The Magician (1973-74). The Amazing Mystery-Solving Magician.
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- Опубліковано 10 лип 2024
- #billbixby #incrediblehulk #vaultofalmost #retrotv #70stv
Stam Fine Reviews looks at short lived series from 1973 starring Bill Bixby as famous stage magician Anthony Blake. Tony Blake lives on a plane, drives a white Corvette and has a side hustle of solving mysteries. Later on, he ditches the plane for an apartment above his office, but still solves the mysteries that somehow envelope his life.
Also stars Keene Curtis, Jim Watkins, Joe Sirola, Todd Crespi.
0:00 Introduction
0:28 The Magician
1:29 Pilot Episode and Series Set-up
4:40 Action and Illusion
6:06 Unique Premise
7:36 Mid-Season Adjustments
10:54 Familiarity
12:56 Legacy - Розваги
I miss Bill Bixby. They don’t make actors like that anymore.
He seemed to be very kind guy. He took a pay cut when he heard CBS was going to fire the actor who played the reporter during thr 3rd season of the Hulk. Bill cut his salary to keep others working. He was crushed by his sons death during Hulk but carried on. He directed a lot of shows ( like Sledge Hammer ) and died too young
Eh, I don't think he was made. 😄A great actor though.
So very very true. ❤🌹🙏🏽🕯
Agreed cookie monster so believable in any role he's ever done. Definitely could have been one of our biggest film stars if tv didn't make him one of the greatest TV stars first
🦝👍😎
@@shel0016 I never thought of Bill Bixby that way before, but you’re right. Kind of like what might’ve happened to Tom Selleck’s acting career if he’d gotten to play Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark instead of being contractually obligated by Universal to play Thomas Magnum in Magnum P.I.
My dad worked on this. My dad would bring home Magician branded magic tricks that were routinely passed out to the crew. And, yes. My dad worked on the first 4 years of Mission Impossible. The titles using “The Illusion of…” harkens back to the Wild Wild West’s “The Night of…” after all Bruce Lansbury worked on that series too.
Nice!
Woah! That's awesome.
Wow, I envy you.
Keep those wonderfully magical memories👍
Very cool. Would love to see his credits. What's your dad's IMDb?
Extremely cool. Envious
I received this whole series on DVD as a Christmas gift two years ago. It's great stuff.
I love that when Ray Walston appeared on the Hulk, he played a magician.
And the episode was called 'My Favourite Magician'
Ray walston gave bill Bixby his big breakthrough picking him for my favourite Martian. Bill Bixby never forgot that and was forever grateful.
If only I didn't hate that series so much.
I think I remember quite liking this TV show!!! Wonder if it's available to buy on blueray? Or dvd even ? If not, why not?? 🤔
This was an excellent TV show! It deserved to be renewed.
Oh Yeah!!!
Bring it back!
But???....
Who could ever live up to the class and intelligence of Sir Bixby?!?!?
REALLY!!! WHO?!?!?????????
I never missed an episode when it originally aired! It was an innovative take on the action hero which deserved a wider, stronger audience.
I was 10 years old when The Magician aired. I loved it and watched it faithfully. I dreamed of one day having a white Corvette. Thanks for the pleasant memories.
So did i (including thé dream of having a white C3 Corvette)😎
Unfortunately hère in France only half of épisodes were ever broadcasted between 1975 and 1979...
One of my all time favorite shows. I was 14 when it came out. I think it was a great show overall, but being a car crazed teenager, I never got over that Corvette. I bought a white 1976 Corvette more than 20 years ago and still have it.
Loved The Magician. Of course, I had an interest in magic, but Bill Bixby was a real presence on the show.
This was my favorite show when it originally aired. It was quite different from the crapstorm that was typical early 70s prime time fare. If I thought I was peeved when they got rid of the jet, I learned what peeved REALLY meant when they canceled the show!
So true!!!
A very cool series that I think I only found out about years after it was over and done with but was lucky enough to see on the Sci-Fi channel ons year. Bixby always brought heart and sensitivity to his characters, so even though this seems like just a a blend of It Takes a Thief and the Leonard Nemoy's Mission Impossible magician, he makes it an entirely one of a kind show. And that he did all the magic and for real, is icing on the cake.
Love it! Now do "Blacke's Magic" starring the multi-talented Hal "Barney Miller" Linden!
And FWIW, if you reviewed "Barney Miller", I would be thrilled! A cop show that has no car chases, no forensics, no street-shootouts - and it managed to run for eight seasons!
