Monday, January 13, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Shooting Stars: `Trading Spaces' prepares to go live from Vegas

The Learning Channel's "Trading Spaces," hosted by Paige Davis, arrives in Las Vegas.

Las Vegas' whirlwind, round-the-clock pace pushes plenty of visitors into overdrive.

The folks from The Learning Channel's "Trading Spaces" will experience the phenomenon first-hand this week as they arrive for the show's first live-in-prime-time "reveals."

The "reveals," as loyal "Trading Spaces" audiences know, represent the climactic moments when two sets of neighbors, who've redecorated rooms in each other's homes, first view the transformed spaces.

"Trading Spaces" will set up Wednesday and tape the room transformations Thursday and Friday, with the show's designers and carpenters getting into the act. The live-from-Las-Vegas reveals will begin at 6 p.m. Saturday -- that's 9 p.m. for the East Coast crowd.

Host Paige Davis doesn't expect the live "reveals" to differ greatly from the usual taped versions, because "the reveals are always done in one take anyway," she says from Phoenix, where the popular TLC series was shooting before coming to Las Vegas. "Once you get those reactions, that's it. You can't fake that. It's like live theater."

What's like live theater for the participants, however, presents a major technical challenge for the show's production staff, according to executive producer Denise Cramsey of Philadelphia-based Banyan Productions, which produces "Trading Spaces" for TLC.

"The editing process normally takes two weeks," notes Cramsey, adding that it usually takes six weeks from the shooting date "until the show's finished."

Instead, "we'll be doing it in three nights," she notes.

Most of the time, the production staff has the luxury of "seeing the whole thing," enabling them to "pull out different bits and pieces" that explore central themes, Davis explains. "This time, they have to put the show together in a heartbeat."

And while most "Trading Spaces" participants see the results of their (and their neighbors') labors after 48 hours, this week's participants must wait until Saturday's live telecast.

Cramsey expects that live show to draw the "best ratings ever" for the "Trading Spaces."

After all, "it's something new and everyone likes something new."

In addition, she points out, the live aspect eliminates any viewer suspicion about the show's editing process -- particularly during the climactic reveals.

"This is the real deal," Cramsey notes.

After its first live show, "Trading Spaces" will revert to standard procedure for two additional made-in-Vegas episodes, which will keep the show here through Jan. 27.

Also hitting the road to Vegas, in a big way: the Zippo "Blazing Trails" tour, featuring one very hot hot rod.

That's the Zippo Car -- a 1947 Chrysler Saratoga-New Yorker with two giant lighters incorporated into the vehicle's frame.

"It's in the same vein as the Oscar Mayer wiener car," explains Zippo's Brent Tyler.

The Zippo Car is a replica of one Zippo inventor George Blaisdell commissioned to promote his product; the second version was created in 1997 for the company's 65th anniversary.

Now that Zippo's 70th anniversary has passed, the car has been on the road, stopping at scenic spots across America, from Orlando to New Orleans, from the Alamo to the Grand Canyon.

On Saturday, it's scheduled to visit Hoover Dam, then roll into Las Vegas for a nighttime photo opportunity at the landmark "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign.

The photos will be used in international advertisements, Tyler reports.

Also on the still photo front, photographer Ralf Strathmann will focus on 19-year-old Patrick Nuo, a rising European pop star, during a two-day shoot Tuesday and Wednesday.

According to Strathmann, the photos will depict Nuo's Los Angeles-to-Las-Vegas odyssey, with a stop in another desert mecca: Palm Springs.

Catching up on last weekend's action, Comedy Central's "Insomniac With Dave Attell" arrived for three nights to shoot segments for the show's upcoming fourth season. (Hey, if you're an insomniac, what better up-all-night destination than Vegas?)

In addition to capturing action at the Fremont Street Experience and assorted casinos, the show focused on "hanging out with the locals" at non-tourist nightcrawler meccas, according to production manager Sean Gordon.

No doubt Attell felt right at home at one location: the Riviera. Attell used to perform at the hotel's comedy club; as Comedy Central's resident "Insomniac," he was planning to do maid's chores in the Riv's Frank Sinatra suite. With a comic twist, of course.

And half of the brotherly documentary duo behind HBO's "Taxicab Confessions" returned last weekend to shoot segments for a cable TV pilot.

"Love Stories," from Harry and Joe Ganz's View Films, chronicles the lives of several couples -- two of whom visited Las Vegas last weekend, prompting Harry Ganz and camera crew to follow, capturing the action in "run-and-gun" style, Harry Ganz notes. (Brother Joe remained in Southern California with another crew.)

The pilot for the proposed series should be completed in March, Harry notes.

If it's picked up as a series, the Ganz brothers plan to consider focusing on couples from several cities -- including Las Vegas.

In the meantime, Harry notes, "Taxicab Confessions" returns to HBO with more made-in-Vegas episodes Sunday.

"Right now, we're not shooting in Las Vegas, so people can take cabs and relax," he says.

Also in town last week: a photo shoot and a TV commercial for Mervyn's at the Fremont Street Experience; and cable's HGTV, shooting footage for "The Idea Factory" at the just-concluded Consumer Electronics Show.