Columnist Jeff German: TV shows packing the house

Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2005 | 10:55 a.m.

When the A&E Network camera zooms in on Brandy Beavers backstage at the Shadow Bar at Caesars Palace, the voluptuous dancer is talking about her breasts.

Tomorrow, the ditzy blonde tells us, she's going to have them enlarged to further her entertainment career and maybe land her a spread in Playboy.

"I'm a 34D, but it looks like tomorrow I'm going to be a 34DD," the bubbly Beavers says.

Then, with a giggle, she holds up a pair of plastic breast enhancements, calling them her "chicken cutlets," her "best friends" for the last couple of years.

She stuffs them into her cleavage for what she says will be the last time and heads to the stage, where she dances behind the Shadow Bar's trademark screen to cheers from the boisterous crowd on the other side.

It's a scene from "Caesars 24/7," a reality television partnership between Caesars Palace and A&E. The hour-long show, which airs Monday nights, takes the viewer behind the scenes at one of the casino industry's most recognizable resorts.

Yes, even the opulent Caesars Palace, the house that Jay Sarno built, the class of the Strip, the original home of the high-roller, has succumbed to the reality TV bug.

Casinos see these shows as a cheap way to market themselves.

A few years ago the Palms parlayed its role as the home of MTV's risque "Real World" into a permanent playground for the stars of Hollywood.

Last year casino industry newcomers Tim Poster and Tom Breitling starred in their own reality show, "The Casino," on the Fox Network to drum up publicity for their investment in the Golden Nugget.

And Station Casinos executives are still appearing on the Discovery Channel's "American Casino" to promote Green Valley Ranch Station Casino.

There's no telling how many more projects like these are in the works. It's obviously good business.

The casinos don't seem to care if these shows portray them in a less-than-flattering light.

"To create engaging television, sometimes you have to explore subjects that maybe you wouldn't otherwise explore," Caesars spokesman Michael Coldwell says. "The trade-off is having two million people a week exposed to your property."

Coldwell says the Jan. 10 premiere of Caesars 24/7 reached 1.4 million households and was A&E's third-highest rated premiere ever.

With all of the fuss over Brandy Beavers and her new breasts during Monday's episode, the ratings aren't likely to slip.

Halfway through the show, the 24/7 star returns, having recovered from her surgery brimming with confidence. We are shown photos of her breasts before and after the enhancement.

At the Shadow Bar she is greeted by her friends and fellow employees, who mark the occasion by giving her a cake shaped like a torso with, you guessed it, a pair of breasts.

"Thank you all for celebrating my boobs," Beavers says, as she takes a bite of the cake.

Before taking the stage, she chats with some of the male patrons about her new look.

The last we see of Beavers in this episode is her shapely silhouette dancing behind the screen, as her boyfriend and friends marvel at her figure.

It's a vision of dollar signs for Caesars Palace.