New David Blaine special!

Jul 13, 2010
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Who's your favourite TV magician (living or not so living) and why?
He`s not strictly a TV magician, but my favorite on TV is Juan Tamariz. Much more popular in Europe, I know.
Why ? I like his crazy style and nobody plays the air violin better than him.
He`s one of the best I´ve seen live. He doesn`t rely on camera tricks of other razzle-dazzle.
And he`s different from most TV performers.
I´ve seen some David Blaine wannabe`s here on TV (no, not Dynamo, have never seen him). Don`t remember his name, but he tried so hard to be like Blaine, it`s just a pity that there`s a lack of individuality. Sad.
I like Blaine. It`s just sad that so many immitate him instead of beeing different. Why a bad copy when you can have the original ;)
 
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Dec 5, 2009
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So excited about this! When Blaine's doing MAGIC, at least in my opinion, he's in his best element. It seems like the endurance stunts overtook the emphasis on magic in recent years, so this was very exciting for me to hear. GOOD news!

My favorite TV magician? Gotta be Copperfield - hard to beat his body of work spanning decades of game changing magic that elevated the concept of magic as a modern art form. I know he's performing often in Vegas, but I hope he comes back to television soon.
 

WitchDocIsIn

Elite Member
Sep 13, 2008
5,877
2,945
I'm a bit odd for a magician as I don't actually enjoy watching other magicians perform in most cases. The single TV performer I can watch for an extended period of time is Derren Brown. Aside from the fact that he is a good performer in my mind, his shows are well enough written and have enough diversity that they remain interesting. Everyone else tends to get repetitive.

I am kind of looking forward to a new Blaine special, though. He was one of the first magicians I watched that I actually liked.
 
Apr 17, 2013
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I am kind of looking forward to a new Blaine special, though. He was one of the first magicians I watched that I actually liked.

I think it is because he was the first guy who did a TV special that was what magic is all about. That is the joy you give the audience.
 

WitchDocIsIn

Elite Member
Sep 13, 2008
5,877
2,945
I think it is because he was the first guy who did a TV special that was what magic is all about. That is the joy you give the audience.

While that may be what would attract me now, it's not what attracted me at the time. I was born in the early 80's, when stage magic was still king. However, I have very little interest in stage magic. Even when I was a little kid I understood that if I had that box that they just wheeled out on stage, I could do what he did. In other words, it wasn't magic, it was that box. Stage manipulation routines just leave me waiting for the magic to begin. So I largely grew up uninterested in magic because the model I had was either lame magic kits, or big boxes that did the work for you.

Blaine came along and did magic on the streets to real people. No stage, no lighting, no stupid costumes. The only thing like it that I had seen before him was Ricky Jay and his 52 Assistants, which had no boxes (other than the suitcase he pulls all the toys out of). While neither of those shows are responsible for my eventual delving into magic seriously, they definitely made it so I thought it was possible to be interested in magic.
 

Deechristopher

theory11 moderator
Moderator
The single TV performer I can watch for an extended period of time is Derren Brown. Aside from the fact that he is a good performer in my mind, his shows are well enough written and have enough diversity that they remain interesting. Everyone else tends to get repetitive.

Interesting perspective! I love Derren's work too, I think that for a mentalist, his shows are incredibly diverse in theme and execution. There are other TV magicians who have very varied performance styles too though, look at Cyril!
 

WitchDocIsIn

Elite Member
Sep 13, 2008
5,877
2,945
Interesting perspective! I love Derren's work too, I think that for a mentalist, his shows are incredibly diverse in theme and execution. There are other TV magicians who have very varied performance styles too though, look at Cyril!

I enjoy Cyril. If I see a video of his on YouTube, I generally watch it. But I haven't felt the urge to find everything he's put out. Brown, on the other hand, I find interesting enough to look for his stuff.
 

Deechristopher

theory11 moderator
Moderator
That's fair enough!

There's lots of new magic for TV over here at the moment, a big theme with a couple of shows that are coming out (inc Tricked with Ben Hanlin, starting in the next few days I think!) is hidden camera stuff, which should be really cool - It looks like the tricks are actually good in the show too, it's not just a cool concept that'll fall flat. I'm looking forward to it!

How about this, if you were called up by a channel and given the opportunity to commission one magician's show, who would it be? Living or dead, young or old. Who would you LOVE to see in their own show?
 
Sep 1, 2007
1,395
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Belgrade, Serbia
How about this, if you were called up by a channel and given the opportunity to commission one magician's show, who would it be? Living or dead, young or old. Who would you LOVE to see in their own show?
Apart from ones who already have one?
Hmm... SO MANY names come to mind, but... Luke Jermay, Greg Wilson, Erdnase, Dai Vernon (doing it street magic style :) ).
 
Jul 13, 2010
526
34
How about this, if you were called up by a channel and given the opportunity to commission one magician's show, who would it be? Living or dead, young or old. Who would you LOVE to see in their own show?
The problem is, what is my goal ? Beeing successful, I would have to evaluate (considering airtime, target audience etc.) what kind of magic show would get the highest TV ratings. I honestly think what I like and what the common TV target audience likes is somewhat different.
Solely for my personal pleasure, I would like to have Johnny Thompson, Fred Kaps or Tommy Wonder in the show.
 
Aug 31, 2007
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Blaine's new special is going to have some top notch new stuff. Very excited for it.

As far as favorites - Derren Brown has got to be it. Especially the recent specials on fear and faith.
 
Oct 5, 2012
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To me, combinations are the most interesting possibility...

David Williamson+Dani DaOrtiz+Lennart Green-SO MUCH CRAZINESS

or

Helder and Derek DelGaudio

or

Rene Lavand & Tommy Wonder
 

Deechristopher

theory11 moderator
Moderator
The problem is, what is my goal ? Beeing successful, I would have to evaluate (considering airtime, target audience etc.) what kind of magic show would get the highest TV ratings. I honestly think what I like and what the common TV target audience likes is somewhat different.
Solely for my personal pleasure, I would like to have Johnny Thompson, Fred Kaps or Tommy Wonder in the show.

I was simply talking about what YOU would like to see, that's all! :)

I'd love to see what Dan Sperry would do with a full show of his own, I can see some bizarre, Tim Burton feeling cross between reality and fiction!
 
Aug 9, 2013
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I'm glad to see Criss Angel and Blaine back on TV. They are both placing magic back into the public eye with their shows. Criss was the first magician I saw when I got into magic years ago. I know it isn't very popular to say it, but he's still my favorite.
 
Dec 18, 2007
1,610
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Northampton, MA - USA
OOPS! I got Blaine confused with the freak (Angel)

I couldn't stomach his new wig though I appreciate that he's starting to act his age to some degree. . . what pissed me off however, was his doing my effect without permission (the eating of the card and pulling it from his arm).

I first did this effect on the streets of Hollywood back in the mid-1980s and there is a great deal of on-line reference to that fact. William Draven and I corresponding for several months now, in redeveloping the piece with newer technology than I had way back then and releasing it as early as February of next year as "Card in the Magician".

Criss's version was changed

ed just enough to make it "different" but it just goes to prove that magicians, especially the more successful ones, can't be trusted. They too will reverse engineer a concept.
 
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