talkmagic.co.uk

Grimshaw wrote:

Barry and Stuart, quite possibly the most annoying Scottish duo since The Krankies, always fail to impress and on the show they were no different.

Mr Grimshaw - it should have been you that did the mind reding part of the show as that is exatly what I think!

ku7uk wrote:P.S: Here is another review I found you might like:
http://www.suite101.com/content/the-mag ... ne-a326634

Already posted that.

Kolm wrote:According to Paul Wilson on Twitter the overnights look good. Highest rated show for the timeslot and the target audience (which wasn't you lot, by the way) liked it

Really? Well the people who liked it are probably the same sorts of people who watch wooden actors in turd like DOCTORS and get emotional at the storylines. Basically, people who are very easily pleased!

kolm wrote: and the target audience (which wasn't you lot, by the way) liked it

No they didn't:



I'm watching #themagicians on iplayer. Not looking good. Shame really as I love magic.

What is up with #themagicians? A great idea spoilt by introducing so called celebs to the show

I'm disapppointed as I wanted #themagicians to work. If you want to see how it should be done: http://youtu.be/tj1z0bOm5_g

Also felt Lenny Henry wasn't the right host: but then is a host needed? Forfeit element is silly too. Just show the tricks! #themagicians

#themagicians Why is Lenny Henry still working in showbiz? I want to throw things at the telly whenever he is on.

Watched 2 shows on TV tonight, #fatherted and #themagicians...one a classic, the other should just disappear...as it has from my V+ planner

Think the Beeb failed to pull a rabbit out the hat with #TheMagicians. It was pants. When was the last time Lenny Henry made anyone laugh?

#themagicians reminded me of a holiday to Pontins hosted by a talking (but not funny) squid #letdown

Not impressed by The Magicians on BBC1, very tacky old school magic c*** (not the best). Real shame

Someone tell BBC that dancing isnt magic.. #themagicians

wow what a pointless programme.. #themagicians

@bbcmagicians #themagicians was lame, you need to improve the format or I don't think you'll make it to ep5

I honestly thought I could watch any magic show. Then I saw the first five minutes of #themagicians.

#themagicians ...WHAT IS THIS SH*T?!!!!

#TheMagicians has conjured me a spell of disillusion with the BBC's choice of primetime television.
about 15 hours ago via TweetDeck

THERE BETTER BE A POINT TO THIS BULLFUCKERY. #TheMagicians

--

Seems it's just Kolm that liked it.

I want to know what Kolm actually liked. Was it:

lenny henry's autocue reading?
the way they ruined classic illusions with bad camera angles and editing?
the clever use of G List celebs ?
the funny little quips between tricks?
the voting?

Honestly, what was good in that 60 minutes?

Bad format, terrible camera cuts, purely intended to promote z-list celebs.



Naughty BBC, Naughty.

If they even had a special guest slot with a 5 to 10 min routine to break up the tedium it would have given us something good to look at. Just been reading on Digital Spy about the show and the consensus over there too is that the show was rubbish! And they are NOT magicians, they are lay people.

One person watched a show with N-Dubz and Rolf Harris being recorded and said they found it very tedious and boring.

If we have 'Live from the Apollo' for comedians why can't we have a proper stage show of variety magic? I'd quite happily pay for my seat in the theatre instead of taking a free seat if it meant financing something eminently watchable!

The simple fact is, really talented magicians were forced to perform illusions with celebrities.
If you'd have given each of the magician a slot to perform their own material and then later on perform with a celebrity, the format would have remained but we would all have seen some decent magic at least once.

I think the BBC are in a "Damned if they do, Damned if they don't" position. To introduce a new prime-time, weekend TV show is a huge undertaking and, due to Simon Cowell's TV dominance over the last decade, nowadays the rules have drastically changed about what the public will or won't accept on a Saturday night.

Add to that the fact that 'The Magicicans' is in the timeslot usually inhabited by bigger-budget shows such as Doctor Who/Merlin, etc and the Beeb are in a tricky position as to what to slot in there, during the traditionally quieter months after Christmas. I think, sadly, that the audiences have changed unrecognisably over the years - the Beeb will be looking for the same audience that 'Take Me Out' will attract over on ITV and, in trying to do so, tried to create a format that appealed to everybody. However, in mixing up the styles whilst trying to do so, all they succeeded to do was to make a show that was so asinine that it probably ended up appealing to nobody at all! Sadly, I don't think there is a way for a mainstream channel to promote magic without resorting to other gimmicks (ITV's 'Magic Numbers' for example)

C4 struck it just about right with Derren Brown - they started the Mind Control shows later at night (when audience expectations were lower) and let word-of-mouth do the rest.

