Of all the gambles on conventional TV this still-young fall season, no gamble is more risky than Viva Laughlin . Viva Laughlin is a U.S. adaptation of Blackpool , the U.K. dramatic musical that won the Banff Rockie Award at 2005’s Banff World Television Festival. The original Blackpool starred David Morrissey as a down-on-his-luck casino operator battling ruthless competitors at a down-market gambling resort town on the British coast.

The newest incarnation features Lloyd Owen in the Morrissey role of Ripley Holden, the self-confident but luckless wheeler-dealer whose grand casino opening comes up snake eyes after his main investor pulls out and is later found murdered in Holden’s office.