Adios Laughlin

Awww, too bad -- Viva Laughlin, CBS's bizarre adaptation of the British series Blackpool, which was itself renamed Viva Blackpool for BBC America, has been canceled after a mere two episodes. America's just not ready for a musical mystery series. Or maybe it's that America felt swindled by ad after ad that made absolutely no mention of the fact that the drama would be interrupted by bursts of song.

The town of Laughlin, Nevada, about 60 miles south of Las Vegas, was named after Don Laughlin, an Owatonna, Minnesota native who opened a casino there in 1964. According to WCCO TV, Don Laughlin was in the illegal slot machine business as a teenager in Minnesota, renting them to bars:

Laughlin's high school principal didn't approve of gambling and told him to stop. When Laughlin realized his income from slots and other machines was three times what the principal was making, the choice was simple. Laughlin quit school.

A crack-down on gambling in Minnesota led him to move to Nevada.

But we probably won't be hearing much about Laughlin anymore.