Guys,
I noticed (as you all did) that the promotional material for the new NBC drama referred to "card-counting cheats", and I remember clips from the pilot where James Caan bellows out "you won't cheat at my casino"..
so if anyone saw the show, did they show an everyday counter and roust him out for being a cheater? If so, I will duly take every thing on it with James' visage, including my precious Rollerball DVD, and smash it to tiny bits, emailing the pieces to his agent.
Thanks.
M.
> Guys,
> I noticed (as you all did) that the
> promotional material for the new NBC drama
> referred to "card-counting
> cheats", and I remember clips from the
> pilot where James Caan bellows out "you
> won't cheat at my casino"..
> so if anyone saw the show, did they show an
> everyday counter and roust him out for being
> a cheater? If so, I will duly take every
> thing on it with James' visage, including my
> precious Rollerball DVD, and smash it to
> tiny bits, emailing the pieces to his agent.
I don't normally watch much television except sports, but since I was in a good mood from watching the Broncos beat up on the Raiders, I watched it.
The "cheater" in tonight's pilot episode was a bonafide cheater, complete with accomplice and lots of hi-tech electronica. Card counting was never even mentioned.
The show was visually flashy - lots of speeded-up MTV-style shots of the strip at night.
James Caan is essentially doing an older Sonny Corleone, which seems a little out of place in the modern, hi-tech Vegas, but he's fun to watch.
The main character comes across as somewhat of a dork.
I'm assuming that the dead body seen at the beginning and end of the episode will be involved in future plotlines.
Overall, a fairly pleasant way to kill an hour, although not as much fun as watching the Raiders get their butts kicked.
.. was the dork's brother he never got around to calling in time. He looked dead to me. Or tanked. Boo-hoo.
As is usually the case, all the protestations about card counters getting a bad rap was much ado about nothing.
IMO, the show won't last, and to bad.
The chicks were not hard to watch.
> As is usually the case, all the protestations about card counters getting a bad rap was much ado about nothing.
Umm, I wouldn't say it was about nothing, since the damage was already done with the advert. More people saw that page, I would imagine, than saw the show. It propogates a harmful stereotype. The fact that the show had an actual cheater doing the cheating is a good sign. However, their terminology used on the cover page of their website is inexcusable.
M.
> The chicks were not hard to watch.
The elevator scene would have never made it to TV even just a couple years ago.
People that saw both the page and the show, and didn't know better, might assume that the cheats were card-counters. That this is what a card-counter is. They even had the onlookers cheer the casino.
> Umm, I wouldn't say it was about nothing,
> since the damage was already done with the
> advert. More people saw that page, I would
> imagine, than saw the show. It propogates a
> harmful stereotype. The fact that the show
> had an actual cheater doing the cheating is
> a good sign. However, their terminology used
> on the cover page of their website is
> inexcusable.
> M.
I believe that Caan's character does at one point refer to the cheat with the camera as a counter. This was before they had the guy figured out. The reference was quick but refers to finding the counter's team mates.
The bit at the end when the cheat bets it all on one hand made me laugh. If you've got the system in place to take the casino for three mil you walk away when the table closes.
Hip Hop
> The bit at the end when the cheat bets it
> all on one hand made me laugh.
The guy has a camera glued to his index finger, a sending unit in his pocket, his buddy already locked down and admitting to the crime ..
.. and the casino boss is standing around sweating bullets dealing ONE MORE HAND!?
And if fate had somehow let him win .. then what?
Crazy.
But .. it's TV .. if they showed it like it actually happens it would be a big time bore.
It was obvious to me they are going to pick up on some of the sensational storylines already associated with BJ (the bunny shoe guy).
[IMHO they wasted two storylines in one show -the whale and bunny shoes .. all three of these plot lines could each have been a great show in their own right if done correctly.]
So, don't get your panties in a bunch - just get your nasty e-mails ready, because Uston and the Big Player concept, the MIT thing, the ST'ers will surely come around and the counters are going to be the bad guys.
Mark it down.
No one seems to be questioning the absurdity of that final bet from a purely mechanical point of view. The camera, obviously, saw the cards AS they were being dealt -- it wasn't an X-ray machine!
So, what sense did it make to go "all in" (poker expression, no less), with plenty of cards left in the shoe, and no possible knowledge, from their scheme, of what the next hand would bring?
Or, was the count so good that he felt it justified a $3.5 million bet? Helluva count!
Don
> No one seems to be questioning the absurdity
> of that final bet from a purely mechanical
> point of view. The camera, obviously, saw
> the cards AS they were being dealt -- it
> wasn't an X-ray machine!
As long as we are discussing the absurd. I got the impression that the camera was somehow recording the cards during shuffle before they were put into the shoe. So it did make sense to go all in as the cheat knew he was going to win the final bet. I think they could have shown him betting high on every win and low on every loss to establish what was going on a bit more clearly. But an x-ray machine would be cool too! I'd like one built into my sunglasses. Pretty sure I've seen glasses like this advertised in an old Spiderman comic.
Could you imagine sitting in a casino wearing glasses with the swirls drawn on the lenses? Ha!
I believe the cheat's camera was supposed to have been implanted in the finger which is pretty nifty.
And the brief 'counter' reference I made in my earlier post was from the Ice Queen pit boss rather than Big Ed.
Hip Hop
> -- it wasn't an X-ray machine!
Good point.
And who has their camera crew trying to hold down a car hop position at the same time he is
"x-raying" the cards!?
And when was the last time you sat next to a guy up $3.5MM? Maybe the high-roller room -I wouldn't know, but out where the common folk hang?
Goofy.
It is interesting how they are making the casino out to be the good guys. I felt a little like I was watching the closeing scene of "Top Gun" as they all cheered when the guy lost his bet and was dragged to the back.
Keep in mind that Las Vegas was preceeded on NBC by two hours of Fear Factor.
'Nuff said.
> Keep in mind that Las Vegas was preceeded
> on NBC by two hours of Fear Factor. 'Nuff
> said.
Parker, do you know where the TV show was taped? It looked at times like Mandalay Bay but not always.
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