Monday, March 15, 2004 | 8:13 a.m.
As if Las Vegas isn't getting all the publicity it needs from "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" and "Las Vegas" not to mention the Travel Channel's endless schedule of Sin City-themed shows TV audiences can look forward to two news series filmed in Las Vegas: "The Casino" and "American Casino."
The shows both take place mostly at a casino, debut in June and will run weekly through most of the summer.
But that's where the similarities end, as I learned after spending a few hours with each production.
'The Casino'
I'm standing in the center of the lobby of the Golden Nugget.
Thomas Breitling, one of the two new owners of the hotel, walks over, introduces himself and shakes my hand. We're chatting amiably for a minute before we're interrupted by a camera crew rushing to the scene.
Breitling and his business partner and friend, Timothy Poster, are the subjects of a new "unscripted drama" series on Fox, "The Casino," with multiple cameras chronicling their nearly every move.
In this instance, however, the omnipresent camera crew trailing Breitling lagged behind and missed filming our introduction.
One of the show's producers asks if he can re-enact the introduction for the cameras. In the show's attempt to detail nearly every waking moment of his life, they want to capture the moment Breitling meets a reporter from the Las Vegas Sun.
Breitling backs away, walks toward me again, extends his hand and re-introduces himself again for the benefit of the camera.
It's been said by numerous reality-show contestants that they initially tried to ignore the intrusive cameras and, over time, forgot all about them.
I'm not sure if that's entirely possible. It's difficult to ignore a group of men following you around aiming a camera at you while dangling a microphone a foot or so above your head.
Nevertheless, I make a go of it, asking Breitling questions about his show while the camera crews record every moment of the conversation.
It's not too long before Poster joins us. Poster, like Breitling, is in his mid-30s. Friends since college, the duo purchased the Golden Nugget because, as Breitling said, "This truly was was Tim's dream and my acquired dream."
The notion of two newcomers to the casino business was intriguing enough to reality-series godfather Mark Burnett -- the man behind "Survivor," "The Apprentice" and "The Restaurant" -- that he contacted Breitling and Poster about documenting their newfound jobs as casino owners.
"Mark Burnett was intrigued by the casino business. And he loved the idea of two guys fulfilling their dreams," Breitling said. "Not only how they they do it, but could they do it.
"It's really the story of Tim and myself taking over the operation of the Golden Nugget. What's that like? How does it go? It's about our experiences every day since taking over."
While Breitling and Poster are clearly the stars of "The Casino," there are supporting cast members.
"What the show's become ... is kind of 'The Love Boat' of casinos," said Jamie Bruce, co-executive producer of "The Casino." "The captain is the owners, Tim and Tom, we're going to focus on them every week. We're also going to focus on who's going to be (at the Golden Nugget) this week and what crazy story will be there this time."
Some of those side stories will include casino-hotel employees as well as guests, such as a high roller treated to a helicopter trip and picnic at the Grand Canyon or couples getting engaged.
"It's so big with so many stories going on at the same time, what is difficult is to make sure all of our characters and stories intertwine at the end of the day," Bruce said.
On Jan. 23, the day the purchase was approved, the camera crews began filming. Shooting stops Wednesday.
"It's been pretty nonstop" since, Breitling said.
Added Poster: "Every waking moment is fair game for us."
With 18 camera crews and about 200 crew members, it's easy for "The Casino" to cover multiple stories.
There also is a specially constructed site, Pit 5, to film late-night gamblers. The pit features a wall of two-way mirrors facing craps and blackjack tables. Several cameras are hidden behind the mirrors. There are also cameras mounted in the ceiling and microphones tucked into the green felt of the tables.
Anyone wishing to gamble in the pit must first sign a waiver agreeing to be filmed.
But that hasn't kept the pit from being filled every night with gamblers.
"We originally thought ... 'Who's going to want to be on TV gambling?' " Poster said. "But it's not a problem. We have many people who want to gamble where they have cameras on them."
As the tour winds down, Poster leaves for a meeting. Presumably, a camera crew will be there to film that as well.
