# 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.

## 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 (1986-1-5) |
| 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 (1986-1-8) |
| 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 (1986-1-15) |
| 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 (1986-1-22) |
| 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 (1986-1-29) |
| 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 (1986-2-12) |
| 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 (1986-2-19) |
| 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 (1986-2-26) |
| 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 (1986-3-5) |
| An airplane lands with no crew and no passengers. |||||
| 9 | "Last Flight from Moscow" | Peter Sasdy | Cliff Gould | March 12, 1986 (1986-3-12) |
| 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 (1986-3-19) |
| 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 (1986-4-2) |
| 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 (1986-5-7) |
| A Poe manuscript is purloined to Alex's apartment during an auction. |||||

## Ratings

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 it's 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 | Wednesday at 9:00 P.M. | #32 of 71 | 17.2 | 14.8 |
| 3 | Revenge of the Esperanza | January 22, 1986 | Wednesday at 9:00 P.M. | #46 of 67 | 14.7 | 12.6 |
| 4 | Death Goes to the Movies | January 29, 1986 | Wednesday at 9:00 P.M. | #39 of 68 | 16.1 | 13.8 |
| 5 | Vanishing Act | February 12, 1986 | Wednesday at 9:00 P.M. | #39 of 68 | 16.1 | 13.8 |
| 6 | Prisoner of Paradise | February 19, 1986 | Wednesday at 9:00 P.M. | #38 of 55 | 15.8 | 13.6 |
| 7 | Address Unknown | February 26, 1986 | Wednesday at 9:00 P.M. | #37 of 63 | 14.3 | 12.3 |
| 8 | Forced Landing | March 5, 1986 | Wednesday at 9:00 P.M. | #34 of 69 | 15.2 | 13.0 |
| 9 | Last Flight from Moscow | March 12, 1986 | Wednesday at 9:00 P.M. | #31 of 69 | 15.7 | 13.4 |
| 10 | A Friendly Game of Showdown | March 19, 1986 | Wednesday at 9:00 P.M. | #38 of 65 | 13.7 | 11.8 |
| 11 | It's a Jungle Out There | April 2, 1986 | Wednesday at 9:00 P.M. | #31 of 67 | 15.7 | 13.4 |
| 12 | Wax Poetic | May 7, 1986 | Wednesday at 9:00 P.M. | #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".