SHOOTING STARS: British documentary gets personal with ‘Robots’
With humanity’s increasing affinity for virtual experience, it’s only a matter of time before flesh-and-blood types will have personal relationships with robots.
And that time might well be close at hand, at least for the British TV documentary “Robots,” from London-based Landmark Films.
The “Robots” crew visits Las Vegas this week — and the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo this weekend — to focus on the unveiling of Roxxxy, touted as “the world’s first sex robot.”
Its makers, True Companion, boast of her ability to “talk, listen, carry on a conversation, feel your touch and be your true friend.” (Sounds suspiciously like the plot of the quirky 2007 movie “Lars and the Real Girl.”)
“We are filming for a one-off documentary idea on whether people will ever be able to fall in love or have personal relationships with robots,” explains Landmark Films producer Emma Goddard. British artificial intelligence expert David Levy “already believes we will, and soon,” she adds.
At the moment, the project hasn’t yet been commissioned, but if approved it will air on Britain’s Channel Four, with a possible international broadcast as well, Goddard reports.
“Deal” appeal: It’s a new year and CBS’ “Let’s Make a Deal” returns to action at the Tropicana Pavilion.
Starting this Thursday, the daytime game show returns to its regular weekly schedule: 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. tapings Thursdays through Sundays. (Jan. 14-17, Jan. 21-24 and Jan. 28-31 are the other taping dates this month.)
Although host Wayne Brady recognizes “the contestants are the stars,” the program also showcases his strengths as a performer, according to executive producer Mike Richards.
The Venetian headliner is “a great improv guy,” Richards points out. (Hardly a surprise for a guy who used to be a regular on the improv series “Whose Line Is It Anyway?”)
And in the show’s “Rap Me a Deal” segments, Brady “improvises on the spot,” with a clue to the deal in the rap, Richards says. “You can’t help but smile and laugh at that.”
Audience members have a one-in-18 chance of being chosen to compete for a deal, Richards says. If you’d like to join the crowd, you can request free tickets by calling the Trop at (800) 706-8767 or going online to www.cbs.com/daytime/lets_make_a_deal/tickets/.
‘Future’ feature: The Canadian feature “The Future Is Now!” hits town this week, with Strip and downtown locations planned.
Written and directed by Gary Burns and Jim Brown, it focuses on a fateful meeting between the skeptical Man of Today, a representative Everyman who’s closed himself off from humanity, and the Woman of Tomorrow, a journalist who intends to reverse his pessimistic perspective by introducing him to “a variety of the world’s great minds in the arts and sciences, with the hope of opening his eyes to the possibilities that the future has to offer.” (At least that’s what it says in a news release from Telefilm Canada, which provided funding for the Burns Film project, a co-production with the National Film Board of Canada.)
Quick hits: “Stealth Rider,” an upcoming Speed Channel series devoted to motorcycles, zooms into Las Vegas this week; locations range from the Strip to downtown’s Casino Center Drive.
Also picking up the pace: History’s hit “Pawn Stars,” which resumes production this week, and NBC’s “The Jay Leno Show,” which was expected to conclude a two-day shoot today on the Strip.
