VEGA$ - THE COMPLETE SERIES (ABC 1978-1981) + BONUS - EXCELLENT QUALITY!!! – Robert Urich, Tony Curtis, Bart Braverman, Phyllis Davis, Greg Morris, Judy Landers, Naomi Stevens

Vega$ is an American crime drama series starring Robert Urich that aired on ABC from September 20, 1978 to June 3, 1981, with the pilot episode airing April 25, 1978. Vega$ was produced by Aaron Spelling and was created by Michael Mann. The series was filmed in its entirety on location in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Urich stars as handsome, fun loving, private detective Dan Tanna, a Vietnam vet, who works for a variety of clients, making the city safe for residents and tourists alike. He lives in an apartment in the back of the Desert Inn Resort and is on retainer to owner Phil “Slick” Roth (Tony Curtis) to keep crime out of his hotels. Roth is a self-made millionaire, a hands-on businessman, who owns and manages both the Desert Inn Resort and the Maxim Hotel Casino.

Tanna drives to his detective assignments around the streets of Las Vegas in his vintage red 1957 Ford Thunderbird convertible. While Dan makes a point of not accepting divorce cases or working as a bodyguard, being in Las Vegas he is occasionally hired to work for well-known celebrity clients who have issues regarding their personal safety and need help solving issues or threats against them.

Dan is aided in his work by his smart and sexy secretary Bea Travis (Phyllis Davis), a close personal friend.  Nerdy Bobby "Binzer" Borso (Bart Braverman) assists with detective leg work. Tanna's contact on the Las Vegas Metropolitan police force is Lt. Dave Nelson (Greg Morris). While he is a no-nonsense officer, Nelson often backs Dan up in criminal case investigations, and vice versa. While he is never one to breach police protocol, he sometimes secretly assists Tanna in criminal cases on which his police force is prohibited from officially working. Early episodes also featured Judy Landers as Dan’s office assistant Angie, a sweet, but  somewhat scatterbrained part-time chorus girl who takes messages, occasionally getting case work and names mixed up and Bella Archer (Naomi Stevens) is a sergeant in the Las Vegas Metro police department who also assists both Tanna and Nelson in criminal-case research.

Some guest stars on the series: Chuck Connors, Wayne Newton, Shelley Winters, Eve Arden, Kim Basinger, Kim Cattrall, Christopher George, Dennis Cole, Pernell Roberts, Melanie Griffith, Lorne Greene, Victor Buono, Lisa Hartman, George Takei, Gary Lockwood, Jill St. John, Leslie Nielsen, Cesar Romero, Alex Trebek, Dawn Wells, Tori Spelling, Lauren Tewes, Robert Reed, Maureen McCormick, Robert Mandan, Heather Menzies.

Episode highlights to note:

Robert Reed and Maureen McCormick portrayed a father and daughter in a season-one episode, "The Pageant." The duo previously starred together in The Brady Bunch (1969–74), in which Reed portrayed family patriarch Mike, with McCormick as eldest daughter Marcia. In a later episode, Reed reappeared as Phillip Roth's brother.

The episode that featured Chuck Connors was filmed at the historic Daydream Ranch.

Robert Mandan and Robert Urich had worked together in the situation comedy Soap. Mandan played Chester Tate, Jessica Tate's husband and Urich as Jessica's lover, Peter the tennis pro, who was murdered by Chester.

Heather Menzies was Robert Urich's real-life wife, and they were married in 1975.

This 19 DVD set contains the entire series, including pilot episode, plus an exclusive Rewatch Classic TV bonus: the third season premiere episode from Charlie’s Angels, “Angels in Vegas.” This two-hour season opener featured guest star Dean Martin as Tropicana Casino owner Frank Howell who calls Bosley and the Angels (David Doyle, Kate Jackson, Jaclyn Smith, Cheryl Ladd) to Las Vegas to investigate some suspicious deaths that he believes are part of a plot to gaslight him. Robert Urich does a brief cross-over cameo as his Vegas character Dan Tanna at the end of the episode. This episode aired on September 13, 1978, the week before the Vegas series premiere.

________________________________

Number of DVDs: 19

Number of Episodes: 69

Quality: 9.5/10

Running Time: 58 hours and 40 minutes (approx)

Aspect Ratio: Full Screen 1.33:1

NOTES: This is a fan-made DVD set. Not    a studio release.