Thursday, Sept. 2, 2004 | 10:29 a.m.
In terms of Las Vegas and TV shows, it seems to be all about quantity, not necessarily quality.
At least, that is the impression one walks away with after looking at the odds on the 56th Annual Emmy Awards as posted this week by John Avello, director of Race & Sports Operations at Bally's/Paris Las Vegas.
The Emmy Awards ceremonies will be Sept. 19 in Los Angeles.
For outstanding drama series, Avello has "The West Wing" as even money to score the Emmy, followed by "The Sopranos" at 8-to-5 and "24" at 4-1.
"CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" is a 10-1 long shot. "Las Vegas" isn't even on the board.
"Las Vegas" stars James Caan and Josh Duhamel are not on the lead actor board, nor is "CSI" star William Petersen.
That category is headed by James Gandolfini ("Sopranos") at 6-5, followed by Anthony LaPaglia at 2-1 for "Without A Trace" and Keifer Sutherland at 5-1 for "24."
"Hey, I watch shows like 'Las Vegas' and some of the poker shows," Avello told us Tuesday. "And I enjoy them, as do millions of others. But you can't base your professional opinion on where you live."
In the outstanding reality/competition category, the 2-1 favorite is "American Idol," followed by "The Apprentice" at 5-2. No poker shows are on the board at all.
"Last Comic Standing," which is taped in Las Vegas, is the category's 10-1 longshot.
Sarah Jessica Parker is Avello's favorite in the lead actress, comedy, category, and her "Sex and the City" is his bet for outstanding comedy series.
The odds are for entertainment purposes only. A complete listing can be found by clicking on Johnny's Exotic Odds at www.ballysraceandsports.com.
Book reports
Vegas regular Tommy Lee comes out with "TommyWorld" (Atria/Simon & Schuster) next month.
In it, he addresses his long running on-again, off-again relationship with ex-wife Pamela Anderson -- including the famous sex video taped at Lake Mead.
Later this month music family patriarch and Las Vegas resident Joe Jackson comes out with "Die Jacksons." "Die" is the German word for "the" -- which is important to note because the book is so far being released only in Germany.
The subtitle of the Random House entry: "The Golden Truth About the Jackson Family." No word on a possible U.S. edition.
And controversial tell-all biographer Kitty Kelley -- who's penned tattletales on everyone from Vegas legend Frank Sinatra to Jackie Onassis, is at the Republican National Convention promoting her upcoming book, "The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty." The book comes out Sept. 14.
MAGIC Bits
There has been lots of celeb activity surrounding the MAGIC (Men's Apparel Guild in California) convention, which continues through Friday. Some highlights:
Surprise: Joseph "Rev. Run" Simmons, one of the founding fathers of rap music from his days in Run-DMC, stunned and delighted the crowd at the Phat Farm clothing party at Little Buddha (Palms) Tuesday night when he climbed onto the makeshift stage and started to perform alongside Love Bug Starsky ...
Jeans: Tara Reid spent mad time Tuesday at the Jordache booth on the MAGIC convention floor. On its 25th anniversary, the company is introducing a new premium line of jeans, and Reid placed an order for almost the entire line ...
Meaty: Pamela Anderson and an entourage of eight attended the 10:30 p.m. performance of "Zumanity" (New York-New York) Tuesday night. A spy said she "looked gorgeous in a green, lacy negligee tank top and jeans." Champagne was everyone's drink of choice. A major animal rights advocate, the former "Baywatch" star is in town to promote her line of "cruelty-free" clothing ...
Hired: Nick Warnock from "The Apprentice" was at Crustacean (Desert Passage at the Aladdin) Tuesday night for a Niche Media party. Warnock sells ad space to fashion designers for the chain, which publishes Hamptons, Gotham, Aspen Peak and L.A. Confidential magazines ...
Parade: After their curtain went down Wednesday night, the entire cast of the Riviera's "An Evening at La Cage" -- in costume -- headed to the Hard Rock Hotel for the private bash thrown by Anna Nicole Smith, where she was previewing her new line of clothing.
She had personally requested that they attend, so they did: Derek Berry as Britney Spears, Ryan Sehrenberg as Reba McEntire, Kenneth Blake as Madonna, John Gonzales as Liza Minnelli, Brent Allen as Judy Garland, Jimmy Emerson as Tammy Spraynette, Steven Wayne as Cher, Chris Woods as Diana Ross, Lane Lassiter as Michael Jackson, Jonathan Kaye as Jennifer Lopez and show star Frank Marino as Joan Rivers.
Marino's dresser, Bobby Cunningham, and partner Shannon Sheckter also made the scene. Smith happily posed for pictures with all of them. Truly, you had to see it to believe it ...
Punch: "Sugar" Shane Mosley spent parts of Wednesday at the Everlast booth on the MAGIC floor signing sportswear for fans. He drew a crowd about equal to fellow pugilist Fernando Vargas, who was elsewhere on the floor promoting his Nawshis by Fernando Vargas line ...
Funny: Isaac Hayes of "Shaft" and "South Park" fame was hanging out at the Comedy Central Lounge off the main floor ...
Score: Former Dallas Cowboys star Michael Irvin is at the convention promoting his new Silver Silk line ...
VegasBits
Eats: Macy Gray had dinner Tuesday with some friends in one of the private "opium bedrooms" upstairs at Crustacean ...
Better: Somer Hollingsworth, president of the Nevada Development Authority, is recuperating nicely from recent hernia surgery ...
Show: "Havana Nights" producer Nicole Durr and 17 of her female troupe members attended the male revue "Thunder From Down Under" (Excalibur) on Wednesday night ...
Sweep: KNPR submitted entries in 15 categories in the 2004 Las Vegas Electronic Media Awards -- and is a finalist in every category ...
Rock: OutKast has just been added to the list of performers at the World Music Awards, which take place Sept. 15 at Thomas & Mack Center. They join Usher, Alicia Keys, Avril Lavigne, Hilary Duff, Kanye West, Josh Groban and Hoobastank. Also, before her Caesars gig that night, Celine Dion will appear and receive a lifetime achievement award ...
'Andromeda' strain: "Andromeda" is an ongoing series, not an upcoming series as was errantly reported Wednesday. The show stars Kevin Sorbo.
From Sun wires
Sanz wins four Latin Grammys: It seemed like a rerun of the 2002 Latin Grammys. Once again, Spanish heartthrob singer Alejandro Sanz dominated the show -- only this time, Sanz didn't show up to collect his trophies.
The absent crooner won a leading four awards Wednesday: male pop vocal album and album of the year for "No Es Lo Mismo" and took home song of the year and record of the year for writing and performing the album's title track. Sanz was on tour.
Brazilian jazz songstress Maria Rita collected two awards at the ceremony.
Suspects in Leykis attack: Police in Seattle identified two people they believe were involved in an assault on radio personality Tom Leykis and detained one of them but released him without filing charges.
Kilmer loses appeal: The state Court of Appeals in Santa Fe, N.M., has ruled against actor Val Kilmer and his ex-wife, actress Joanne Whalley, in a dispute over a tax refund of more than $300,000 sought by the couple.
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