‘Sin City Rules’ bounced in a blink

First, its ratings went missing. Then hitman's daughter Amy Hanley went missing. Now TLC's very Vegas reality TV series "Sin City Rules" has vanished from the airwaves after a few episodes.

Led by entertainment reporter Alicia Jacobs, clothing designer Lana Fuchs, poker star Jennifer Harman and cosmetics line owner Lori Montoya, the catty cast of characters had potential. (This is slit-skirted reality television we're talking about, not a "Frontline" documentary.)

But the cast apparently broke its own Sin City rules, and the show was tossed onto the scrap heap of vanquished Las Vegas reality TV efforts.

You can dry your eyes, die-hard fans. The remaining episodes can be found on TLC's website.

And something tells me the tabloid controversy surrounding the show isn't finished. Not with Hanley wondering aloud whether some of the supposed strangers on the cast weren't actually much closer than previously advertised.

That would take some of the "real" out of the "reality" claim, don't you think?

"We were not supposed to know each other," Hanley says. "When I was vetted through all the questioning, it was important that I did not know all my cast mates. We could not have a relationship with each other."

As it turns out, Hanley claims, that's not the case.

It's not easy to do for a network that brings the world "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo," but TLC embarrassed itself last year when its "Breaking Amish" reality series was suspected of ginning-up the plot line and faking controversy. Which, admittedly, is about as surprising as finding a video poker machine at a corner sports bar.

Who knows, maybe one day some genius will come up with a pilot for something called "Reality Show Rules."

I'm guessing they'll make them up as they go along.

MY BOOKMAKER: Longtime Las Vegans probably remember Marydean Martin as the sunnier half of Joyce & Martin Advertising.

With powerhouse Nevada lobbyist Jim Joyce as her partner, the charming Martin built a successful career in the advertising, campaign operations, and lobbying business.

But those lucky enough to meet Marydean know her as a capable poet, lover of literature, generous spirit and all-around bon vivant.

So it's only fitting that Martin, who as a student was an assistant librarian at the Nevada Southern University Library (now UNLV), recently had a library named in her honor at Nevada State College.

Students and visitors can now enjoy the Marydean Martin Library with its 19,500 books, 89,000 e-books and 33,000 periodicals. The honor comes as a result of Martin's devotion to the written word and a generous donation from Marydean and husband Charles Silvestri.

GOOD COPS: Ask them, and they probably will tell you their careers were nothing special. They just worked for a living.

But the fact they made their marks as cops on the streets of Southern Nevada makes these recent retirees special to those they served and protected.

Consider this an incomplete list. There's Capt. Richard Collins, who finished his tenure as the supervisor of the Downtown Area Command, and Ray Berni, who spent 36 years almost exclusively as a street cop. There's Sgt. Eric Fricker, whose career spanned nearly three decades and took him from the center of the Las Vegas homeless population to the icy neighborhoods of Mount Charleston.

And there's Assistant Sheriff Ray Flynn, whose three-decade career encompassed just about every important duty in the department.

I would be remiss if I failed to mention District Court Marshal Richard Burns, who spent a little more than a decade on the job at the Regional Justice Center. He helped save a Metro cop from serious injury by intervening during an inmate altercation.

They can be replaced, but it will be difficult to match their institutional memory.

ON THE BOULEVARD: Organized crime aficionados will want to catch the nonviolent showdown pitting former Chicago Outfit guys and longtime IRS Criminal Investigation agents at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Clark County Library as part of Mob Month.

They invited me to referee.

Big mistake.

Have an item for Bard of the Boulevard? Email comments and contributions to Smith@reviewjournal.com or call 702-383-0295.
He also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/Smith