Plenty of tourists will spend Thanksgiving Eve in Las Vegas. And plenty of them will have their cameras on hand to capture footage of Glitter City's spangled sights.

But most of that video footage won't turn up on Britain's Channel Four as part of a long-running British documentary series.

That's what happening Wednesday, however, as Channel Four's "Cutting Edge" series visits for an hourlong episode titled "The Unretired."

The documentary focuses on "people who choose to keep working past retirement" age, according to assistant producer Kirsty Garland of Britain's Silver River Productions.

Among them: a couple from a quiet country village who make their living house-sitting.

"They're not by any means wealthy," Garland says. "But they use their wages to treat themselves to little luxuries" -- including a Las Vegas holiday, where producer-director Hannah Berryman will "get a bit of flavor of them soaking up the sights and sounds" of the Strip.

Reality bites: Two more reality shows also are calling Las Vegas home these days. The E! series "Lucky Seven" (a working title) follows the Las Vegas lives of local 20-somethings through late December.

And "Missing: Vegas," from British-based Leopard Productions, is reportedly working with the Metropolitan Police Department's missing persons unit, also through late December. (A previous "Missing" focused on another Metropolitan Police Department -- London's -- for the BBC.)

Magic mind: A&E's "Criss Angel: Mindfreak," currently in production at the Luxor, is taking a Thanksgiving-week break before resuming production on the show's third season.

But another established name in magic circles, hypnotic mentalist Luke Jermay -- who's reportedly consulted for Angel -- will be shooting around town, working on an upcoming DVD for the online magic shop Penguin Magic.

Casting on: Sam Shepard and Elliott Gould have reportedly joined stars Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen in the cast of the modern-day "Merchant of Venice" scheduled to film here next month.

Shepard previously worked with director Michael Almereyda in 2000's contemporary "Hamlet," with Ethan Hawke in the title role; Gould reprises his "Ocean's Eleven" role, Reuben Tishkoff, in "Ocean's Thirteen," which filmed here in August and September.

In addition to background players, the production needs upscale African-American and Native American men to play featured extra roles -- as princely suitors for the play's heroine, Portia.

For more details (and an application for prospective extras to submit), click on www.onlocationcasting.net.

Carol Cling's Shooting Stars column appears Mondays. Contact her at 383-0272 or e-mail her at ccling@reviewjournal.com.