Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2003 | 10:47 a.m.
Once again the small screen is filled with Las Vegas.
At 9 p.m. today on Bravo (Cox cable channel 53), the first of the six-week series "Celebrity Poker Showdown" airs.
Filmed at the Palms in October, tonight's segment features Ben Affleck, Don Cheadle, Willie Garson, David Schwimmer and Emily Proctor playing Texas No Limit Hold 'Em.
Future episodes feature Coolio, Jack Black, Martin Sheen, Sarah Silverman, Allison Janney, Carrie Fisher, Paul Rudd and other celebs competing for $250,000 to give to a charity.
Starting this weekend and continuing into next week, ESPN2 is airing the National Finals Rodeo from Thomas & Mack Center.
On Wednesday's episode of the UPN sitcom "The Parkers," Kim (Countess Vaughn) and her friends take a road trip to Vegas.
The FX series "Lucky," which starred John Corbett and used Vegas as its backdrop, was officially canceled last month. Corbett was immediately signed to star in "Elvis Has Left the Building," with Kim Basinger. Corbett is working with his "Big Fat Greek Wedding" director Joel Zwick in a tale of a cosmetics saleswoman (Basinger) who while in Vegas accidentally kills several Elvis impersonators.
The film is now shooting in New Mexico.
And, finally, as we write this late Monday, the James Caan "Las Vegas" show is on NBC and Cinemax is airing the Brad Pitt-George Clooney-Julia Roberts-Matt Damon "Ocean's Eleven" remake.
Author, author
Vegas resident Eve Quillin is having a book signing Saturday afternoon at WaldenBooks in the Fashion Show mall.
"My Life in Shorts" is made up of 69 short stories about her life, and includes tales of many of the Strip entertainers she has met over the decades.
Quillin sold beauty supplies for many years, and was well known in the industry for selling nail gems -- little sparkling stones -- that stars from Charo to Liberace glued on their various outfits.
"This was before they could all afford a better way of designing their costumes," Quillin said.
Quillin is 75 years old. This is her first book.
One-time customers B.B. King and Roy Horn contributed forewords to the book. Former customer Tony Spilotro didn't.
Passing
Our condolences to Caesars Palace headliner Celine Dion, whose father, Adhemar Dion, died on Sunday. Dion has canceled her Wednesday and Thursday performances of "A New Day ... " to attend services in Montreal. (Her show is normally dark Monday and Tuesday.)
From the stage Sunday night, she said she was dedicating that evening's performance to her father.
"My dad was and still is my No. 1 fan, since I was a very little girl," she said, fighting back tears. "I know that my dad would have wanted me to be here tonight, on stage with everyone I love, doing what we love. I will give everything I have and I would like to dedicate this show to him."
She returns Friday both to the Colosseum stage and to the small screen. "Celine Dion: One Year, One Heart" airs on ABC Family (Cox cable channel 74). Narrated by Wayne Brady, the show recounts Dion's move to Vegas and the opening of her landmark engagement, and offers insights from Dion, as well as performance footage.
Ever after
Talk about walking the plank -- lovers can now get married on the TI pirate ship.
Capt. Jack Sparrow -- aka Johnny Depp, People's "Sexiest Man Alive" -- will not be performing the ceremonies in the Siren's Cove in front of the former Treasure Island.
Instead, the ceremony is performed by a clergyman (your choice of denomination) dressed up as a pirate.
The groom, best man and captain are on the ship, and await the bride's entrance along a rose-covered walkway. Guests watch from the dock.
For the right amount of gold, hotel spokeswoman Sandy Zanella tells us, rogue pirates will serve as witnesses to the nuptials, and one may swing down from the crow's nest to deliver the rings.
Packages that include a reception and photos range from about $1,500 to $3,000.
Good timing
The cover of the Winter 2003 edition of VEGAS Magazine -- out today -- features a sultry-looking Paris Hilton on the cover, and a timely article about her life in the media spotlight.
We hardly need to recount Hilton's various homemade videos. And her Fox series, "The Simple Life," debuts tonight. It is a modern-day "Green Acres" where Hilton and Nicole Richie, the daughter of Lionel, trade in their gilded lives for a few weeks in the backwoods of Arkansas.
The mag is trying to get Hilton to attend its issue party in Las Vegas next week. The party is to be held in conjunction with Wednesday's Billboard Music Awards.
Magazine Publisher Michael Carr said, "Our magazine is all about having the hottest things when they are hot. We are the arbiters of coolness."
The glossy also includes terrific features on Penn Jillette's "enchanted cottage," Playboy centerfold and Vegas veterinarian Colleen Marie and bachelorette parties.
VegasBits
Roe: Westin Casuarina headliner David Brenner had a late dinner Saturday at AquaKnox (Venetian). He started off his meal with a couple of servings of the beluga caviar ...
Named: A street named after Tony Curtis will be dedicated in Sun City Anthem's Pinnacle Village -- where he has a home -- next week. Curtis is slated to attend the ceremony ...
Candles: Keith Thibodeaux -- who played Little Ricky on "I Love Lucy" -- turned 53 on Monday. He is now the executive director of a Jackson, Miss.-based Christian ballet company and remains friends with Boulder City resident Desi Arnaz, Jr., Lucy's real-life son.
Look sharp: B.R. Guest Restaurants President Steve Hanson (MGM Grand's Fiamma) will be featured in the spring ad campaign for men's clothier Joseph Abboud ...
Bar hop: Comic Eddie Griffin partied at Venus (Venetian) Friday night ...
Another: Rumors were flying over the holiday weekend that Cirque du Soleil had struck a deal in principle with MGM MIRAGE officials to open another Cirque show in The Mirage's Siegfried & Roy Theatre in June 2005. The name of the showroom would remain intact, the story goes, as a tribute to the famous duo.
From Sun wires
Linda Tripp, her breast cancer arrested, said Monday she will marry her childhood sweetheart in the spring.
The Pentagon employee who went public with Monica Lewinsky's secrets described her first reaction when diagnosed as "sheer terror."
Tripp, 52, said on CNN's "Larry King Live" that she had a lumpectomy and underwent chemotherapy.
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