Monday, September 29, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

SHOOTING STARS: Reality TV show from Germany making quick visit

We're baaaack -- and it's back to reality.

Reality TV, that is.

A plethora of reality-based projects, foreign and domestic, dominate the week's location calendar.

Germany's "Star Search," for example, brings two winners -- comedian Ingo Oschmann and singer Michael Wurst -- to Las Vegas today and Tuesday for an almost-instant TV special to be shown in prime-time Saturday.

Neither one has ever visited Las Vegas "and both had a wish to go to Las Vegas," according to executive TV producer Horst Tempel. "In their minds, Las Vegas is the entertainment capital of the world."

Their whirlwind Vegas visit begins this morning at Shepler's Western Wear, where they'll don cowboy duds in preparation for a desert horseback ride. Today's other stops include the Harley-Davidson Cafe, the Elvis-A-Rama Museum (where Wurst will join one of the resident Elvi in a song) and The Mirage's Secret Garden of Siegfried and Roy, according to executive producer Horst Tempel.

Oschmann, who's also a magician, will attend Siegfried and Roy's long-running show tonight; Wurst, by contrast, will hit the Riviera to catch "Crazy Girls" in action.

Tuesday's schedule includes a gold-mine tour, a Stratosphere Tower stop to catch the Big Shot and High Roller thrill rides, a New York-New York jaunt to ride the Manhattan Express coaster and a Paris stopover to ascend the Eiffel Tower -- and provide a scenic backdrop for Oschmann's magic tricks.

Tuesday night, however, the two "Star Search" winners will experience the ultimate Vegas thrill -- appearing on a real Vegas stage -- as Oschmann performs at Palace Station's Laugh Trax comedy club at 7:30 p.m., while Wurst joins the casino's karaoke crowd about 9 p.m. (Tempel invites locals -- especially those who hail from Germany -- to join the fun.)

It won't much fun for the editors who have to whip the Vegas footage into a half-hour special in time for Saturday's prime-time broadcast on Germany's Sat.1 network, however. They're jumping on a plane back to Germany Wednesday and will start editing Thursday, Tempel notes.

Elsewhere on the reality TV beat, The Learning Channel's "Faking It" -- inspired by a British show of the same name that airs on BBC America -- continues a Glitter City sojourn that started last week and is scheduled to continue through Oct. 18.

The RDF Media production, now shooting its second season, chronicles the against-the-odds transformations of participants who have four weeks -- and three mentors -- to learn a new skill well enough to fool a panel of experts. Past transitions include polo player to cowboy, carpenter to interior designer and yoga instructor to cheerleader.

Speaking of British shows, Granada Media's "I Want That Holiday" -- a new travel program on the ITV1 network -- also makes a Vegas trek this week, following vacationers around town starting Thursday.

And the syndicated game show "Street Smarts" -- which features host Frank Nicotero popping pop-culture questions to innocent bystanders -- once again returns to Las Vegas, visiting the Strip and other Vegas venues through Sunday.

A Visa commercial, meanwhile, has a one-day shoot planned today. Among the locations: the corner of Tropicana Avenue and the Strip, near the MGM Grand, where cameras are scheduled to roll about 8 p.m.

While we're on the subject of commercials, Las Vegas-based Fiercely Independent Films will shoot a series of national direct-response commercials for Heritage College Saturday and Sunday at a local medical clinic, pharmacy and hair salon, according to Fiercely Independent's Barry Green.

The Lange Talent Agency booked 10 local performers to appear in the spots; agency head Linda Lange also booked seven Las Vegans, including soap star Hunter Tylo and comedian Sandy Hackett, for the feature "The Derbs," now filming in St. George, Utah.

Rounding out this week's location calendar: an educational video shoot for the Epson Print Academy, produced by San Francisco-based Dada, that's designed to provide digital photography tips for professionals and advanced amateurs alike.

This particular video focuses on night photography, with locations ranging from the Fremont Street Experience to the Strip.

"It's about shooting at night, and lights," explains Dada's Karen Bisgeier. "And Las Vegas has more lights than anybody else."