I think the show is great, and have no trouble understanding why magicians watch the show.
But what do you think the major draw is for regular people?
Are they watching because they want to see magic? Or are they watching because they want to see whether Penn & Teller get fooled?

I don't know anyone who watches it regularly, honestly.

But I would think they just want to see magic that is relatively likely to be a good performance.

Valid question. This TV does require "attention", or your're lost and thus have little conviction. Magic usually happens to "things" as opposed to people. Studies have shown "men" to be wired like this vs woman. Also watching it LIVE further weakens the "trick buster" as you can't rewind. So who is watching it LIVE?

Is it the young teens into magic (small group). High Schoolers who like to test themselves at "trick busting" and pick-up a trick for their friends (small group). Active magicians that like to stay abreast of societal expectations (small group, but likely most loyal). -This group wants to study more the "performance", already knowing their own methods. <-- winner

Me personally: I don't watch "TV" and haven't for 13 years. I consider myself informed and relevant (big surprise for a few out there). I don't need TV and anything I figure I do, I find on the internet. I've watched a few P & E segments, but only after they've come to my attention. I like the show and think it keeps magic alive.

Well?

You may not sit in front of a TV but then watch what you want from the TV on the Internet. No biggie but you sort of do watch TV.

I know many who watch that show every week. Obviously it has a base because of the length of run.

It amounts to a variety show that you can miss and not miss anything. Heck you can miss a segment and it doesn't stop the enjoyment or understanding of it. The show is about a celebration of good magic, and fooling them is a distraction.

It’s a great hook, genius. Millions of people watched The Apprentice to see who would get fired, people watch Fool Us, at least initially, to see if P+T can get fooled.

Penn was my all time favorite celebrity apprentice. He should have won!!! I think most people have a positive opinion of P&T. That might draw them in initially. The variety of acts may keep them watching. They might also like the challenge of figuring out how the magic was accomplished by trying to decipher Penn's cryptic responses to the magician. He is fond of talking about the performers magnetic personality or wondering if the coin guy visited the beach before performing his act. I personally wish they would leave the audience out of that discussion.

Someone's watching it because it has been picked up for another season

Maybe they like it,

My neighbor loves that show. I have to keep up with it just because I know he’ll want to talk after wach episode. His favorite part is how they let the person know when they aren’t fooled. He gets a huge kick out of the fact there is such coded jargon that lets magicians talk to each other about secrets without anyone else understanding. I think in general the show offers just the right amount of “peek behind the curtain” It satisfies the perfectly reasonable instinct that led to the masked magician so many years ago, but even a layman can see how this show is much more respectful and celebratory of magic.

I will say, I also enjoy the coded language Penn uses when giving their guess.

We started watching it as a family during dinner as it was fun to watch, entertaining and apart from the occasional bad language, suitable for our entire household (ages between 2 and 32).

That being said, I will never have money again because of this show. It has two of my kids into magic obsessed mini P&Ts and me into an obsessive aspiring magician who is doing his wife's head in showing her my new tricks!

People are tired of watching the news, re-runs of old shows, Dancing with the Stars and American Idol probably got boring for them. The Masked Magician is no longer revealing magic effects, but many people got lured into magic as a result. Just a few thoughts.