September 11, 2007
In conjunction with our 2007 Fall TV Guide, BuddyTV will be publishing exclusive interviews with the creators and showrunners of some of the hottest new shows this fall throughout the week. Check back all this week for interviews with: Cane Creator Cynthia Cidre, Chuck and Gossip Girl Creator Josh Schwartz, Journeyman Creator Kevin Falls and Director Alex Graves and Reaper Creators Tara Butters and Michele Fazekas.
Tyler Bensinger and Stephen DeKnight are the showrunners and executive producers of CBS' new genre-bending series, Viva Laughlin. Half murder mystery, half drama and half musical, it's based on the British series Viva Blackpool and stars Lloyd Owen as Ripley Holden, a wannabe casino owner in Nevada. Produced by film and stage star Hugh Jackman, Viva Laughlin gets a special premiere Thursday, October 18 at 10pm after CSI before moving to its regular time slot, Sundays at 8pm.
The duo spoke to BuddyTV about how the new show stacks up against the British original, working with Hugh Jackman, and their fondness for The Singing Detective. Below you will find a transcript as well as the mp3 audio file of the interview.
September 10, 2007
In BuddyTV's 2007 Fall TV Guide, we scoured the new shows for this year's biggest potential hits and misses. We found the ones that you should be following and which ones will probably get canceled early. The hits include Journeyman, Kid Nation and Dirty Sexy Money while the misses are Samantha Who?, Viva Laughlin, and Nashville.
Viva Laughlin is a new quasi musical-drama-mystery from CBS that follows wannabe casino owner Ripley Holden as he strives to open a successful casino in Laughlin, Nevada. His rival is Nick Fontana, a wealthy and charismatic casino owner, played by movie star and show executive producer Hugh Jackman. Viva Laughlin is based on the similarly themed English show Viva Blackpool. I've never seen Viva Blackpool, but if it's anything like Viva Laughlin, it's a miracle that anyone ever watched it. Viva Laughlin is the worst pilot I've seen in ages. It misfires on so many levels that it's astonishing. This is why I believe Viva Laughlin will be one of the very first network shows to be canceled this season. In fact, I'm almost certain the show will be off the air by December.
September 10, 2007
In BuddyTV's 2007 Fall TV Guide, we assessed each night to see which shows the major networks were pitting against each other, and determined which ones would emerge victorious in the ratings war.
Sunday is quite the boring night for TV. Basically, it's a lot of the same old stuff we've become accustomed to on Sunday nights, and the two new shows are likely to fall through the cracks.
September 10, 2007
In BuddyTV's 2007 Fall TV Guide, our team disagreed vehemently on the prospects of several new shows. Please read as they cheer, bash and degrade each other and the shows. Then you can decide what you think about Gossip Girl, Samantha Who?, Viva Laughlin, and Aliens in America.
BuddyTV writers Oscar Dahl and John Kubicek couldn't have more differing opinions of the new CBS musical-drama hybrid Viva Laughlin. John ranked it a lofty third on his list of new fall shows, while Oscar ranked it 478th out of 26. John enjoyed the original BBC series, but Oscar had never seen it before. Oscar and John met up on instant messenger to discuss the show. Read on to see how their conversation went.
When you tune in on Sunday nights, will you be as impressed with Viva Laughlin's genre-bending execution as John is? Or will you agree with Oscar, and consider it an embarrassment to all of television?
September 10, 2007
Premiere Date and Time: Thursday, October 18, 10pm (special night and time)
Regularly Scheduled Date and Time: Sunday, October 21, 8pm
Network: CBS
Time Slot Competition: Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Sunday Night Football, The Simpsons and King of the Hill, Life is Wild
Cast: Lloyd Owen, Madchen Amick, Carter Jenkins, Ellen Woglom, Eric Winter, D.B. Woodside, P.J. Byrne, Hugh Jackman, Melanie Griffith
July 19, 2007
The CBS network announced its fall premiere dates for the 2007-08 schedule with only the new series, Viva Laughlin, being pushed back to October. Originally, the network intended to begin airing the musical series along with the rest of its old and new productions in September. However, due to early NFL-season double headers, CBS was forced to delay the premiere of Viva Laughlin.
On October 18, a special preview episode of the series will air at 10pm, after a new episode of CSI. The pilot episode will then be aired on Sunday, October 21, at its regular timeslot of 8pm.
June 20, 2007
The CBS network’s Viva Laughlin is based on the Golden Globe-winning British miniseries, Viva Blackpool. Set in Laughlin, Nevada, the show follows the story of a man named Ripley Holden, whose dream to open a casino is jeopardized by his family, his enemies and his involvement in a murder case.
The show is a drama, a thriller and a musical all rolled into one, with Australian actor and film star Hugh Jackman playing one of its’ recurring characters. It is slated to premiere this fall on a Sunday at 8PM ET/PT.
Read on to know more about the cast of Viva Laughlin.