Vega$

^{Review by Sunday Simmons}

Flashy, stylish, and amusing, with a healthy dose of glitzy celebrity crimes, made late seventies detective show Vega$ a thoroughly enjoyable watch. Another offering from producer Aaron Spelling (Charlie’s Angels, The Love Boat), and created by Michael Mann – who brought us The Last of The Mohicans, Heat, and Miami Vice – this Las Vegas based series first aired on US television in 1978 and ran until 1981 before its untimely cancellation. Still, that was a healthy run during a time when some series only managed a handful of episodes before disappearing into the ether! Producer Spelling clearly wanted Vega$ to have legs, and a clever little crossover with Charlie’s Angels the week before the Vega$ pilot aired was a stroke of genius, with Robert Urich’s gumshoe Dan Tanna making a cameo in the season 3 premier episode Angels in Vegas. Smart move, introducing your new offering in an already well loved show!

So, to the plot. Robert Urich (S.W.A.T, Magnum Force) is Dan Tanna, a private detective driving a slick 1957 red Thunderbird, solving crimes and taking on shady casino bosses, with the glittering neon backdrop of Las Vegas giving this slick series an interesting edge. The land of showgirls and Elvis impersonators makes for a visually stunning entertainment, and the opening credits are iconic if only for the typically seventies theme tune! Vega$ has bad guys, glamour, and humour all wrapped up in one sparkly parcel, and Urich’s casting is ideal, giving a balance between ruggedly good looking private detective and hands on action hero.

Glamour is supplied by Judy Landers as Angie, Tanna's office assistant and part-time showgirl while Phyllis Davis' character Beatrice Travis suggests that there's a little more to her relationship with the PI although it is never shown on screen as anything other than platonic. Greg Morris is Lieutenant Dave Nelson of the LVPD, a no-nonsense officer who initially sees Tanna as something of a nuisance, but a working relationship grows between the two men to the point where Nelson ends up assisting Tanna on cases where his police duties prohibit him from working officially.

For me, a massive high point of this show is the casting of Tony Curtis (The Persuaders, Some Like it Hot) as Philip ‘Slick’ Roth, the owner of Maxim Hotel Casino, and the Desert Inn Hotel and Country Club. He’s absolutely perfect in this role, bringing his dry humour and charisma with him. He’s just effortlessly cool in a way only Tony Curtis can be. As a recurring character, he often has use of Tanna’s services and is a definite highpoint of the series. With a strong supporting cast helping the Sin City private detective along the way – most of whom seem to be moonlighting as showgirls and pool boys (and possibly pimps) - this show transports us to the Strip in all its technicoloured glory. A little piece of seventies escapism.

What I love about this series is what I love about every show of its kind; it doesn’t take itself too seriously, and even though this trope has been done over and over, each show has something that’s unique to it alone. With Vega$, it’s the fact that Tanna can park his car in his living space. It’s a ‘how cool is that?!’ type moment. Add to that some smart detective skills, fancy gadgets, friends in the know, a whole host of dodgy doings, and some famous names of the era appearing as themselves – notably boxing legend Muhammad Ali, Dean Martin, Lorne Green, Jill St. John, Chuck Connors, Patrick Macnee, Kim Basinger, George Takei, John Carradine, Slim Pickens, Sid Caesar, Shelley Winters and pop duo Captain and Tennille – and what you’ve got is a fabulously entertaining 3 season weekend binge watch of retro gloriousness waiting to happen. And you can watch all episodes now on YouTube!