"Mad Men" or "Viva Laughlin": The non-tough call of the day

When it comes to adapting British TV shows for American tastes, there seems to be no middle ground. Either the de-Anglified version is brilliant (“Sanford & Son,” “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,” “The Office”) or it stinks (“The Weakest Link,” “Coupling”).

  I'm not quite ready to drag “Viva Laughlin,” CBS's attempt to replicate the Brit hit “Blackpool,” into the “stinks” category. But that's only because I'm extending it the same courtesy as every other new show this fall: I'm withholding judgment until I can see a second episode -- in this case, out of the perhaps naïve belief that America's top-rated network did not just suck the life out of a quirky, Peabody Award-winning sensation.

  But if you have to choose tonight, do not stop on CBS. Instead, go directly to AMC and watch the season finale of “Mad Men,” also at 9 p.m. CT.  Not only is it a far better TV series, tonight's episode is commercial free.

  Even if you haven't seen “Blackpool,” which was retitled “Viva Blackpool” for its run on the BBC America channel, it should be clear that something is missing from the CBS version. Like “Blackpool,” “Viva Laughlin” is an unlikely hybrid of thriller and musical, where anybody can and will burst into song at the drop of a line. Both shows are centered on a man who's obsessed with building a grand casino and is suspected of murder by a handsome detective, who is making goo-goo eyes at the builder's lonely wife. Both shows open with someone singing karaoke-style to Elvis Presley's “Viva Las Vegas.”

  So what's wrong with the CBS version, which gets a preview tonight before moving to 7 p.m. Sundays on KCTV-5?

  Ironically for a show about gambling, “Viva Laughlin” takes precious few chances.

  David Morrissey, the Scottish actor who played the paunchy, wild-eyed entrepreneur in “Blackpool,” was an over-the-top character, from his woolly mutton chops to the delightful zest he put into the musical numbers. (In one memorable scene, he warbled along with the Diana Ross recording of “I'm Gonna Make You Love Me” while construction workers, clad in raincoat yellow, surrounded him in Busby Berkeley-like formations.) Even the unlikely backdrop of an English seaside town made “Blackpool” a study in contrasts, a squalid little whodunit interrupted hilariously every now and then by a bright and shiny production number.

  There's nothing squalid about Lloyd Owen, the British actor miscast in Morrissey's role on “Laughlin.” He is clean-cut, with sideburns kept in check. Like “House's” Hugh Laurie and “Jericho's” Lennie James, he speaks with an American accent. He lives a suburban lifestyle in Laughlin, Nevada, which in real life is a gambling resort town with 8,100 residents and 11,000 hotel rooms south of Las Vegas. In such a town there can be nothing special or exciting about a casino venture. Owen might as well be putting up a department store (indeed, when I spotted the Hilton in the background of one scene, I realized “Laughlin” was being filmed in the former Robinson-May store in Beverly Hills).

  “Laughlin's” lack of ambition is most evident in its choreography. You would think that if CBS went to the expense of licensing one of the most unique TV concepts in years, it would stick to the formula. But no. Whereas in the opening minutes of “Blackpool” the entire family is singing along to Elvis and mugging to the camera, here only Owen sings, his eyes grimly and determinedly fixed on the horizon. There are just two halfhearted routines after that. In one, a rival casino owner sings along with “Sympathy for the Devil,” again without irony. (This character is played by Hugh Jackman, who has a producer's credit on “Laughlin” but will make only occasional appearances.)

  Toward the end of the hour, two characters weakly reprise “Viva Las Vegas,” a sign that someone at the network felt the need to give “Viva Laughlin” a soft, predictable landing on its first night.

  No risk, no reward.

***

While there's a ton of great video from "Mad Men" at the AMC Web site, one thing is missing: a video of the show's brilliant opening credits. Just 36 seconds long, it features vertigo-inducing animation and a remarkably catchy theme song that puts me in mind of those '60s detective shows:

***

Here's an entertaining, if fairly obvious, fanmash of boardwalk scenes from "Blackpool" set to the tune of "Under the Boardwalk." The fact that this fan chose to use the Bruce Willis version of the song makes it that much more entertaining: