Viva Laughlin is just so damn good, CBS is giving you two chances to watch the first episode! That is a lie. Viva Laughlin is so aggressively horrible, CBS has no effing clue what to do with it. But seeing as how megastar (and odd musical enthusiast) Hugh Jackman has poured so much of his time and money into it, they can’t let it go gentle into that inevitable good night.
Let’s get one thing clear – despite how they’re billing it, Viva Laughlin is not technically a musical. It’s a campy crime drama whose main characters occasionally burst into awkward karaoke and poorly choreographed dance. Where modern film musicals like Chicago smartly use songs to peek inside players’ imaginations to further the story, Laughlin showcases a couple of nouveau riche retards who simply must sing along whenever they hear a tune with references to gambling or sex. You can barely hear their own voices over the original vocals… one of the few things we can thank them for.
Based on Britain’s Blackpool/Viva Blackpool, the show combines middle class aspirations, organized crime and an ongoing murder mystery. Now I’ve never seen Blackpool, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say it was a lot better than this. Bad acting and cheesy dialogue are tough enough on their own, but if your characters aren’t even remotely likable, you’ve got bupkis. It’s all so confusing as to how this show came to be, dissecting the ways I don’t like it is almost too much of a chore.
Had Viva Laughlin premiered sometime four or more years ago, it would have been panned, canceled outright and never discussed any further. But this is 2007, and there is a place for this show online. Bits of it, when not deeply mired in the solid hour of crap, are at least comically terrible. Cross your fingers that some snotty celeblogger uploads the clip of Melanie Griffith half-miming-half-moaning the lyrics to “One Way or Another” first thing tomorrow. This is the same woman from Milk Money, right?
Viva Laughlin airs Sundays at 8pm on CBS, but you can catch the premiere tonight at 10pm