Twist reality and dramatize it, and you have the makings of quality entertainment.
At 10 p.m. Monday night, General Electric's (NYSE:GE) NBC aired the premiere of Las Vegas, a new drama about the "exciting" world of casino surveillance.
At that moment, football fans around the world were watching the Denver Broncos pummel the Oakland Raiders on Disney's (NYSE:DIS) ABC Monday Night Football. Can Las Vegas really expect to compete?
Perhaps. But probably not for long and definitely not in this time slot.
For one thing, unreasonably attractive women, gambling, and a look into a mysterious world have a certain appeal -- to the same people who by default are already watching football. For another, I found Las Vegas entertaining and definitely worth a look, but its portrayal of casino surveillance is far too removed from reality to offer long-term value to NBC.
The story is set at fictional Vegas resort Montecito, which bears a striking resemblance to Mandalay Resort's (NYSE:MBG) Mandalay Bay. (Station Casinos' (NYSE:STN) newest off-Strip gem, the Green Valley Ranch, makes a cameo as well.) Viewers watched in awe as CIA-trained surveillance expert Big Ed Deline (James Caan) and his protégé Danny McCoy (Josh Duhamel) searched for a missing high roller, caught a pair of high-tech card cheats, and asked a player to leave before he lost all of his money.
But then reality bites.
In the show, Danny -- the surveillance guy -- is friendly with a casino host, the working girls at the casino bar, and the parking valet. He also tracks down a high roller by going to his favorite strip club and a rival casino. And once he finds the casino host who stole his high roller, he offers her a job! Surveillance?
According to industry expert D.V. Cellini (pseudonym), casino surveillance personnel are universally despised. Casino employees view surveillance as "rats." Security guards dislike surveillance because the latter usually has the last word on all incidents. The dealers fear surveillance because surveillance evaluates a dealer's performance. And to top it off, management thinks surveillance is a waste of money.
It is definitely not a surveillance guy's responsibility to bring back a player. That is the responsibility of a casino host. And then Danny offers a host a job? No chance.
But much as Las Vegas breaks from reality, the show has some genuine entertainment value. It might even make the Las Vegas Strip giants -- MGM Mirage (NYSE:MGG), Park Place (NYSE:PPE), and Mandalay Bay (NYSE:MBG) -- look good. Except that's a paradox, too: According to a Cellini report, MGM Mirage has stripped its surveillance crew to the point where all of its casinos are overlooked by a single department.
There's probably enough quality material to last NBC through the season. Tops.
You can reach Jeff Hwang at [email protected] .
