Blacke's Magic
{{Short description|American crime drama television series}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox television
| image =
| caption =
| genre = Crime drama
| creator = Richard Levinson
William Link
| developer = Peter S. Fischer
| writer =
| director = John Llewellyn Moxey
| starring = Hal Linden
Harry Morgan
| theme_music_composer = David Bell
| opentheme =
| endtheme =
| composer =
| country = United States
| language = English
| num_seasons = 1
| num_episodes = 13
| list_episodes =
| executive_producer = Peter S. Fischer
| producer = Douglas Benton
Cliff Gould
Lee Sheldon
| camera = Single-camera
| runtime = 48 minutes
| company = Universal Television
| network = NBC
| first_aired = {{start date|1986|01|05}}
| last_aired = {{end date|1986|05|07}}
}}
Blacke's Magic is an American crime drama television series that aired for 13 episodes on NBC, from January 5 to May 7, 1986. Reruns later aired during the fall of 1988, to fill scheduling gaps caused by the 1988 Writers Guild of America strike.
Plot
Hal Linden stars as magician Alexander Blacke who, with some help from his con-man father Leonard (Harry Morgan), solves mysteries that get in the way of his performances. The series aired for a total of thirteen episodes and featured crimes that tested logic against seemingly magical crimes. The stories were not so much whodunits as "how-he-do-its," for Alex Blacke often had to turn detective to solve the mysteries.
Cast
=Main=
- Hal Linden as Alexander Blacke
- Harry Morgan as Leonard Blacke
=Recurring=
- Paula Beyers as Gina
- Claudia Christian as Laurie Blacke
- Stephen Elliott as Senator Garity
- Justin Gocke as Jamie Byrnes
- Pippin Ingalls as Jill Byrnes
- Mark Shera as Lt. Ted Byrnes
Episodes
{{Episode table |background=#500050|overall=5 |title=22 |director=20 |writer=20 |airdate=18 |episodes=
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber=Pilot
| Title=Breathing Room
| DirectedBy=John Llewellyn Moxey
| WrittenBy={{StoryTeleplay|t=Peter S. Fischer|s=Richard Levinson & William Link and Peter S. Fischer}}
| OriginalAirDate={{start date|1986|1|5}}
| ShortSummary=Series pilot: Two hour pilot: Magician Alexander Blacke decides to retire after a near-death experience; however, when an old friend of his is mysteriously murdered during a magic trick – he was somehow shot while sealed in a coffin underwater – Alex and his father Leonard investigate and help the police to figure it out.
| LineColor=500050
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber=1
| Title=Ten Tons of Trouble
| DirectedBy=Allen Reisner
| WrittenBy={{StoryTeleplay|t=Geoffrey Fischer & Cliff Gould|s=Geoffrey Fischer}}
| OriginalAirDate={{start date|1986|1|8}}
| ShortSummary=When a statue disappears in a matters of moments, Alex is asked to investigate. And when Alex learns that the chief of security is being held accountable, he tries to solve it and clear the man's name.
| LineColor=500050
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber=2
| Title=Knave of Diamonds, Ace of Hearts
| DirectedBy=Alan Cooke
| WrittenBy=Robert E. Swanson
| OriginalAirDate={{start date|1986|1|15}}
| ShortSummary=Alex refuses an offer from a strange man to test the impenetrability of his vault, instead concocting a plan for Leonard to carry out when he leaves town. Leonard reports a break-in to the police, and when they open up the vault they find that it contains the stranger's body. Leonard is arrested and bailed out by Alex when he returns, and they then go on the run in search of the truth.
| LineColor=500050
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber=3
| Title=Revenge of the Esperanza
| DirectedBy=Alvin Ganzer
| WrittenBy={{StoryTeleplay|t=Tom Sawyer & Robert Brush|s=Robert Brush}}
| OriginalAirDate={{start date|1986|1|22}}
| ShortSummary=Some marine biologists are looking for a lost wreck. They find it but as soon as they do, it floats up and goes away.
| LineColor=500050
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber=4
| Title=Death Goes to the Movies
| DirectedBy=Michael A. Hoey
| WrittenBy=Peter S. Fischer
| OriginalAirDate={{start date|1986|1|29}}
| ShortSummary=While Alex is playing plot-advisor for a movie in the making, the movie's producer is suddenly killed.
| LineColor=500050
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber=5
| Title=Vanishing Act
| DirectedBy=Walter Grauman
| WrittenBy=Lee Sheldon
| OriginalAirDate={{start date|1986|2|12}}
| ShortSummary=Alex and Leonard are stranded in the small town of Cryerville, California and use their magic skills to prevent a group of visitors from perpetrating an elaborate hoax.
| LineColor=500050
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber=6
| Title=Prisoner of Paradise
| DirectedBy=Alan Cooke
| WrittenBy=Philip Saltzman
| OriginalAirDate={{start date|1986|2|19}}
| ShortSummary=Victor Kroeger, a man who had swindled a lot of people out of $122M and had been on the run for 18 years, is finally caught, and Alex is asked to help bring him back to the US from San Marcos. Kroeger is kept in a guarded room atop a tower, but later in the evening he's found dead at the bottom of the tower, and the room is still locked from the inside. What happened?
