The Magic Land of Allakazam was the name of a groundbreaking series of network television shows featuring American magician Mark Wilson. It ran from 1960 to 1964 and is credited with establishing the credibility of magic as a television entertainment.
The Best of Magic was a British magic show produced by Thames Television for the ITV network that aired from 13 September 1989 to 19 September 1990. The show was hosted by Geoffrey Durham, Simon Mayo, and Anthea Turner, with frequent guest appearances by Arturo Brachetti and Max Maven.
The Secret Cabaret was a magic-based television programme that ran for two series, of six episodes each, on Channel 4 in the UK during the early 1990s. It was conceived and fronted by British magician Simon Drake and was praised for giving a new and shocking twist to the presentation of illusions. In addition to various magicians the show featured sideshow acts and presentations by experts on fraud and confidence tricks, all interspersed with vintage archive footage of freak shows and daredevil stunts. It was nominated for a Royal Television Society Award.
The World's Greatest Magic was a series of American television specials showcasing magic acts. The first of five shows was broadcast by NBC in 1994, and continued with annual editions through 1998. These shows were most often first telecast during the Thanksgiving holidays when special programming would occur. These specials reran occasionally on ABC Family from October 1996 to early 2002.
The first episode was hosted by Robert Urich, the second by Alan Thicke, and the final three episodes by John Ritter. Before each commercial break of every episode, in a segment known as the Mac King School of Magic, Mac King showed viewers a simple magic trick, and would break its steps down after the commercial break so that the audience could perform the same trick for family and friends.
Here's a list of the closing illusions for each of the five shows, and the magicians that performed them:
⁕World's Greatest Magic I: Franz Harary - Space Shuttle vanish
⁕World's Greatest Magic II: Penn and Teller - Magic bullet catch
⁕World's Greatest Magic III: The Pendragons - Disappearance of 25 Vegas showgirls
⁕World's Greatest Magic IV: Lance Burton - Jaws of Death escape
Come to Paul Daniels exclusive nightclub and be his guest as he showcases the latest magicians and variety acts.
The World's Most Dangerous Magic was the title of two American television specials showcasing illusion and escapology acts, which were made for the NBC network. The first was originally broadcast on 27 April 1998 and the second, titled The World's Most Dangerous Magic 2, was initially aired on 2 May 1999.
The shows were the brainchild of producer Gary Ouellet and were made by the Gary L Pudney Company. They featured a combination of famous performers and lesser-known magicians, each performing stunts or illusions that were claimed to involve the risk of death or serious injury. While some stunts clearly involved genuine life-threatening danger should anything have gone wrong, the risk of injury in others was open to question. In the first show, The Pendragons performed the illusion Impaled, which was described as a "balancing feat" in which Charlotte Pendragon risked fatal impalement should it go wrong. However this is a well known illusion in the general repertoire of stage magic in which the performer is not actually in danger of genuine impalement. The Pendragons' presentation of this illusion is nevertheless rated by many magicians as possibly the best ever version of the trick.
Penn & Teller's Magic and Mystery Tour is a 2003 television documentary miniseries starring Penn & Teller. The program was created by the CBC in association with Channel 4 Film.
The show focuses on street magic, and the subjects of each of the three shows are China, India, and Egypt. Unusually for Penn and Teller, Teller speaks in the Egypt episode, even though part of their trademark performance is that Penn does all the speaking.
THEM was a short-lived TV series. On the show, a gang of street magicians set up various scenarios to lure unsuspecting targets. After the team bewildered their victims, they would reveal themselves to the target as one of T.H.E.M.
Criss Angel Mindfreak is a show that aired on A&E Network. It debuted in 2005 and ended in 2010. It centered on stunts and street magic acts by magician Criss Angel.
Phenomenon was a competition show judged by mystifier Uri Geller and illusionist Criss Angel and hosted by Tim Vincent which debuted live on Wednesday, October 24, 2007 on NBC. The show featured ten contestants competing to become the next great mentalist, to be determined by viewers voting by phone and online. The contestants performed their effects on celebrity guests each week. The winner of Phenomenon would win $250,000.
On October 30, 2007, during an interview with Larry King about the show, Angel said "No one has the ability, that I'm aware of, to do anything supernatural, psychic, talk to the dead. And that was what I said I was going to do with Phenomenon. If somebody goes on that show and claims to have supernatural psychic ability, I'm going to bust them live and on television."
The winner of the first season was Mike Super.
The series was cancelled on April 2, 2008, after NBC announced its 2008–2009 schedule.
The Masked Magician returns to television to defy his fellow conjurers and disclose the tricks that have captivated audiences for centuries. Nowhere else has a magician dared to expose the secrets behind the world's most mystifying illusions.
Derren Brown: The Events features the illusionist Derren Brownin a series of four highly-complex one-hour specials, which Brown has described as "some of the most incredible feats to date." Each event has its own theme, but Derren's aim is always the same: to confuse, to confound, and, of course, to control. The show consists of a mixture of pre-recorded location pieces connected by theatre-based segments, with each of the four programs building up to a major stunt performance. The first trailer broadcast included Brown speaking in reverse but walking forwards with events around him happening forwards. Seemingly cryptic messages were also hidden in the advert such as links to a "Manchester United" website. The advert was later played forwards (although now with Brown moving in reverse), and revealed the premise of the shows. Brown explains that he will be revealing the "inner workings" of his tricks and "showing you how to get away with it."
Illusionists Penn & Teller throw down the gauntlet to aspiring magicians to perform their most mystifying trick - and fool Penn and Teller. Penn & Teller have no prior knowledge of either the performers or the planned trick. They sit in the audience just like everyone else, watching every move the guest magicians make. If any illusionist fools the professionals, they win a five star trip to Las Vegas to perform as the opening act in Penn & Teller's world famous show at the Rio Hotel & Casino.
Tipped as the most exciting British magician to emerge in decades, Dynamo: Magician Impossible is the story of an ordinary boy from Bradford living an extraordinary life. The series sees the 28-year-old travelling the globe as the unassuming anti-hero who just happens to astound everyone he meets, whether it's an international footballer or Hollywood actor. Throughout the series, Dynamo: Magician Impossible will take viewers on his magical journey before stunning them with incredible, headline-grabbing stunts beyond the realms of possibility.
Amazing magic performed by cutting-edge illusionists and escape artists in front of a live audience with performers in each episode display skills ranging from perplexing interactive mind magic to hilarious comedy routines.
Teams of master magicians create and perform original magic routines using random props.