@@l.a.gothro3999 I once read that actual police officers called it the most accurate depiction of police work on TV (outside of the holding cell being in the squad room).
Thank you Stam, another favourite of mine as a kid, Bixby was so charismatic, and boy did I want that corvette!
He and his son Dennis very handsome men😋😘!
I don't care much for the corvette brand butttt, that car and color was so right, cool and chic!
Wow!
A wonderful show I watched growing up. Wholesome, clever, well written and the best actors. Still miss this show, the quality was through the roof.
Bill Bixby was by far one the coolest 😎 actors ever along with Jack Klugman . He helped make the first half of my life memorable. Miss this guy alot 😢 💔
This show is pretty cool. Bill Bixby was awesome
Just don’t make him angry. You wouldn’t like when he was angry.
@@gregschell1094 oh yeah. The hulk is an amazing show.
I enjoyed this as a child but had almost completely forgotten it, seeing the opening credits sequence again brought it all back.
Loved The Magician It was too good for the time, and Bix always added to any project. He had great presence.
How did this not keep going? I mean this is PERFECT!
I wondered that too but figured those eps must've been pretty expensive to produce ?
I loved The Magician as a kid, just like Fox Mulder did.
This is one of my all time favorite 25 TV shows. I really enjoyed trying to stay up (past my bedtime) each week and watch this when it aired on network TV. While almost nobody that, I know remembers this TV show. As a young teen, it was so cool seeing someone with their own private jet and sports car with of all things not a CB radio, but a working telephone (smile...smile).
I watched this show when I was 11 years old and never missed an ep. The piccolo trumpet music in the opening intro was the coolest thing! Bill Bixby was a great actor and I can say I grew up watching all of his shows, but the Magician was my jam.
Rest In Heaven Mr. Bixby, and thank you.
Suggestion for Future Episodes. Kolchak the Night Stalker. You could probably get Three videos out of it.
Bill bixby was way underrated actor. A brilliant actor which didn’t get the recognition that he deserved.
In the "Wonderful World of UA-cam" two kinds of actors : the underrated ones and the overatted ones.
I LOVED "The Magician!" Bill Bixby was the PERFECT choice to play Magician Anthony Blake! He made the character believable and the fact that Bill Bixby was a Magician himself, made it even MORE believable. The show is available on DVD, so you CAN get it if you want it! The OTHER TV shows that Bill Bixby starred in BESIDES "The Magician" were: My Favorite Martian, The Courtship of Eddie's Father, Goodnight Beantown, and, of course, The Incredible Hulk
Another winner, Stam! Nicely composed video, handled with clarity, warmth, and humor.
Bill Bixby was the perfect TV star.
I remember watching this with my daddy...Good Times!
This is one I've been looking forward to for a long time, and you did not disappoint. I appreciate the level of respect you pay to these oft-forgotten shows while still bringing your particular brand of humor to the analysis. A kind of retro-respect, if you will.
Thank you so much!
Another blue chip review from the ever reliable Stam Fine. I remember this show being repeated during the 1980's and being really impressed with how it had a lot of the action adventure beats associated with that genre of TV whilst being very distinctive. It's a real shame it didn't get the network backing I personally felt it deserved and probably would have ultimately justified. But then, we may not have had the same 'Incredible Hulk' show as a consequence. Really enjoyed the warmth and appreciation for the show that you've reflected in this review. Nice one Stam Fine!
An Underated Show : episodes have great written, better than some of the 70's !
I missed that reference in Quantum Leap! Great for it to have been provided here.
I well recall the show from its 1970s UK run. Thanks for dredging up a few good memories.
I loved this show. I especially loved The Magic Castle. And the theme song rocked!
The Corvette and the vanity license plate "Spirit".... cool!
Being a young teen, I dreamed of hanging out and living in The Magic Castle.
Loved The Magician and Ther Persuaders, wish both had longer runs.
These 70s crime crossover shows are wonderful in so many ways.
Hell yeah!
Booyah!
Thanks for the callback to an entertaining series. I also liked "My Favorite Martian" and "The Courtship Of Eddie's Father."
I refuse to accept that 1973 is fifty years ago. Probably because I was born in 1974. No, we all know that the '70s were just thirty years ago, dammit.
What's scary is that the 90s are ACTUALLY 30 yrs ago. When I was 20 it seemed like 50 yrs. The last 30 yrs seem like 10.
As someone born in '76, I also refuse to accept. What really annoys me is that Dazed and Confused was released in 1993, and set 17 years earlier. In four years, twice as many years will have elapsed since the film's release.
