Blacke's Magic

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.

Blacke's Magic
Genre	Crime drama
Created by	Richard Levinson William Link
Developed by	Peter S. Fischer
Directed by	John Llewellyn Moxey
Starring	Hal Linden Harry Morgan
Theme music composer	David Bell
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	13
Production
Executive producer	Peter S. Fischer
Producers	Douglas Benton Cliff Gould Lee Sheldon
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	48 minutes
Production company	Universal Television
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	January 5 (1986-01-05) – May 7, 1986 (1986-05-07)

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

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
Pilot	"Breathing Room"	John Llewellyn Moxey	Story by : Richard Levinson & William Link and Peter S. Fischer Teleplay by : Peter S. Fischer	January 5, 1986 (1986-01-05)
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.
1	"Ten Tons of Trouble"	Allen Reisner	Story by : Geoffrey Fischer Teleplay by : Geoffrey Fischer & Cliff Gould	January 8, 1986 (1986-01-08)
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.
2	"Knave of Diamonds, Ace of Hearts"	Alan Cooke	Robert E. Swanson	January 15, 1986 (1986-01-15)
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.
3	"Revenge of the Esperanza"	Alvin Ganzer	Story by : Robert Brush Teleplay by : Tom Sawyer & Robert Brush	January 22, 1986 (1986-01-22)
Some marine biologists are looking for a lost wreck. They find it but as soon as they do, it floats up and goes away.
4	"Death Goes to the Movies"	Michael A. Hoey	Peter S. Fischer	January 29, 1986 (1986-01-29)
While Alex is playing plot-advisor for a movie in the making, the movie's producer is suddenly killed.
5	"Vanishing Act"	Walter Grauman	Lee Sheldon	February 12, 1986 (1986-02-12)
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.
6	"Prisoner of Paradise"	Alan Cooke	Philip Saltzman	February 19, 1986 (1986-02-19)
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?
7	"Address Unknown"	Allen Reisner	Lee Sheldon	February 26, 1986 (1986-02-26)
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.
8	"Forced Landing"	Paul Lynch	Robert Malcolm Young	March 5, 1986 (1986-03-05)
An airplane lands with no crew and no passengers.
9	"Last Flight from Moscow"	Peter Sasdy	Cliff Gould	March 12, 1986 (1986-03-12)
Alex runs into a familiar lowlife who's being hunted, so he and Leonard must cooperate with demands but plan to retrieve the possession.
10	"A Friendly Game of Showdown"	Michael A. Hoey	Jackson Gillis	March 19, 1986 (1986-03-19)
Alex finds himself requested to rule an auction selling the original, unpublished script made by Edgar Allan Poe.
11	"It's a Jungle Out There"	Alan Cooke	Steven Greenberg & Aubrey Solomon	April 2, 1986 (1986-04-02)
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.
12	"Wax Poetic"	Allen Reisner	Lee Sheldon	May 7, 1986 (1986-05-07)
A Poe manuscript is purloined to Alex's apartment during an auction.

Ratings

The show ended the season in 38th place with an average 15.5/23 rating/share^[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).

No.	Title	Air Date	Time	Rank	Rating	Viewers (Millions)
Pilot	Breathing Room	January 5, 1986	Sunday at 9:00 P.M.	#14 of 64	21.8	18.7
1	Ten Tons of Trouble	January 8, 1986	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	Revenge of the Esperanza	January 22, 1986		#46 of 67	14.7	12.6
4	Death Goes to the Movies	January 29, 1986		#39 of 68	16.1	13.8
5	Vanishing Act	February 12, 1986		#39 of 68	16.1	13.8
6	Prisoner of Paradise	February 19, 1986		#38 of 55	15.8	13.6
7	Address Unknown	February 26, 1986		#37 of 63	14.3	12.3
8	Forced Landing	March 5, 1986		#34 of 69	15.2	13.0
9	Last Flight from Moscow	March 12, 1986		#31 of 69	15.7	13.4
10	A Friendly Game of Showdown	March 19, 1986		#38 of 65	13.7	11.8
11	It's a Jungle Out There	April 2, 1986		#31 of 67	15.7	13.4
12	Wax Poetic	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".