Eric my only time spent with magicians is here buddy. Nobody else is talking except to ask, "What was that freak show on TV last night?"

Is it possible to just watch the magic and appreciate it for what it is? not how it is done or if it was special effects or not. Put yourself in the average layman's shoes. To him or her what they see is magicial even if you or I know better. Mindfreak was put on for the tv audience, not magicians. Enjoy

Click here to view attached image.

I think it was good for magic. At least Criss doesn't speak with that God forsaken drawl. He does a bizzare style magic. He's supposed to have a goth type image. He does magic that is utterly impossible, markets his own illusions, etc., and trust me, I can bet that he thinks about his magic. I can tell that hes not trying to sound to well rehearsed. But I'm sure he's spent hours practicing. For proof of that check out his website. You can see him do a corner short force type thing. And then do Daryl's Hot Shot Cut right into his other hand. I was talking about it to some non magicians. they said it was the crazziest thing they had ever seen. I must admit, the whole thing seemed quite gimmicky. And I wish they showed some of his card work...

Overall I think it will be good for magic, but the real test will come with the following shows. The ratings were excellent for A&E in a non prime-time slot, and I welcomed the reality show concept. Natuarly this format doesn't sit well with some magicians who have accused Criss of all sorts of things without any proof. But this show is geared towards regular people, not magicians who are angry they couldn't figure out how things were done by simply pausing their VCR.

I am also impressed by the big names that worked on this show, and look forward to what they have planned for future episodes. If they continue to focus on entertaining people, I think there is no way this series can not be good for magic.

Tonight I had a gentleman come into the bar that I work at, and tell me how his kids have been enjoying the shows...

I really liked him. Yea, he's stages it too much but he does have some pretty cool trick's. Hey! does anybody know how he picked up the freesbee lastnight?.

The second week was definatly better than the first. The problem I have is what the heck is Mind Freak? It makes no sense to me.

Second of all in the wine barrel did he do a magic trick? or even really an escape for that matter? To my recollection he simply got out of prepared handcuffs and attatched a saftey harness, while under water for only 2 minutes. I just didn't get it I guess.

I love the ads. I love the slick look, I love the wispered "are you ready". I wish he would learn to speak better. That lisp bothers me more than a southern drawl.

I hope he does well. Magic may need a boost and I hope he is the guy to do it.

If you watch the introduction it quickly shows a dictionary giving what the definition of Mindfreak is.

Yep it indeed does... and it helps not one bit.

The show does not help to further the definition.

It seems pretty difficult to define what makes televised magic good for the art of magic. If it encourages conversation, maybe it's good. I have yet to hear of anyone mentioning the CA shows. But then again, I'm not asking around.

What some of us are probably encouraged to do is compare the ratings. I'm not so sure there is any way to compare the viewership of a David Copperfield in his prime, when there were 3 primary networks to choose from.

I remember seeing one time in the 70's that "The Beverly Hillbillies" was the #1 show in the Nielsen ratings, which indicated (I think it was) 40 million viewers. Incredible.

I don't think the impact will ever be like the Copperfield specials for this reason alone. Then, add that we are seeing many of the "unwritten rules" of television magic being broken. We had a little bit of an understanding of what was allowable on television- from Mark Wilson to ?????? But it seems, now, these "rules" are so hazed by camera trickery that it leaves us wondering what we are even watching. Is it magic exactly as seen live, or camera editing?

Seems to me that as time moves on, television magic in general has gone from what could be seen as unbelievable to un-believable.

The show just by being on A&E does not help promote magic on television. Mondo Magic was on A&E and little did that do. Even if Criss Angel had no camera tricks and focused on simple great close-up magic and reactions, it would still not do well, not because of Criss's appearance but do to the fact that it is on A&E... Criss likes to challange David Blaine in everything he does, my challange to him would be, get a network show.....Criss's magic is good, but the presentation and repitition has to be re-thought....but perfect for A&E

C'mon A&E is owned by whom?

And if Chris did well on A&E what do you think would happen?

I would sell a testicle for the spot Chris had.
(The new prosthetics are undetectable!)

As for Mondo Magic...It was just that! Of course in many peoples minds magic has become synonymous with crap.


JacK

H.O.A_X

I know things are not spelled right. But to Quote Mark Twain. "It is a small mind indeed that can think of only one way to spell a word!"

