SHOOTING STARS: ‘Wheel’ rolls back into Vegas for six days of fun and games

A week in a day.

That’s “Wheel of Fortune’s” regular shooting schedule, which means the syndicated game show will tape six weeks of shows during six days of production, starting Tuesday at The Venetian’s Sands Expo Center.

This week’s shoots take place Tuesday and Wednesday and Friday and Saturday, with daily tapings set for 3:30, 4:30, 5:30, 7:30 and 8:30 p.m. (Sorry, but ticket requests were due June 25.) “Wheel” completes its Vegas visit next week; tune in to next week’s Shooting Stars for comments from “Wheel” regulars Pat Sajak and Vanna White.

It’s hardly the first time “Wheel” has visited Las Vegas; this is the sixth time the show has originated in Las Vegas, the executive producer calculates. (The Las Vegas Hilton was the show’s Vegas home away from home during two 1998 shoots and return stints in 2002 and 2005.)

“No other city can match Las Vegas for sheer excitement,” Friedman comments in an e-mail, “and the shows we produce here reflect that energy. Plus, the audiences tend to represent a broad cross-section of Wheel Watchers and they’re in Las Vegas to have a good time. What more could we ask?”

Last year’s Venetian debut featured a Las Vegas set that “creates the illusion that we’re taping in the middle of the Venetian casino,” Friedman notes. It was a “big hit,” so “we’ve brought it back and enhanced it with new graphics,” along with high-definition video from around The Venetian and Palazzo.

In addition, because the shows being taped here include the syndicated “Wheel’s” 28th season-opener, “we’re also introducing new game elements,” he points out, “as we like to do each season.”

As for where Neon Nirvana rates on “Wheel’s” list of favorite places, Friedman notes that “the fact that this is our sixth remote in Las Vegas pretty much says it all.”

‘Millionaire’ wannabes wanted: “Wheel of Fortune’s” not the only game show represented in Las Vegas this week.  “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” stops by South Point today to search for contestants for regular and Million Dollar Movie Week shows.

Tryouts will be in the South Point’s Napa Room. The line forms at 6 a.m., with testing starting an hour later. Callbacks begin at 12:30 p.m. for those who pass one of two tests given to prospective contestants, focusing on general knowledge and movie trivia.

"We start it at 7, so people are not standing around waiting all day,” explains supervising producer Genna Gintzig, who’ll be at today’s tryout alongside six fellow “Millionaire” staffers. (They’re headed to Cleveland on Wednesday and Seattle on Friday to complete the summer contestant search.)

Between 500 and 1,500 people generally attend the auditions; and in Las Vegas, “we’ve always had a really great turnout,” she notes. (The show last held a contestant search two summers ago at the Cannery.)

“We anticipate some really fun characters,” Gintzig says. And while wannabe “Millionaire” contestants should “be yourself and be enthusiastic about the process,” she admits that “it’s fun to do something to stand out.”

In other words, folks who show up in costume, or otherwise call attention to themselves, “will get the attention of the producers” too, Gintzig acknowledges. “Hey, if a showgirl’s comfortable standing in line in her heels, go for it.”

Poker (f)aces: The World Series of Poker’s Main Event began last week at the Rio, with the final table expected to be determined Saturday. But it’s far from the only game in town.

Just ask poker ace Vincent Van Patten, in town this week to play in the World Series of Poker — and to co-host Bellagio Cup VI, the opening tournament of the World Poker Tour’s ninth season, with Mike Sexton.

The Bellagio tournament’s timing, during World Series of Poker competition, couldn’t be better, in Van Patten’s view.

After all, “half the players are knocked out” of the World Series and “they’re hanging out at Bellagio,” he says. “Why not?”

In addition to Bellagio’s poker room, however, World Poker Tour cameras also are expected to focus on the Strip’s iconic “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign today.

This season on Fox Sports Net, Van Patten promises “some great additions” to make the show “a little different,” he says. “We’re going to be opening up the show,” to “show more of the preliminary rounds” and not just the final table.

Poker’s continuing success on TV “is pretty surprising,” Van Patten acknowledges. “When I first started out, no one ever thought” poker would become a top TV attraction. “Now, it’s considered a sport and it gets ratings bigger than some other sports on TV.”

Unlike other sports, however, “it’s wide open to anyone,” he says. “All it takes is talent — and guts.”

Reality check: Las Vegas is home to plenty of reality shows, from History’s “Pawn Stars” (which starts up again this week) to truTV’s “Rehab: Party at the Hard Rock Pool.”

And a new nonscripted series for a major cable network is set to shoot in August and September.

Before that happens, however, the show needs a host; casting officials are looking for a charismatic guy in his late 20s or early 30s who’s “outgoing, good-looking and should be into nightlife and have lots of friends in the scene.” Club, event and party planning and hotel connections “are a plus,” notes casting director Alesia Cook.

If you’re interested, e-mail resume and contact information immediately to Cook at ayccasting@yahoo.com. 

Zombie stop: Contrary to last week’s report that the zombie comedy “First Platoon” had begun shooting in Southern Nevada, the movie has postponed its production start until September.

Las Vegas-based First Earth Films initially planned to shoot “First Platoon” (which stars Alan Tudyk and Malcolm McDowell) in New Mexico.

But once the location shifted to Southern Nevada, “we thought, because of the heat, we were afraid of having people keel over” and “melting in place,” explains producer Michela Angelini of Las Vegas-based First Earth Films. Especially in full zombie mode.

So while “it’s nice to be able to stay here and do this,” Angelini says, everyone knows better than to begin production at the height of Southern Nevada’s triple-digit-inferno season.

Shooting Stars will return to “First Platoon” territory when production starts in September.