NBC's "Phenomenon" - Week 1
In the good old days, all you had to do to prove that you were a mentalist was to bend a few spoons, stop a couple of watches and spin some compasses. And if you could seemingly create some odd coincidences over the radio, you were doing well.
These days, if NBC's "Phenomenon" is any indication, the bar is a lot higher and you have to risk life and limb to get noticed. And you don’t even have to be entertaining.
"Phenomenon" is a reality show that pits several contestants against each other "American Idol" style. The show is complete with a host and judges: Criss Angel and Uri Geller, who provide commentary. Television audiences vote via phone or the web for their favorite contestants. The winner takes home $250,000. The losers are eliminated.
Reality?
If someone could read minds, remotely view objects, gain superhuman strength through mind control or predict the future, these powers would probably be tested in a laboratory with mundane considerations such as controls and test conditions, and probability, statistics and repeatability. 
Instead, participants have to activate wolf traps onto their hands (Jim Karol) and play Russian Roulette with loaded nail guns (Eran Raven).
The concept is a mixed bag that was evident in the commentary by Angel and Gellar. Angel seemed more concerned with showmanship, stage persona and character while Gellar just wanted to be convinced about what he was seeing. Is this theater or a demonstration?
Show Business
Since we’re not going to prove whether any of this stuff is real, it all boils down to entertainment. And in this regard, the show fell flat. 
Only Gerry McCambridge performed an amusing routine, a prediction effect involving phone books, which had a plot, featured some humor and provided a secondary kicker at the end.
The rest of the contestants simply strolled through their routines. Jim Karol’s wolf trap routine featured a tangential mind reading effect that wracked the brain for its remote relation to the effect at hand. And placing one of the guest stars in peril was somehow considered fun. One has to wonder if the network played a role in distilling the entertainers’ routines down to the minimalist presentations we saw during the opening show.
Forget about whether the feats are real or not. It’s all about entertainment and ratings - “American Idol” for magic. Let’s hope that the magicians will be given the freedom to perform material that will be compelling and entertaining to watch.
Magic deserves far better.
More Reading:
NBC's "Phenomenon" - Week 2 with Readers' Comments
NBC's "Phenomenon" - Week 3 with Readers' Comments
Comments
I think that you hit the nail on the head…no pu intended.
Criss also seemed to be one-upping the contestants with his ‘when I did something like that’ comments.
Let’s hope the other contestants see the reviews and step it up for next week.
As a long time insider of magic and mentalism, I watched the show with some investment, but not too much investment. I can say with confidence that McCambridge was in fact the worst performer and the only one who truly truly bored me AND the judges. That being said, the reason the show falls flat is not because of any of the reasons you gave but rather because the producers failed to take into account that the judges differences are not sufficiently polarized, and there is no “judge # 3″ to be the wild card in the true style of American Idol. Angel, in ads for this show, promises he will “bust” anyone who claims to be doing something other than a trick. But noone made such a claim or “crossed the line”, so he couldnt bust anyone and instead had to try to say something useful. Gellar stuck to the idea of trying to give credit to those who “made him believe” without coming out and saying they are demonstrating “real” powers. The show therefore fails to be “explosive” as it supposedly intended because you need to mix combustible things together to create an explosion…
I think you are too hard with Karol and Raven. Karol’s routine was incoherent, but the presentation was indeed amusing and natural. Raven did a good job and performed a nice mentalism stunt even if his presentation was a little bit flat and crearly overacted.
McCambridge’s routine was my favourite, but he failed to provide a good presentational climax for his otherwise clever secondary kicker.
Anyway, as a beginner magician, I overall appreciated the show. But I felt very sorry for Uri Geller, who did a very bad job with his thought transmission and looked like a fool as a judge.
Uri Geller has had no problem looking like a fool, as a judge or otherwise, frequently over the past 30 years.
I too felt that the show was flat, but I place part of the blame on the producers. A good producer can edit the boring and make it exciting.
I was also a bit confused from the beginning. I was working and not watching closely but from the early promotional ads it looked like the show was going to be a competition between the Magic of Criss Angel and the Mentalism of Uri Geller. Later I discovered that it would be a competition with Angel and Geller being the judges. I thought this would be great, finally a talent show for magicians. When the show came out and I saw it was a competition for Mentalists only, I was disappointed.
I think the show could be brought back to life with a change in format. Let all forms of magic participate. Have Criss build up the Magicians as the best, and have Uri build up the Menatalists as the best. Now instead of tearing down the art they would be building it up.