| LineColor=500050
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber=7
| Title=Address Unknown
| DirectedBy=Allen Reisner
| WrittenBy=Lee Sheldon
| OriginalAirDate={{start date|1986|2|26}}
| ShortSummary=Alex's former assistant comes to Alex for help when her ex-husband approaches her for help about corruption in a defense contract he's been working on. When Alex goes to meet the contact, someone shoots at him, and when he goes to take the police to the street where he met the contact, the street itself has gone missing.
| LineColor=500050
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber=8
| Title=Forced Landing
| DirectedBy=Paul Lynch
| WrittenBy=Robert Malcolm Young
| OriginalAirDate={{start date|1986|3|5}}
| ShortSummary=An airplane lands with no crew and no passengers.
| LineColor=500050
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber=9
| Title=Last Flight from Moscow
| DirectedBy=Peter Sasdy
| WrittenBy=Cliff Gould
| OriginalAirDate={{start date|1986|3|12}}
| ShortSummary=Alex runs into a familiar lowlife who's being hunted, so he and Leonard must cooperate with demands but plan to retrieve the possession.
| LineColor=500050
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber=10
| Title=A Friendly Game of Showdown
| DirectedBy=Michael A. Hoey
| WrittenBy=Jackson Gillis
| OriginalAirDate={{start date|1986|3|19}}
| ShortSummary=Alex finds himself requested to rule an auction selling the original, unpublished script made by Edgar Allan Poe.
| LineColor=500050
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber=11
| Title=It's a Jungle Out There
| DirectedBy=Alan Cooke
| WrittenBy=Steven Greenberg & Aubrey Solomon
| OriginalAirDate={{start date|1986|4|2}}
| ShortSummary=Alex and Leonard find a U.S. diplomat being blackmailed by a Monte Carlo casino owner involving in selling technological secrets, so they come to the diplomat's aid.
| LineColor=500050
}}
{{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber=12
| Title=Wax Poetic
| DirectedBy=Allen Reisner
| WrittenBy=Lee Sheldon
| OriginalAirDate={{start date|1986|5|7}}
| ShortSummary=A Poe manuscript is purloined to Alex's apartment during an auction.
| LineColor=500050
}}
}}
Ratings
The show ended the season in 38th place with an average 15.5/23 rating/share http://www.thetvratingsguide.com/1991/08/1985-86-ratings-history_15.html?m=1, being the highest rated series of the season not to be renewed. While it performed somewhat better than the series that preceded it in this time slot (Hell Town (TV series)) it still failed to do two things that proved to be the downfall of both series. Losing too much of its lead-in (Highway to Heaven) audience while not being able to take away any from ABC's Dynasty. Though 'Magic' did perform just as well as the series that followed it (St. Elsewhere).
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" |
| No.
! Title ! Air Date ! Time ! Rank ! Rating ! Viewers |
|---|
| Pilot
| January 5, 1986 | Sunday at 9:00 P.M. | #14 of 64 | 21.8 | 18.7 |
| 1
| January 8, 1986 | style="text-align:center;" rowspan="12"| Wednesday at 9:00 P.M. | #20 of 51 | 19.1 | 16.4 |
| 2
| Knave of Diamonds, Ace of Hearts | January 15, 1986 | #32 of 71 | 17.2 | 14.8 |
| 3
| January 22, 1986 | #46 of 67 | 14.7 | 12.6 |
| 4
| January 29, 1986 | #39 of 68 | 16.1 | 13.8 |
| 5
| February 12, 1986 | #39 of 68 | 16.1 | 13.8 |
| 6
| February 19, 1986 | #38 of 55 | 15.8 | 13.6 |
| 7
| February 26, 1986 | #37 of 63 | 14.3 | 12.3 |
| 8
| March 5, 1986 | #34 of 69 | 15.2 | 13.0 |
| 9
| March 12, 1986 | #31 of 69 | 15.7 | 13.4 |
| 10
| March 19, 1986 | #38 of 65 | 13.7 | 11.8 |
| 11
| April 2, 1986 | #31 of 67 | 15.7 | 13.4 |
| 12
| May 7, 1986 | #31 of 65 | 13.4 | 11.5 |
Source: A.C. Nielsen Company via Los Angeles Times
Awards
- Primetime Emmy Awards 1986 - Nominated - Outstanding Cinematography for a Series - Terry K. Meade - For episode "Prisoner of Paradise".
- Edgar Allan Poe Awards 1987 - Nominated - Best Television Episode - Lee Sheldon (writer) - For episode "Wax Poetic".
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb title|0090398}}
Category:1986 American television series debuts
Category:1986 American television series endings
Category:1980s American mystery television series
Category:1980s American crime drama television series
Category:American English-language television shows
Category:Fictional stage magicians
Category:Television series by Universal Television
Category:Television shows set in Florida
Category:Television series created by Richard Levinson
Category:Television series created by William Link
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