There was a one-hour drama that aired on NC during the mid-1970s that I, as a teenager, really loved. It was called The Magician and it starred Bill Bixby who had come off a hit sitcom on ABC, The Courtship of Eddie’s Father, which ran for three seasons from 1969-1972, ending after Bixby had a falling out with producer James Komack over the show's direction.
The First Opening - with one of the brightest theme songs of the era:
The Magician debuted in the fall of 1973 following a 90 minute pilot that aired in March of 1973, with exteriors shot in the city of Las Vegas to give the impression that scenes were taking place there. In that TV movie, Bixby’s character was named Anthony Dorian but that was changed for the weekly series due to a conflict with a real-life stage magician’s name.
The drama was centered around magician Tony Blake (Bill Bixby) who split his time between appearing on stage in Las Vegas and solving crimes, often coming to someone’s aid in the same way The A-Team would. For instance, in the second episode, the singer in Tony Blake's Vegas stage act, who is also a personal friend, is kidnapped from her dressing room.
In the episode ‘The Manhunter’ someone is trying to kill Tony’s partner Max Pomeroy which leads to action on the casino floor.
Not only did Tony Blake drive a groovy Corvette convertible with a built-in phone (very rare in 1973) he also utilized an opulently outfitted private plane, a Boeing 737 jetliner named ‘The Spirit’, as his base of operations so the series had a big budget feel.
Mid-season the series was retooled and I thought it lost some of the magic, so to speak. Gone was the jet, now Tony worked out of LA’s world famous Magic Castle. These changes didn’t affect the ratings much, The Magician ranked #52 out of 81 shows for the 1973-1974 TV Season.
The Second Opening contains a great deal more action and tricks:
Bill Bixby later starred in The Incredible Hulk on CBS for 5 seasons beginning in 1977.
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