Recap of Little Fish, episode of Vegas

Little Fish  Season 1/Ep. 16

 

 

After a month-long break, Vegas returns to the airwaves.

Violet, the movie star we met last month wants to leave the Savoy and rent a house. Her manager says she won’t last a day without room service. The Lamb brothers arrest a man for having sex with a minor (she’s 17 going on 20). She’s not cooperating and Ralph just wants to know who her pimp is.

Jack comes clean to the DA and Kathryn about the death of Daddy Rizzo. The DA, who remember is in Savino’s back pocket, gives Jack a hard time. Kathryn is on Jack’s side as is Ralph. The DA is outnumbered, so he folds and this storyline basically comes to an end (except the Jack and Mia storyline will continue).

Welcome back, Vegas.

Wait, what’s this?  A title sequence (!!!!) that emphasizes gaming, smoking and guns. It’s a short title sequence, no shots of the stars, but it is a title sequence. Is CBS having second thoughts about canceling the show?

Ralph is still his usual taciturn self. Dixon is still chasing Violet and Jack is still in love with Mia. Which is pretty much the story tonight.

The john who got arrested at the top of the show is being grilled by Ralph when Agent Burns,on orders from the governor, offers the guy, who is a dealer at the Savoy, a deal, deal if he’ll roll on the syndicate. He agrees to and Ralph’s attempt to find out who the pimp is goes out the door.

The writing is not any better than it was a month ago, still pretty much superficial. Guess all the deep thinking went into the title sequence.

Jack tells Mia that they have an informant from inside the hotel and he tells her that Savino set up not only him but Daddy Rizzo. When she asks why she should trust him, Jack tells her he is still in love with her. Feel the heartstring tug?

No smiling Ralph. Mia asks Savino if he called her a rat. She gets the run around but not a denial. She doesn’t seem to notice that Savino didn’t actually answer the question.

Agent Burns tells Mia he is going to take her down unless she rolls over on Savino and if she doesn’t, she will spend her child-bearing years in prison.

Jack and Savino get into a fight. Jack gets in a punch or two as does Vince. Vince threatens Jack.  Are you worried? I thought not. This is not Vic Mackey making threats.

Savino calls the DA on the carpet because of Agent Burns. The DA balks at doing Savino’s dirty work. Savino puts the screws to the DA and tells him to get his hands filthy. Again, unfortunately, this is Vince Savino talking and not Vic Mackey, so there really won’t be any severe consequences or in-depth story telling.

Is it just me or did the music score on this show get better since the break? Not the historic songs but the music score.

Seems Miss Sanchez really just wants to sing on the stage, just one song. Dixon is surprised by how good Miss Sanchez can sing.

The girl at the top of the show, of course, wants out of her life as a prostitute. Ralph, of course, wants to help her, but only in fatherly fashion (it is Dennis Quaid after all). But first, her “mother” shows up to spring her from jail. Everyone falls for the mother routine, even Kathryn. The only ones who don’t are the viewers.

The “mother” delivers the girl to Mia, who gives her $3000 to go to Chicago, go to secretarial school and graduate. When she does, another $3000 will be sent to her.  Mia wants the charges dropped against the dealer so that the case goes away.

Jack bugged Savino’s office. He didn’t go to Vince’s office just to fight it seems. Is it legal, Ralph asks. It’s not illegal, Jack tells him. Aah, the early 1960s wiretapping.

Violet returns to Hollywood, leaving Dixon with a broken heart. Jack tells him to go get his girl with a cow analogy. That’s classy.

Mia has the dealer thinking she’s going to be lenient on him. She fires him and tells him to what will happen to him if he ever decides to talk. He gets a major beating.

She goes to see Jack and gives him a letter from the girl. She tells him she is safe and we see her on the bus. She tells Ralph who is looking for and where he lives. There’s a chase on fire escapes.

Miss Sanchez is going to LA with a side trip (and a shout out to Langer’s Deli in McArthur Park). The Savoy entertainment director seems a bit taken with Miss Sanchez.  Dixon hitches a ride with her to win Violet back.

The DA sends a package to Chicago (briefcase full of money) and then calls Savino which means the wire tap picks the call up.

But Jack does not recognize the DA’s voice. This is Vegas, after all.

