..Gary Dretzka
..Noah Forrest
..Leonard Klady
..R.J. Matson
..David Poland
..Douglas Pratt
..Ray Pride
..Michael Wilmington

LAS VEGAS -- Apart from being a mecca for gamblers, entertainers and those seeking one last fling before entering into matrimony, Las Vegas now sits at the white-hot center of the reality-based-TV industry.

Not counting the plethora of poker tournaments, casino-based dramas and travel-destination shows that air around-the-clock, Sin City has provided a home to such docu-drama series as The Casino, American Casino, The Club, Push, Nevada, Vegas Showgirls: Nearly Famous, Taxicab Confessions, Penn & Teller: Bull …., Diva Detectives, Showgirls: Glitz and Angst, Real World: Las Vegas and, of course, Cops. Shows based on such real-life Las Vegas success stories as Wayne Newton, the Maloof Brothers (Palms Casino, Sacramento Kings) and the Hunt & Huntington tattoo artists also have found traction.

Nevada tourism officials are behind the Survivor-like series, Nevada Passage, while the British export "Double or Nothing" reportedly is seeking Yanks willing to sell everything they own to finance a single-go-for-broke spin at the roulette wheel.

In January, one of the world’s best-known resorts opened its door to A&E viewers, in Caesars 24/7. Thursday, the second season of Discovery‘s American Casino begins in a new timeslot. E! Entertainment’s The Entertainer, a 10-part talent search hosted by Newton, is in second week.

Sometime in the next few weeks, on Bravo, soft-core maestro Zalman King (Red Shoes Diaries, 9½ Weeks) will document Ivan Kane‘s efforts to transplant his celebrity-rich L.A. striptease lounge to the capital-S Strip, in Forty Deuce.

If Las Vegas didn’t already exist, someone in Hollywood probably would find it expedient to invent one just like it.

“The audience for all-things-Vegas seems insatiable, observes Discovery’s Mark Finkelpearl, executive producer of American Casino. “At Discovery, our prism is multi-faceted: gaming, lifestyle, travel, leisure, opulence and sin. Las Vegas lends itself to an infinite number of possibilities, and it’s popping in a big way.”

American Casino is the survivor of a pair of high-profile reality shows that eavesdropped on inner-workings of off-Strip properties seeking to attract a young, hip and moneyed clientele. Fox and Mark Burnett’s much-maligned The Casino -- which had the run of the venerable Golden Nugget -- collapsed under the weight of the egos of its “Internet-millionaire” owners, Timothy Poster and Thomas Breitling (a.k.a. Tim & Tom).

Like most other reality shows, including Survivor, there were times on both of these series when the line between fact and fiction -- docu and drama -- became blurred beyond recognition. The events documented on the new series also will occasionally beg viewers’ credulity.

“Without conflict, there’s no drama,” confides Kane, sitting his office in the spanking new “back-alley nightclub” (his snug and gritty L.A. digs, however, are the real thing) at Mandalay Bay. “Without drama, there’s no television show.”

The producers of Caesars 24/7 got extraordinary access to the inner sanctum of the 2,400-room hotel and landmark casino. For its first 35 years of existence, the use of cameras was forbidden on the floor of the casino, but, suddenly, they were everywhere.

“Almost none of our high-end players allowed their faces to be shown,” allowed floor supervisor Joe Comastro, one of the key players in the series. “They were very lucky to get what they did.”

Among the noteworthy things captured by A&E’s hi-def cameras were such singular moments as watching a high-rolling singer from Miami, Mindy, hit three “0s” in one long session at the roulette wheel. The odds against that happening -- while wagering $5,000 a roll -- on-cameras are rolling are astronomical, yet it happened.

Mindy’s great good luck couldn’t prevent her from losing $60,000, however, before heading to the blackjack tables.

Hina Reed, director of slot development, had to rouse a camera crew from its single day off to chronicle the saga of a customer who hit the $500 Red White & Blue machine for a million-dollar payoff, then actually capture her trying to wrangle the Presidential Suite for the big winner. Oh, yeah, that customer also just happened to be a gentleman diagnosed with terminal cancer … even better, he returned to a $100 machine, where he grabbed another $70,000 of Caesars’ money.

Although cameras weren’t rolling when he hit the big jackpot, Caesars supplied video from the eye-in-the-sky surveillance cameras, verifying the achievement.

Miraculously, the crew also was there to capture one of the great cat fights -- that may not be p.c., but that’s the only adequate way to describe it -- in Strip history.

It involved a woman who was jilted not only by her boyfriend back home, but also by a muscle-bound stud at the bar who took her name and number, then returned to the arms of his wife only 30 feet away. The scratching, hair-grabbing and fisticuffs ensued after the doubly jilted guest informed the second woman of her husband’s duplicity, and that woman rudely disputed the contention.

The crazy thing was that everyone involved had signed waivers allowing their antics to be documented, albeit before many cocktails were imbibed.

Another one of those too-good-to-be-true moments actually was a bit too good to be true.

It involved a hip-hopping panhandler who was encouraged to wager his meager earnings on the possibility of striking it rich at the blackjack tables. He busted out, but was encouraged by the gorgeous, natch, dealer Michelle Adams to seek the counsel of the piano player in the lounge, who just happened to dig the lad’s act and allowed him to perform.

Fact is, the kid did lose the money. But he did it at a $5-minimum table -- as rare as hens’ teeth at Caesars -- to a dealer who was recruited from the high-limit pits, who hasn’t dealt a $5 game in memory.

Made for great TV, though.

Over at the Forty Deuce, Kane admitted there were many stressful moments in the construction, budgetary and auditioning process when he wished the cameras weren’t rolling. As an executive producer with “final cut” privileges, however, most won’t see the light of day.

“Zalman is a very special artist, and he intuitively wouldn’t let people come across as looking bad,” said Kane, of his producing partner. “Still, I had to be willing to reveal my dark side.”

Kane emphasizes that Forty Deuce, unlike dozens of other venues on and off the Strip, doesn’t allow any nudity on its compact runway stage, and 65 percent of his customer base is women. There will be “European version” of the show, in which some discreet backstage nudity will be aired, but American audiences will have to wait for the DVD package for the Full Monty.

- by Gary Dretzka

February 3, 2005