Airdate: Viva Laughlin
- Published by David Knox
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Hugh Jackman’s anticipated new series Viva Laughlin will premiere on Nine on Monday October 22nd at 8:30pm.
It promises to be a big night for the network, following its first trial of the live 90 minute Who Wants to be a Millionaire.
The series is a musical drama, adapted from the BBC’s Blackpool which aired here on the ABC.
Nine screens it just days after its US premiere on October 18.
Jackman and Melanie Griffith play recurring characters in the series which stars Lloyd Owen as a casino owner whose financing collapses just as he lands in the middle of a murder investigation. Jackman plays his arch rival.
As with the BBC original, musical numbers are performed through the episodes.
Nine is gambling on a night itself, as it seeks to turnaround the misfortunes of its Monday programming. Following the premiere of Viva Laughlin it will screen the movie Monster-In-Law.
Weeds and Girls of the Playboys Mansion will not air that night.
Press Release:
VIVA LAUGHLIN, executive produced by Australia ’s Hugh Jackman and featuring Golden Globe winner Melanie Griffith, hits Australia just four days after premiering in the US on Monday, October 22 at 8.30pm on Channel Nine.
This fresh, offbeat musical drama series has an impressive star lineup headed by bold businessman Ripley Holden, played by Lloyd Owen (Miss Potter), Mädchen Amick (Sleepwalkers) as Ripley’s attention-starved wife Natalie, Carter Jenkins, his loyal son Jack, Ellen Woglom, their 18-year-old daughter Cheyenne who is in love with her college English professor more than twice her age, and Eric Winter (Days of Our Lives) as Detective Peter Carlyle from Laughlin’s Police Department. P.J. Byrne stars as Ripley Holden’s sidekick, confidant and money man Jonesy, and D.B. Woodside plays tough guy Marcus Henckman.
Hugh Jackman (X-Men, X-Men 2, Swordfish, Moulin Rouge) guest stars as Nick Fontana, Laughlin’s resident high-rolling casino owner and Melanie Griffith (Working Girl) plays oversexed gold digger Bunny Baxter, wife of Buddy (Wings Hauser).
Brash entrepreneur Ripley Holden (Lloyd Owen) decides to risk it all on a dream to build his own casino and resort hotel in the desert city of Laughlin with the money he got from the sale of a convenience store chain. While putting the final touches on his new casino, his partner Buddy Baxter (Hauser) decides he wants out.
Behind schedule and almost out of cash, Ripley and his accountant Jonesy (P.J. Byrne) approach Nick Fontana (Jackman), his competitor, with an offer to invest. However, Fontana is behind Buddy’s decision to take his money out of Viva Laughlin.
Ripley is desperate for Fontana to become his partner in Viva Laughlin, but Fontana wants Ripley to run it for him after he buys it for himself. With everything about to fall apart, Ripley turns to Buddy’s wife Bunny ( Griffith ) to help him out.
Then Buddy Baxter mysteriously turns up dead and Ripley must convince Laughlin Police Department Detective Peter Carlyle (Winter) of his innocence. Ripley finally puts it all on the line, cashing in everything he can and betting the lot on roulette at Fontana ’s casino – a desperate last resort to take the next big step towards his big dream.
Get ready for the glitz and glamour when VIVA LAUGHLIN premieres direct from the US on Monday, October 22 at 8.30pm on Channel Nine
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2 Responses
this sounds silly to me. i cant believe 9 aren’t fast tracking US shows that are actualy making a mark in the US ratings. I mean this year has been so bad for them they might as well use the remaining weeks of ratings to get something on which will actually get viewers and then get them to come back after summer. The sooner 7, 10 and 9 start shows when they start in the US the better. I think if they did this and then over our summer rested them for 6 weeks people would still come back. And how dare they remove Weeds for the week. Bas—ds!!
Saw a preview tape of this the other day – it’s an absolute stinker. The songs sit awkwardly around a dull plot and mawkwish dialogue. If only it had set out its stall and gone more boldly with the “musical” idea. They are out of place within this run of the mill story with dull plot and predictable preoccupations. V.v. disappointing and beneath HJ’s talents.