Okay, see if you can envision being a little kid and waking up when your dad comes in from work late at night. Then picture snuggling into a blanket and watching The Magician as Dad turns the lamp off and settles into his recliner. That's about as safe and secure as a kid can ever feel. 1970s syndication magic!
When i was aged seven, my aunt was working at the Paramount lot on a group of productions. She had my mom and me there for lunch and I saw the white Corvette and went to look at it and Bill Bixby walked out. I don't know if they were re-shooting something for syndication or if it was the actual show. I was too young to understand any of that, but I thought the car was cool and Bixby was really nice. That day I also met James Garner, Florence Henderson and a technical guy for the 60s Star Trek who was updating the set for some kid of footage of the ship for something. Nothing like that happened for me again, but because I saw so much in one day, I went through my childhood thinking that was a normal experience for kids in Hollywood. In my late Teens i was taken to the Magic Castle, Majji Kass Hole, for a celebratory dinner. It was absolutely cool.
I wanted to be him and drive that white corvette!!! Loved it!!!
Mister Eddie's Father brought legitimacy to every role he portrayed.
Bixby was an icon of the era.
I love the theme song and opening credits. So 70s.
Great underrated show I loved, love these '70s crime dramas Columbo, Harry O, Kojak, Cannon, Barnaby Jones and The Streets of San Francisco are my favorites. Good to see The Magician finally getting a DVD release a few years back, would love to see O'Hara United States Treasury (1971-72) and Owen Marshall Counselor at Law (1971-74) released as well.
As a teenager, this was one of my favorite shows that wasn't a sitcom. Bill always dressed sharp and drove my dream car. His exploits were so, so, but always loved when he used his tricks of the trade to foil the bad guys. Should have lasted longer than one season. Was pissed it got canceled.
Watched every episode as a kid!
Excellent as always, Stam. Thank you.
2:56 That pidgeon-in-the-face trick had me rolling
Bixby’s big series of the 70’s before he portrayed Dr David Banner…
HAPPY childhood memories
Many thanks for sharing!
Back in the early seventies I used to watch this. My mom got an invite to that Magic Castle, and we went there for lunch. You had to go to the opening and get let in. Open Sesame and the bookcase opened up. There were all kinds of props set up in there, like a skeleton playing the piano. I was really sorry to see that show end. I did not remember that Bill did his own stunts though, that is cool. I was on the opening season of the Gong Show when I was 17, and he was one of the judges. I lost by one point to Oingo Boingo. Bill gave me the lowest score, saying I needed more staging. He was like a nicer version of Simon Cowel.
Loved this show (for the brief time it was on) when I was a kid. I remember loving the idea of living at the Magic Castle... how cool would that be? LOL.
I watched this religiously back in the day... But I assume every storyline went completely over my head because I cannot recall a single episode plot. All I can recall is the opening theme music. Would love to see these eps now. Bill Bixby is a favorite of mine anyhow. Nice retrospective.
LOVED this show! definitely need to get the series on DVD!
Bill Bixby looks great in those 70s outfits!
Bill Bixby was a good guy. I remember this show.
I had a big crush on Bill Bixby in The Magician.
Loved this show! Bill Bixby was one of those guys you just always liked!
Also, LOVED The car!!
I loved, I loved, I loved, I loved, I loved, I loved, I loved, I loved, I loved, this show. One of my all time favs. 😀
I’ve never heard of this show. It’s like every other 70s show of actors from the 70s put into a blender.
Hi, John Colocos of Battlestar Galactica. Did I see Anne Lockhart?
I was only 8 when this show premiered but I loved it!
The episode I remember most was the one where a fellow magician friend of his dies because he's unable to escape from a huge bed-of-nails machine. Pretty gruesome for early 70s..
I loved The Magician! Great show, very 70's lol
Working through the DVD box set now. Surprisingly very big production for a TV show.
There’s an animated series called the Magician too. It’s my favorite series. Bill Bixby is my favorite actor. I think he would have made cameos in the MCU today considering he played David Bruce Banner in the Hulk series.
Excellent show!!
The host of this video says (twice) that the show was canceled because of "ratings"; this is actually untrue. In fact, the show was renewed and was in preproduction for its second season. However, the wife of a network executive was unhappy about a show that *was* canceled and pushed to have it renewed. That is when the relatively new data of demographics were looked at, and that was how it was rationalized that "The Magician" be canceled. The cast and crew were notified by phone and mail after having been told they would had jobs in the fall. (I wrote the story about this program for the November 2004 issue of Genii, The Conjurors' Magazine.)
