This British show just aired this evening, May 6th. A 2 hour show which could easily have been shortened. With luck if you get it in the USA they will edit out the dumb presenters. In fact I'm sure they will because of the odd bit of bad language.

Anyway, the top ten effects in reverse order were;

10) Morreti Crossbow shoot.
9) Richard Ross' 3 Ring Routine
8) Paul Daniels' Chop Cup Routine.
7) Tom Mullica's Smoking Routine
6) Copperfield's Flying
5) Harbin's Zig Zag (as done by Harbin)
4) Lance Burton doing dove magic
3) Metamorphosis by Pendragons
2) Blaine's street levitation
1) Copperfield's Buzz Saw sawing in half.

Paul Hallas

I see you took notes too!

Yes Neil, yours wasn't up when I started writing mine. What was the point of those initial unknown comedians making comments? They could have just taken someone off the street and said "Joe Bloggs - comedian" and no-one would have been any the wiser. And did the presenters annoy you too?

The Tamariz card trick was just a version of Mackenzie's Tipsy Cards. Nice to get a packet trick in the top 50. Even if it was no. 49.

Interesting Derren Brown was in three times, having only had three specials in 18 months.

But I do wonder if it was the 50 Greatest Magic Tricks from available TV clips.

And the Cooper clip of the multiplying bottles was an exposure at the end when without covers he simply lifted two bottles off two glasses.

And why the dumb presenters talked about magicians forcing cards, as if we need to point this out to spectators.

There were some very good clips, but it was not breathtaking television, I was tempted to switch over and watch Dark Angel because of the dumb presenters and would be celebs. Comments from Daniels, and other magicians fine, but the rest left a bit to be desired.
We did see Cafe regular Ian Rowland do a bit of spoon bending though and chat after a Geller clip (metal bending came in at no. 47)

Paul Hallas

Paul

I have to agree with your comments on the presenters. Channel 4 having done so well with Derren's specials really let themselves down.

As for Derren getting three slots, it may just reflect how his style has impressed the magic community. The top 50 of anything is likely to be dominated by recent items. Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter being in the top 50 films might be a parallel!

Being interested in cards I was also pleased to see Guy Hollingworths Reformation @ ~45.

As time allows I'll try and fill in the gaps from 50 to 10.

Billy

Have to agree with you, Paul, re. the unknown comics. I recognised Trev and Simon from kids TV 15 years ago. I almost turned over the TV, myself. Good show, but not brilliant.

Great to see Ian Rowland, too!

As I have watched "The Adam and Joe Show" before I did actually know who they were.
I thought that it didn't detract from the magic too greatly though. They did have the chance to expose the zombie ball and a back-palm, but chose to ridicule the people that love to watch tricks exposed on tv, a la masked magician.

I wrote down 36 of the 50, some I forgot to write down, others I couldn't be bothered with, because I didn't think it was worth it, like the guy who could "turn pages of a book".

Paul, It wasn't a criticism above, I think there were at least 4 of us who all posted within minutes of each other. I think it is useful to see what other people thought about it.

Billy, I predicted that Reformation would be shown, to my dad on the phone, (he watched it too), I also knew we would see the Pendragons.

But on the Reformation; was the lady to Guy's right clapping so much because she appreciated how well he was doing it? As she was almost looking over his shoulder. I am not familiar with the method (I do know reparation) and assume that the angles aren't that good!

I think the big brass gonads award goes jointly to Robert Gallup and Lance Burton.

Robert Gallup was locked in a mail bag in a cage, from which he had to escape. The hard part? It was thrown out of a plane! He had to escape and then grab his parachute to make it to safety. I don't care how often you practice, that is still very dangerous!
The effect was called "Death Dive"

Lance Burton was chained to a rollercoaster's track and had to pick the locks to escape. He jumped off with a fraction of a second to spare, with the rollercoaster nearly catching his legs. His first words after were priceless "That was stupid". You said it Lance!

re;
But on the Reformation; was the lady to Guy's right clapping so much because she appreciated how well he was doing it? As she was almost looking over his shoulder. I am not familiar with the method (I do know reparation) and assume that the angles aren't that good!

The same could be said for the Tamariz card trick. Lets face it, the models were hired to stand around and smile, it happens a lot on TV magic shows though Tamariz WAS doing his best to cover his angle I think.

These girls were not your average spectators. Why the magic should seem any better if the performer is surrounded by people that don't drink fruit juice because it says "concentrate" on the side of the carton is beyond me. No doubt it was thought the magic had to be beefed up with sex appeal (meaning the producers didn't think the magic good enough on it's own?) These particular clips were of course from other TV shows, possibly U.S.

Whilst Derren was on three times, so was Paul Daniels with his TV camera Vanish, Electric Chair Presentation and Chop Cup. That was good to see, seeing as he hasn't had a magic show on TV for years now. Perhaps remind people how good he really was despite all the negative press.

I would have liked to have seen Christian Fechner's TV vanish in there. A TV which is showing a programme vanishes from the top of a clear perspex stand, and later reappears. Absolutely amazing, but obviously not on a TV clip anywhere.

Would be interesting to know the exact criteria for the selections, was The Magic Circle membership simply asked to list their top 50 favourite tricks, the committee members, or had they to choose from effects presented to them? Can any Circle members clarify this?

Mr. Rowland,, you were on the show, what do you know about it?

Paul Hallas.

Can't add much to this that hasn't already been said. Good to see magic on TV, But what the heck were channel 4 doing with all the D list celebs?

Nice comment from my Dad when I mentioned Donna McPhail only ever apearing on these types of shows... " She's aptly named then."

Nice one Dad.

Have to agree with the Brass Gonads on Lance Burton. When I watched the show I thought it came too close for comfort, and maybe that's why he didn't seem to make too much of it in the show. Normally in a TV magic show, Everything builds to the Big escape. Ok, It wasn't really magic, but it was impressive.

Cheers

Andy

P.S. Great Richard and Judy Moment a few days ago when Adam and Joe were trailing the show, (I wasn't watching, Honest, I was just flicking channels when I heard them mention Magic, and stayed to watch.)

One of Adam and Joe, did the arm Twister with Richard, Afterwards Judy said, Really Dismissively, "Good trick, False arm" There then followed a Domestic between The two lovely presenters about how it was done."

On the "it wasn't really magic" point, what the h*** was the regurgitator doing in the top 50 magic tricks? Skilled? definitely. Entertaining? maybe (if you aren't from the RSPCA!). Magic? Not really. Or maybe it falls in this geek magic category? I would call it more of a stunt than a magic trick though.