I must defend the BBC Licence Fee, however. It does infuriate me when folks point at the guff on BBC1 when they complain about the fee - how about the dozens and dozens of local BBC radio stations up and down the country? The world-class website (with dedicated local content)... the iPlayer (still the best catch-up service in the country). As someone else pointed out - it's a heck of a lot cheaper than Sky... and Murdoch STILL shows you adverts between the prgrams that you've already paid a premium for!!

Anyway - back on topic. My kids (7 & 4) LOVED the show and they live in a house that is festooned with magic and mentaliasm gear. They'd never seen the Million Dollar Mystery before; the swords (javelins!) through the box had my little boy covering his eyes but still glued to the telly... in fact maybe the show is designed to take the place of 'Total Wipeout', now I come to think of it!!! I think Paul Wilson had it about right - it wasn't meant for us at all.

Never mind - P&T might do better on ITV later this week and, of course, the transmission of Derren's 'Enigma' will prove, once again, that the best place to witness magic is in a theatre (and I suspect the ticket sales for 'Svengali' shall triple after it's shown)!


Sean

EDIT - Jordan makes a great point about 'Live At The Apollo' A similarly timed magic show (ie - NOT at 7:00pm!!!) might just work -- but I guess comedy is a much easier sell than magic.....?

Jordan C wrote:Just been reading on Digital Spy about the show and the consensus over there too is that the show was rubbish! And they are NOT magicians, they are lay people.

The guys at Digital Spy generally hate anything the BBC touches. And given they read a website which publishes and shamelessly drools over pictures of gay men, calling the feature "Fitty Fitster", I don't particularly hold their opinions very high :p

As Magicians we are generally hard to please, BUT pushing the fact aside that we may know the odd trick or two, the show simply wasn't entertaining at all to watch! It had a full 1 hour to get going (& didn't!).

The content (& FORMAT) of the show were simply boring! (I fell asleep near the end). The best bits were the titles!!

If this programme was a repeat (I actually mean a repeat, & not a "Revamp" of Simon Drakes "Secret Cabaret" for instance (way ahead of it's time, & would I believe still sustain repeats & VIEWING FIGURES!) it would have been great!

We were told in all the Hype, that we were all going to witness something different (we did, but it was just the bloody awfull format!).

If Simon Cowell put his mind to it (& he never would, because his passion is MUSIC!) he would be able to make it work. The reason why it failed was precisely because there was NO PASSION behind it, at least none that CAME THROUGH to us the viewer! Lenny trying to be enthusiastic about something that you could tell, was just him doing what he was paid to do!
came across as so false, his reactions were over the top to say the least, like trying to get the audience to appreciate AFTER the event what they didn't really appreciate at the actual time!

The performers were "Overtaken" by the Celebs (especially Bruno!) & looked lost & out of control. I actually like Bruno on Strictly, because he is funny & shows his PASSION for dance.
"The Magicians" came across as a bodged up, lacklustre, meaningless filler of a programme, with NO REASON, & more importantly NO PASSION behind it!

The three magicians were supposed to be the "Dynamic Performers" after all, they do things in their performance (Magic!) the celebs were (or should have been!) secondary to the performers, but by the nature of being "Celebs" they are going to try & steal the show. It's the total magicians nightmare, akin to getting someone drunk up on stage to assist!!!

People who know me, will vouch for the fact, that I love to support ALL MAGIC, whoever is involved! I would LOVE to support this show, I will continue to watch it, in the hope that it will succeed in doing just that!

Fingers crossed for next week!!

All good wishes

Mike Danata

kolm wrote:

Jordan C wrote:Just been reading on Digital Spy about the show and the consensus over there too is that the show was rubbish! And they are NOT magicians, they are lay people.

The guys at Digital Spy generally hate anything the BBC touches. And given they read a website which publishes and shamelessly drools over pictures of gay men, calling the feature "Fitty Fitster", I don't particularly hold their opinions very high :p

Ha ha, I did a news search on google for comments and came across it. I don't actually use the site

Mike Danata wrote:If Simon Cowell put his mind to it (& he never would, because his passion is MUSIC!) he would be able to make it work.

