talkmagic.co.uk

Tonight’s Magicians opened with what was probably the best Lenny Illusion. He was produced from 3 large playing cards.
George and Larry Lamb up next, with their magician Chris Korn, performed the bed of spikes.. Its been done so much over the years, that it’s almost a cliché. And it was slow.
Talking of Slow, but in a good way, Neil Morrisy and Louis, performed the head drop in Covent Garden. It was super to see it done slowly I .Just Loved it.
Barry and Stewart next, with their guest Angela Griffin entertain with a behind the scenes Illusion.
This version of the backstage with, is very, very good. The method used to expose the secret, yet hiding the secret was bordering on Genius I.M.H.O.
Loved it!!
Chris and the Lambs hit the Bingo halls, with some coin stuff.
Louis and Neil give us a the Classic Blaney step ladder levitation.
Barry, Stewart and Angela hit the streets with a nice Hi tech book test.
Korn and the Lambs dress up the Assistants revenge with some paintballs. Sorry but ..Meh.

Barry , Stewart, and Angela stage a huge Spirit Cabinet. Nice.. Bit slow, but nice. The only thing is, if you produce lots of people at the end, it detracts from the séance element.
Louis, and Neil perform Water Torture cell, as a card trick. Neil did his bit very well. A complete contrast to other guests. Super bit that!
The Forefit.....
Chris Korn and the lambs Bending an Iron Tie Bar on the throat. Genuinly Scary Stuff.

And so ends the first series of THE MAGICIANS..

HERE'S HOPING ITS NOT THE LAST!!

Watching it right now... Can't abide Lenny Henry, though.

What we need is a magic show without the celebrity frontman.

As The series progressed I found myself enjoying it more and more. I am hoping there is another series. From the general response that seems to have been reported I would expect one. I guess it also depends on how things go in the rest of europe and the USA.

Nic

Bob the Builder seemed very at home doing the magic thing. He was even trusted to do all the dirty work with a deck of cards. I have to wonder whether he's actually a secret magic hobbyist.

I've warmed to the series too.

And I don't even mind Lenny Henry. Some of the characters from his own comedy show were irritating, but I've got no real complaint with him as a presenter, so long as he actually has a script worth mentioning (which didn;t seem to be the case in episode 1).

Okay, it was far from perfect, and I personally wouldn't have gone with the celebrity-oriented format. But it's still the best prime time Saturday night magic series the BBC has done in years...

Pete

There were sudden signs of inspiration from tonight's episode, such as the IR camera for Barry and Stuart, that I found good. It did still seem a bit slow at places and sometimes weirdly put together (Paintball Bullet Catch sequence), but still not too bad really. Not at the level of P&T: Fool Us, but with some changes (The competition aspect and celebrity assistants) and hard work it could become something people would look forward to watching. I actually wouldn't mind another series if I'm really honest.

I only have to remember 2 things when watching:
1. I'm not the target audience.
2. The programme before involves people falling into water repeatedly, not a crowd dying to be thought provoked...

DenmarkKilo wrote:
I only have to remember 2 things when watching:
1. I'm not the target audience.
2. The programme before involves people falling into water repeatedly, not a crowd dying to be thought provoked...

and 3....the lottery follows straight afterwards, which does mean that the schedule has been correct for a change.. People watch hole in the wall, total wipeout, the magicians, and the lottery..

Its demographic fits well in the Noels houseparty slot. Cosey, no brainer television that most people can sit back, watch, and enjoy.

Magic should be "WOAH!"
This show was mostly "pffft"
but it's a start... I really hope the BBC shakes up the format and presentation and comes back with a stonking magic show, the potential is definitely there.

Erwin wrote:Magic should be "WOAH!"
This show was mostly "pffft"

I agree to an extent. I watch it mainly to see how the magicians present the tricks, as I am still just an eager hobbyist. I might pick up some good techniques.

I've always likes Barry and Stewart and look forward to their tricks, but I feel that given the time slot, they're forced to be a little less avant guard than they could be. Their trick was good, but I spotted the switch immediately. Nevertheless, to show do it with infrared cameras was inspired, so I'll give them full marks for 'revealing' how it was done. I really appreciate that kind of misdirection.

Neil Morrissey - yes, he did well until he started mumbling on about how the trick wasn't going to plan then fetched an axe. That really spoiled it for me. He didn't appear concerned enough.

I'm warming to the series, but not to Lenny Henry. Maybe it's his script I'm not warming to... the jokes are so lame. IMHO.

Any magic show on television is to be welcomed right now.

At least magic has made it back to Saturday evening BBC entertainment, Although i would have prefered a different format! say different magicians every week or a different celeb presenter, but on the whole not a bad job-ewll done BBC!

Has this programme finished now?
It's not on tonight!

Yup.

I liked it. A couple of rubbish bits (such as the coin routine in the bingo hall, the head drop, and a paintball gun routine which made little sense and wasn't very hard to figure out) but overall really good. As a series as a whole I liked it. Wasn't perfect (no show is), but it was a nice magic show.

The only things I'd change is getting rid of the forfeit (they were mostly stupid... I mean - walking on coal? Not really terrifying stuff) and getting rid of Luis de Matos (him and most other celebrity with him were just too wooden). I liked the celebrity angle anyway, I don't care what anyone else says

It did really well in the ratings. It got between 5.5 and 6 million viewers, compared with the 5m you can expect in that timeslot (unless it's doctor who or merlin, then you'll get about 6-6.5m). So I expect it's going to be recommissioned for a second series (I'll keep my ear to the floor for news)