All these stories about the guests are good, Loveboat-esque fun, but what's going to keep us coming back will be our regulars: Tim, Tom, the assistant, the security guys, the guest relations folk, the croupiers, Matt Dusk, etc. At this point, the stable of characters has yet to show many signs of life. Yes, Tim has a spunky, porcine quality, but the rest are a bit tentative and restrained. I imagine that's because the majority of these people are not aspiring actors looking for their fifteen minutes of fame (check out a Bunim/Murray production for that). The employees of the casino are doing a job first, participating in a reality show second. No one is there to fill a role (angry black man, hot girly girl), so at first we feel lost without our typical cliches. But in time, distinct personalities emerge, and they tend to be a little more complex than by-the-numbers caricatures such as Frankie from Real World or Paris Hilton from the Simple Life (and various sex tapes).

So my only hope for The Casino is that Fox holds onto it long enough for us to reach that critical point where we suddenly realize we care about the pit boss and the valet and whoever else populates the Golden Nugget. Wow, I just made myself sound completely devoid of any sort of human interaction.

Posted by B-side on June 23, 2004 4:31 PM