Meet Masaki, the other resident magician from Hair Salon and Magic Bar Kamigataya (our new favorite place in the world which we discovered earlier this morning). Except for DEVIL, we can’t follow a word of this Japanese language show which we assume is some type of competition but that doesn’t stop us from loving it. If anyone can fill us in on Nachi, Masaki and Hair Salon and Magic Bar Kamigataya please contact us immediately!
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.
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.
The latest clip to promote Dynamo’s Magician Impossible finds the magic man in Brazil where he shows a local street performer why you should be very careful when challenging spectators to show their skills! We just wonder why is it that we have 250 channels on the ol’ satellite system and none of them carry Dynamo.
Let’s finish out Friday with a little Amazing Johnathan. Discerning viewers can easily identify this clip as coming from The World’s Greatest Magic II because it is the voice of Alan Thicke, who hosted WGM2, doing the introduction. We’ll take a look at the sequels and legacy of The World’s Greatest Magic Monday. If you missed it, catch the first part here.
We may have posted this before at some point over the years… but it is always good to see Doug Henning in action. Here he is from his 1980 appearance on Season 4 of The Muppet Show.
There are not many ways to see Doug’s performances at the moment. Of all his specials and other projects, only the film version of the stage musical The Magic Show (with music written by Stephen Schwartz, the man behind Wicked and the upcoming Houdini) is available on DVD.
Sadly, you can not even get Henning’s Muppet Show appearance on DVD because only the first three seasons of the classic variety program have been released. The remaining seasons have been tied up with music and character licensing issues (season for also saw the Star Wars gang visit Muppet Theater). Now that Disney owns both the non-Sesame Street Muppets and the rights to Star Wars there is a new hope (see what we did there) that the fourth and fifth seasons of The Muppet Show will be released on DVD, especially with the sequel to 2011′s The Muppets hitting theaters later this year. The Muppets also have a new special, co-starring Lady Gaga with appearances by RuPaul and Elton John, airing on ABC Thanksgiving night.
America’s Got Talent alum Drew Thomas is returning to Atlanta for his second turn working on The Nutcracker. The video above is from last year’s production, but this year’s production will also run at Atlanta’s Fox Theatre from December 6 – 29. Learn more at the Fox Theatre website.
Speaking of America’s Got Talent, all four of the past season’s judges (Heidi Klum, Mel B., Howie Mandel and Howard Stern) will return for the summer 2014 season as will host Nick Cannon. iTricks has been thinking that an enterprising magician should co-found a dance troupe designed specifically to win the show that uses traditional stage illusions (instead of shadowgraphy or black light and electronics) as a hook!
Robin Leach is reporting that Penn Jillette will be competing alongside Florence Henderson, Judy Gold and some guy from The Bachelor as a part of Rachel Ray’s team on the new season of Celebrity Cook Off. Penn was actually a guest on Florence Henderson’s cooking show as well as a judge on the US version of Iron Chef. Facing them will be a team led by Guy Fieri which includes late ’80s pop star Tiffany and early ’90s pop star Vanilla Ice. Penn’s appearance will be on behalf of Opportunity Village, the same charity that benefited from his Celebrity Apprentice appearances.
Cosentino burst into prominence on Australia’s Got Talent, but lately he has been making his mark on another reality show: Dancing With The Stars. This week the illusionist danced his way into the top three (along with singer Tina Arena and actress Rhiannon Fish). Cosentino could be the first magician to win the show’s coveted mirror ball trophy. All of Australia will find out when the season finale airs Tuesday.
Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, the TVB network just held its annual gala for their stable of actors and singers. The Chinese film and television industry is much like the old Hollywood studio system with contract players working constantly under a pre-determined salary. Popular television stars, many of whom act in three or four series each year, won jewelry, cars and one even walked away with a new house in mainland China! Part of the night’s entertainment included a performance by magician Louis Yan with singer/actor Ruco Chan (Forensic Heroes III, My Brother’s Keeper) and singer/actress Myolie Wu (Curse of the Royal Harem).
In the UK Ben Hanlin’s Tricked is doing well; last week’s episode was the 5th most popular show of the night on digital television.
