Viva Laughlin

New York PostLinda Stasi

While the plot makes no sense, it is bizarrely creative.

New York MagazineJohn Leonard

We may not approve of what he does with his money or his children, but Ripley is a believer. I’d like to believe right along with him, at least for a chorus or two. Besides, Melanie Griffith hasn’t had so much narcissistic fun since "Milk Money." But I’m a sucker for this stuff.

Hollywood ReporterBarry Garron

Laughlin is fun to watch. It's not going to rack up award nominations, but it's refreshing and entertaining.

Miami HeraldGlenn Garvin

Viva Laughlin is a bizarre and fascinating spectacle.

Detroit Free PressMike Duffy

Viva Laughlin is otherwise a rather blah entertainment enterprise, due mostly to forgettable Lloyd Owen.

Boston GlobeMatthew Gilbert

It's just not an attention grabber, despite its musical gimmick. Ultimately, it doesn't provide enough satisfaction.

New York Daily NewsDavid Hinckley

The problem is most of the show's other elements come together as if someone tried to combine blackjack, poker, dominoes and Ping-Pong on the same table. The result catches your eye, but it's kind of a mess.

VarietyBrian Lowry

Where "Blackpool" completely embraced the giddy fantasy of these scenes, yielding a kind of infectious quality, Laughlin goes through the motions with one foot on the floor.

Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob Owen

It's the typical reaction to something different: Copy the format, but, out of fear over how viewers will react to the unusual, water it down. What you end up with is neither fish nor fowl. And that's one of the problems with Viva Laughlin.

Kansas City StarAaron Barnhart

Laughlin’s lack of ambition is most evident in its choreography. You would think that if CBS went to the expense of licensing one of the most unique TV concepts in years, it would stick to the formula. But no.

Washington PostTom Shales

Viva Laughlin, a dizzy loop-de-loop ride whose departures are so awkward and absurd that they make the norm look pretty darned good.

Philadelphia Daily NewsEllen Gray

The problem with Viva isn't that the network made a bad gamble. It's that it didn't have the guts to risk everything.

Philadelphia InquirerJonathan Storm

Time may tell if the overstuffed spectacle is a floor wax and a dessert topping, too, though only as prodigious a gambling man as Elvis himself would bet on Viva's surviving for too many episodes.

Chicago Sun-TimesDoug Elfman

Viva Laughlin is a well-filmed train wreck in the making. Owen is the only engine firing on all cylinders.

USA TodayRobert Bianco

If Elvis isn't already dead, Viva Laughlin just might kill him.

San Francisco ChronicleTim Goodman

Viva Laughlin loses in translation all the quirky good and weird song stylings of the British import. In fact, Viva Laughlin looks as if it's trying mighty hard not to be a musical.

Orlando SentinelHal Boedeker

Its run there should be short because the show is a folly. Elvis doesn't need any help singing.

Newark Star-LedgerAlan Sepinwall

Stay far, far away from this show.

The New York TimesAlessandra Stanley

Viva Laughlin on CBS may well be the worst new show of the season.

Chicago TribuneMaureen Ryan

It’s hard to decide what is [the show’s biggest failure]: the wooden dialogue; the abrup direction; the awkward staging; the disastrous miscasting.

Los Angeles TimesRobert Lloyd

As it is, it's inert, lacking the studied garishness, shabbiness and hallucinatory edge of the original and finding nothing of particular interest to replace it with.

NewsdayDiane Werts

The stud is a dud. And that's only the first of a dozen problems with CBS' admirably ambitious but jaw-droppingly wrongheaded new musical/murder mystery/family drama Viva Laughlin.

Seattle Post-IntelligencerMelanie McFarland

There's not enough down time in a day to waste on network television's dumbest ideas. But it's not every day that a mediocrity like Viva Laughlin comes along.

PopMattersTricia Olszewski

The biggest surprise about Viva Laughlin, CBS’s new "mystery drama with music," is that the singing and dancing isn’t the worst thing about it.

San Jose Mercury News/Contra Costa TimesCharlie McCollum

The writing is uncertain, the tone is unsteady and the actors - and you really have to feel sorry for them - don't seem to know quite how to approach their characters.