Vega$
Vega$ (not to be confused with the current
NBC primetime series
Las Vegas) was a TV show that aired on
ABC between
1978 and
1981. It was produced by
Aaron Spelling. The series, (with the exception of special episodes in
Hawaii &
San Francisco) was filmed in its entirety in
Las Vegas, Nevada. The show starred
Robert Urich as detective
Dan Tanna, who drove around the streets of Las Vegas in a red 1957
Ford Thunderbird solving crimes and making Las Vegas a better place for residents and tourists alike.
Dan Tanna was a detective available for private hire. One of his chief clients was Phil Roth (
Tony Curtis), the owner of the
Desert Inn Hotel/Casino/Country Club in Las Vegas. Tanna was always called in when something was awry at the hotel. Many times this involved the criminal element, though he was sometimes brought in to investigate the absurd. One example included a
nun who claimed to own the land on which the Desert Inn stood, when she was bequeathed an old deed from a prospector who died. (To further complicate matters, she initially wanted to turn the hotel into a
convent.)
Tanna lived on the
Las Vegas Strip next to
Circus Circus Hotel/Casino, in a warehouse owned by the Desert Inn, which he converted into his living place. The design of Tanna's pad (long before the popularity of
loft space) allowed him to park his T-bird in his living room. Tanna also used gadgets that were very high-tech for the time (but are pretty commonplace today), such as a car-phone and an answering machine (that physically picked the phone up off the hook and the receiver spoke directly into the microphone of a tape recorder).
Tanna's choice of weapon was a
.357 magnum that he didn't like to use, but would if the situation deemed necessary. Most often Tanna would use more non-lethal means, such as his fists.
Tanna often did battle with many of the various criminal element that would threaten the desert oasis. Some villains he faced include a psychopath who thought he was
Wayne Newton (and subsequently Newton was impersonating
him), as well as a
mafia boss named Martin Gleaver (
Tom Simcox) who blackmailed a magic sisters act with photographs of "all the sick/weird things they used to do" referring to when they used to host risque
Hollywood parties.
Tanna was a veteran of the
Vietnam conflict. This was illustrated through flashbacks in various episodes. It is curious, however, that during these flashbacks, he was participating in ground combat. In a later episode, where he gets mixed up with a case involving a
defector from the
Soviet Union, he shows up at
Nellis Air Force Base in his old
United States Air Force uniform. (The Air Force was rarely, but occasionally, involved in direct ground combat during Vietnam.) He is also referred to as "Captain Tanna", indicating that he was an officer. He served with his best friends Harlon Twoleaf (
Will Sampson), the chief of a local
Native American tribe, and Mitch Costegian (
Chick Venerra), a Vegas lounge singer. Twoleaf and Costegian would occasionally join Tanna in investigating various mysteries.
Tanna would not be effective without a good supporting cast.
Phyllis Davis played Beatrice, his assistant who is a single mom and a former
showgirl. There is evidence that she was married before, but her husband had died. Although she and Tanna made a dashing couple, their relationship seemed to be purely platonic.
Greg Morris played
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Lt. David Nelson. Nelson was a no-nonsense cop who often had Tanna's back (and he, his). While Nelson was never one to breach protocol, he often secretly assisted Tanna in cases Metro Police couldn't officially touch.
Bart Braverman played Binzer, who did Dan Tanna's leg work and usually provided comic relief. In the beginning of the series, Binzer was a petty thief. Tanna seemed to have taken him under his wing and used his knowledge and connections of the street.
Judy Landers played Dan Tanna's other assistant, Angie, who was also a showgirl, but unlike the savvy Beatrice was usually an airhead and would get things screwed up. She appeared only during the first season.
The series featured numerous performances & cameos by notable guest stars including,
Dean Martin,
Kim Basinger,
Melanie Griffith,
Kim Cattrall,
Abe Vigoda,
Morey Amsterdam,
Shelley Fabares,
Shelly Berman,
Alex Trebek,
Sid Caesar,
Slim Pickens,
Isabel Sanford,
Maureen McCormick,
Cesar Romero,
Doc Severinsen,
Mamie Van Doren,
Muhammad Ali,
Robert Loggia,
Leslie Nielsen,
Lola Falana,
Minnesota Fats,
Eve Arden,
Barbi Benton,
Lisa Hartman,
Shelley Winters,
Wayne Newton,
Captain & Tennille,
Wolfman Jack,
Tanya Roberts,
Lorne Greene,
Erin Gray,
Gary Lockwood,
June Lockhart, &
Dick Butkus,
In the Season 3 premiere of
Charlie's Angels titled "Angels in Vegas", Robert Urich does a cameo as his
Vega$ character Tanna.