BGT??? That's variety.

I do agree Mike though with your constant use of the word PASSION!! Passion is what makes something unbelievable believable! In any sector. Trhough PASSION you can convince someone that a meaningless activity is actually worthwhile. As a performer you need to be passionate otherwise noone will be drawn in. Could you imagine Aretha Franklin, Janis Joplin et al singing without that passion? Well likewise for magi's, passion must show through. Lance Burton, Paul Daniels, Ali Bongo et al all oozed passion from every pore of their being. Passion shines through, the magi's on this show though were overshadowed questioning their own passions.

Jordan C wrote:

Grimshaw wrote:P.S: Here is another review I found you might like:
http://www.suite101.com/content/the-mag ... ne-a326634

Already posted that.

How odd. I can assure you it was the posting of ku7uk rather than myself. A glitch? Or a deliberate attempt to slur my impeccable character sir?!

I hope the general public did like the show. It re-enforces my view that most of them will lap up any old rubbish. And i like that view, so i want to stick to it.

When I said "Simon Cowell could make it work" I meant making a MAGIC SHOW work (he isn't interested of course! because his PASSION is music) Of course he has "Britain's Got Talent" Even the "Nutters" that get through show PASSION in what they do, (they actually think, that they can sing or whatever!) Simon seems to react to PASSION, he wants to be affected EMOTIONALLY by the performance (so do I) I believe that is why he allows some talentless people onto his shows, they are after all "Interesting" (& gets us all talking!!) plus of course they are actually ENTERTAINING!

In The Magicians however there was nothing that I could connect to on ANY level accept SYMPATHY for the actual performers!

I'm glad that you (Jordon) picked up on my constant use of the word "Passion" because it is the Passion that you display in EVERYTHING you do, that will allow you to connect with your audience, on a level that you could never reach without it!

All the best!

Mike

Grimshaw wrote:

Jordan C wrote:

Grimshaw wrote:P.S: Here is another review I found you might like:
http://www.suite101.com/content/the-mag ... ne-a326634

Already posted that.

How odd. I can assure you it was the posting of ku7uk rather than myself. A glitch? Or a deliberate attempt to slur my impeccable character sir?!

I hope the general public did like the show. It re-enforces my view that most of them will lap up any old rubbish. And i like that view, so i want to stick to it.

Apologies... duly edited

Again Mike, you have capitalised the key words for a performer.

EMOTION
PASSION
ENTERTAINING
in EVERYTHING

Totally agree about having sympathy for the performers. The guy paired with Bruno for example!

Unfortunately though, the format has now been set in stone as I believe most, if not all, episodes have already been filmed so what we saw is what we're going to get! We can only hope that the tricks get better and the ego fight errs on the side of the magi!

"Again Mike, you have capitalised the key words for a performer.

EMOTION
PASSION
ENTERTAINING
in EVERYTHING

Totally agree about having sympathy for the performers. The guy paired with Bruno for example!

Unfortunately though, the format has now been set in stone as I believe most, if not all, episodes have already been filmed so what we saw is what we're going to get! We can only hope that the tricks get better and the ego fight errs on the side of the magi!"

I was referring to the guy paired with Bruno as well!! he looked completely at a loss, & ALLOWED Bruno to take over, the dynamics were reversed, which is why I felt sorry for him, he just GAVE UP! (very sad).

Mike Danata

kolm wrote:According to Paul Wilson on Twitter the overnights look good. Highest rated show for the timeslot and the target audience (which wasn't you lot, by the way) liked it

I wrote my initial thoughts on the show straight after seeing it and thought it was pretty awful. But as time went on I tend to agree with Kolm.

Was the program enjoyed by laypeople and the initial ratings tend to say yes, next week we will see if there is the same audience again. We have to remember what the show was about, it was getting celebrities on stage performing magic. If you were doing that would you be using you most uptodate material or keeping it as simple as possible and entertaining for joe public.

The selection of the news reader was not the best, Bruno was is usual flamboyant self and the Choreographer did his best and obviously was trying to learn and perform what he was told.

Yes things can be improved,The important point for any production like this should surely be to learn from the performance and improve on the bits that di not work as well as we had hoped. Isn't that what we all do or are we all the perfect entertainers.