By Steve Friess, Photographs: Tomas Muscionico

ctogenarian Murray King is unbuttoning his blue flower-print shirt in the middle of an opulent foyer in one of Caesars Palace's ultraluxe suites. A sound boom hangs over him, a camera crew captures his every antic, and his bemused wife, Joan, is watching, rolling her eyes, from inside the living room.

"Just look at these muscles," the insurance magnate bellows, in a gravelly Long Island voice, pulling back the shirt to display an impressive set of Florida tanned, gray-hair-dusted pecs. "Not bad for an old guy, huh? Look at 'em!"

Who could help but look? King, a 37-year Caesars high roller whose adult children learned weightlifting long ago from fellow patron Harry Belafonte at the hotel gym, is hamming it up for the latest Las Vegas entry into reality television, A&E's Caesars 24/7. On this early-October weekend, the crew follows King as the 82-year-old and his vast progeny orchestrate a 75th birthday bash for his wife and watch him instruct longtime Caesars pit-boss-turned-aspiring-casino-host Joe Comastro in the way he likes his underwear unpacked.

If that was all that was going on, it might be entertaining enough. But that same weekend, a different crew from the show is following every step of preparations for the hotel-casino's first boxing match in four years, out on the newly opened Roman Plaza. (Drama: The Clark County fire marshal says the chairs are one row too close to the ring platform.)

Meanwhile, another crew is spending its time tracking the comeback of 2000 Olympic boxing loser Jeff Lacy, who, much to the delight of Caesars 24/7 producers, provides a feelgood episode climax by becoming the first American from the Sydney Games to win a professional title when he took the IBF Super Middleweight championship that night.

"We have a great story either way, but it's great that he won because he's a really great guy and you get involved in his story by following it so closely," series producer Kerry McFarland says.

And for some salacious substance, still another crew is hanging out with a group of gay men who brought a straight pal to Vegas for his birthday and have a deal that they'll help the birthday boy find a woman if he goes with them to the opening of the new gay nightclub, Krave, to help them pick up guys.

Got all that? And this is just one weekend in the life of Caesars Palace, which may give some idea of why 44 Blue Productions chose the Strip institution for the one-hour show that premieres on A&E at 8 p.m. on January 10th. "It's really an embarrassment of riches here at Caesars," McFarland gushes. "There is so much happening, and it's all real"...

For the full story, Subscribe to Vegas Magazine now!