Today at work I had five people come up to me at different times. None of them know about me as a magician. They all said they were watching a guy named Criss Angel on tv and they seen me. (I was there for the burned alive demonstration) They all had to see if I knew I was on tv. (of course I knew ) Anyway, they all had positive things to say about him. They said he was amazing and they were pretty much speechless. One guy said it was the best thing he has ever seen. For people not knowing about me and magic it was interesting to see their reactions to his show. I just thought I would share since there has been so many comparing comments about laymen and Criss Angel's show.

Looking forward to next weeks shows!!

I saw a couple of episodes last night, and I enjoyed them immensely! I'm not quite so much into the main "stunt" stuff, and enjoyed his close-up bits better (same with Blaine). I was quite heartened to see that he was performing some fairly well-known bits, and still his audiences were absolutely shattered!

The only "bad" thing it does for magic/mentalism is that we all know those FOX executives are watching too, and taking notes for the next onslaught of exposure shows...<heavy sigh...>

Seth

I don't know, his magic seems more like a bunch of stunts. He's like a goth version of any other stage performer, except he does "suspension", which again is not magic. I've seen shows on the discovery channel with guys who suspend themselves from hooks, and they didn't call it magic, so why so Chris Angel call his suspension "magic"?

"Mondo Magic" was the best "Street Magic" Series. They used extremely little if any stooges, editing, or pre-show work. To me, in my humble opinion, is how TV Magic should be, just as if you are there. I did like his Card Through Window, and have no idea how it was done. I love magic, magic on TV, but please don't use editing, stooges or pre-show work. Yes, yes I know we should enjoy it, and I do. Also I know the main focus is to fool TV Audiences, but people aren't stupid. I too have had people talk about it. I got mixed reviews. People liked it but thought exactly some was fixed up. Chris is a great performer. I just wish magicians wouldn't "cheapen" magic by using editing, pre-show work or stooges. Soon it will come to a point where people (and it gotten to this point already), are like "Oh it's all camera tricks, and set-up". To me it just, takes credit away from other Magicians. I read the Osterlind link posted above. I agree with all the points he made. Good luck Chris in future shows, Ed, (Eddini).

C'mon Ed!

Cheapen magic?

Man look at the work you are writing about.

Magic is the bottom rung.
Mentalist have at least not slid that far yet.

But they are getting their sleds ready.
Judging from some posters on this forum.

Jack

H.O.A_X

I'd agree with Eddini, I thought Mondo Magic was a great show... I'm not a fan of the stunts on Mind Freak (Bed of Nails, who exposed this one?? was it the Masked Magi... oh wait no, it was Mr. Steputis my high school physics teacher... never seen the two in the same place though) There's far too little magic and far too much "reality TV" in this show. I don't think a show that very few are going to watch will do much for magic.

Nice to see Banachek on TV though! I'd watch a half hour of him doing a bindfold drive in Kansas.

I predict Angel will be more popular than any other of the magic shows out of North America since David Blaine.

I predict he's going to be great for magic, because he will get non-magicians excited about magic.

I think it would be even better if he didn't levitate stooges he pretends he "just met now" in the park (because I think almost no one is going to buy that). But when he turns his back and floats up the restaurant wall, you gotta call that pretty cool stuff.

P.S. To the friend who said that Crangel fish hooks himself and calls it "magic"...that's not true, is it? I think he fish hooked himself and called it "real". That was the "point" of that exercise, I'm assuming (i.e. to present it as a real feat). Now, it may have BEEN magic, but at least he was trying to pretend it was legit (and, since I also saw that show on Discovery about those prick-lovers, I'm almost ready to believe it WAS legit)


Except for pre-show work (which certainly seems valid to me) I strongly agree. I'll bet it's more than 50pct of the general population just dismisses all magic out of hand because they know magicians use these little ruses. So we're decimating our potential market before we're even on first base. Especially when watching mentalists, to me, the possibility that a stooge could conceivably have been used practically renders thw whole excercise moot.

How about reworking the "magician's code of conduct" to eliminate some of the self-serving guidelines and adding a new one: "magicians won't use stooges in cases where the use of a stooge results in the trick being something anybody in the audience could stand up and do, too...if they had relied on a stooge"?

I heard several people talking about Angel today on the NYC Subway (kids), and they loved his show...