The new CBS series Vegas is a change of pace for the network – a period piece, set in the 1960s, with more of an overreaching plotline than most of their procedural dramas.
Dennis Quaid stars as Sheriff Ralph Lamb, a real life person who Vegas co-creator Nicholas Pileggi (Goodfellas, Casino) originally had written a feature film script about, after executive producer Arthur Sarkissian met Lamb and agreed his story was incredibly compelling. Speaking at the TCA (Television Critics Association) press tour this week, Executive producer Cathy Konrad said she felt that as a feature, they were trying to cram so much of this man’s life into two and a half hours and she suggested it might be better as a TV Series instead.
Vegas centers on the ongoing struggle between Lamb and mobster Vincent Savino (Michael Chiklis). Discussing their dynamic, Walker said, “Lamb is trying to preserve what he believes the values of the Old West are in this area while not being against progress, per se, and Vincent Savino is trying to change the culture of Vegas as well - not necessarily as a mobster, but also as a man who has a quest for legitimacy. They find themselves on the same side of the law – not often, but often enough because there are worse people out there that are coming into vogue. So in order to kind of preserve this delicate balance, both of them move. It's a shifting target. So they are not always against each other. We certainly don't want Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner every week. We found enough tension so far to keep them going after each other.”
While certainly back into darker terrain, following No Ordinary Family, Chiklis said he felt Savino was very different from his memorable role as Vic Mackey on The Shield. “I just think that the potential of this character is fascinating and exciting to me.”
As for what drew Quaid to his first ongoing TV series, the movie star said, “I came in because a lot of exciting things are happening on television now, I think. A lot of the best writers have come to television. I think they feel like they have more control, and the storylines get continued. And when I was offered this, it was really about the team more than anything else, and the story really interested me. But, you know, Nick Pileggi and Greg and Jim Mangold and everybody that was in it, it just seemed really authentic and a chance to really play a character and let him unfold over a long period of time.”
Quaid noted that Lamb, “had quite a life, you know, and that was certainly part of the attraction, to be the sheriff of Las Vegas for 20 years, and especially this period of time because this is really when Vegas became Vegas as we know it today. And Ralph had a lot to do with shaping that, and he was also part of the landscape before all of this happened. He’s a fourth generation rancher, I think, going back to the Indian wars. And so I think we all have kind of a fascination with Las Vegas, and I thought the idea of playing this era would be a lot of fun.”
Quaid added, “Ralph also represents the people who really lived in the area of Las Vegas and had been around for generations. And to have these outside forces coming in vis a vis the mob -- really kind of coming in, in their minds, to take over in their town is sort of an invasion. Ralph and the locals really want to keep as much control as they can over their own town.”
Walker admitted it was always a challenge using real people on a TV show, mixed in with fictional characters. “That’s always the challenge. As my partner Cathy says, we don't want to let the truth get in the way of a good story, but the amazing thing about Vegas in 1960 in these men's stories is that the truth is the best story. Nick Pileggi showed that in the way that he portrayed Casino - that these stories are vibrant. These are larger than life characters who pop off the screen. So as a writer, it's a gift. It's literally the chest you keep on opening and find the glittering coins because there's so much value and depth and meat in those stories, we just try to use as much as we can.”
Vegas -- which also stars Jason O'Mara, Carrie-Anne Moss and Sarah Jones -- will mix weekly investigations for Lamb with an overreaching story. When it came to CBS tackling this series, Konrad said, “I think that the interest was to paint a broader palette, to make a bigger world, and I think that the networks were seeing the savvy [audience] and how cable has been playing in that arena. And I think that this fit in a really nice basket for them, and it's been energizing for everybody to be able to have that freedom as filmmakers to make something, to not be put in the procedural bucket and have to live there, to know that you can get that story across but to have continuing stories for our cast that can grow I think that's the reason why we have this amazing cast, because they see that potential as well.”
Vegas premieres Tuesday, September 25th on CBS.
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