COWBOYS VS MOBSTERS! 'VEGAS' ARRIVES...

Changing times for law and disorder in the new American period drama series VEGAS. Image: CBS.

They may not at first have believed their eccentric late comrade Bugsy Siegel's dreams of commercial enterprise avarice operating from the cattle filled, desert dunes of Las Vegas, Nevada, but by the 1960's it was soon a thriving melting pot of crime, gambling, entertainment-where the superstars of music, stage and screen mixed with other types of "personality"- with mighty vice generating profits for The Organisation (aka The Mob) that seemed just too good to be true, overlooked by on the payroll corrupted crime fighters. Dreams were made, empires were built, the beautiful people thrived, and the money flowed in- and anyone that got in the way of all of that...well, that wasn't a problem, either! Anything went and probably did, in a time and place where greed got greedier, and the bloodshed got bloodier!

Now, hot on the heels of popular and adult gangster TV and film dramas like BROADWALK EMPIRE, CASINO and GOODFELLAS, and having worn out the Vegas locale in modern series like CSI, TV producers have found a new way to tap the storytelling well of both aspects and create further mileage and strong characters by going back to the Golden Age of the Strip-its aura and iconism- with its emerging crime dynasty and the attempts by a small group of law-enforcers to fight back against them, blending it all together in a stylish and zippy PG audience friendly concoction. VEGAS is the result, from writer/creator Nicholas Pileggi and Greg Walker, whose prior September debut States-side proved a critical hit for its CBS makers (coming soon to the UK's SKY ATLANTIC channel).

Trailer: Vegas: sezon 1 - trailer #2 - YouTube

Law-breaker and law-maker: Michael Chiklis as Vincent Savino and Dennis Quaid as Sheriff Lamb.

Carrie-Anne Moss adds glamour to the glossy new series.

Having played the charismatic and uncompromisingly dangerous detective Vic Mackey in THE SHIELD, Michael Chiklis finally gets another hit series for his considerable acting chomps to wade into and enjoy (as well as making the most of a cool sixties wardrobe, too!) playing Vincent Savino, a man with ambition and plenty of attitude, based on the criminal exploits of a real-life boss of the time, Marcello Giuseppe Caifano. Facing off against Savino and his equally opportunistic family of devoted henchmen is stern rancher lawman Ralph Lamb, McCloud he certainly aint'!, played by the always-in-demand Dennis Quaid, a fine film actor with a diverse body of work (recently giving a brilliant performance as former president Bill Clinton in HBO's THE SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP), obviously enjoying the potential for this new series and the name talent of its creators, whilst, in a nice change, gamely taking the plunge into an interesting opportunity for some work on the small screen. Adding glamour and sex appeal to the male clash of good and evil is THE MATRIX's Carrie-Anne Moss, shedding her form fitting costumes as flying butt kicker Trinity to become law-following Assistant district attorney, and obvious love interest and dramatic confidante to Lamb, Katherine O'Connell. Cancelled series fantasy favourites amongst the mix include Sarah Jones, away from the dirty cells of ALCATRAZ, looking much more glamorous and feminine as savvy gangster daughter Mia Rizzo, whilst TERRA NOVA's lead hero Jason O'Mara wears a cowboy hat well as Ralph's younger brother and equally square-jawed deputy, Jack.

The Lambs have an early run-in with Savino and his boys.

Sheriff Lamb makes his presence felt in Savino's empire

They say what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, but with the evolving times, clash of ideologies, and shotgun blasting to come, I think we'll all be addictively caught in the dramatic crossfire soon enough.

SOUTHERN STAR! THE RETURN OF "JUSTIFIED"

Miranda rights? What are those? Timothy Olyphant as Marshal Givens in JUSTIFIED. Image: FX.

Making the much beloved Cowboy hat wearing Detective Sam McCloud's crime-busting skills seem positively geriatric in comparison comes the return of popular law enforcer Marshal Raylan Givens, as played by star ascending Timothy Olyphant (best known for his film roles in THE CRAZIES, DIE HARD 4 and HITMAN, as well as DAMAGES on TV), in a role pitch perfect for those wild eyes of his and his laconic on-screen acting style (one that would certainly please a young, in his prime Clint Eastwood), for the second series of JUSTIFIED, developed by acclaimed film-writer Graham Yost, and based on the stories of the iconic Elmore Leonard. It's back on UK screens with all its sun scorched location filming and smoky interior bar-rooms via those hungry to buy hot series people at FIVE USA in the UK.

