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.

What a great find. I remember watching this short lived series on network TV. Bill Bixby did the magic in this series. The white Corvette that he drove was one of the reasons that I purchased my own Corvette 4 years later. This could have been a television series for a number of years, but half way through the series they changed Bixby's living arrangements and some cast members. A writer's strike in Hollywood caused problems getting quality scripts and the producers decided that Bixby's character living and flying around in a Boeing 737 would be seen as too affluent as the country was living through a real life gas crisis, lining up at the pumps. This was a dumb move, in my opinion,Bixby's character, Tony Blake, was a multi millionaire, and a top Magician. After all, this is television, not real life. The show was very entertaining, and Bixby got in and out of trouble helping people without using a gun. He used Magic tricks to aid in his escapes. The DVD includes the Pilot and interestingly the character's last name was Dorian. In the series they changed the last name to Blake. The quality is good, but it's not high def. High def would have made this outstanding. If you are a fan of Bill Bixby this is a wonderful addition to your collection. Bixby moved on to star in the Incredible Hulk with Lou ferrigno, a series that was very well done. Sadly Bill Bixby was taken from us too soon, but his shows from My Favorite Martian to Blossom are all available on DVD, so that we all can enjoy this man's talent. He moved to directing during The Magician and continued until his passing in 1993. Bill Bixby was a true talent and a decent man from all accounts. The Magician is a entertaining series, you will enjoy it..

The Magician has been a series many people have heard about, thanks in large part to the X Files referencing it, but never saw. It’s not unlike The Mentalist, but it has a decidedly ‘70’s flare. The stories hold up remarkably well, but it’s a little hard to look at all the leisure suits without inwardly smirking a little. Bill Bixby is excellent as the “crusading magician” who lives on a jet plane and drives the coolest Corvette Stingray ever. Extremely clever plots raise this series way above average. I knock a star off for the truly horrific music heard throughout the episodes. I’m not sure if the makers of the DVD fiddled with the sound or not, but the music, which is pretty awful to begin with, is sooo much louder and intrusive than it should be. Having said that, if you enjoy mystery shows and sleight of hand, you’ll love The Magician.

A wonderful TV show from 1973 The main character Tony (Bill Bixby) lives on a customized 737 jet and garages a 1972 Corvette in the underbelly. As a professional Magician Tony travels to venues in style. While there he crosses paths with a victim of a serious wrong doing. Once Tony is on the case the bad guys should just give up! Bill Bixby preforms all his own magic. And I've been told was a very good magician in his own right... Overall a well written story line with exciting car chases. Different challenges and threats await Tony's arrival and each solution is entertaining. A really good show for the whole family. The packaging is refreshing in that it does not have the familiar Bump or pimple to snap each disc down on to. Rather it has no bump that rarely manages to hold all the disc very well and leads to damaged discs. Each disc is in its own synthetic see-thru envelope...

I would have been just the right age when this series aired in the early 1970s, but somehow I missed it. As a young wanna-be writer I was already steeping in pretty much all the private eye, police, and SF shows out there (too many to list, but think everything from Cannon, Barnaby Jones, Harry O, Name of the Game, McCloud, Baretta, Six Million Dollar Man, Incredible Hulk, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Starsky & Hutch... the gamut). I only learned about it recently, while reading up about Bill Bixby, an actor whose work I've always enjoyed. And when this series, though it was short-lived, popped up on DVD, it was a no-brainer. The short version: I loved it. Yes, it's flawed, it's occasionally campier than it should have been, and it suffered from (I barely remember this) the writer's strike, and eventual tinkering with the cast and premise. But... but... but it's about a professional David Copperfield-style magician who lives in his own jumbo jet, drives a cool white Corvette Sting-Ray, and solves crimes with magic, empathy, and a little help from his friends (and pilot). What's not to like? Even the corny title theme music is great in that 70s way with its fanfare-laden disco beat. Bill Bixby was himself an amateur magician and performed most if not all his own tricks. The show's changing background probably helped kill it, but overall it's a solid slice of TV-action from a period that was, admittedly, full of some pretty great TV-action (especially if you were a kid with an imagination and a new Montgomery Wards manual typewriter, as I was). I recommend this to the inner kid in everyone who grew up in this time period, anyone who likes the idea of a sleuthing magician (who wouldn't?!), and definitely anyone who loved Bill Bixby. Others have done a better job of reviewing the nuts and bolts of the episodes. I'm just sayin', get this and go with it -- it's very entertaining! --W.D. Gagliani, author of The Judas Hit

This is a great show that should have been a hit but just didn't find it's audience. Bill Bixby stars as the world's foremost Stage Magician, Anthony Blake, and since Bixby was an polished amateur magician in real life, he could perform all the actual illusions and slight of hand without trick photography or stunt doubles. So Blake flies around the country on his private jet to various locations where he is set to perform his stage show, and inevitably finds someone who needs help. Usually it's protection from mob goons set to make a hit, in which case Tony helps them "disappear", someone has been framed for murder or something stolen has to be recovered. And Tony Blake uses his skills at magical illusions to solve the problem. The magic performances still look great, Bixby is (as in all his roles) a likable lead actor, and the show holds up well after all this time. When my mom had us watch this show in the 1970's, it was an engaging concept and became "must see TV" in our home, and I think it still would please audiences today.

I've always enjoyed Bill Bixby and had forgotten how this good this too short-lived series was. We watched a series from 1982-1985 and felt The Magician (1973-1974) was far less dated in dialog and more fun.