Andy Warhol's statement in 1968 that "in the future everybody will be famous for 15 minutes" seems more and more prophetic every day.
It's especially true with the current rash of reality TV shows, in which regular folks become household names before being tossed in the pop culture trash bin after their proverbial 15 minutes are up. But it's fun while it lasts.
"American Casino," which features the Station Casinos-owned Green Valley Ranch in suburban Henderson, gives the star treatment to some regular horseplayers this Friday night on the Discovery Channel (8 p.m. Eastern and Pacific, and replayed at 11 p.m.), as the show chronicles their trip to Santa Anita back on March 3. What is significant about this trip is that it turned out to be the day of the biggest pick six jackpot in history, as the pool grew to more than $7.3 million after a three-day carryover in excess of $1.4 million.
"We had made the plans to go that day and to have the film crew there," said Kelly Downey, the race and sports book manager. "It just happened to fall on the day of the big pick 6 carryover, and it worked out really good."
Downey, race book supervisor Jack Schneider, and marketing manager David Denotmilan invited seven of their best race book customers and flew them to Santa Anita for the day. Downey, who received some face-time in the pilot episode that was shot during Super Bowl weekend, said the three hotel employees pretty much stayed in the background and let the focus be on their players, who had to sign release forms to allow the cameras to follow them all day.
Downey said he hasn't been shown an advance copy of this episode, so he'll be seeing it for the first time with everyone else Friday night.
One of the criticisms of reality TV is that a lot of it doesn't seem "real." Some of the plotlines seem contrived, and it's more than a little difficult to appear spontaneous when everyone knows there are cameras all around. But as we know, there's no predicting what will take place at a day at the track, so it should be interesting.
We do know, however, that none of the Green Valley players had one of the three winning pick six tickets - worth $1,567,984 apiece - because they were sold at Churchill Downs Trackside, through New York OTB, and the Viejas Casino outside San Diego.
"On average, they film 300 hours to make a 43-minute show, so we have no clue what will be shown," he said. "The players were doing their own thing, going to the paddock and watching the races from different angles, and the cameras followed them everywhere."
Downey said the hotel has got nothing but good publicity from the show.
"It's all in fun," he said. "People come up all the time and say they saw me on the show. I'm sure me and my staff will get a lot more feedback after this show airs, because it's mostly about our trip."
Downey also said the next "American Casino" that should prominently feature the race and sports book will be for the Kentucky Derby, though the date at which the episode will be aired has not been announced.
From Daily Racing Form.com
It's especially true with the current rash of reality TV shows, in which regular folks become household names before being tossed in the pop culture trash bin after their proverbial 15 minutes are up. But it's fun while it lasts.
"American Casino," which features the Station Casinos-owned Green Valley Ranch in suburban Henderson, gives the star treatment to some regular horseplayers this Friday night on the Discovery Channel (8 p.m. Eastern and Pacific, and replayed at 11 p.m.), as the show chronicles their trip to Santa Anita back on March 3. What is significant about this trip is that it turned out to be the day of the biggest pick six jackpot in history, as the pool grew to more than $7.3 million after a three-day carryover in excess of $1.4 million.
"We had made the plans to go that day and to have the film crew there," said Kelly Downey, the race and sports book manager. "It just happened to fall on the day of the big pick 6 carryover, and it worked out really good."
Downey, race book supervisor Jack Schneider, and marketing manager David Denotmilan invited seven of their best race book customers and flew them to Santa Anita for the day. Downey, who received some face-time in the pilot episode that was shot during Super Bowl weekend, said the three hotel employees pretty much stayed in the background and let the focus be on their players, who had to sign release forms to allow the cameras to follow them all day.
Downey said he hasn't been shown an advance copy of this episode, so he'll be seeing it for the first time with everyone else Friday night.
One of the criticisms of reality TV is that a lot of it doesn't seem "real." Some of the plotlines seem contrived, and it's more than a little difficult to appear spontaneous when everyone knows there are cameras all around. But as we know, there's no predicting what will take place at a day at the track, so it should be interesting.
We do know, however, that none of the Green Valley players had one of the three winning pick six tickets - worth $1,567,984 apiece - because they were sold at Churchill Downs Trackside, through New York OTB, and the Viejas Casino outside San Diego.
"On average, they film 300 hours to make a 43-minute show, so we have no clue what will be shown," he said. "The players were doing their own thing, going to the paddock and watching the races from different angles, and the cameras followed them everywhere."
Downey said the hotel has got nothing but good publicity from the show.
"It's all in fun," he said. "People come up all the time and say they saw me on the show. I'm sure me and my staff will get a lot more feedback after this show airs, because it's mostly about our trip."
Downey also said the next "American Casino" that should prominently feature the race and sports book will be for the Kentucky Derby, though the date at which the episode will be aired has not been announced.
From Daily Racing Form.com
