Hello Greg,

I've not been able to enjoy televised magic for quite some time, probably not since the Doug Henning specials. There used to be a time when the televised audience and the live audience were actually watching the same stuff, albeit from slightly different angles. When the magic maker said "What you see at home is exactly what you would see while sitting here in the front row", it was the 99.99% true. But at least there weren't any re-sets, or do-overs, 50 stooges occupying the front rows or 30 stooges on stage at a time, 60-minute time edits -- or other outright deceptions going on.

Any opinions you can share with us along these lines?

Wow, this is a long and loaded subject. So, I'll just keep it simple: For me, the real magic is for some of these new TV magicians is to convince the audience that they have real skill and talent.

Magic is best when watched live... any recorded performance is suspect,in the mind of any intelligent spectator (without the 99.99% proviso noted above)...