From Alicia to Nina, here’s the year in Vegas TV

One last sip of '09. (Think of it as a fine whine.)

Counting down the 10 top TV topics:

10. Gillan, Gillan, Gone ... And Back: Gig-less after his Las Vegas ONE newscast was nuked, quality journalist Jeff Gillan re-emerged as assistant news director at News-3, where he'll resume co-anchoring "In Business Las Vegas." Good guy plus good work? Begets good karma.

9. "More" Is Less When You Ad(d) It Up: Fox-5's grab bag of Hollywood fluff and lifestyle stuff is a tangled nest of genuine stories and mini-infomercials stitched into the twice-daily "More," hosted by Fox-5 air staff. Even with graphics identifying their sponsors, ads euphemistically called "integrated content" can pass for straight programming by airing inside a show alongside legit elements and glammed up beyond your average "Paid Programming." Beware a sales pitch dressed as entertainment glitz.

8. Benched: Stand-alone sports segments are drop-kicked out of Fox-5's weeknight news lineup. Anybody notice?

7. Take a Knapp: George captures (and deserves) a Peabody Award for a sensational series on Las Vegas growth and water issues, then turns tabloid, exposing ex-weatherman John Fredericks' phone-stalking of a woman, though there was no arrest made, no charges filed, and Fredericks had been off-air nearly a year. Felt like CNN gone TMZ on us.

6. AJTV: The News, Starring Alicia Jacobs. News-3's entertainment savant headlines her own stories: She cat-fights Holly Madison; flaunts an air of privilege (and is chided by TV talker Bonnie Hunt) for toting a pooch-in-a-pouch to the late Danny Gans' Encore opening; opines on Miss California's gay marriage stance after judging the Miss USA Pageant; and is inappropriately inserted into ostensibly objective coverage of questions over Gans' tragic death, despite their very public friendship. ... She's ready for her four close-ups, Mr. DeMille.

5. ONE Minus Three Equals Zero: Decimated after losing its local tent poles -- "Face to Face," "In Business" and "NewsONE at 9" -- LV1 goes on a ventilator. All eyes turn toward the plug.

4. Federal You've-Got-to-Be-Kidding Commission: News-3 files an FCC complaint accusing channels 5, 8 and 13 of disguising paid ads as news and not disclosing the arrangement -- without any direct proof. Score it a zilch on the Accusation Scale, but a 10 on the Chutzpah Meter.

3. Retirement, Shm-tirement: Leaving the lush life of leisure behind, ex-Channel 8 news great Bob Stoldal resurfaces as News-3's new nabob, signaling a turnaround for a station turned inside-out by newsroom strife. Given that new life ...

2. KVB-Seesaw: News-3 shakes off its voodoo vibes, adding, reviving and importing news programming while dumping "Watching Out For You." Can we get a woof-woof for "WOFY's" demise?

1. Book Passage for Nina on the next Pinta or Santa Maria Outta Town: La Radetich pulls an ethical error the size of Montana, secretly pitching her boyfriend's PR powers of image rehab to the owner of TireWorks -- a company under investigation by her own news crew at Channel 13. She remains on-air. Colleagues, competitors, other journalists and ethicists coast to coast are flabbergasted. ... Still.

Next? We start anew.

Happy View Year.

Contact reporter Steve Bornfeld at sbornfeld@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0256.