AWFUL SHOW. Wish I had that 15 minutes back (I TIVO'D it and then fast forwarded).

Mark Burnett does a credible job of hiding it, but the Restaurant has been criticized for the way it stages many scenes for dramatic effect. For example, the cameras will somehow know to be at the home of an employee who gets a "surprise" call from Rocco.

Not sure if they scripted these scenes or simply went back and filmed them for the show, but the Restaurant had tons of stuff like that was really bothersome if you started looking for it.

Haven't watched my Tivo'd episode of The Casino yet, but based on this thread. I might not bother.

Anyone watching "Blow Out" on Bravo? The first episode was not bad, it is about this guy opening a swanky salon in Beverly Hills.

Yeah, I noticed that too. That's when I knew this show was doomed. I gave it a shot just because it's in Vegas, because I normally hate reality shows...or at least non-MTV reality shows. If they centered this soley around the Golden Nugget's business then it could be worth watching, but as it is it's pure tv trash.

When is this on, what is it? I don't think I"ve heard of that one.

Upcoming schedule for American Casino

I don't think many people have. My thread on it got a whole 2 replies:

http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...hreadid=369679

ITA! Forget this crappy show, and check out American Casino. It's on Fridays at 8PM EDT/7PM CDT.

It's official, this is the first "reality show" actually liked.

Yep, pretty bad.

I found it hilarious when they were explaining card counting. "It's not illegal, but casinos don't allow it because then it allows the player to get the odds in their favor and, over time, they would consistently win money from the casino". Hmmm, sounds like exactly what the casinos do in setting up their games! This is why poker can be the best game to play in a casino - you're playing against the other players, not the house.

Yeah...HIGH ROLLERS. Not professional CARD COUNTERS. There's a big difference.

Professional card counters usually disguise themselves when they go into casinos. They don't call attention to themselves with a camera crew.

Well, I was really looking forward to this show. We TiVo'd it and finally watched it last night...er...that is, watched about 15 minutes of it. Didn't like it at all. And judging by the responses in this thread, it may not be around for long...

Not to mention that they showed a scene of him in the car where he and the person on the other end fo the phone were deciding what to do. It is a good thing they decided to go to the Golden Nugget!

With the current popularity of gambling and gamling-related shows, it is pretty hard to screw a show about gambling up, but somehow they managed. Simply horrible.

Watched the 2nd episode last night - good stuff.

What a completely awful show. This, along with North Shore, makes it one of the worst network lineups in recent memory.

[comic book man]

WORSE SHOW ....EVER!

[/comic book man]

Gave it another shot since there was nothing else on tonight, but it was just unwatchable.

"Oh no, I lost my purse and $25k"

Suuuuuuuuuuure you did....

"Let's just see what happens honey."

Yeah...that's exactly what swingers parties look like - they always have their clothes on and just kiss....

What a joke of a show.

Such a surefire idea, and yet they mess it up. Mark Burnette should stick to competitive reality shows, as he is terrible at observational reality.

yeah, this wasn't much better.

Those "high" rollers were pretty lame.

I thought the introduction of the swingers was funny. From far away, they were all pretty attractive looking. As the camera zoomed in on them, they got uglier and uglier. Good from far, far from good.

I could have done without the swingers story. How can television network expect to truly capture the swingers scene?

The high rollers (well, high rollers for Golden Nugget) were somewhat interesting. Frankly, if they just followed high rollers every show, I would definitely watch. I never knew that you could tear the cards when playing Baccarat.

Watched it again, this isn't nearly as good as the other casino show recommended by another poster..

This episode wasn't quite as bad, but I didn't believe any of it was real again... Still a pretty terrible show. I wonder why they can't simply show real people doing stuff like gambling drinking etc, that would be good enough for me..

The swingers story was dumb

Loved the repeated closeup shot of the breasts of the high rollers girlfriend

That high roller guy was a complete tool. If he's even a real high roller, it pisses me off that dipshits like that have money.

Was it the same high roller as before? Was he still hitting on preop trannys?

This show has so much potential. Maybe they have to fake it all because Vegas won't all itself to be shown in such a way (behind the scenes all the secrets & shit).

The part that killed me is when they pick up the high rollers in the limo.

"So where are we going?"
"The Golden Nugget."
"Wha-wa-what?"

Okay, I'm paraphrasing. But come on, a cameraguy is in their limo (or they outfitted a special limo with a camera). Wouldn't he have inquired about THAT, which would have led to "Oh, they're from the Nugget". Unless they tell these individuals that they are filming independent documentaries or something. Either way, if it's not staged then they are TERRIBLE at presentation.