SHOOTING STARS: ‘CSI’ plans hometown visit for 10th-season opener
To paraphrase Scottish poet Robert Burns, the best-laid plans of mice and men oft go awry.
Just ask the folks at “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” who planned to include some genuine Las Vegas locations during a shoot this week for the show’s 10th-season opener, “Family Affair.”
They’re still planning the shoot, but the location visit has been pushed back from this week to next.
As always, stay tuned to Shooting Stars for more “CSI” details.
The “Wheel” deal: We’ve all heard of Christmas in July. But Valentine’s Day in July?
That’s the deal for “Wheel of Fortune” as the syndicated game show wraps up a four-day shoot at The Venetian’s Sands Expo Center.
Last Friday and Saturday, the “Wheel” crew shot two weeks’ worth of episodes, which will open the new season in September.
Today and Tuesday, however, the shows being taped won’t air until February — including a special “Sweethearts Week” leading up to Valentine’s Day, notes executive producer Harry Friedman.
Overall, it’s “Wheel’s” fourth Vegas visit, the first to The Venetian, which has provided prizes to the show in the past, he notes.
“We’ve developed a nice relationship with The Venetian and Palazzo,” he explains. “So we started talking about, ‘What if we bring the show there?’ ”
Because “Wheel” is “a game of both skill and luck, it’s a wonderful fit for everything Las Vegas is about,” Friedman adds.
Especially with a million-dollar wedge on the title wheel waiting for some lucky contestant’s spin. After all, he reasons, “What better place to give away a million bucks than Las Vegas?”
Shooting hoops: With the NBA Summer League wrapping up over the weekend at Cox Pavilion, it’s an ideal time for Nike to take some shots too — in an Internet video scheduled to shoot Tuesday through Thursday at a variety of locations around town, including a local Boys & Girls Club.
Play on: The games also continue in “World Hustlers,” an upcoming Japanese Pachinko game featuring four international gaming destinations: Macau, Monte Carlo, a luxury yacht — and Las Vegas.
The Las Vegas shoot, under Jeff Lester’s direction, continues through the end of the month and features a wide array of Southern Nevada locations. This week, for example, backdrops range from the Strip and Fremont Street Experience to a dry lake bed near Boulder City.
Magic moves: Las Vegas magician Will Roya, pictured at right, shows off his expertise in two separate instructional videos scheduled to shoot today — in Roya’s living room.
All the better to create a casual setting for kids to learn how to twist ‘n’ tie balloons — and how to float things.
They’re “similar to other videos I have done before, but with kids,” Roya reports.
Gayla Balloons and Pocketoyz International, respectively, will include Roya’s instructional videos with products that will be available for the holidays, he notes.
Reality bites: G4TV’s “2 Months, $2 Million” goes into its final week of production as four online poker aces continue their quest to earn the title amount. (Coming in next week’s Shooting Stars: a visit with the quartet at their very Vegas mansion.)
Also on the location calendar: an untitled TV pilot following designer Faye Resnick from client meetings to dinner with friends, and “America’s Best Dance Crew,” which was scheduled to shoot here last weekend; the show’s fourth season starts Aug. 9 on MTV.
