SHOOTING STARS: Real ‘Deal’ at Tropicana; ‘Pawn Stars’ back for more

  The word “deal” takes on an entirely new meaning in Las Vegas next week as a new version of the game-show classic “Let’s Make a Deal” checks into the Tropicana.
  As colleague Mike Weatherford reported previously, the new “Let’s Make a Deal” — hosted by Venetian headliner Wayne Brady — will tape in the pavilion area vacated by the Titanic artifacts exhibit (which sailed south on the Strip to Luxor). The show debuts Oct. 5.
  The “Deal” studio will have room for 300 costumed contestant wannabes competing for Brady’s attention — and the chance to deal for whatever’s behind Door Nos. 1, 2 or 3. (A zonk? A car? Something in between?)
  No word yet on a taping schedule, but stay tuned to Shooting Stars for further details; in the meantime, to register for tickets, go online to www.cbs.com/daytime/lets_make_a_deal.
  According to Internet sources, “Let’s Make a Deal” is the third game show to tape at the Trop — and the first in almost three decades, following “Dealer’s Choice” (1974) and “Gambit,” which moved to Las Vegas from L.A. (and from CBS to NBC) in 1980 and became “Las Vegas Gambit.”
  “Pawn” on: It’s official. ... History has picked up 13 additional episodes of the channel’s newest hit, “Pawn Stars.”
   And the show has indeed made stars of Richard and Rick Harrison, the father-and-son team who run Gold & Silver Pawn.
  The Harrisons recently traveled to New York to publicize the show “and people were screaming their names on the street,” reports History publicist Heather Dirubba.
  During this round of principal photography, “we’re looking to get a little bit more into the actual characters,” notes Brent Montgomery, who owns Leftfield Pictures, the production company behind “Pawn Stars.”
  Based on viewer feedback, audiences “really like Las Vegas, the variety of people — and the variety of stuff” that comes through the pawnshop, Montgomery says.
  Wedding bell news: Leftfield’s other Las Vegas-based reality series (for now, anyway), TLC’s wedding-themed “Happily Ever Faster,” wraps more than a month of production this week, primarily at the show’s home base, Chapel of the Flowers.
  Local production pros helped Leftfield folks surmount logistical challenges and “navigate the landscape,” according to Montgomery.
  The biggest logistical challenge?
  “Just the speed of Las Vegas weddings,” he explains. “A Las Vegas wedding chapel is just like an airport — one delay will set everyone back.” Add the complications of shooting a reality series and things become challenging indeed.
  “Happily Ever Faster” is tentatively set to premiere in November, joining other TLC wedding-themed shows.
  And Griffin Network rolls into a second month of production in Las Vegas on an as-yet-untitled wedding show.
  Green screen: Electricity-hogging Las Vegas might not be the first place you think of when it comes to eco-friendly locales, but Ed Begley Jr. begs to differ with you.
  The actor and activist’s Planet Green series “Living With Ed,” chronicles Begley’s efforts to leave the smallest carbon footprint possible alongside wife and fellow actor Rachelle Carson.
  And last weekend marked a two-day road trip that included Southern Nevada stops in Las Vegas and Pahrump.
  In Las Vegas, “Living With Ed” was scheduled to visit the Springs Preserve, which Begley describes as “a lovely green oasis” he visits “every time I come to Vegas,” he says. “It’s such a wonderful urban enclave.”
  The schedule also included a visit to the two-day “Our Energy, Our Future” energy symposium, where Begley was expected to deliver the keynote speech.
  In addition to the show’s environmental impact, the reality series ranks as “my dream job,” acknowledges the veteran actor, who recently appeared in Woody Allen’s “Whatever Works.” After all, “I don’t have to wear makeup and I don’t have to learn lines.”
  During this trip, however, Begley did have some lines to recite: He and Carson were expected to stop by a local wedding chapel to renew their marriage vows.