Acclaimed by critics, with an opening season premiere which debuted to strong ratings last year, the series has created its own distinctive visual style, accompanied by weird and wonderful plots featuring a multitude of equally eccentric characters and rough baddies, and showcasing Olyphant, now a big hit with the ladies, as a lawman not afraid to take risks, clashing with his superiors and friends (including memorable support from THE SHIELD's excellent Walton Goggins) in order to get the job done, and, if necessary, bending the rules to his advantage whilst serving out his undeserved exile to the rural East Kentucky mining town of Harlan.

Here's a fun trailer for the new series: YouTube - Justified Season2 Trailer
And another: YouTube - Justified Season 2 Teaser Trailer

Season One of justified is now available on DVD from SONY HOME ENTERTAINMENT.

CLASSIC IMAGE OF THE WEEK: "THE SHIELD"

To serve and protect? Michael Chiklis leads the cast of the superb US police drama, THE SHIELD. Image: FOX/FX.

Cutting a defiant and bloody tone stands that breed apart, actor Michael Chiklis, as the cop we love to hate, and hate to love, Vic Mackey, in the often controversial hit FOX series THE SHIELD. This seven season running series created by Shawn Ryan changed the face of the TV landscape in the noughties with regards to our perceptions of life on the streets for cops both in uniform and plain clothes, and showed us a world of policing that was very grey toned, full of compromise, always savagely violent, and often very corrupt, where the police captains were often just as greedy for money, ambitious and willing to stamp on anybody's toes as the drug barons and pimps out in the seedy underbelly nightlife of the City of Angels, with the seemingly untouchable (thanks to friends at the top protecting him) Vic and his task force right in the centre of the action, both verbally and physically, at all times. Yet, despite their incredulous criminal liaisons and their shifty, sometimes spiralling out of control dealings with low life scum and villainy (which were often either hilarious or tragic), in order to secure for themselves the ultimate retirement pensions when they left the force (hopefully alive from all the gangland battles and day to day on the street horrors they had to investigate), Vic and his crew were, in a strange kind of way, still the type of police officers you wanted on your side in a crisis, and generally well liked by the majority of the officers within their precinct (though low betide any man or woman who stood in their way of a good thing!). Vic himself proves to be someone we partially admire, and we certainly cheer him on wholeheartedly when he takes on the cruelest of baddies, but then we have no choice but to "tut, tut" him when we see some of the indefensible and corruptible things he gets up to (like negotiating his cut in profits as a Landlord to a property whose owner sells drugs). And despite a soon nightmare-ish family life, a complex set of relationships with his fellow officers, and a seemingly un-ending cat and mouse battle against his equally corrupt and ambitious Police Captain, David Acaveda (played by Benito Martinez) adding to his life difficulties, Vic intriguingly comes across as a man who enjoys the dangers and unpredictability of the job, something we know he was born to do and lives for, who loves being the king of all his domain in the Farmington District. With all these elements adding to the sheer power and in your face-ness of Chiklis himself, described by fellow actor Catherine Dent as playing "the Al Capone of cops!", it was no surprise that Vic quickly became one of the most memorable and downright unmissable to watch characters of the small screen ever...

Series trailer: YouTube - The Shield Trailer

Standing as an intriguing middle rung in the evolution of TV cop series between NYPD BLUE and today's also excellent SOUTHLAND, THE SHIELD, which also had the talents of ex-HILL STREET BLUES writer/producer Scott Brazil involved in its making, was soon acclaimed by audiences and critics (despite some resistance from advertisers at first unhappy with the series tone), started and ended both strongly and iconically (with an opening pilot that ended on a note of true surprise and shock: a sign of things to come!), was brilliantly cast all the way through with terrific scripts and had exciting story arcs that certainly made their mark on both the characters and the audiences watching the unfolding drama. It also, quite rightly, saw the star power emergence of Michael Chiklis in probably the best lead series role of his career so far, quite rightly reining supreme as the iconic figure who treads the trait lines between being the darkest of devils and almost the most fearless of heroes, and remaining superb, consistent and uncompromising throughout the run, much deserving of his Emmy and Golden Globe award acting honours.

Hard hitting, brutal and probably one of the most realistic portrayals of Law and Order in the United States, backed up with a visual style that was very much semi-documentary and gritty, THE SHIELD delivered a swift punch to our faces which certainly woke us all up in the realms of Television Drama!