Vegas

One of the fall's best new dramas. [26 Nov 2012, p.48]

Quaid and Chiklis will keep me watching for a while, but in the long run I'd like to see a more ambitious approach to the material.

I'll keep watching, given the caliber of the cast and the solidly made pilot, and I'll hope that Vegas gives these actors more to do than standing over bodies and leveling shotguns at city slickers.

It's not a perfect show, but to judge by its pilot, it has good bones and excellent prospects, with a cast that knows just how much fun it can have before it seems as if it is just having fun.

A large supporting cast helps Vegas appear to be compelling and classy. And then CBS lapses into its old habit, as Lamb and company squander all this intriguing potential trying to solve their first of many cases.

People who like their procedurals with punch--there's plenty of punching, not to mention kicking, in the pilot--might like CBS' period cop show just the way it is. But if I'm going to stay with Vegas, I'm going to need to be wooed a little.

Chiklis is terrific. Too often, though, Vegas plays like a comic book, without much depth to its characters.