The Magician // All 21 Episodes Plus TV Movie Pilot

BOTTOM LINE: A fun whodunit series that uses the interesting plot device of magician hero to help differentiate itself from the glut of TV crime solvers airing at the time. THE MAGICIAN is engaging, entertaining and at the center of it all, star Bill Bixby anchors the mystical proceedings as prestidigitator extraordinaire Tony Blake; exuding a smooth charming confidence. The episodes themselves look & sound okay. My magical tophat is off to the sorcerers at CBS & VEI for pulling this obscure rabbit out of their hat. 5 sleuthing slight-of-hand STARS!THOUGHTS: As a kid I somehow missed this show when it aired originally. Odd, since I loved magic (what young boy doesn't?) and admired Bill Bixby, fresh off his starring role in the wonderful Courtship of Eddie's Father. Why this show didn't last longer I cannot understand. It has a clever sense of fun and plays to Bixby's acting strengths, (plus, as an amateur magician, Bixby did all of his own illusions, which is really pretty cool). There are plenty of 'name' guest stars to be on the lookout for, which ups the value of this set for the curious. My main gripe about the series was the odd decision to re-tool the established format halfway through the season; it's like the producers sensed that their audience was disappearing, so they tried a little hocus-pocus in an attempt to salvage/renew viewer interest. Multi-millionaire & master illusionist Tony Blake, who lives aboard his own private jumbo jet(!), was changed to a working magician who now lives above a magic-themed nightclub and becomes inadvertently involved (or consulted) to help solve perplexing crimes that baffle traditional law enforcement investigation. The producers also jettisoned Tony's friends from the first half (Keene Curtis & Todd Crespi) and introduce a new confidant/helper (Joseph Sirola) for him in the second half. Not as strange (but still regrettable), Tony's good friend, pilot and co-crime solver Jerry Anderson, (Jim Watkins), eventually disappears altogether - and without any help from Tony! What's worse, is that none of these jarring changes were EVER explained. Odd. Still, if you enjoy any of the other cop & detective shows of the 70's, (and there are a wealth of both), then you'll likely enjoy THE MAGICIAN, too. After all... it's mystery, magic and Bill Bixby! Honestly, what more could you want?!?THE DVD's: A nice, 4-disc set from VEI. The discs are enclosed in a single compact snapcase. The cover art insert sheet is reversible, with episode titles, info and a brief plot synopsis for each of the 21 episodes printed on the inside. The clear plastic allows you to read through it, but the discs obscure most of the data, so you'll either have to remove them or take out the insert to read the info. The shows themselves look alright, considering there was no restoration done to them. Then again, this series probably didn't see the light of day very often after its initial run due to the limited number of episodes, so the source prints were still probably in decent shape. Please be advised that there is some slight 'smudging' (I don't know what else to call it), which occurs throughout all of the episodes; almost like the lens on the camera being used in the remastering process had a slight smear on it, causing a thin horizontal section (usually right around the middle 1/3 of the screen) to be slightly out of focus. Somewhat annoying but by no means a deal-breaker, and in the end it was worth buying this set just so I could finally watch the complete series. It's a fun little show. Such a shame that it didn't last longer than a single season. How nice it is now to be able to own it in its entirety. THE MAGICIAN comes strongly recommended for magic buffs, mystery lovers and fans of Bill Bixby.

So glad they finally published an official DVD version of the Magician. As far as I can tell, every episode is uncut, and the picture and sound quality are fine. Only the incidental music at the Magic Castle shows is unoriginal.What makes this show to stand out is first the basic premise of a professional magician Tony Blake (Bill Bixby) working as an unpaid private sleuth, aided by an investigating journalist Max Pomeroy (Keene Curtis). Blake solved the mysteries through a combination of intelligence and magic, not ever resorting to outright violence or meanness -- or going sci-fi. Pomeroy provided Blake with confidential and difficult to get background material (remember, this show was made during the real-life Watergate scandal). Both Bixby and Curtis played their roles extremely convincingly. After all, Bixby was an accomplished amateur magician, and supposedly performed himself all his character's tricks in the show.Second, most guest stars are first rate from William Shatner to the gorgeous Lynda Day George.Third, the show is a visual treat if you like early 1970's fashion from clothing and cars to interior decoration. The studio actually built a real size mock jet interior, and later an imitation of the Magic Castle's stage room. Blake drove a brand new white Corvette (Chevrolet supplied the cars for the show from a Caprice to a Nova), and was probably among the first to wear a digital wrist watch.Originally, the plan was to make a TV show "with lots of flair", in Bixby's words. He planned to fly in his character's Boeing jet "Spirit" around the world to promote the show. Nothing came of this, and the series became a great might-have-been.The making of the Magician got to a poor start due to screenwriters' strike, delaying the production. Once it got underway, the standard of scripts, direction, and production varied greatly from one episode to another. They had to film 14 hours a day, 7 days a week. While Bixby said he liked the rushed schedule, the pressure inevitably had a negative impact on the overall quality of the show. The producers, writers and directors disagreed on what the Magician should be like: in the end there was no obvious target audience: some episodes appealed mainly to children, others to more mature viewers.This mixed bag makes you appreciate all the more the really good episodes, and heartily laugh at the more campy ones. Thus, even if the Magician was not the best-made action series of its era, curiously its shortcomings rather add to than diminish its appeal.Bixby's charisma was the show's carrying force. Other regular cast members' personas were underdeveloped. Pomeroy / Curtis became fed up repeating Blake's altruistic motives to get involved in strangers' troubles, and abruptly left the show in mid-season. His replacement, Joe Sirola (Dominick), was an accomplished actor, but his role as a funny butler was less original and interesting than his predecessor's. Pomeroy's son Dennis (Todd Crespi) was dropped from the series after a few episodes.Blake's pilot Jerry Anderson (Jim Watkins / Julian Christopher) became extra baggage after Blake ditched his Boeing jet and moved into the top floor of the Magic Castle. Curiously, Watkins remained a cast member in the opening titles to the very end of the series, although he no longer appeared in the episodes.In addition to the varying quality of the episodes, failing to fit into established Hollywood action series' pigeonholes probably contributed to the the Magician' undoing. He wasn't a traditional macho like Cannon, as realistic as Kojak, or sci-fi unlike the Six Million Dollar Man -- all popular series at the time the Magician flopped. The Magician flew and still flies in its very own orbit, and that makes the show so captivating entertanement.