Conceptually, Andy Warhol invented the reality show. The artist famously noted that he no longer had problems once he bought a tape recorder because once people started acting for the recorder, nothing was reality anymore, all was drama, to a point where the participants no longer knew if they were acting or not.

I have written some on the Buffet about my own history of being taped for "reality" shows on two separate occasions years apart. Neither aired after I freaked out (I had my tough Philadelphia lawyer -- alias Mommy -- send a letter in one instance) about the gap between the taping and reality. Similarly, I have written about how controlled and stage-managed these "reality" shows that pass through Vegas really are when you watch the filming. Most recently I was reminded of that while visiting at the Palms for a taping of "The Girls Next Door."

There are as many differences between actors and reality show stars as there are between documentaries and reality shows. Actors are trained for imitating drama, whereas reality show contestants are screened to make sure they are dramatic. So  it is not a huge surprise that a reality show contestant may have murdered a Vegas model and former topless-bar worker, then taken his own life. Still, it is not right to blame the reality-show industry, as many are doing, for causing this sort of incident.

VH1 has suspended "Megan Wants a Millionaire," the show about a gold-digger who dismisses her financially well-endowed suitors with the line: "Your credit is declined." Despite the murder victim not being on the show and the suspect already eliminated from the show and physically deceased, VH1 has put the show on indefinite hold. Of course, it is a tasteless idea for a show, and the world will not suffer if it never finishes airing. But especially tasteless? No. Or, at least no more so than dozens of other reality shows. It would be silly, even grandiose, to think "Megan Wants a Millionaire" crossed some line of taste that reality shows had heretofore avoided. In fact, the Megan in question (Megan Hauserman) is a veteran of previous reality shows featuring equally ridiculous titles like "Beauty and the Geek" and "I Love Money."

America has proven to have an insatiable appetite for these sorts of shows, which thrive off people who create extreme drama in their lives. And Vegas has a large supply of these people.  In fact, it is even fair to say that often these shows help push confrontations. But none of that happened in this case. The victim, for example, had no connection to any reality television show. More interesting than the reality show angle to me is that everyone involved and many of the events in this doomed relationship have a Vegas connection. Ask yourself what sort of rich man wants to be on a show where he courts a woman interested primarily in his money? My guess: one who sees her as a possession. That is a very Vegas attitude. And when you think you own someone -- well, that is a recipe for trouble. As far as reality television, there always comes the moment the cameras go away on these sorts of shows and leave people to their personalities and lives.

Today,  Doug Elfman looks at the life of the victim, Jasmine Fiore, and her relationship with her suspected killer, Ryan Jenkins, by interviewing one of her close friends. Elfman reports that between modeling jobs, Fiore was a cocktail server at the topless bar Treasures. Since pretending to serve cocktails at a topless club is the No. 1 lie dancers tell their friends and family, I called Treasures this morning and spoke to a manager who would not give his name. He said Fiore had not worked there since 2006, and he would not confirm what work she did while there.

Still, any job at a topless club is a much different experience than the far more respectable card-dealer job at a resort that Elfman reported she worked earlier in her Vegas career. Anyway, you can see the path her life was taking. Elfman describes the drinking, hard-partying public behavior of the couple in Vegas. One incident involves her being exposed fully naked in a nightclub at Wynn. Still, this couple drew no particular attention here until Fiore was found deceased. To me, in the end, this story is sadly typical of Vegas and has little to do with reality television beyond that these sound like people from reality shows.

The story: A hard-partying Vegas lady pushing toward 30 wants to find someone rich to settle down with and marry. She meets a rich man here and they marry almost instantly. A true Vegas wedding. But then she discovers just how much can be wrong with the process of picking a man based solely by his wallet size.

This allegedly deadly relationship between Fiore and contestant Jenkins plays out like so many relationships I see in Vegas -- the physical abuse, the public humiliation, and the casual infidelity. Murder is rare, of course. But cases of powerful men having public and embarrassing and sometimes physical confrontations with trophy lovers, wives and mistresses are not uncommon here. Among the recent elect: a local politician, a strip club owner and Suge Knight have all had police arrive to sort out their domestic issues. In fact, watch Sharon Stone's character in the movie "Casino"; her spiritual descendants are all over Vegas to this day, and so are the violent men willing to tangle with them.

Lou Reed recommended taking a walk on the wild side, but there is a crowd that lives on the wild side in Vegas; these people aren't taking a walk but running a marathon until they drop. Elfman's story ends quoting Fiore's friend on the murder victim: "I hope you don't make it sound like she's a bad person. She's not. She was just the Vegas type." And that should not be a death sentence, but at most a misspent youth.

What Warhol missed is that often for the Vegas type, when "reality" once again becomes reality, no one behaves as if the tape has stopped.

Photo: Ryan Jenkins and Jasmine Fiore. Credits; Associated Press

I don't usually watch television, and so I missed Sunday's moment when Melissa Rivers called poker player Annie Duke "a whore pit viper." Her mother, Joan Rivers, then apparently used shameful comparisons to those who commit genocide to equate her daughter's losing a game show meant to raise money for charity to a professional poker player. But to be honest, I am not at all surprised that Duke upset and unhinged the Riverses -- Joan and Melissa. She played them. You see, the mother and daughter were foolishly participating in a reality show and Annie Duke is playing a game to win. Therefore none of Duke's decisions are being made based on her emotions or feelings, only the dictates of the system she is using. Not that I have ever met Annie Duke.

So how do I know this?