TV Cream

TV: V is for...

Vega$

GIRLS, Guns ‘n Gambling-festooned great grandaddy of all those ‘maverick Private Eye with a snazzy car and Vietnam flashbacks’ imports, starring Robert Urich as Casino-hopping Las Vegas Strip ‘tec Dan Tanna, forever caught up in homicidal wranglings over nightspot-bequeathing wills, mysterious deaths seemingly connected to sequinned crooners and sub-Siigfried & Roy illusionists, and post-Patty Hearst kidnapped heiresses and society gals, more than one of which was brainwashed into repeating and obeying the mantra “KILL… DAN… TANNA!”. Needless to say, real-life Vegas headliners from The Captain & Tennille to Muhammad Ali were regularly engaged in ‘guest of the week’ capacity to utter a couple of plot-free lines and fill a conspicuous amount of airtime with their stage antics, while the TV-straddling Ulrich’s (ahem) ‘unique’ take on the role made him a regular namecheck for Clive James and company. Writers somewhat incongruously included erstwhile Cybermen creator Gerry Davis, presumably brought in on account of his familiarity with characters that weren’t required to display any emotion.

3 Comments

3 Comments

  1. Glenn A

    March 24, 2011 at 9:14 pm

    OK but its main claim to fame was being part of ITV’s notorious Christmas Day 1979 schedule. Well at least it could have been more watchable than the Morecambe and Wise special that day, which was the worst ever Christmas special they ever did.

  2. Bob Hazard

    March 26, 2011 at 5:03 pm

    I was a particular fan of this show. For some unknown reason to my young mind I thought Dan Tanna was one of the greatest names ever. Also the car (ford thunderbird) was another particular favourite. A die-cast (corgi?) model of which I think I received during Christmas of 1980. Though I do recall a rather dull Christmas 1979 and Vegas being the highlight for me.

  3. Jason

    July 9, 2012 at 9:12 am

    In the day as a nipper I thought it was even cool to park your car in your garage…which was actually in your house 🙂

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