Not all NBA All-Star Weekend action takes place at Thomas & Mack Center, home of Sunday's 2007 All-Star Game and various preliminaries.

Instead, TV coverage stretches from Thomas & Mack to the Strip, where Turner Sports' "Inside the NBA" goes live from Caesars Palace on Friday and Saturday.

Make that live from outside Caesars Palace; the show will be staged on a 60-by-60-foot platform atop the center fountain. (Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley anchor the 8 p.m. Friday telecast; Magic Johnson joins the TV team for Saturday's 2 p.m. show.)

Friday's show also will feature live cut-ins from the Empire Ballroom, where All-Star LeBron James hosts Kenny Smith's Celerity Poker Challenge.

Numerous other broadcast outlets plan to cover All-Star Weekend, from Mun2 (Telemundo's music-oriented sister network) to Canada's ESPN equivalent, Rogers Sportsnet.

Blackjack attack: The movie formerly known as "21," about MIT math whizzes winning millions in Las Vegas, rolls into its second week.

Without official clearance on the title "21," its makers are currently referring to the project as "The Untitled Blackjack Picture."

This week's schedule keeps them close to the Strip -- unlike last week, when cast and crew spent three days shooting at Red Rock Resort.

Locations ranged from the casino and high-limit gaming room to the pool, Cherry nightclub -- and a 4,400-square-foot, party-perfect high-roller suite.

The most complex shot took place at a resort entrance, which was set up as a valet parking area -- requiring hotel security to redirect actual customers to alternate entrances.

"It takes a lot of planning and problem-solving," acknowledges Station spokeswoman Lori Nelson. "But it's certainly mutually beneficial."

(Ironically, Red Rock Resort, which opened in April, wasn't even around when the movie's inspiration -- Ben Mezrich's best-seller "Bringing Down the House" -- was published in 2002.)

Chef quest: Bravo's "Top Chef," returning for a third season, holds an open audition from 10 a.m. to noon today at Restaurant Guy Savoy inside Caesars Palace. Casting scouts are searching for burger flippers, barbecue buffs and other prospective culinary competitors. (They also were scheduled to scope out hopefuls Sunday at the local Culinary Institute.)

For more information and an application, click on www.bravotv.com/contestants.

Back in action: "Missing: Vegas," a prospective A&E series focusing on the Metropolitan Police Department's missing persons unit, resumes production this week; the pilot previously filmed here last fall.

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