We receive a lot of queries asking why there don't seem to have been many new shows about Las Vegas lately, and all we can answer is that the popularity of certain topics tends to go in cycles, and what's all the rage for a season or three can start getting old. Plus, the reason TV crews were falling over themselves to get to Vegas had a lot to do with the city's image, which lost some of its lustre as the economy nosedived and suddenly Sin City was more closely associated with unemployment and foreclosure than for having a wild time.
With a total of something like 19 Vegas-oriented documentaries and reality shows under her belt, the current writer can attest to the fact that after a while, it really starts to seem like it's all been said, even in a city like Las Vegas; as the virtual tsunami of Travel Channel specials started to run their course, it felt like the bottom of the barrel was being scraped and gratuitous shows made just for the sake of trying to squeeze the magic "Vegas" word into the title, in the hope of automatically grabbing ratings. From the best and worst bets to make to the most outrageous bathrooms, from shows about high rollers to the issue of problem gambling, from showgirls to strippers to celebrity chefs, it started to feel like it had all been "done."
On the other hand, what goes around comes around and after something of a hiatus, even in the re-runs, we get the impression that the city's getting hot again. While even Travel Channel's seemingly omnipresent "Vegas Week" has become something of a rare treat these days, we can confirm that Anthony Curtis just filmed for a Vegas-based episode for a show on Oprah's OWN TV, and has a new Travel Channel appearance coming up, too.
While the old "Vegas TV" feature that we used to run became too onerous to maintain, we still keep an ear to the ground and will keep you posted via "Today's News" of the air dates of any Vegas TV specials we hear about, especially if they feature Anthony or any other members of the LVA family (we don't think any of us qualifies to audition for the upcoming "Trailer Park Housewives" reality-TV show to be filmed here, but hopefully there are other opportunities in the pipeline...)
