Heidi Fleiss

Celebrity career resuscitation takes the form of a reality special, “Heidi Fleiss: Prostitutes to Parrots,” on Animal Planet Sunday.

The main achievement of “Heidi Fleiss: The Would-Be Madam of Crystal,” is to make you realize just how accurate Andy Warhol was: 15 minutes is quite enough for people like Ms. Fleiss.

Her plans for a new brothel stymied, Heidi Fleiss is making due by overseeing a small coin-operated laundry some 60 miles west of Las Vegas.

Notorious madam Heidi Fleiss plans to open all-male bordello in Crystal, Nev, called Heidi's Stud Farm; describes how female-only clientele will be acommodated in luxurious rooms and have variety of amenities in addition to sex including on-site beauty salon; it is unclear if there is market for women wanting to hire male prostitutes, but some experts say that woman will pay for sex just as some men do now; prostitution is legal in most places in Nevada; Fleiss is awaiting approval from local officials; actor Lester James Brandt is only man hired for company to date; photos (M)

Alessandra Stanley reviews made-for-TV movie Call Me: The Rise and Fall of Heidi Fleiss, starring Jamie-Lynn DiScala and Robert Davi; photo (M)

Diana Thater

A state appeals court has overturned the pandering conviction of Heidi Fleiss, ruling that jurors engaged in vote-swapping misconduct to avoid a deadlock. In a 15-page opinion, the Second District Court of Appeal ordered that a new trial be held, said Emma Amos, a spokeswoman for the court. The opinion was filed Tuesday and released today.

Be too permissive with your daughter and she is likely to grow up to be a Hollywood madam. That seems to be the message of the forcefully acted cautionary tale called "The Good Doctor: The Paul Fleiss Story," tonight's television movie on CBS. You may not be too familiar with Dr. Fleiss, but surely you couldn't have missed the lurid headlines about his daughter Heidi. This is her shabby story, artfully fudged in spots, as seen through Daddy's eyes. Played with intentionally painful earnestness by Michael Gross ("Family Ties"), Dr. Fleiss is the kind of man who believes that nothing is so wrong that it can't be fixed, that children are spoiled by too little attention, not too much. His 1970's parties for liberal causes attract guests like Joan Baez and Dr. Benjamin Spock. Many of his patients get free care. He is a good man. And also something of a jerk.

Heidi Fleiss's business was no General Motors, but maybe she wielded enough power in Hollywood to deserve a documentary that recalls "Roger and Me." So Nick Broomfield's "Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam" is a lively, bawdy, bizarrely fascinating first-person chronicle of Mr. Broomfield's efforts to track her down. Interviewing prostitutes and pornographers, Mr. Broomfield immerses himself so tirelessly in the hunt for Ms. Fleiss that he initially raises questions of journalistic integrity, not to mention an eyebrow or two. When the film maker heads for Ms. Fleiss's favorite bars, conducts motel room interviews or approaches a streetwalker (who threatens to spit on his camera), he appears to be showing several shades more investigative zeal than the subject warrants.

To the Editor: Anna Quindlen takes issue with the decision to prosecute Heidi Fleiss, the so-called Hollywood madam who has now been convicted of pandering (news article, Dec. 3), complaining that prosecution of this offense wastes public resources (column, Nov. 26). Ms. Quindlen contends that prostitution is victimless because any potential harm can be prevented by the use of a condom.