SHOOTING STARS: ‘Today,’ ‘CSI,’ feature top location calendar

  Judging by this week’s location calendar, things are definitely heating up — with two network TV shows, a feature film and a variety of reality TV shows all visiting Vegas.
  Thursday morning, NBC’s “Today” hits town as part of “Today Takes a Vacation Week,” with Natalie Morales and Amy Robach reporting live from Pure nightclub at Caesars Palace.
  The Morales-Robach team will be on duty from 4 to 7 a.m.; joining them will be Flamingo headliners Donny and Marie Osmond, pictured at right. (The public is invited, but space is limited.)
  It’s actually the third trip to Las Vegas for national correspondents Morales (who also anchors “Today’s” 9 a.m. hour) and Robach (Saturday “Today” anchor”).
  In June, Morales and Robach attended Stiletto Spy School, receiving training in everything from firearms use to seduction skills. They returned last week to tape other segments, from an interview with Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman to a zipline ride through Boulder City’s Bootleg Canyon.
  The latter was “my favorite thing,” Morales says, citing the way-off-Strip adventure as appealing to “the thrill seeker who’s not looking for the thrill of the blackjack table.”
  An interview with Caesars headliner Bette Midler (whose show is currently on hiatus) features Midler reflecting on some of her favorite Southern Nevada locales, including Red Rock Canyon.
  “People forget there is a lot more to Las Vegas than just the Strip,” Morales observes. “A lot of people have a very pixilated view of Las Vegas. All they know is what they’ve seen in ‘The Hangover,’ but there’s so much more.”
  Especially during the current economic downturn, with hotels, shows and restaurants dropping prices to lure visitors.
  “The whole idea is to pump up Las Vegas,” Morales says, citing its status as “America’s playground — and the world’s playground.”
  Crime seen: Time flies for CBS’ “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” which is scheduled to shoot inside Planet Hollywood today to capture footage for its 10th-season opener, “Family Affair.”
  The episode was initially scheduled to shoot last week at a downtown intersection, but that shoot was scrapped, reportedly due to those dreaded creative differences.
  When “CSI’s” decadelong run began in fall 2000, creator (and longtime Las Vegan) Anthony Zuiker was excited that his fledgling series (pitched to the network months after their pilot deadline) had inherited a dream lead-in: a “Fugitive” revamp with Timothy Daly.
As we all know, however, “The Fugitive” quickly disappeared from the network schedule, while “CSI” and its two spinoffs, set in Miami and New York, are still running strong.
  Seeing double(s): The feature “Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief” wraps Tuesday in Vancouver — but because Las Vegas figures in the big-screen fantasy, the production’s coming to Las Vegas for establishing shots.
  Second-unit footage is expected to film on the Strip and at Fremont Street Experience Wednesday and Thursday nights, featuring doubles for actors Logan Lerman (“3:10 to Yuma”), who plays the title character, a teen who discovers he’s the son of a Greek god; Brandon T. Jackson (“Tropic Thunder”) as Grover, a satyr who’s Percy’s protector; and Alexandra Daddario (TV’s “All My Children”) as Annabeth, another demigod.
  The trio stops in Las Vegas en route to Hollywood (they’re looking for the underworld god Hades), arriving by truck but departing in a stolen Maserati. For the movie, Vancouver’s Westin Bayshore resort hotel provides the fake exterior of a Las Vegas casino dubbed Lotus Land — and the lobby into which the Maserati crashes.
  Based on Rick Riordan’s 2005 novel (the first in a five-book series), “The Lightning Thief” also features Pierce Brosnan, Uma Thurman and Rosario Dawson co-starring for director Chris Columbus, who helmed the first two “Harry Potter” movies. It’s due in theaters next February.
  Poker faces: The party’s over — at least the on-camera part — for the four online poker aces featured in G4TV’s upcoming reality series “2 Months, $2 Million,” which ended its two-month shoot Saturday.
  With a title like “2 Months, $2 Million,” you’d think the G4TV folks would care whether 20-something pals Emil Patel, Brian Roberts, Jason Rosenkrantz and Dani Stern hit the magic $2 million number during the show, which debuts next month.
  But you’d be wrong, says Rosenkrantz, hanging out with his roomies in the computer-equipped “War Room” of the group’s 12,000-square-foot Rancho Circle mansion, where they conduct their online poker sessions.
  “They don’t care whether we win or lose,” Rosenkrantz insists. “They’re more concerned with the friendships.”
  International calls: A trio of overseas projects round out the week’s crowded location calendar: a British documentary pilot about U.S. vacation destinations, a Japanese TV talk show and a German TV portrait devoted to “Glamorous Las Vegas.”
In addition, BBC World’s travel news show “Fast: Track” was expected to complete a three-day shoot over the weekend, focusing on “the great hotel deals that are on at the moment and how this competition means good news for consumers,” according to “Fast: Track’s” Carmen Roberts. The segment should air in early September — everywhere but in Britain.