Michael Lauck is a columnist for iTricks and he loves TV as much as magic. His work appears on Mondays.
Part one of this article appeared last week.
In 1994, Gary Ouellet changed TV magic.
The World’s Greatest Magic combined high level magic with the variety show format. It was a new kind of magic special that lead to a boom in TV magic.
The World’s Greatest Magic was not the first all star magic extravaganza on television, but it was the first in a long time. More importantly, it was the right special at the right time to revitalize magic on television. The family friendly show on the night before Thanksgiving had strong ratings that beat powerhouses such as Roseanne and Beverly Hills 90210. It not only won the night but proved to be NBC’s highest rated special of the year. A live tour was announced. The network quickly ordered a second special for the next year and another special starring Lance Burton from the WGM production team. Other networks also signed deals for productions from the team. Even though there was some concern voiced by magicians over Mac King’s “teach a trick” segments, WGM was probably one of the biggest forces in the 1990s to put magic in the spotlight.
On the night before Thanksgiving 1995 NBC aired World’s Greatest Magic II. Alan Thicke replaced Robert Urich as the host, but the show essentially followed the same formula as the original. Mac King again taught tricks in segments wrapped around each commercial break and throughout the show the final effect, Penn and Teller’s bullet catch, was advertised. Magicians featured included Dirk Arthur, Joaquin and Lillia Ayala, Jason Byrne, Bret Daniels, Paul Gertner, Jeff Hobson, The Amazing Johnathan, Mark Kalin and Jinger, René Lavand, Luis de Matos, Max Maven, Jeff McBride, Tom Ogden, Rick Thomas and Melinda. Much like the original, WGM2 was a huge success. It won the night with a 21 share and won every individual half hour contest except the first (finishing second to Grace Under Fire). The magic special even beat the second installment of the much anticipated Beatles Anthology documentary.
The success of World’s Greatest Magic II again led to a live tour and an order for a third installment for Thanksgiving Eve of 1996. Some magicians would again complain about Mac King’s segments, but these complaints were again brushed aside with the defense that the segments invited those interested into the world of magic using tricks easily found in beginners’ books. What could not be argued with was the successful magic programs being created by Ouellet and his team. Melinda would receive her own special produced by the team and ABC would collaborate with the group to create the Champions of Magic specials. CBS would also try its hand with Magicians’ Favorite Magicians, which was not produced by the WGM team.
The World’s Greatest Magic III saw John Ritter sign on as host and he would stay on through the rest of the specials. By this time, at least in my family, WGM was part of Thanksgiving. This incarnation ended with The Pendragons vanishing 25 showgirls. The line up included Bob Arno, Dirk Arthur, Nathan Burton, Greg Frewin, Joseph Gabriel, Galina, Han Klok and Sittah, Jeff Hobson, Guy Hollingworth, Peter Marvey, Pendragons, Jean Pierre Vallarino, David Williamson and Steve Wyrick. It’s success would lead to World’s Greatest Magic IV in 1997.
WGM4 saw the return of Lance Burton, who escaped from the Jaws of Death in the show finale, and featured Juliana Chen, Lennart Green, Raymond Crowe, Tabary, Carl Cloutier, Johnathan David Bass, The Hamners, Tim Kole and Jenny-Lynn, Ken Mate, Bruce Block, Dexion, Sherry Lukas, Kirby VanBurch, Ayala and Lilla, Rick Thomas and Max Maven. This version saw a change in the production team with Gary Ouellet and Gregory Sills acting as producers with Gary Pudney staying on in the role of executive producer. Despite the great line up for the special, it faced a new and unexpected competition from Fox who, only two days before, had aired the first of their Breaking the Magicians’ Code, or “Masked Magician,” specials.