Breitling continues giving me a tour of the Golden Nugget with the camera crew either behind us or in front. At one point Breitling yells out to the crew to watch out for some hotel guests they're backing into as they film us walking through a hallway.
It isn't much longer before we get on an elevator with another guest. Since there isn't room for the crew, the door closes on them as they wait to catch another elevator to meet us in the Golden Nugget showroom.
I joke that this is what it takes for Breitling to steal a moment's peace from the crew.
He smiles.
"It seems that way," Breitling said.
'American Casino'
It's quiet at Green Valley Ranch Station Casino.
I'm supposed to meet a TV camera crew at the hotel-casino, but I have no idea where they are. I walk around the complex looking for them.
Fortune smiles on me 10 minutes later as I encounter a camera crew of five strolling through a hotel hallway.
"Are you with the Discovery Channel?" I ask.
Without breaking stride the sound man says "Yes." He points me to the producer, who is bringing up the rear of the party.
This group is part of a 14-member production team filming "American Casino," part of the "American" series of un- scripted dramas on the Discovery Channel.
Unlike Fox's "The Casino," where the main storylines are the tribulations and triumphs of its young and inexperienced owners, "American Casino" will focus on as many of the casino's 2,500 employees as possible, from the cocktail waitresses and valets to upper management and the top chef.
"(Watching the show) you're going to learn about the casinos through the back story," Russell Muth, co-executive producer of "American Casino," said. "You're going to find out about casino operations through ways you never thought you would. Characters will develop the ideas of how a casino operates.
"It's a much more interesting documentation than a quote-unquote reality show."
Make no mistake, Muth is taking a shot at "The Casino."
While many of the "American Casino" crew, such as Muth, have friends at the other show, there is a competitive rivalry.
That is in part because the production team at "The Casino" is nearly 15 times the size of its cross-town counterpart at Green Valley Ranch.
"We're the little show that could," Muth says proudly, looking around a small room in Green Valley Ranch Station Casino's marketing department that serves as a makeshift production room for the show.
"We're a small group ... and we all have to work extremely hard."
Which means a nearly 12- to 14-hour rotation for each of the two camera crews seven days a week since the production team began filming Jan. 12.
All told, the show will film for 26 weeks.
"Some days nothing happens. Other days lots of things happen," Muth said. "That's why we have to be around for a longer period of time."
In order to better document the behind-the-scenes look at the hotel-casino business, the "American Casino" production team has been given a "tremendous amount of access" by the Fertitta brothers, Frank and Lorenzo, who, as Station Casinos Inc. executives, co-own Green Valley Ranch along with the Greenspun family, owners of the Las Vegas Sun.
"They're exposed and they feel it," Muth said. "But, again, they've been incredible about what they're letting us do."
Crews are allowed into most top-level business meetings and casino cages. Or, in the case of this day, a meeting of head chef and other casino management in a casino kitchen about upgrades to the menu of the Whiskey Bar, the trendy nightclub at Green Valley Ranch.
The food choices consist of sandwiches, burgers, nachos, salads and more. The group discusses the food options, portion sizes and price.
While the camera crew films the meeting, the waiters buzz by to pick up their customers' orders, and cooks hurry to prepare the food.
Wayne Shadd is on hand for the meeting.
As head of marketing for Green Valley Ranch, he is at many of the meetings the crews film.
Shadd, who recently became a father, also is the subject of a storyline outside the casino: specifically, how he balances his life between work and home.
A camera crew has already made one visit to his house and will undoubtedly make more as filming continues.
"It's a bit surreal," Shadd said. "In the beginning it was intimidating having the cameras around. (Then) you realize you have a job to do and you do it. It just happens to be that cameras are there."
While Shadd acknowledges he is giving up his own privacy, he said what he is sacrificing will be worth what the casino gains in notoriety.
"The publicity generated from the show will be priceless," he said. "You couldn't buy the publicity we're getting from Discovery Channel.
"There'll be 17 hours devoted to Green Valley Ranch. It's a win-win, no matter how I look at it."
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