The World's Greatest Magic (1994)

Country

United States

Length

1 season, 5 episodes

Rating

9.0 of 10 from 1 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This is a series of TV specials from the 1990s that show professional magicians performing illusions and tricks. The shows also include segments where a magician teaches simple magic tricks to the audience.

decades-oldnostalgiclightheartedinstructionalcelebratoryfamily-friendlyvarietyobservational

What happens

The World's Greatest Magic was a series of American television specials showcasing magic acts. The first of five shows was broadcast by NBC in 1994, and continued with annual editions through 1998. These shows were most often first telecast during the Thanksgiving holidays when special programming would occur. These specials reran occasionally on ABC Family (then The Family Channel and Fox Family) from October 1996 to early 2002. The first episode was hosted by Robert Urich, the second by Alan Thicke, and the final three episodes by John Ritter. All of the specials were narrated by Don LaFontaine. During specials II, III, IV, and V, before each commercial break of every episode, in a segment known as the Mac King School of Magic, Mac King showed viewers a simple magic trick, and would break its steps down after the commercial break so that the audience could perform the same trick for family and friends. The first special featured the same teach-a-trick segments which involved some of the various magicians featured in the special, along with a special guest celebrity. Below is a list of the closing illusions for each of the five shows, and the magicians who performed them: World's Greatest Magic I: Franz Harary - Space Shuttle vanish World's Greatest Magic II: Penn and Teller - Magic bullet catch World's Greatest Magic III: The Pendragons - Disappearance of 25 Vegas showgirls World's Greatest Magic IV: Lance Burton - Jaws of Death escape (Lance was handcuffed and shackled inside a canvas mailbag, put in the back of a car, and dropped into a car crusher.) World's Greatest Magic V: Brett Daniels - Teleportation of actress Kelly Packard across the Grand Canyon (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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