Monday, January 01, 2018
Fox Mid-Season Pilot Review: LA to Vegas - Premieres Tuesday (Jan. 2)
LA to Vegas - Tuesdays at 9:00PM ET/PT on Fox
Premieres Tuesday, January 2, 2018 at 9:00PM ET/PT
Ed Weeks as Colin
Nathan Lee Graham as Bernard
Olivia Macklin as Nichole
Peter Stormare as Artem
Dylan McDermott as Captain Dave Pratman
Before getting into what's wrong with it, maybe it is worth pointing out the positives of the series. The individual cast members of the series make up a great are decent actors who could do well on a good TV series with good casting. But that long list of qualifiers already brings up the first problem with the series: it has a cast that doesn't seem to fit in with one another. In watching the first episode, you couldn't really see how they all fit together. So what we've got here is a case of a good cast that seems to be poorly matched.
I also couldn't really tell where the stories are going to go on this series. In the pilot, we got to see Ronnie losing out on a job opportunity and (possibly) opening a new door with a new relationship and the young couple who went to Las Vegas to get hitched. The possibilities with the main cast seem limited, though, as long as they're in the air, so this series will definitely need good guest stars with good stories, and the one in this pilot wasn't all that compelling of a story.
I had trouble finding the laughs in the pilot as well. I've always felt that not all sitcoms need a laugh every minute. In fact, some of the best sitcoms of all time won't necessarily make you laugh out loud at all. But they make up for that with solid storylines, which this series is lacking in what I've seen.
It is worth pointing out that one cast member that I sort of enjoyed that seemed to be underutilized in the pilot was Nathan Lee Graham. I had never really heard of him (although I've seen every episode of Scrubs, which he appeared in one episode, so I've undoubtedly seen him before), but some of the better scenes and somewhat funny (the comedy was still limited by the series itself) scenes came from him. Assuming this series doesn't work out, it would be nice to see him elsewhere, as he seems to have a lot of potential.
Preview:
Sitcoms Airing Tonight
Friday, March 5
none scheduled
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of March 1)
Friday, March 5
- Soleil Moon Frye (Punky Brewster/Sabrina, the Teenage Witch) - Watch Soleil on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
- Harvey Guillén (What We Do in the Shadows) - Harvey is a guest on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
- Arsenio Hall (Arsenio) - Arsenio appears on a repeat of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
- Adam DeVine (Workaholics/Modern Family) - Adam is a guest on a repeat of The Late Late Show with James Corden at 12:37am on CBS.
- Kathryn Hahn (Happyish/Transparent/Free Agents) - Kathryn chats with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
- Kate Walsh (Bad Judge/The Drew Carey Show) - Kate is a guest on The Talk on CBS at 2pm ET/1pm CT-PT.
- Eddie Murphy (The PJs) - Eddie talks about Coming 2 America on LIVE! with Kelly and Ryan, so check your listings.
- Randall Park (Fresh Off the Boat) - Randall appears on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, so check your local listings.
- Kyle Massey (Cory in the House/That's So Raven) - Kyle is a guest on The Real, so check your local listings.
- Amy Poehler (Duncanville/Parks and Recreation) - Amy will be on The Kelly Clarkson Show, so check your local listings.
- Ben Feldman (Superstore/A to Z/Living with Fran) - Ben appears on The Kelly Clarkson Show, so check your local listings.
- Zach Braff (Alex, Inc./Scrubs) and Donald Faison (The Exes/Scrubs/Clueless) - Zach and Donald talk about the Fake Doctors, Real Friends podcast on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
- Keshia Knight Pulliam (Tyler Perry's House of Payne/The Cosby Show) - Keshia is a guest on Access Daily, so check your local listings.
New on DVD/Blu-ray (October-February)
10/13 - The Jetsons - The Complete Series (Diamond Collection)
10/13 - Our Cartoon President - Season Two
10/23 - Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em - The Complete Collection
10/27 - The Flintstones - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
10/27 - Head of the Class - The Complete Second Season (WBShop.com)
11/10 - Letterkenny - Seasons 5 & 6
11/10 - The Office - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
11/10 - Schitt's Creek - The Complete Collection
11/17 - Carol's Second Act - The Complete Series
11/17 - Robbie - Season 1
11/24 - Corporate - Season 1
11/26 - Man with a Plan - Season Four
12/01 - The Neighborhood - Season Two
12/15 - Avenue 5 - The Complete First Season
01/22 - Corporate - Season 2
01/22 - Corporate - Season 3
02/02 - Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In - The Complete Series (2021 Retail Release)
02/16 - Fam - The Complete Series
02/23 - Betty White's Pet Set - The Complete Series
03/02 - Blue Mountain State - The Complete Series
03/02 - Happy Together - The Complete Series
03/02 - Rick and Morty - The Complete Seasons 1-4 (DVD) (Blu-ray)
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