Eps: 17 – 7 Days to Vegas, In the Dark

For the first time, we took a listener request!

Fan of the show, and one of our favorite people, Michael, requested we watch the movie 7 Days To Vegas on Prime Video. Mike is a former Angelino, Vegas resident and pro gambler, so we knew he would like a movie about a poker player who takes a prop bet to walk from L.A. to Vegas.
But would we like it?

Not only did we like it, but in researching the movie, we fell deep into the Van Patten rabbit hole that continued as a 6 degrees of separation through-line for the entire show. We hope you were able to keep up!

The movie stars Vince Van Patten, his brother James Van Patten, his real-life wife Eileen Davidson (soap opera legend and Real Housewife of Beverly Hills), and has a cameo from his brother Nels Van Patten.

Vince’s dad is the veteran actor Dick Van Patten, his aunt is actress Joyce Van Patten. His uncle is producer/director of Perry Mason, Timothy Van Patten. And his cousin is Talia Balsam, daughter of his Aunt Joyce and the celebrated actor Martin Balsam. Talia is the ex-wife of George Clooney and the current wife of John Slattery, who worked, of course, with Rich Sommer on Mad Men, which we’ll get to later.

It’s more about the prop bet than the poker table

7 Days to Vegas is a fun, easy movie about a crazy “prop bet” between a down and out actor and a douche-bag director and the crew of degenerate gamblers they play with. Poker players and gamblers will like it. Anyone who has lived on the fringes of Hollywood will recognize the characters as guys we all know. 

Vimeo describes it as “an edgy comedy based on the true story of the rise and fall of one of Hollywood’s biggest poker games. The names have been changed to protect the guilty.”

We’re not sure how much is true, but we know the bet was real because Vince van Patten was the guy who took the gamble. We know first hand that the depiction of the Hollywood private poker scene is spot on. And we know the Van Patten’s have been a gambling family for generations. There’s a lot of truth in this movie and in it’s characters. It never does reach it’s potential in our opinion only because we know people just like the ones in this movie, and they are a rich source for comedy, but 7 Days To Vegas is still worth the ride.

If you’re looking for a feel-good, (The Hangover for guys over 40) 92-minute break from the crazy, check it out on Prime or Vimeo for rent or free on Tubi and Sling.

Big thanks to Mike for the recommendation!

From the CW to Netflix: In the Dark

In the Dark is a comedy, drama, murder mystery about being blind, and a train wreck, in a sighted world. The show stars Perry Mattfeld as the less than lovable blind woman at the center of everything. It’s a little CW-y (if ya know what I mean.) Nevertheless, it has some interesting, although sometimes absurd and convenient, twists and turns, But, overall we liked Season 1 and will probably watch Season 2. It has been renewed for a third season. It’s excellent summer viewing, and with two seasons already up on Netflix, commercial-free, it’s a good binge. And, it features one of our favorite actors Rich Sommer, who, of course, is connected to the Van Patten’s via John Slattery – see above. Other stand-outs are Morgan Krantz as Felix, who we remembered from the last season of Better Call Saul and Keston John as Darnell, who we (barely) remembered from the wonderful show The Good Place. which co-starred our good pal, Marc Evan Jackson (now available across multiple platforms.) 

The connections are endless.

And finally… Perry

We’re not going to say much here. We have multiple posts and episodes devoted to this, our favorite. But listen to the show, and you can hear us argue about whether or not “all the characters are in place.” 

We did find a cool little blog post about a cool little marketing campaign in which HBO partnered with creative agency RQ to send out a unique Perry Mason themed dining experience to the press and influencers. Keep listening, and maybe someday we’ll be on that list!! 

Read more at Muse by Clio.

Oh, and let us not forget that the EP and director of 5 of the 8 Perry Mason episodes is Tim Van Patten who is, of course, related to all the Van Pattens and is the half-uncle to Talia Balsom who is married to John Slattery who worked with Rich Sommer on Mad Men!!

So as promised- Here is the picture that connects it all.

Okay, I can’t help myself: One more Van Patten thing

Enjoy Daddy Dick Van Patten eating a burger in Weird Al’s Smells Like Nirvana!

Yeah, somebody REALLY needs to pull me out of this 6 degrees rabbit hole!!!!

Here we have Perry Mason EP/director Tim Van Patten as “Salami” on The White Shadow… created by Bruce Paltrow, father of Gwyneth Paltrow. But that’s a whole other rabbit hole! Maybe we should talk about The Politician!

We were going to wait til next week to let you guys know, but the hell with it. CBS All Access is offering a free MONTH for the next few weeks. Never a better time to check out Picard, The Twilight Zone, and everything else they have to offer, including the original Perry Mason! CBS All Access just expanded its library by approximately 3,500 TV episodes, and added hubs for Comedy Central, MTV, BET, and Nickelodeon shows. Click on the pic below and use the PROMO CODE: PLAY 
EXPIRATION DATE – AUG 16, 2020

Check out our own Johnny Stromboli on SoundCloud

Looking for personalized gifts while ya can’t leave the house? Consider Mike’s Mugs.

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