The World’s Greatest Magic IV did well enough for a fifth installment to air on the night before Thanksgiving 1998. It featured Harry Anderson, Mike Caveney, Michael Ammar, James Dimarre, Goldfinger and Dove, Peter Gossamer, Hans Klok and The Majestix with Brett Daniels transporting actress Kelly Packard, then of Baywatch and later of Ripley’s Believe It or Not, across Grand Canyon as a finale. The special was not well received by magicians, at least if the club reports and letters to magic magazines of the time are to be believed. It certainly appears that by WGM5 the era of the rand illusion magic special was over and I personally think that the Masked Magician was to blame.
It would be easy to blame the downfall of the World’s Greatest Magic specials on the exposures of the Breaking the Magicians’ Code shows. Personally, I do not think it was the exposure of effects as much as it was the over-exposure of magic. Believe it or not, by the time World’s Greatest Magic V aired, Fox had not only rebroadcast the original Masked Magician special, it had released and re-aired three additional specials. Even though Gary Ouellet and the WGM team were producing multiple specials, they were fairly spread out over the year. ABC may have showed a Champions of Magic special in the summer with a WGM special in late fall and one or two single act driven specials aired throughout the year. In 1998, though, three new Breaking the Magicians’ Code specials had aired in March, May and October.
By the time the World’s Greatest Magic V aired in November, it faced two problems. First of all, it had to avoid any of the effects that had been shown in the Masked Magician shows. Even worse, it had to try to overcome the disenchantment that the Masked Magician was causing (whether that be caused by exposures or over-exposure). David Blaine’s first special had come out in 1997 and he seemed to be offering something very new and different to the magic shown in World’s Greatest Magic and Masked Magician specials. Perhaps this new brand of special featuring a close, in your face style of “street magic” was the final nail in the WGM coffin.
The night before Thanksgiving, at least for magic fans, would never be the same.
David Blaine, Harry Anderson, History, illusion, Jeff McBride, Lance Burton, Mac King, Max Maven, Nathan Burton, Penn & Teller, TV, Val Valentino | No Comments »
Posted by Editor on November 20th, 2013
When it came to the ratings, David Blaine proved his magic is indeed real. db posted a 7.16 million audience in the first half hour of his special last night and then saw an uptick in viewers for the 10 p.m. hour jumping to 7.83 million.
But the big number for Blaine was “the number,” the amount of viewers 18-49 watching the show for which advertisers covet. There he pulled a 2.3 rating in the 9 p.m. hour and 2.6 through all of 10 p.m. In comparison, The Voice had the highest demo rating of the night with a 3.1 and only the most popular show of the night NCIS on CBS drew higher than Blaine’s 2.6 with a 3.
But what does it mean? Here are five quick reactions:
Blaine doesn’t need stunts Easily the most glaring differentiator between this special his other recent outings was the absence of a headline grabbing endurance stunt that would give the special oodles of free publicity while heightening David’s shamanistic profile. Real or Magic had no such event to conclude dramatically live.
In comparison, Blaine’s last special Dive of Death pulled a near identical overall audience number in 2008. Allowing for the decline in network television viewership, this alone is an accomplishment. What makes it more impressive is what lead into both programs. Death lost half of the 15.6 million Dancing with the Stars audience. RoM built on a weak lead in from Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D (6.8 mil / 2.3 demo) at 8 p.m. and The Goldbergs (5.14 mil / 1.6 demo) at 9 p.m.
This is not to say that Blaine did without free ink this go around. By jam packing the hour-and-a-half special with buzz worthy guests plucked from the of-the-moment zeitgeist (Kanye, Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul & Brian Cranston, Katy Perry, Ricky Gervais) Blaine generated plenty of clicks though the celebrity press machine looking for any story that can include a bold face headline. It’s also easier to visit late night chat shows (as Blaine did with Jimmy Kimmel) when you’re not hanging upside down in NYC.
To illustrate the league Blaine played in, last night Jay Leno touted a very rare interview with former President George W. Bush on the Tonight Show. His (largely folksy non-political) answers made national news. But only a few minutes before, he was reacting to Blaine on ABC.
That kind of booking is as real as it gets.
