It focuses on a team of people working at the Montecito, a fictional hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip.

The employees deal with various issues that arise within the working environment, ranging from casino security to restaurant management and valet parking.

The series originally centered on Ed Deline (Caan), a strict ex-CIA officer who serves as the president of operations for the Montecito.

Caan wanted to resume his film career, and Cox was let go due to budget cuts, which were needed in order to greenlight a fifth season.

Ratings declined following the move, and Las Vegas was eventually canceled on February 20, 2008, ending the series with several cliffhangers.

Las Vegas is a comedy drama that focuses primarily on Danny McCoy and his boss Ed Deline.

Danny, a former U.S. Marine 1st Lt. Counterintelligence/HUMINT (CI/HUMINT) officer initially works under the resort's head of security, Ed, former CIA counterintelligence chief.

[8][9][10] Notable guest stars have included Alec Baldwin,[11] Little Richard,[12] Mark McGrath,[13] Sylvester Stallone,[14] Las Vegas mayor Oscar Goodman,[15][16] Norm Clarke,[17] Jewel,[18] Wayne Newton and Gladys Knight.

[21] At the time, Thompson felt that there was a lack of "fun" and entertaining shows on television, telling NBC that there were too many procedural dramas such as CSI and Law & Order.

[32] Caan was initially doubtful about starring in a series;[27][28] he insisted that his role require effort on his part,[11] and that the character be "multidimensional and complex.

"[35] Nikki Cox's character, Mary, was originally an escort in the pilot episode, although her title was changed to events planner for the rest of the series.

"[36] The part of Nessa was originally written as a 60-year-old man, although Thompson was impressed enough with Marsha Thomason's audition that he rewrote the role for her.

Filming locations included the Mandalay Bay resort, the Fremont Street Experience,[21][39][40][34] and a warehouse that the production crew used to build a surveillance room set.

[49] The show went over budget in its first season, necessitating the need for a cheap episode that would keep the cast on the Montecito set in California.

[16][75] Due to low ratings, NBC canceled the series on February 20, 2008, five days after the airing of the season 5 finale.

"[75] Thompson said that the series did not receive adequate promotion,[12] and Caan later said that some poor episode plots helped contribute to the show's downfall.

[75] In the event that a proper resolution should not be possible, Thompson had an alternate plan for Danny McCoy and Delinda Deline to cameo in an episode of Knight Rider, carrying their newborn.

In France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and other countries, the theme song is "Let It Ride" by Charlie Clouser and Jon Ingoldsby, while in other countries, such as the United States and Canada, the theme song is "A Little Less Conversation" by Elvis Presley, off of the album Memories: The '68 Comeback Special.

[18][86] This was done in order to give 1 vs. 100, a popular new game show, another Friday night in the timeslot, while providing more time to promote the season premiere of Las Vegas.

She was critical of Caan's acting, but wrote that the show "manages to be slick, fast-paced and engaging", concluding that it "leaves enough mysteries open to keep viewers coming back for another look".

[92] Robert Lloyd of the Los Angeles Times described Caan as the show's only "sign of real life", finding the other actors to be attractive but otherwise lacking: "They are not so much characters—not yet, anyway—as extensions of their clothes, or cleavage.

"[93] Phil Gallo of Variety called the series a guilty pleasure and described the tone as "light and unforced", thanks to the actors and "some sharp editing".

[94] Reviewing the first season, DVD Talk described Las Vegas as a "fast-paced, slick, and attractive television series that rarely takes itself too seriously and never fails to entertain.

"[95] In a review for the second season, Charlie McCollum of San Jose Mercury News/Contra Costa Times called Las Vegas a guilty pleasure and wrote, "Flashy, often trashy and slickly produced, the drama may be fluff, but it's good, sexy fluff with James Caan on hand to provide a bit of gravitas.

[34] However, it proved to be a ratings success in its first season,[11][47][48] despite competition from Monday Night Football, Everybody Loves Raymond, Joe Millionaire, Skin, and My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance.

[1] Below is a table of Las Vegas seasonal rankings in the U.S. television market, based on average total viewers per episode.

Of these, only the daytime soap Passions included Las Vegas characters in cameo roles:[111] Nikki Cox appeared as Mary Connell.

The Las Vegas episode "The Story of Owe" mentions a Dunder-Mifflin convention, obliquely linking to The Office.

[112] In the episodes "Father of the Bride Redux" and "Died in Plain Sight", when Ed Deline travels to Morocco to find and relocate a former CIA asset, the false passport he uses is in the name of Alan Bourdillion Traherne.

[113] The Las Vegas tie-in novel High Stakes Game, by Jeff Mariotte, tells the tale of what could have occurred between the season-two finale and the season-three premiere when the casino was destroyed and rebuilt and the characters briefly went their separate ways.