Magic Castle. Two words, the second beginning with the letter C. Appreciate your attention to that point...
I love this show. I remember the voice over saying Bill Bixby did his own magic. I loved magic and my grandmother watched all the crime shows of the day. I had watched My Favorite Martian and The Courtship of Eddie's Father, and of course watched the Hulk. FYI...Brandon Cruz, who played Eddie, has been trying to get a Hollywood star for Bill for years. There is a fund raiser that you can easily find with a search. I just looked and it's still active and only has about 2k left to raise. :)
I remember seeing this as a kid and thinking 'When does he hulk out?' Lol! Great show!
Actually remember watching this as a kid with my family we loved it (:
I really liked this show. I never missed an episode. I m iss him.
The Magician with Bill Bixby should get a Blu-Ray release. This series was canceled too soon
Thank you SO MUCH for this video. I was too young when this came out, and somehow it just never crossed my radar. Until now! And I'm so glad that it did! I just ordered the DVD set, and the episodes I've seen I LOVE. Oh, it's silly and very 70s, but I love it anyway. Anyway, thank you for posting this. You lead me to something I just LOVE!
I was 14 in 1973 and don't remember this show at all. However i loved him in "The Courtship of Eddie's Father" and "The Incredible Hulk"
Loved that show. Bill Bixby was a hero of mine during my early teens. God bless him.
My mom tells me she fondly remembers this show.
Yes, watched by kids in Australia in the 1970s. I remember it fondly, but have not seen it for nearly fifty years.
I loved this back in the day. Cancelled way too soon. RIP BB
Yep they canceled the show then he got angry, turned big and green and started busting up cars.🤣🤣🤣
The Magician is one of my most favorite series, I'm 51 and I remember watching it when I was around 10 years old. The comparison you make with the British series makes a lot of sense: Bixby had the exact charm for the role, as well as Curtis and Moore, the type of actors that we hardly find today. I'm from Argentina, and I don't find many of my generation who remember this serie, that I think belongs to the golden age of TV series. And the music is another reason why this series is my favorite. Something that I will always ask myself is: in which South American country has Tony Blake been imprisoned? Greetings from Argentina!
I’ve seen the episode Lightning on a Dry Day mostly bc I’ve been searching up Mark Hamill’s pre- Star Wars roles, but I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it! The practical magic tricks honestly were pretty impressive.
Watched it. Loved it
I blame my lifelong love of the Corvette Stingray on this show....
Turning up to help people. Sounds like The Incredible Hulk, David always helping someone on his travels.
My Dad and I used to watch this. Bill Bixby was a real talent.
I remember enjoying The Magician.
Great shout loved this show. Had a great intro & music. Plus all tricks were performed by Bill Bixby 👌🏽
I can’t remember one episode but when I was a kid I remember living this show.
That show looks like a lot of fun
I was ten when this was on, but I watched it and liked it. I was not a,typical kid because I watched a lot of adult dramas.
The writer's strike you referred to happened at the start of the season delaying many new shows by months. That probably would have not made a difference to the Magicna's history as the show also premiered at a time when networks were again facing heat for too much sex and violence so they said, "OK, will pull back on the violence." Many very good shows only lasted one season at a time when you only had three networks and a limited number of timeslots. Still, using your head instead of your fists was also the concept idea for McGiver so may that says something.
Great review.
This was my favorite show to watch for that time
YESSSS THIS MY SHOW!!! HE DROVE THAT SWEET ASS CORVETTE!!! They need to put this show back on!!
I watched this as a kid. Leading out to commercials, Bixby would show how to do a card trick etc. To this day I can do a 1 handed card cut while suspending the cards in one hand thanks to this show.
I like this drama the Magicians. Classic and it's 70s
R.I.P Bill Bixby
It was a great show I could only watch when school was out because it came on at 10:00 an hour past my 9 year old bedtime.
Dear Mr. Fine do you recall a series from about 1973 called "Search" starring Burgess Meredith? Another favourite of mine as a kid.
its only something i know of from trawling Amazon for DVDs
@@StamFine I see, I think it only ran for one season.
Loved this series, and the theme song!
Most Definitely Extremely Liked!!!!!
Bill Bixby was Wonderful ❤️
I watched this series with my parents when I was 10! I enjoyed it but haven't seen it since. But remember the theme.
I miss all 70,s Ara tv series. What a beautiful time