The death of the magic special is greatly exaggerated I’m not sure anyone has come out and said the magic special is dying, but Blaine is certainly the last of the Mohicans. There is no other singular entity (save for David Copperfield) known exclusively for this delivery method. And should Real or Magic have underperformed, the prevailing thought would no doubt, in part, blamed the format. So, if it would have been notable to say it one way, it’s notable that it did not come to pass.
Blaine and network television go well together The 15 year history between Blaine and ABC has yielded the most watched magic specials of it’s era. But where Dive of Death felt like the match may have run it’s course (Blaine told a 2010 Magic-Con crowd he was done after his next special) today feels like the late 90s all over again. Blaine’s a bankable star that draws ratings and in a world where ABC’s much ballyhooed Marvel series is garnering critical jeers and an eroding audience, ABC knows how valuable BOTH of those elements are.
Before last night, who knows what the future of ABC and Blaine looked like. Today, it would be a surprise if there wasn’t an announcement of another special.
Advertising matters Blaine advertising roll-out including heavy placement on Saturday college football along with fellow Disney-owned outlets like ESPN did a good job of alerting the young male demo of the event.
Trust the team With no stunt revelation (and attendant “what happened earlier” video packages) to eat up air time Blaine’s crew on this special had to step up and from the reviews: they did. The crew included the likes of top consultants Enrico de la Vega, Danny Garcia, Blake Vogt and Alex Rangel. It was a daunting task, but they pulled it off.
David Blaine, TV | 4 Comments »
Posted by Michael on November 20th, 2013
David Blaine’s prime time special last night has helped bring magic into the spotlight across the country. ABC followed the special with a magic story on Nightline (running above). It focuses on the danger acts popularized by magicians such as Blaine, including an interview with David Copperfield.
Personally speaking, I (Michael) have had mixed feelings about David Blaine over the years. That being said, I thought that Real or Magic was probably Blaine’s best special. Ratings are not out yet to see if the rest of the country agreed.
Robin Leach is reporting that comic magician and all-around good guy Mac King has donated $13,000 to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation as part of his “Magic For A Cure” campaign.
An October feature on Mark Phillips in the Washington Post was just run by The Guardian’s website. Embarrassingly, we missed this the first time around. The piece by Thomas Heath uses words not normally found in a magician’s profile, such as “cold-calling” and “tech bubble,” because it focuses on the business of magic. Anyone considering a full time magic career should probably read about Phillip’s career.
David Blaine, David Copperfield, illusion, Las Vegas, Mac King, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Posted by Michael on November 19th, 2013
Kelly Ripa and Michael Strahan interviewed a submerged David Blaine on their show (as seen above) on the continued pre-special publicity blitz. Just in case you forgot, Blaine’s new 90 minute special Real or Magic airs tonight (Tuesday, 11/19) on ABC at 9:30 Eastern.
In another bit of Blaine pre-show buzz, a story claiming that Blaine and Michael “King of Pop” Jackson once snuck into the English Parliament has hit the Internet. It originates from a Huffington Post interview with the magician.
In non-David Blaine magic news, Robin Leach is reporting that Play Dead, the new show from Teller and Todd Robbins, had its run extended even before premiering!
AMNY.com just posted a new interview with Nothing To Hide‘s Derek DelGaudio in which he reveals the reason why he did not become a professional card cheat.
David Blaine, News, Teller | No Comments »
Posted by Michael on November 18th, 2013
David Blaine’s new special airs on ABC tomorrow (Tuesday, November 19 at 9:30 Eastern) but here is another little preview of what to expect from the good folks at ET by way of Katy Perry’s YouTube Channel. In addition to Katy expect to see Olivia Wilde, Will and Jada Pinkett-Smith, an ex-president and many other celebrities. In a change from his recent specials, no big feature stunt has been announced for this special.
David Blaine, TV | No Comments »
Posted by Michael on November 15th, 2013
David Blaine stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live to promote his new special, which airs this Tuesday at 9:30 Eastern Time on ABC. Not only did Blaine a few names (like Harrison Ford and George W. Bush), he did a little magic for Jimmy. The first part of his appearance is running above; you can access the second part here.
David Blaine, TV | 1 Comment »
