Gambling has been a central theme to various fictional and real-life television shows over the years. It’s a popular and well-used concept because many people enjoy it as a pastime and can relate to the games. While there have been a number of reality and fictional shows with gambling at their core, NBC’s Las Vegas is arguably the best one ever made. The show aired for five seasons between 2003 and 2008 and will live long in the memory of those who watched it.
Las Vegas – Five Seasons of Gripping TV
Las Vegas was an instant hit with audiences and pulled in 11.83 million viewers in its first season on NBC. The gritty drama, created by Garry Scott Thompson, focused on the running of a fictional casino in Sin City, with James Caan as the main protagonist. The Godfather actor, who was nominated for an Academy Award in Francis Ford Coppola’s film, was a major pulling point for the series, and a lot of viewers will have tuned in to see such an esteemed and capable actor in action.
Las Vegas follows the rise of Caan, an ex-CIA officer who goes from being head of security at the Montecito Resort and Casino to head of operations. The series posted strong ratings of over 10 million for the first three seasons and then dropped off slightly for seasons four and five. It was ultimately canceled despite the final season ending on a cliff-hanger. Las Vegas earned fairly strong ratings and has a respectable score of 7.5/10 on IMDB. It was praised for its original and compelling storylines.
Other Fictional Series with Gambling Characters
Las Vegas was a strong fictional series with gambling elements involved in every episode, but there have been gambling moments and plots in other series that have also been memorable. Some of the most famous gamblers on TV are well-known characters who have played casino games in certain storylines. For example, The Simpsons has always been renowned for its witty and original ideas, but Marge has often been a background figure, while Homer seems to be the focus of many of the main storylines. However, when Mr Burns opened a casino in Springfield, it was Marge who developed a fondness for the slot games. This isn’t really surprising either, seeing as slots are by far the most popular gambling games on the market.
Fans of How I Met Your Mother will remember that Barney Stinson, played by Neil Patrick Harris, was quite a keen gambler, among his many other pursuits. The serial womanizer loved to have a flutter on sports and was also known to enjoy a fictional Chinese casino game called Xing Hai Shi Bu Xing, which involved poker chips, cards, dice, and more.
Gambling has been used as a pastime for characters on shows because it is familiar to most people and adds another element of depth to the personalities of these fictional entities.
Real-Life Gambling Shows
Some of the best gambling shows for many are those that are set in the real world, which don’t have any elements of fiction. With poker being hugely popular all over the world, it isn’t surprising that there are a number of reality-poker series on television. Around the time of the poker boom in the early 2000s, the World Series of Poker was made available for viewing to more people. As the card game grew in popularity, other series cropped up on American television networks.
Some of the best-known poker series were Poker After Dark, High Stakes Poker, and Late Night Poker. These programs usually focused on cash games between well-established professionals on the poker scene. There were a number of famous and popular poker players who made regular appearances on the shows, including people such as Phil Helmuth, Tom Dwan, Daniel Negreanu, and Phil Ivey. Poker players enjoyed watching these players in action because there was a lot to learn from them. They each had different styles of play, and because viewers could see the hole cards, they got an insight as to what the player was thinking. The poker series were good, but perhaps they could have been hard for non-poker players to get into.
Because Las Vegas was not solely about gambling, it made it accessible for viewers who didn’t necessarily play the games. The gambling themes explored by the show made it hugely exciting and enjoyable, and it could well be classed as the best gambling series ever made for television.