Aerial hijinks and workplace blues, from ‘LA to Vegas’
So, there’s a sitcom aboard an airplane, tackling the shenanigans and somewhat relatable problems of a flight crew and a number of frequent fliers. The humor of “LA to Vegas” largely depends on that conceit, but it’s the eclectic characters that ultimately make you keep watching the show.
Flight attendant Ronnie (Kim Matula) initially plans her exit from Jackpot Airlines, but her coveted job and route are given to someone else. An attractive British professor, Colin (Ed Weeks) convinces her to keep her increasingly stressful job. They eventually share some sparks when they briefly kiss in the plane’s restroom.
The pilot, Captain Dave (Dylan McDermott), sometimes feels underappreciated, and often desperately interacts with the passengers. He tries to be amusing, but comes off as a gloryhound while continuing to ignore his longtime copilot, Alan (Amir Talai).
The weekly flights also include the gay flight attendant Bernard (Nathan Lee Graham), Ronnie’s honest confidant; the Russian bookie Artem (Peter Stormare), who considers other passengers’ decisions fair game for betting; and Nichole (Olivia Macklin), an optimistic, business-minded stripper.
Airing on Fox Life, “LA to Vegas” is a short-lived series created by Lon Zimmet (“The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”). The series revolves around Ronnie and Dave’s main story arcs, often compressed into halfhour episodes that dissect their personality malfunctions or seemingly unsolvable problems of the week.
Whether it’s the flight crew dealing with an elderly person passing away during the flight, or a variety of disruptive passengers, there’s mirth to be had—granted, it’s just adequate sometimes, but the characters themselves are very likable. Even when one isn’t very familiar with the dynamics in an air- plane, it still manages to catch a semblance of truth, and exaggerates the chaos favorably in such an environment.
Quite amusing is the rivalry between Captain Dave and dashing Captain Steve (Dermot Mulroney). As the longtime pilot, Dave is possessive of his territory, but is replaced temporarily by the latter after a handdamaging accident. It’s also a fitting series of encounters for the actors, who each had to deal with the real-life repercussions brought about by the similarity of their names, throughout their careers.
The airborne capers conceal a generic quality of the sitcom, as it’s still a formula-following workplace comedy. But, nonetheless, the show is able to utilize and mine possible predicaments that can only happen in the skies.