SHOOTING STARS: Criss Angel continues ‘Mindfreak’ magic

If only Criss Angel could conjure up more than 24 hours in a day.

That way, he’d have a bit more downtime between headlining the Luxor’s “Believe" and shooting A&E’s “Criss Angel Mindfreak.”

Scheduled to debut in mid-July, “Mindfreak’s” sixth season will be in production for another four to five weeks, according to David Baram, Angel’s manager, who’s executive producer on the show along with Angel.

While “a large portion" of the show will be inside the “Believe” showroom or on the Luxor grounds, Angel also will appear — and maybe even disappear — at several "large, iconic locations,” Baram explains.

This week’s “large, iconic location” is Lake Havasu, the nearby Arizona home of the London Bridge. (“Mindfreak” already has visited another Arizona icon: the Grand Canyon.)

“I’ve never been around anyone who’s been as willing to work around the clock” as Angel, Baram says. “He wakes up, he’s shooting all day on ‘Mindfreak,’ and then we get him to the theater on time” for “Believe.”

Echoing last season’s “Mindfreak” format, which featured five hourlong specials instead of 22 half-hour episodes, the show’s sixth season includes six separate specials, each one climaxing with a “major demonstration that pushes Criss’ magic to the next level,” he explains.

Before the climax, each episode also “will contain a lot of buildup,” showing Angel in “preparation and training” for the week’s big set piece, along with “a bit of behind-the-scenes” and “day-in-the-life” footage as well.

And, of course, there are frequent glimpses of Angel’s Cirque du Soleil show, “Believe.” It’s a double act that has a “synergistic” effect, Baram believes.

Angel’s “presence in Vegas helps the TV show,” he says, “and it’s a great draw for visitors who have seen him on TV to come see the ‘Believe’ show.”

Pool position: The pool is the reason for the season. The "Rehab" season, that is.

“Rehab: Party at the Hard Rock Pool” is three weeks into production on its third truTV season. (The weekly gathering itself is on its seventh go-round.)

The TV show began as another way to augment “the power of the (Rehab) brand,” alongside a clothing line and an energy drink, explains executive producer Phil Shalala, the Hard Rock’s marketing vice president. “It’s another asset in building the brand.”

And when he told Hard Rock Hotel officials, “ ‘Look, guys, we need to get into reality TV,’ it took about a year of development” before the show was ready to roll.

Over the course of its three seasons, the show has evolved, including behind-the-scenes footage of the regulars — alongside “the acts and celebrities” joining the customers every Sunday for fun in the sun.

It’s far from truTV's only made-in-Vegas series, however. In addition to “Rehab,” which is expected to return in September, the cable channel plans a second season of “Las Vegas Jailhouse,” which takes viewers inside the Clark County Detention Center, and adds “Vegas Repo,” a new show from the producers of truTV’s “Operation Repo.”

Pageant preliminaries: The 59th annual Miss USA Pageant doesn’t hit the airwaves until May 16, but that doesn’t mean cameras won’t be rolling before then.

On Sunday, they were scheduled to capture background shots at Fremont Street Experience. And next Saturday, starting at 9 p.m., Miss USA candidates are expected at a free autograph session at the Flamingo pools.