Wizard Wars - Reality TV Show

[Duke Boy]

Stumbled upon this on Facebook, I actually know Bizzaro, but wondered how the magicians in the group feel about this.
http://www.wired.com/underwire/2014/02/syfy-wizard-wars/
Do you feel it will show to much of the process thus destroying the illusion, or the fact that more magicians will be able to get exposure it will be more good then bad?

[Curt]

Hmm, interesting.

I don't think that showing the creative process behind magic really gives it away. For me at least, it's all about the performance, not the actual effects. The only trouble I see with the show is I don't know how appealing it will be to laymen. Sure, the majority of people may like watching magic tricks, but do they really care about how they are created? I may be wrong, but that's just an issue that I could see coming up if it was trying to gain a larger audience.

[Don Boyer]

Curt, you raise a good point about laymen, but considering that we're talking about a channel called "SyFy", odds are we're not talking about garden-variety laymen!

For me, magic is all about the performance - the trick itself is almost secondary.  With practically any trick out there, if you strip away the story, the patter, the acting, etc., you're left with a mechanical, boring stunt.

[yoel]

The show itself needs some work.  So does the magic in my opinion.  Not something Id be looking to watch again.  Im sure the exposure will be minimal and the magic is not all that impressive anyway.

[Don Boyer]

The show itself needs some work.  So does the magic in my opinion.  Not something Id be looking to watch again.  Im sure the exposure will be minimal and the magic is not all that impressive anyway.

How can you tell?  The show doesn't premiere until next month!  Am I missing something?

[Duke Boy]

The show itself needs some work.  So does the magic in my opinion.  Not something Id be looking to watch again.  Im sure the exposure will be minimal and the magic is not all that impressive anyway.

How can you tell?  The show doesn't premiere until next month!  Am I missing something?

I think his comment is based on the made in my living room feel that the shop-around pilot has.

[Don Boyer]

I think his comment is based on the made in my living room feel that the shop-around pilot has.

That's like trying to judge a movie based on the cover on the script!  Shop-arounds tend to be shot on a shoestring budget and are meant simply to give the gist of what the end-result show would be like to the prospective producer.  The final product rarely looks like it, just as a demo tape rarely sounds just like the finished studio album.

[yoel]

The show itself needs some work.  So does the magic in my opinion.  Not something Id be looking to watch again.  Im sure the exposure will be minimal and the magic is not all that impressive anyway.

How can you tell?  The show doesn't premiere until next month!  Am I missing something?

I think his comment is based on the made in my living room feel that the shop-around pilot has.

Yeah the made in my living room feel is terrible.  Shop-around pilot or shoestring budget at least find a friend with a nicer place. The reality is that reality TV is mostly all staged or cut to perfection in order to be entertaining.  I have friends who stared in reality TV show about single girls who can't find the right guy.  Meanwhile they were mostly engaged or had boyfriends in real life.  So with that yes the show should be cut to limit exposure of methods and more effort should be put into making the show entertaining.  Also some better items should be chosen to give more opportunity to make the tricks more entertaining.  The way the show was shot I feel that even if the magicians on there had real talent it was made to look very amateur and cheesy. 

[DarkDerp]

 I agree with Don. The term pilot episode  has come to mean episode one. This is not a funded broadcast tv pilot, but as Don said  a demo. It's more of a pitch, or an extended elevator speech.

[Don Boyer]

I agree with Don. The term pilot episode  has come to mean episode one. This is not a funded broadcast tv pilot, but as Don said  a demo. It's more of a pitch, or an extended elevator speech.

You should see the "demo" of South Park - it was an electronic Christmas card some Hollywood suit sent out to his Christmas card list and it went viral.  Doesn't look much like South Park does today, or even like the show's actual pilot episode.

As far as "reality TV" - it's really one of two things: either it's a game show with more storytelling to it, or it's a semi-staged documentary.  I had an ex-girlfriend actor who complained that reality shows were killing off gigs for actors when they started replacing dramas and comedies.  I suppose she didn't realize that most of those people were actors as well, after a fashion!

Want a serious example of the difference between a demo and an album-grade track?  Trent Reznor did a CD-single for "Head Like a Hole" shortly before the release of his first album, Pretty Hate Machine.  Compare the demo version on the single with the finished version on the album - WORLDS apart, although they're the same song.  Ironically, in both cases, Trent was the only musician: he used to record everything solo, playing all the instruments and mixing them together in the studio, before eventually using some members of his touring band as performers on his albums.

The point being that whatever you saw ISN'T likely the actual pilot episode that's airing soon.  It was probably shot to "garage band" standards and had just enough polish to get the show's concept across without costing an arm and a leg.  People didn't do it this way in the past - it started becoming more popular as the quality and availability of consumer-grade video/audio/editing equipment put at least a decent grade of output within reach of Joe Six-pack.  Using rented equipment, you could make a demo for just a few thousand dollars not including talent, and have a finished product practically overnight - something like that was impossible in the age of filmed TV shows.