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| Dvdivas
was founded by John Gabbard in 2000. It's purpose has been and
remains to be to provide you, the entertainment community with
the latest dvds and movie reviews. It will continue to be your
link to the most popular dvd movies. |
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“Las Vegas:
Season One Uncut & Uncensored”
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Reviewed
by: |
Wayne A. Klein |
| Genre: |
Drama |
| Video: |
1.78:1 widescreen
|
| Audio: |
Dolby Digital
5.1 |
| Languages |
English |
| Subtitles |
English,
French, Spanish |
| Length |
Approximately
1060 minutes |
| Rating |
NR |
| Release Date |
1/5/04 |
| Studio |
Universal
Home Video |
| Commentary:
|
Four commentary tracks from the
cast and writer Gary Scott Thompson/"Pilot" - Gary Scott Thompson,
James Lesure, Nikki Cox, Molly Sims and Marsha Thomason. "Hellraisers
and Heartbreakers" - Gary Scott Thompson and James Caan. "The
Night The Lights Went Out in Vegas" - Gary Scott Thompson and
Vanessa Marcil. "Always Faithful" - Gary Scott Thompson and
Josh Duhamel. |
| Documentaries:
|
Las Vegas: The Big Gamble: A historical
look at the city of Las Vegas/Las Vegas: The Big Gamble,Josh
Mankiewicz hosts this featurette which is the history and of
Las Vegas. |
| Featurettes:
|
Rumble in the Montecito: Jon Bon Jovi and John
Elway,Interferences abound in this mini-movie sequel co-starring
the stars of Las Vegas/Inside the Montecito: Go behind the scenes
with the creator, Gary Scott Thompson, who reveals every nuance
that went into the making of Las Vegas |
| Filmography/Biography:
|
None |
|
Interviews: |
None |
| Trailers/TV
Spots: |
Las Vegas: The TV Show Spot/City of Las Vegas
Spot |
| Alternate/Deleted
Scenes: |
None |
| Music
Video: |
MTV style throughout show |
| Other:
|
None |
| Cast
and Crew: |
James Caan,Josh
Duhamel,Molly Sims,Vanessa Marcil,Nikki Cox,Marsha Thomason,James
Lesure |
| Written
By: |
Gary Scott
Thompson |
| Produced
By: |
Assorted |
| Directed
By: |
Assorted |
| Music:
|
Assorted |
| The
Review: |
What are the odds that another show named after Las Vegas
(the last one I remember is “Vegas” prior to this) would be
a hit on TV? Well since most of America seems obsessed with
rolling the bones, it should come as no surprise that “Las
Vegas” clicked with audiences. Ed Celine head of security
and his team of surveillance experts prevent cheating and
other less than honorable activities from occurring at the
Montecito Resort & Casino. When Danny McCoy (Josh Duham) takes
an interest in his daughter Delinda, things are sure to get
a bit…hot. Danny’s gambling that he’ll fit right in. Oh, did
I mention that Danny is Ed’s assistant. Things turn hairy
for him very suddenly either he’s picked the right girl at
the wrong time or the wrong girl at the right time. He’ll
find out by the end of season one.
|
| Image
and Sound: |
You won’t
be gambling with this set if you like the series. The image
quality is so good you can count the beads of sweat on the winners
and losers as they gamble their life away. Seriously, the only
problem I could see is a lack of contrast during some of the
darker scenes which meant that it was difficult to spot much
in the way of image detail. The transfer does credit to the
city of Las Vegas capturing every color of the glittering and
sparkling billboards that entice you into smoke filled rooms.
Skin tones appear natural and the blacks are so deep you might
get lost in them without a flashlight. The 5.1 mix has odds
in its favor due to the effective sound mix. You’ll be itching
to break out your wallet and lose money as you’re watching this
program. All 23 episodes are presented on three dual layered
dual sided discs. It makes things more cost effective but it
also means that you’re more likely to damage these puppies.
|
| The
Extras: |
Evidently
these episodes were cut for network TV (but they ran in the
overseas market and were shot with DVD in mind). I’m not sure
how much of this “uncut” action ran on network TV as I never
saw the program on NBC. Universal has included a “mini-movie”
sequel to one of the episodes here where Jon Bon Jovi and
John Elway duke it out for your attention in this promotional
piece for the Arena Football League. It’s advertising but
pretty darn good looking advertising. It’s also short (under
three minutes) so you can move on to the more important longer
featurettes. “Inside the Montecito” pulls back the curtain
and host/creator Gary Scott Thompson and members of the cast
give us a grand tour of the sets. The sets look pretty darn
close to the reality here. This nine minute featurette shows
the amount of research and detail went into reproducing a
big casino. “Las Vegas: The Big Gamble” gives us a historical
look at the city’s past from its humble (and mob influenced)
beginnings until today. Of the two featurettes (the others
are, again, advertising) this one covers things more in depth.
Keep in mind that it would take a documentary a couple of
hours long to truly to the city of sin justice but this isn’t
a bad substitute. I don’t know that the AFL schedule and AFL
Match up quality as extras. In reality they’re advertising
for NBC’s sports division. That’s the nice thing when you
buy a major studio you can put your advertising everywhere
and not worry about paying anything. There’s also a number
of TV spots as well. ***
Let’s
go with the negative comments on the discs now. While these
are advertised as “uncut and uncensored” they’re anything
but that. Most of the music for each episode has been substituted
with other music so these aren’t the broadcast episodes. As
to extra T&A well there might be a bit of that here and there
but nothing monumental. It seems if Universal is going to
advertise this as “uncut” then they should have the original
music in every single episode. If not, there should be a disclaimer
to that effect. Perhaps I missed it on the box but, like “Quantum
Leap: Season Two”, is doesn’t appear to be anywhere on the
box. Now I understand that the budget for obtaining the license
for the various songs for each episode might have been busted
if they had arranged for it but, again, you need to disclose
this stuff to fans. ---
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| Commentary:
|
With four
commentary tracks from the cast and writer Gary Scott Thompson,
viewers are given an interesting insight into the workings of
the show. Various cast members appear with Thompson. The most
interesting of the commentary surprisingly doesn’t come from
the Thompson-James Caan combo but from the pilot where we have
Thompson, Lesure, Cox, Sims and Thomason competing for your
attention with interesting background stories on the episode.
“Hellraisers and Heartbreakers” features Thompson and Caan while
“The Night The Lights Went Out in Las Vegas” features Thompson
and Marcil. Finally “Always Faithful” features Thompson with
cast member Duhamel. The combinations are pretty good as the
commentaries feature folks that were prominently featured in
the episode they’re discussing. |
| Final
Words: |
A pretty
good boxed set for fans of the series, there’s just enough here
to entice fans to purchase this vs. keeping their VHS or DVD
recorded episodes to watch again and again. The big question
is how often you’ll watch and rewatch the first season. If the
answer is “not very often”, I’d suggest sticking with your home
recordings or try and find a place to rent this. I tend to find
that there are few TV shows that I’ll have the time to revisit
again and again on the other hand if you’re a highroller and
believe you’ll return to the craps tables here again and again
by all means it’s a must buy. If you have the time and the money,
it might be worth it to gamble on “Las Vegas” |
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