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Sep 25, 2012 By Austin Trunick Issue #42 - The Protest Issue

Dennis Quaid’s new drama could have just as easily been titled CSI: Las Vegas 1960. It’s a standard-as-they-come police procedural jammed into what feels like a cheap period-piece overcoat. Vegas tells the wildly fictionalized story of real-life cattle rancher-turned-law man Ralph Lamb (Quaid), who worked as a Clark County sheriff during Sin City’s formative years. He’s joined in civic duty by his brother (Terra Nova‘s Jason O’Mara) and tail-chasing son (Taylor Handley), whose skills at rounding up cattle make them equally capable of herding murderers and outlaw biker gangs. The cast is rounded out by a shady Chicago mobster (The Shield‘s Michael Chiklis) and an attractive district attorney (Carrie-Anne Moss), but the above-average ensemble can’t overcome a tired formula that’s been recycled ad nauseam in network cop shows since the ‘90s. Lamb and his sidekicks bounce from one suspect interrogation to the next, each bringing them a step closer to their perp, who’ll be neatly locked away by the time the episode wraps. Maybe we’re too spoiled by detail-obsessed cable dramas, but it’s going to take much more to sell the early-1960s period setting than slapping a “whites only” sign on a restroom door and calling it a day. (www.cbs.com/shows/vegas)

Author rating: 3.5/10