Mentalism is by nature a slower form of entertainment. You have to set the stage to be serious, it takes time to dig deep into yourself and bring your powers to the surface. Trying to move it at a fast pace does not allow you to properly set the mood for this form of entertainment. But this makes a slow presentation for television when repeated over and over again over the course of an hour.
Magic is often performed with dance to the driving beats of dance mix music, explosions, flashes of light and amazing visual disturbances. This makes for good television.
With a mix of the two, the audience would be taken on a roller coaster ride with all the highs and lows, the unexpected turns and heart stopping moments.
I say give it back to the producers and tell them to do their job and make it work.
Although I believe there is a future for mentalism, I am not sure that is can be showcased in a show of this nature. On the one hand, mentalism can so easily be faked- someone “feeling” that another person is “tickling their chin” or guessing a celebrity picture, even though one’s hand is trapped in a wolf trap (which also can be faked).
The visual reward is often lacking, which at least gives you the chance to be mystified as to how the trick was done. In mental magic, for the most part, it can all be faked in advance. Even the phone book trick, which was the most convincing, could have been faked- but that was the closest one to creating the illusion of true mentalism.
Uri Geller has always propounded a mythos about his reality. This was especially evidenced in Uri Puharich’s biography, in which Uri’s powers are related to UFO experiences and an advanced mysterious and etheric group called “The Nine.”
Uri has substantially vitiated his image by participating in a program so ambiguous. It would have been better to have some parapsychologists as scientists, investigating the reality of the feats- or just a real magic show that aped American Idol like most of these formula shows do. Magicians would do better than mentalists.
I do appreciate that Criss has taken magic out of the closet and put it back out on the streets. But, one can only go so far as a regular everyday performer to live up to the media crafted creations in real life.
Criss has modernized magic to make it ‘fit’ with the attitudes of today. But, it’s already become boring.
If you go to Youtub.com, you can see all kinds of young kids exposing the floating trick he created.
Criss and his emo, thug, rock star whatever the heck look he is trying for has become just a clown of different costuming.
Uri. I’m sorry. But, he should have stayed hidden away. His attempt at mentalism really did come across as something out of a pyscho ward.
The other performers/contestants are probably more entertaining in person. The nail gun thing was very weak. The phone book test is probably better in a live performance. And, what’s odd is that I simply can’t remember the other performer.
I’m already not a fan of this show only because I’m not a fan of Criss. But, I will watch it again.
A very slow disgusting-TV Show! Uri does not have a TV personality as a host-judge..and I did not choose the sign he said everyone would pick…! I only wish Criss would dress up, clean up,cut his hair and look like a professional performer instead of a weirdo. Adults don’t like his wardrobe,but I guess this is all for the young.Do you have to be weird,and act weird to do magic tricks?Copperfield may be out of circulation for awhile now, so Criss and some others must step it up to keep regular magic & mental-magic going big time.I have seen and known many of the great “wizard” performers,Blackstone and his son,Dunninger,Neff,Baker Brothers the spook show people,Kreskin,Penn & Teller,Siegfried & Roy, etc. and been there and done that kind of stuff,including TV and radio”magicshows”…You must build up “magic”,not in any way tear it down with criticism. The “Idol”shows are all so awful anyway. It ends up saying only one is better then anyone else? Presentation is so important.Competition=TV show among magicians? Whoever came up with that Idea? That unknown-magician jerk and his awful low-rated TV shows..??
I have an old friend competing in this show.. so first of all I gotta give my support to Wayne Hoffman.. I hope he brings the house down!
My own critque though.. If I were in charge….I believe the success of such shows as American Idol and Project Runway etc. comes from there being a CHALLENGE and a HISTORY. If they incorporated a challenge to the contestents each week and more behind the scenes drama .. this show would be much better show.
Next… The success of such performers as Chris Angel and ESPECIALLY David Blaine lies in the format. They perform alot of their stuff OFF STAGE and ON THE STREET. It plays as MORE believable and more spontaneous. (even if its planned for weeks ahead of time)
This show (as it is now) seems too contrived and fake because of the stage format.. and I dont CARE about the contestents because of the lack of behind the scenes footage (Except for Wayne.. ).
Interesting? Yes…..
Did it wow me? No……..
David Copperfield ? No……..
Chriss Angel ? No…….
The acts were not appealing.
The judging was just as bad.
The show is a flop.
Totally lost my interest.
Freebird out