Reality reviewed

I don't usually do TV reviews, but because The Casino debuted last night and I actually watched it (well, watched it while doing some editing work), I'll take a shot out of it here.
First of all, let me just say that, for the most part, I agree with Jim Rome's dictum that if you like reality TV, you're not very smart, and I find the whole idea completely un-compelling. But, as a "casino expert," I figured I'd give the show a chance. After all, it's not every day that, as a historian, you get to see the business you study documented in this way.
There seem to have been 4 major stories here:

1. Tim Poster and Tom Breitling, the owners: This was absolute gold. I would have liked to have seen even more of the licensing hearing. I think that there is a great story here--two relatively young guys buying a casino older than them. They obviously have great chemistry--I thought the scene where they are walking down the hall and hear noise from a room, look at each other, and say "we don't want to know" what's going on was great--it was the kind of thing that two guys would actually do. But somehow I don't see Terry Lanni and Jim Murrin walking around the Bellagio doing this.

2. Matt Dusk, lounge singer:For those who haven't been there, Zax is a great restaurant and a fantastic venue for this kind of music. We get to see Matt performing in Zax, doing his retro/nouveau lounge thing, until Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt and Dennis Bono pry their way onstage and completely suck the oxygen out of the air. Dusk was right to be upset--this was his big moment, not theirs. We don't get to see the entire performance, but from what was shown it didn't look good for him. Will Dusk "get a room" and live his dream? Or will he end up using his newfound fame to upstage other people's acts? Only time will tell.

3. Big Chuck, "professional gambler:" It's been my experience that actual professional gamblers fly pretty low to the ground, but I've seen plenty like "Big Chuck." After watching just one minute of this guy, I became convinced that this whole thing has to be a set-up, that this guy has to be an actor parodying the most obnoxious guy you could find in a casino.
But then I reflected on some of my experiences working in a casino, and I realized that the guy was probably for real. And then I was actually impressed. I've dealt with a lot of hammerheads* before, but this guy was incredible. I wanted to call him and ask if I could sign up for hammerhead lessons.
The sad truth is that people like this really do thrive in casinos. Maybe off-screen the guy is a great humanitarian and friend to the working man, but his on-screen persona was just so completely obnoxious that I can't imagine anyone thinking that this was a cool guy. It seemed like he received his comeuppance when he made out with a guy, but he didn't seem that perturbed.
The most annoying thing about hammerheads like this is that they tend to win.

4. Hammerheads in training: I don't know these guys' names, and I don't care. Again, the saddest thing is that there really are people like this in casinos. They are learning early in life to treat women like trash--good thing, too, because some day they might end up like Big Chuck and have a lot of money, so people have to laugh at their jokes. If you lived in Vegas, you'd run into people like this every time you went out to clubs.

That one guy's chyron read "the virgin" only highlights something else that Jim Rome has said: If you are on TV, and haven't written a book or something, they are going to make you look bad.

Overall thoughts: There certainly were some shocking moments: a guy maybe making out with a tranny off-screen, something to do with whipped cream, and a guy not losing his virginity.

I thought that the Tim and Tom stuff was great, and that this made the show something worth watching. Also, a nice peek inside the surveillance room showed what the places really look like. In most movies, you've got something that looks like the NORAD command center--this was just a small, dusty room with a lot of monitors.

Besides that, I didn't see too much of interest. I guess I'm spoiled, because anytime I want to I can get my fill of hammerheads by heading down to the Strip. I am afraid that maybe they did too good a job of capturing the "real Las Vegas."

If you're interested in following the story of Tim and Tom and have a high tolerance for the other hammerheads they jam into the show, I highly recommend you tune in Mondays at 9 on Fox for the next three months.
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* If you're wondering,"hammerhead" is a euphemism--this is a family-friendly blog. If you saw the show you probably know the word that first came to mind.
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posted by Dave at 8:38 AM

Reality reviewed

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