Documentary follows "Hollywood Madam's" dream of setting up shop in Nevada

"I know it all sounds crazy, like I'm just a raving lunatic," says Heidi Fleiss. "But it'll all make sense once it all comes together."

Fleiss, the former "Hollywood Madam" jailed for nearly two years a decade ago, is trying to put things back together when she relocates to Nevada, where prostitution is legal. She dreams of opening a brothel catering exclusively to women with male prostitutes.

Her efforts to make this fantasy real is the subject of a documentary, "Heidi Fleiss: The Would-Be Madam of Crystal," which charts the difficulties that result.

Just because she has acquired the needed acreage and hired architects to design her pleasure palace doesn't mean she's welcome in tiny Crystal. Or that she's immune to strange distractions. (One: An elderly former madam who lives next door with dozens of exotic birds that, when the woman dies, are bequeathed to Fleiss' care.)

Fleiss tells of a happy childhood, of being a child chess champion in Los Angeles whose entrepreneurial spirit became clear in high school when she established a baby-sitting service. But she also speaks of a weakness for crystal meth.

Maybe her Stud Farm Project is a good idea, but, by the end of the film, it remains nothing more than an idea. The 70-minute film, premiering at 9 p.m. Monday on HBO, is the poignant portrait of a world-famous personality nearing the end of her 15 minutes.

Other shows to look out for:

Everything old is new again, and that even applies to leeches, which are making a remarkable comeback, as "NOVA scienceNOW" reports. Sure, they became notoriously overused in 19th-century medicine, and their very name can be an insult. But today they are proving useful when reattached fingers and toes become engorged with excess blood that must be drained off. "NOVA scienceNOW" airs at 9 p.m. Wednesday on KCTS-TV.

CNN's documentary series "Black in America" continues this week to probe the question: Is the dream of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. still alive 40 years after his assassination? "The Black Woman & Family," 9 p.m. Wednesday, explores the varied experiences of black women and their families, while investigating the reasons behind disturbing statistics on single parenthood, disparities between black and white students in schools and the devastating toll of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in black communities. A corresponding two-hour special, "The Black Man," 9 p.m. Thursday, asks whether there are two Black Americas, offering success for some black men but huge challenges for many more.