The Casino: Fear and Loving in Las Vegas
Ep 2 Recap & Commentary By CaliGirl
June 25, 2004
S.O.S. - Same Old Stuff
When the most interesting aspects of this show involve recruiters for a swingers' party and a 28 year old real estate mogul who has a gambling addiction, then you are in a heap of big trouble, Bubba. Unfortunately, "The Casino" has been unable to rise above that element. All they are doing is showing the seamier side of Las Vegas and there's nothing glamorous about it. I will admit that I have displayed addictive behavior from time to time, but gambling and swinging are not on my list.
As I'm watching the second episode of this series unfold, I can recall my trips to Vegas and the things that I've enjoyed during my visit. The last time I was there, the fun consisted of walking along the Strip and going from one glamorous hotel to the next as well as doing a lot of people watching.
Where are the everyday people that you see around the city? They are not very evident on this show. I loved the different themes of the hotels, dancing fountains, art work, Italian mosaic floors and the variety of great food available at an endless number of restaurants and clubs. There are shows with big name stars. The gamblers and the swingers are merely a part of the picture.
It simply amazes me to see a place like the Golden Nugget that has been refurbished by Tim and Tom not being any different than other places on or off the Strip. In fact, I'd much rather be at the Bellagio or Paris than throw my money away at the Golden Nugget.
Here's what I'm trying to say. The grand scheme was directed at bringing back the old Rat Pack Vegas, but to me it's just another downtown casino. They're all posh, without clocks, and you can have anything you want. All you need to do is be a high roller. True, I have never been comped to a lush suite or gotten staked to a $100,000, but I'm not that kind of playah.
What Mark Burnett is trying to do is portray Vegas as Sin City. Well, it is. All of us who have ever been there saw the same damn things that we're seeing on his series within the first ten minutes of our arrival. So what's new about that?
That's only one of the reasons why this show has not captured our hearts and minds. Once you leave Vegas, you leave your money and your thoughts in Vegas and return to "normal" life. Unless you are a cab driver that had to stay behind to feed his habit, Vegas is a grown-up dreamscape, a veritable fantasyland. We all knew that going in.
Tim and Tom
You need to be pretty dynamic figures to run a huge casino. These two guys seem like fish out of water. They really are not cut out for this business. They try to be hard-nosed but it just doesn't come off as authentic. How does establishing and selling a travel service on the internet prepare you for the Vegas life? They're unpolished and it shows. They may be bright men who made a huge profit when they sold their business to Microsoft-owned Expedia. They might have managed over 400 people, but they have never run a casino.
The High Rollers
Geoff, a 28 year old real estate magnate and multi-millionaire, his girlfriend and entourage stroll in after being invited by Tom, or Tim. Who knows? They usually gamble at the Mandalay but they are comped to the Presidential Suite and given every possible amenity to keep them sweet. The group is impressed and proceeds to drop some big bills at the tables. If Geoff wins, then the house is in trouble. If he loses, they're in trouble because gamblers are superstitious and he won't be back. That's what "Lady Luck" is all about. What a lose-lose proposition.
On top of everything else, his girlfriend and guard dog watches him toss his money all around and for his own good, stashes some of the cash in her Louis Vuitton purse. In this case, it was $25,000 in large bills. So what happens? The stupid bimbo loses her entire purse with the money in it. How in the hell can anyone be so careless? She needs her own guard dog, it seems. Tim and Tom knock themselves out trying to recover the purse, but frankly, anyone who picked it up and saw all that cash inside would hightail it out of there in a big fat hurry. That's human nature.
Geoff starts off with blackjack and he is losing big, really BIG. I'm talking $100,000 big. Management tries to divert him away from the tables so that he can relax a little. It's obvious that Geoff will be attending Gamblers Anonymous before too long, because he just can't stay away from the tables. The more he loses, the more he needs to play. He's still losing when he starts fresh the next morning around 6 AM. Tim and Tom don't know how to deal with him. They do make the gesture of buying the girlfriend a new Louis Vuitton purse, but fall short of filling it with the $25K that she had stashed inside.
They have finally had enough when Geoff goes nutso and starts mutilating the cards as he's losing at Baccarat. Apparently, that's permissible, but not to the degree that he was doing it like a rabid dog.
It was not fun to watch. The Mills Party finally leaves and promises to return, but I doubt it.
The Swingers
A trio of scummy looking people - one badly bleached blond man, David, and two women - a blonde (Virginia) and a brunette (Beverly) swagger in jauntily. They sit at a table at the club known as ZAX and proceed to look around for possible victims much like pimps look for new blood to beef up the herd of hookers that they run. The sleazy looking blonde approaches a bi-racial couple and starts chatting them up. At first, Maya appears to be reluctant while her husband Chris gets a certain gleam in his eye that might be defined as lust. The recruitment procedure works and they're all heading uptown to the Mandalay Bay to attend the Swingers party where Maya "just wants to watch." Funny thing is, Chris begins to freak out and wants to leave and the formerly cautious Maya really wants to stay. She thinks it's an opportunity of a lifetime. They end up leaving.
It made me feel so dirty and not in a good way.
The Trouble With The "Unscripted" Show
Las Vegas is not just for chronic gamblers and swingers. There is a lot more going on. Certainly all the hype is about the obvious things, but it's great to go and shop, catch the shows, eat well, and stroll around in Vegas.
There are interesting facts about the Golden Nugget itself that we haven't been apprised of. It sits on seven and a half acres, and is the largest (in terms of room numbers - almost 2,000) downtown hotel. There are several restaurants and clubs or lounges on the site. It was founded in 1946, but by whom? We don't know anything about its history. It would have been interesting to see some of the refurbishing that went on.
People are raising families in the suburbs. Kids go to school and grow up. Hopefully, they don't all become dealers.
Las Vegas has a tremendous water shortage that will decimate them in a short while. None of that is even touched upon even though it affects all the hotels including the Golden Nugget.
I realize that the main thrust of the show is directed at The Golden Nugget, but it's not captivating enough to keep the audience intrigued. There is a lot of interesting information that touches on the Vegas way of life and we're being shown only a tiny fraction. I'm certain that each dealer, croupier and pit boss has a story to tell. None of those have even been touched on. Instead we get the supposed glitz and glamour that is so unimpressive.
The young Sinatra-type lounge singer Matt Dusk is good, but so what? There are more of him around. What is so great about even focusing on him? I was hoping for more stories. Maybe they'll come, maybe they won't. It might just be too late. Nobody is watching.
CaliGirl loves the Ocean, granola and winemaking. When not busy with that, writing is her biggest thrill, well almost. She can be reached at california_girl100@yahoo.com
