Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2003 | 10:28 a.m.
The Vegas television onslaught continues.
Studio Vegas, the new entity we reported about a few weeks ago, is starting to make some major deals to help produce some programs:
The Chicago-based Tribune Co. (it also owns the Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Times) met with Studio Vegas execs over the weekend about a syndicated entertainment series called "Vegas 24/7." It will be hosted by a high-profile, soon-to-be announced hostess, and will likely air on Tribune-owned WB stations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, Dallas, Atlanta, Seattle, Miami, Denver and elsewhere.
Starting as soon as next year, segments of the World Music Awards will be broadcast from Las Vegas. For its 14-year history, the ABC broadcast has originated entirely from Monaco.
In early 2004 a prominent Los Angeles-based AIDS charity will host a "circus featuring celebrities" that will air nationally from Las Vegas.
Ryan Seacrest will again host "America's Party" on New Year's Eve, broadcast nationally on Fox. Studio Vegas President Howard Lefkowitz confirmed the activity, and predicted "many, many more great things to come."
Studio Vegas, launched in June as CineVegas wrapped, is designed to provide financing, production, creative and distribution services for film and TV projects in Las Vegas. At the announcement of the creation of Studio Vegas, Lefkowitz said the company will offer cross-promotional opportunities through its media partners -- he is president of VEGAS.com, which, along with the Las Vegas Sun, is under the corporate umbrella of the Greenspun Media Group.
Living in projects
In more media news, producers from "The Today Show," "Prime Time Live" and "Downtown 20/20" are in Vegas either this week or next working on a variety of projects.
Of course, scenes from the hit "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" -- the nation's top-rated prime-time TV show last week -- are shot in Vegas on a regular basis. All the show's stars are filming today at BullShrimp inside Green Valley Ranch Station Casino.
Show creator Anthony Zuiker was featured on the front page of The New York Times business section Monday, outlining his plans for television dominance, a la Dick Wolf, who produces the "Law & Order" franchise.
The article noted how Zuiker was "only six years removed from driving a tourist tram for The Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas."
Continuing, the upcoming NBC series "Las Vegas," starring James Caan, has been filming locally all summer, and "Fear Factor" just finished up a two-part episode slated for airing in the fall.
Changes
One of the most-talked-about segments of Celine Dion's "A New Day ..." -- where she is suspended over the stage and sings the Roberta Flack classic "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" -- is out of the show.
That is the song Dion was singing on opening night when her shoes were famously lost.
A spokesman said the show, which resumed last week after a summer break, was always a work in progress, and that during its three-year run there was expected to be a fair amount of tweaking to the set list.
Also, the segment was a "terrific strain" on the star, a source said, and Dion felt it didn't add enough to the show to make it worth continuing.
Kickin'
Busy week for Las Vegas resident Tasha Marzolla. This morning she was scheduled to appear on Howard Stern's radio show to promote the K-1 martial arts event Friday at Bellagio, where she will appear in a kickboxing match.
Marzolla flew into New York on Monday and returns right after the radio show. Her segment is also slated to be aired on the E! Entertainment Channel broadcast of Stern's show later this week.
Also, she appears in the Playboy Special Edition: Lingerie issue that hits newsstands today.
Forum shopper
Toby Stoffa, who owns Antiquities, the high-end Forum Shops toy store that sells items such as restored vintage pinball machines and celebrity memorabilia, reports that Michael Jackson was a "happy and excited shopper" when he was recently in her store.
Among the items he purchased -- with his American Express card -- were a signed photo of Walt Disney, an "X-Men 2" collage with a signed Halle Berry belt buckle, a signed Star Wars display and a framed "Great Comedians" collection.
Total price: a little more than $10,000.
VegasBits
Mag man: Photographers from Marie Claire magazine were shooting Steve Connolly the other day. Connolly performs as Elvis Presley in "Spirit of the King" at Fitzgerald's downtown, and the shoot was for a story comparing entertainment and show costs in Las Vegas ...
Critic: We're hardly theater critics, but we know what we like. That said, "Bat Boy," the Las Vegas Little Theatre production based on articles culled from the Weekly World News, is arguably one of the most creative and hilarious productions we've ever seen. John Waters would be proud of what director Walter Niejadlik has done ...
Cover boy: The Linking Ring -- the official publication of the 10,000-member International Brotherhood of Magicians -- has Las Vegas resident Terry Nosek on its August cover. Nosek has had a distinguished career as a performer, author, columnist and radio host ...
Safe house: Perhaps the most secure room in town last Thursday night was the Big Apple Lounge at New York-New York. About 175 Marines, in Las Vegas to attend a recruiting conference, jammed the bar to hear Soul Desire ...
Sweet: Las Vegas resident Ed Feldman and his occasional business partner Dick Clark recently acquired the British franchise rights to Krispy Kreme donuts. They plan to open their first London outlet -- inside Harrod's, the city's famous department store -- sometime in October.
From Sun wires
Two men have sued Sean "P. Diddy" Combs for $25 million each, claiming that a security team at the rap mogul's recording studio attacked them for no reason. Lawsuits filed Monday in Manhattan on behalf of Thomas Guest and Damon Jackson allege that they were assaulted in August 2002 at the Daddy's House studio on West 44th Street.
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