Alexis Denisof

SKIP IT: Viva Laughlin!

Premieres: Thurs., Oct. 18 @ 10

Starring: Mädchen Amick, Melanie Griffith, Hugh Jackman, Lloyd Owen, Eric Winter, D.B. Woodside

The cast is not bad. And...the cast is not bad. And if I followed what my mama said about not saying anything if you can’t think of anything nice to say, I’d leave it at that. But you didn’t come here for niceties, you came here for the truth about how you should spend your precious TV-viewing time, right? And the truth is that it took three attempts to finally make it all the way through Viva Laughlin’s first episode—it’s that cringe-worthy. Now, granted, the musical-drama format, based on the BBC murder-mystery-musical series Viva Blackpool, is intriguing. And the premise—a minimart-chain owner turned casino owner (Lloyd Owen) who’s "living the dream"—doesn’t sound so bad, not to mention Hugh Jackman and Melanie Griffith are on board. But the bizarro singing and the script and most important, the intense dislikeability of all the characters make Laughlin hard to stomach—at least for me. A little birdie told me Angel’s Alexis Denisof was on the short list for the leading role—and if you ask me, he should consider himself lucky.

Bottom Line: Don’t bet on it