunately, the inner monalogue was quickly phased out. Speaking of Danny, there were some times when my belief in him as an ex-Marine was called into question, but for the most part, I'm willing to accept that backstory. There were some other character problems. In my opinion, Delinda's intelligence levels seemed to fluctuate. She was never stupid by any means, yet sometimes, she seemed to be of normal intelligence and at other times, she seemed to be above average.
The good aspects of this show far outweigh the bad, and while this show is nothing new or special, I find myself liking it a lot due to its setting, eye candy, and guest list. This is definitely not for everyone, but I think that many people can find something that they like about it.

BEST SHOW AND DVD EVER!!!!
I only started watching this show at the beginning of the second season and I was hooked. I was curious to see what happened in the first season. As much as you can follow each episode without watching the first season, you need it to understand the relationships between all of the characters. It is brilliantly shot, and the stories are fast paced. I could literally watch this show everyday. I especially enjoy watching the DVD because it, of course, has no commercials to interrupt it. I haven't watched the special features yet, but I like the show enough itself that it doesn't really matter. If you want to watch a fun TV show with lots of gorgeous women, and I've never seen so many on any other show, then GET THIS DVD IMMEDIATELY! I guarantee you that you will not be disappointed. Its 17 hours of pure fun! It makes me want to move to Vegas and work there!!!

What happens in Vegas sometimes can't be cleared...
NBC's Monday night glitzfest comes to DVD with almost everything intact. As far as the "uncensored" part is concerned, I've only found two scenes that were probably cut for TV. The couple in the elevator in the pilot episode, and the wet-t-shirt contest in "New Orleans" (networks hate nipples, ya' know). The extras are okay, although I saw the "Rumble in the Montecito" AFL promo when NBC ran it during halftime of the Gator Bowl. The Las Vegas history lesson looks too much like things I've seen on other DVDs, like the original Ocean's Eleven, The Rat Pack's Las Vegas, etc. I like GST's description of "The Night The Lights Went Out in Vegas" as a "bottle show"...just the main cast, no unusual exteriors, the main sets (that aren't fully lit) and a few extras who don't have lines (another cost saver). By the way, for the trivia buffs, the blonde that winks at Danny is Christa Sauls, the computer specialist from "Accapulco H.E.A.T".
But, since the big gripe everyone has is about "A Little Less Conversation" (for the record, this IS the version that was going to be used in Elvis' 68 special, but not the JXL remixed version), hopefully I can clear something up. The average cost to clear a song for TV is $2,500 per minute, per use. For home video, it's $1,000. So, for this package, at the low end, it would have cost $23,000 to have this in every episode in the package. But that is a low figure, as I am sure that an Elvis song goes for much more. So we get it for the pilot, and that's it. All the other shows get, at least according to the series' fan club site, the music used on the internationally syndicated version of the show.