And with that, the episode comes to an end.

Hit the comments and tell us what you think!

Vegas returns on Friday night!

 

Vegas returns this Friday night, April 5th, at 9:00 pm as the lead-in to the popular Tom Selleck starrer, Blue Bloods.

The final six episodes of this freshman season will air in order without any more breaks. We, unfortunately, have other plans that preclude from us doing an immediate recap but

The show needs to garner ratings at least as good, if not better, than CSI: NY, in this current time slot. Right now, it is "on the bubble" as they say. Last week, CBS renewed over a dozen shows but Vegas wasn't one of them. So, it's now or never.

Stay tuned!

Vegas moves to Friday nights

Well, it sure sounds like CBS has made their choice. 

Sheriff Ralph Lamb gets KO'd in favor of the younger Golden Boy.

 

It was announced earlier today that CBS is sticking with Golden Boy on Tuesday nights.  Originally, the idea was for Golden Boy to have a two week run on Tuesday nights following CBS' big guns, NCIS and NCIS: LA, and then move to Friday nights at 9:00 beginning tomorrow night, March 8th.

Those plans changed. As we talked about yesterday, the ratings for Golden Boy on Tuesday night were as good as Vegas but chances are, the 18-49 demographic numbers were probably higher for Golden Boy.

That gave CBS the reason to shake up the schedule and keep Golden Boy on Tuesday nights in the 10:00 slot and move Vegas to Friday night where an older demographic has kept both CSI: NY and the Tom Selleck starrer, Blue Bloods, alive for the last couple of years.

Vegas may be a better fit with Blue Bloods but it no longer has the powerhouse NCIS franchise as a lead-in.  Instead, it has Undercover Boss (which does decent numbers).  The pressure is now on Vegas' showrunner, Greg Walker and the writers room, to bring audience numbers as good as CSI: NY and not lose viewers for Blue Bloods.

Can they accomplish that with the current storyline? They may need to step up their game big time. Vegas, at this point, can't afford to lose any viewers.

Not helping that scenario, March Madness and the NCAA playoffs begin soon and Vegas will be off the air until Friday, April 5th.  An original episode of Golden Boy airs tomorrow night (March 8th)  in the 9:00 timeslot and then returns on Tuesday night (March 12) at 10:00 for the rest of the season.

Being off the air for at least four weeks and returning in a new time slot usually spells doom for shows.

It will be worth watching to see if Vegas can break that curse.

We, of course, will be watching, keeping you updated and will remind you when Vegas returns to the airwaves.

 

Stay tuned!

Golden Boy and Vegas

Well, the overnight ratings are in and there is good news and bad news for fans of Vegas.

 

First the bad news for Vegas:

Unlike shows like Do No Harm and Zero Hour, Golden Boy didn't tank in its first foray two weeks ago.  When Vegas premiered back in September, it debuted with a healthy 2.5 rating/14.85 million viewers watching. Unfortunately, its numbers started to dip shortly after the premiere. By the fourth episode, the ratings had fallen to a 1.6 rating/11 million viewers.

It has stayed in that range ever since, occasionally going up or down a point.  CBS cut back the number of episodes for a season from 22 to 20.

Golden Boy premiered in Vegas's time slot last week and matched the weekly audience numbers of 11 million viewers.  The second episode last night maintained that audience. The show moves to Friday night this week.

CBS needs a show at 9:00 on Friday nights to provide a lead-in to to the Tom Selleck starrer, Blue Bloods, now that CSI: NY has finished its season. Will Golden Boy provide that lead-in? Remains to be seen. Friday night is still considered a bit of a waste land and CBS seems to have some faith in Golden Boy.

Vegas only has five more episodes to air, so there is either a number of reruns in our future or CBS has a spring show it is going to put in this time slot when Vegas completes its run. If they do, they've been very quiet about what that show is. Which is very untypical of CBS.

The good news:

There are five more episodes of Vegas. The show is definitely on the bubble and needs to maintain, if not increase (not likely), their viewership. 

If Golden Boy tanks on Friday nights that may strengthen Vegas' odds of being renewed. May being the operative word.

A not-so-good possibility for fans of Vegas:

But if Golden Boy maintains the same number of viewers (or increases their viewership), CBS may eye this show as replacement for Vegas.