Blacke's Magic (1986– )

A magician and his con-man father solve mysteries using a combination of sleight of hand and con games.

Creators:

Peter S. Fischer, Richard Levinson, William Link

Stars:

Hal Linden, Harry Morgan, R.J. Adams

Nominated for 1 Primetime Emmy. Another 1 nomination.

Cast

Complete series cast summary:
Hal Linden	...	Alexander Blacke (4 episodes, 1986)
Harry Morgan	...	Leonard Blacke (4 episodes, 1986)
R.J. Adams	...	Art Baer (3 episodes, 1986)
Claudia Christian	...	Laurie Blacke (2 episodes, 1986)
Mark Shera	...	Lt. Ted Byrnes (2 episodes, 1986)

Storyline

Alexander Blacke is a retired magician who comes out of retirement, at the behest of his con-man/gambler father, Leonard, to perform on stage and solve mysteries in this series that mixes the magical antics of "The Magician," the con-game schemes of "The Sting," "Switch," and "Tenspeed and Brown Shoe", and the intricate mysteries of "Columbo" and "Murder She Wrote."

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Plot Keywords:

magic | detective | character name in title

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 January 1986 (USA)

Also Known As:

Blacke el Mago

Filming Locations:

Denver Street, Backlot, Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min 60 min (13 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Referenced in St. Elsewhere: Black's Magic (1986)

User Reviews

Where magic out smarts the bad guys

As a kid I was always a fan of the Bill Bixby series THE MAGICIAN, where Bill played a famous wealthy magician who used his magic to out smart the bad guys. Here is an updated version of that premise. Post "Barney Miller" Hal Linden plays Alexander Blacke, a wealthy magician who decides to not only use his magic to entertain, but to also fight crime. Blacke is living the good life as a bachelor when all of a sudden his life is interrupted when his father Leonard Blacke, played by post "M.A.S.H." Harry Morgan moves in. Leonard grew up working as a carnival "con man" and always seems to get involved with Alexander's crime solving by either interfering, helping or employing several of Leonard's old "Showbiz" buddies. Alexander usually used his magic as a ways to solve show the criminals did things such as make statues disappear. Like THE MAGICIAN this was a fun show, unfortunately it didn't last long and the NBC network started shifting it around the schedule. Also at the time since Morgan and Linden just departed very lucrative roles on their own successful TV series, I think the viewing public had a tough time adjusting.