We are working our way through the 1973-1974 television season, and as we reach May, we come upon the series ending of The Magician, which concluded its run on the prime time network schedule for NBC on May 20, 1974, fifty years ago later this month.
The series starred Bill Bixby, and the pilot for the series debuted on the network the prior spring (see our 1972-73 archives). The series essentially ran for one full season, but one could argue that with the pilot being show as a TV-movie during the prior 1972-73 season, the series had enough film footage and alterations on its opening and closing sequences for its episodes to qualify as a two season series.
For the first season episodes, the opening and closing credits and open were altered slightly, but the general graphics and theme song remained. A nice series about a magician who solves crimes, and with star Bill Bixby an amateur magician as well, the casting was perfect.
For the second half of this first season, now in winter/spring of 1974, the series had adjusted its opening credits and title sequence, focusing more on real-life amateur magician and series' star Bill Bixby.
This video clip is from the series' final episode, and includes the final scene of the series and the corresponding final credits and show closing sequence.
It is always interesting to watch the final scene of any series, and how the director, actors and writers (often producers as well) want to send a show off into the sunset. In the case of The Magician, as in many other series cases, often times no one knows for certain if the final episode of the current season will indeed be the final episode of the series. Often times, the network (and/or production company) has not made a final decision on go/no-go for the upcoming fall season.
Whatever may have been the case for The Magician, we really like this final scene between Bill Bixby and Jessica Walter, playing two magicians in the series. The scene between the two actors has a vibe of 'this is the ending', and if that was indeed the case, the actors (and writers) did a nice job of saying farewell.
This video clip is presented here on RU-vid for the entertainment and informational value of the viewer, and no copyright infringement is intended.
Enjoy, and rest in peace Mr. Bixby and Ms. Walter... you are well remembered and we thank you.
12 сен 2024
