Vice TV’s ‘Dark Side’ takes on Siegfried & Roy

Their production spectacular closed 20 years ago. The legendary duo has died. Their famous Strip habitat has closed. The animals have been moved to sanctuaries far from Las Vegas.

But Siegfried & Roy are still a captivating topic across pop culture.

The Vegas entertainment icons are the subject of an episode of the upcoming Vice TV “Dark Side of the 2000s.” The 10-episode docuseries premieres at 9 p.m. July 18 on Vice, with a new episode airing each week.

“Siegfried & Roy: Magic and Mayhem” is slotted for Sept. 12. The Vice production team interviewed several Vegas entertainment figures who knew the duo and their groundbreaking, often controversial run on the Strip. Yours truly was among those featured in the episode.

The Vice description of the latest in the “Dark Side” franchise: “From outrageous shock jocks to record breaking reality TV, and the rise of celebrity gossip to the downward spiral of a child star, ‘Dark Side of the 2000s’ delves into the decade’s untold histories, revealing dark secrets and personal insights from the people who witnessed it all first hand.”

The series also blankets the feud between Howard Stern and Opie & Anthony, MTV’s “Total Request Live” (“TRL”) video-countdown show, the ascent of TMZ, Lindsay Lohan, Charlie Sheen and “Two and a Half Men” conflict, “Jon & Kate Plus 8,” “The Bachelor” and “Lad Mags,” shorthand for men’s lifestyle publications.

The S&R episode is the ninth to air in the series, just ahead of “Lad Mags.”

Matthew Ginsburg and Tim Healy executive produce the series for Railsplitter Pictures, along with Mark Lysakowski and John Brunton for Insight Productions. Lee Hoffman executive produces for Vice TV. Vanessa Hill is lead producer.

Mark McGrath of Sugar Ray narrates. McGrath himself is a former Strip headliner, as one of the stars of the “I Love the ’90s” revival at Paris Theater. The show ran for about five weeks from October-December 2019.

Vice has presented such “Dark Side” docuseries as “Dark Side of the ’90s” (in its second season), the series-launching “Dark Side of the Ring,” “Dark Side of Comedy” and “Dark Side of Football.”

This week Mirage officials announced the last of exotic cats displayed in Siegfried & Roy’s Secret Garden were being sent to “forever homes” at WildCat Ridge Sanctuary in Scotts Mills, Oregon, and In-Sync Exotics in Wylie, Texas. About a dozen big cats were moved out.

The attraction shut down in September after the death of bottlenose dolphin K2, then announced it would close permanently last November as Hard Rock International took over the resort from MGM Resorts International. The habitat was the last S&R-branded attraction in the world.

In May, the final half-dozen dolphins displayed in the habitat were moved to a sanctuary in to Coral World Ocean Park’s Sea Sanctuary at Water Bay in St. Thomas.

S&R’s production at the Mirage, which was a consistent sell-out for more than a dozen years, halted forever after Roy Horn was dragged offstage by the white tiger known as Montecore (later corrected to Mantecore) on Oct. 1, 2003.

Horn spent the rest of his life rehabbing from his near-fatal injuries, while making occasional personal appearances.

Horn died at age 75 of COVID on May 8, 2020. Siegfried Fischbacher died at age 81 on Jan. 13, 2021, from pancreatic cancer.

Siegfried’s last public appearance was Aug. 26, 2020, at the unveiling of Siegfried & Roy Drive leading into the Mirage porte cochere. The street sign serves as a kind of final marquee for Siegfried & Roy.

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.