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Monday, Feburary 03, 1997

ABC, CBS and NBC have items on tap featuring Las Vegas


Review-Journal

     The Las Vegas location spotlight shifts from the big to the small screen this week with three projects for three different networks.
      Going in alphabetical order, ABC already has been here and gone, pulling off a whirlwind weekend of location work Saturday and Sunday at Caesars Palace.
      The scenes will be featured in the ABC sitcoms "Coach," "The Drew Carey Show," "Ellen" and "Grace Under Fire" -- to repeat that tiresome alphabetical order thing -- during an upcoming "Vegas night" of themed episodes, according to Robert Hirsch, director of the Nevada Motion Picture Division.
      Next up, it's CBS' "The Last Don," a six-hour miniseries based on "Godfather" author Mario Puzo's best-selling novel.
      The "Last Don" crew is scheduled to film Strip exteriors and private home interiors Thursday through Saturday, Hirsch said.
      Danny Aiello has the title role, with Joe Mantegna, Kirstie Alley, Daryl Hannah, Penelope Ann Miller and Jason Gedrick co-starring.
      CBS plans to air "The Last Don" May 18, 20 and 21 -- smack in the middle of a hotly contested ratings sweep month.
      But you won't have to wait any time at all to catch NBC's contribution to the week's TV lineup.
      That's because "The Tonight Show" and host Jay Leno return for another week-long stint from the MGM Grand, to be broadcast locally at 11:35 p.m. on KVBC-TV, Channel 3.
      Some of Leno's scheduled guests have visible Vegas credentials, including "Vegas Vacation"-ers Chevy Chase and Wayne Newton. (They're tub-thumping for the comedy, which hits theaters Feb. 14.) And Tracey Ullman visited Vegas for a segment of her continuing HBO series "Tracey Takes On ..." As for Chicago Bulls bad boy Dennis Rodman, maybe he plans to check out the local wedding chapels for a future bridal gown unveiling.
      Some local performers also will be getting into the act, appearing in comedy skits with Leno.
      Still more locals will be working this week on "Baby Geniuses," a big-screen comedy scheduled to film at Circus Circus today through Friday. Kathleen Turner, Christopher Lloyd and Dom De Luise lead the cast.
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      The project with the strongest local ties, however, may well be "Lady's Man," a short film written and directed by Dale Melgaard, an adjunct film professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
      "Lady's Man" will premiere at 5 and 6:30 p.m. Friday at The Beach, 365 Convention Center Drive. The premiere is free and open to the public.
      Starring Stardust showgirl Aki and local actor Jack Maxwell, the 20-minute drama focuses on a wealthy Vegas playboy who doesn't believe in love -- until he becomes obsessed with a singer he sees performing at a local jazz club.
      Melgaard originally set the story in Paris but switched locales to Las Vegas when he moved here more than a year ago.
      "The story actually translates much better in Las Vegas," he said. "People perceive it (Las Vegas) as a vacation spot. It's more of an entertainer's town."
      As for "Lady's Man's" leading lady, Melgaard said Aki "didn't have a choice" about appearing in the movie. That's hardly a surprise; she and Melgaard are husband and wife.
      Melgaard also recruited two UNLV film department colleagues -- cinematographer Kevin O'Brien and editor Francisco Menendez -- to help him with the $15,000 project.
      After Friday's premiere, Melgaard hopes to hit the film festival circuit with "Lady's Man."
      Faithful Shooting Stars readers with week-long memories might recall last week's item about the possible postponement of the big-screen "Sugar Daddy," which was originally scheduled to start four weeks of location work today at the Maxim.
      Sure enough, "Sugar Daddy" -- about a Liberace-like harpist -- has been pushed back, Hirsch reports to await the availability of Tony winner Frank Langella, currently starring as an egocentric English actor in the Broadway revival of Noel Coward's comedy "Present Laughter." Langella is expected to join "Sugar Daddy" co-stars Bill Pullman and Olympia Dukakis in June.
      That's approximately the same time Hirsch expects two other movie projects to hit Las Vegas: Mandalay Entertainment's "Shut Up and Dance" with Vanessa Williams; and "Carole and Nora Grace" from Working Title Films.
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