Criss Angel preparing to pull lots of tricks from up his sleeve

"Mindfreak," the magician’s made-in-Vegas A&E series, is a ratings powerhouse. He’s set to star in a big-screen version of the comic strip "Mandrake." He’s the first performer Cirque du Soleil ever built a show around. And he’s conjured up plenty of tabloid headlines by allegedly spending a couple of nights with Britney Spears. (Although, some would argue the bigger trick would have been getting her to spend those nights alone. Or that he made her talent disappear.)

Now, he’s attempting his greatest feat yet: creating some ratings magic for beleaguered NBC with "Phenomenon" (8 p.m. Wednesday, KVBC-TV, Channel 3).

The reality series sounds like an "American Idol" for mentalists, with Angel and famed spoon bender Uri Geller sharing the roles of Randy, Paula and Simon. Sounds like, because the series will air live on the East Coast, meaning no one has seen it, and Angel wants to be kept in the dark.

"I don’t want to be in the loop so much," he says by phone during a brief vacation. "I want to be experiencing the performer for the first moment, just as the audience is."

That, at least in part, is because Angel plans on messing with the contestants. He talks about rooting out scammers and fake mentalists with the fervor of "Dateline’s" Chris Hansen chasing down an ice cream truck full of perverts. (Not to go all Amazing Randi, but if there’s such a thing as a real mentalist, would he really waste his time on a TV show?)

"It’s going to be interesting, because I’m sure we’re gonna have people that claim they have supernatural power," he says, "and that’s gonna be fun to expose them live and on television."

Angel isn’t sure what to expect, but he’s not ruling out the possibility of a few Sanjayas. "I think we’re gonna have the whole gamut, the whole spectrum of performers, from the very poor to the very best."

Among the 10 contenders: Jason Scott, who performs street-style magic at the Palms’ Moon and Playboy Club, and Gerry McCambridge, whose mentalism show recently landed at the Hooters Hotel.

I’ve seen a few minutes of Scott’s act on DVD, and he’s a little bit scary. And I’m sure McCambridge is a great guy, but I’m still upset that he ruined my night with Molly Sims.

I was chatting up the "Las Vegas" actress a few years back at an NBC party, and it turns out she can be a little handsy when she talks. A touch of your bicep for emphasis here, her palm on your chest there. But before I could even enjoy being manhandled by a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model — trying to maintain a full-body flex is pretty distracting stuff — she was needed onstage to assist the evening’s entertainment: one Gerry McCambridge. Granted, none of this was directly his fault. But dammit, he’s a mentalist. He should’ve known.

Anyway, back to Criss Angel. In addition to "Phenomenon," he’s starting production on "Mindfreak’s" fourth season today at the Luxor. "I’m really going back to my roots," he says of plans for the new episodes, scheduled to air in mid-2008. "Even though I have a lot more to lose, I’m gonna take more risks than I ever took."

Statements like that are bound to make the folks at Cirque du Soleil queasy. Angel says his upcoming show at the Luxor is scheduled for 10 performances a week, 46 weeks a year, for a decade. And if he gets hurt, say, riding his motorcycle for a "Mindfreak" stunt, it’s not like the producers could just zip somebody into a Criss Angel suit or run to the next theater and grab Carrot Top to fill in.

As a result, Cirque had to take out a pricey insurance policy on its star. "I said, ‘Look, you wanna do this deal with me, I’m not altering my lifestyle. I’m not gonna change who I am or what I am based on anything or anybody.’ "

The likable Angel also holds nothing back when describing the Luxor show, which he says he’ll start "serious rehearsals" for April 14.

"I’m not hyping you or anything like that," he says. "It is going to be an absolutely, absolutely amazing experience that will blow your mind, that will excite you, that will make you cry. And it will be a true reflection of each and every person’s life, because they’ll connect to it very much like a song. As a song can be interpreted 50 different ways for 50 different people and what they’re going through in their life, this show will achieve that same thing."

Like I said, just be thankful he’s using his powers for good. God help us all if he ever starts hyping.

Christopher Lawrence’s Life on the Couch column appears on Mondays. E-mail him at clawrence@reviewjournal.com.