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Breaking the Magician's Code: Magic's Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed is a series of television shows and specials in which the methods behind magic tricks and illusions are explained by a narrator and are performed in a warehouse in the United States with no audience, by an unknown "world class" magician known as the "masked magician" who does not speak and wears a mask on the show to protect their identity and career. This "masked magician" is also assisted for many tricks performed on the show by a group of attractive female assistants and normal stagehands, who also do not speak but do not have their face masked, as they are not the masked magician's regular assistants and stagehands.
| Breaking the Magician's Code: Magic's Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed | |
|---|---|
| Presented by | Mitch Pileggi Mark Thompson |
| Starring | Masked Magician: Val Valentino Principal performers: Sybil Azur Kimi Bateman Michelle Berube Allie Cohen Kelly Cooper Marisa Gilliam Lyndsay Haldorson Denise Holland Jennifer Keyes Diane Klimaszewski Elaine Klimaszewski Kelly Danielle Jones Samantha Faye Lee Lauren Melendez Noelle Naone Paige Peterson Elizabeth Ramos Kadee Sweeney |
| Theme music composer | Danny Lux |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of episodes | 18 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Production locations | 516 South Anderson Street, Los Angeles 90033 |
| Running time | 1 hour |
| Production companies | Nash Entertainment Don Weiner Productions Alfred Haber Distribution |
| Original release | |
| Network | Fox (1997–2002) MyNetworkTV (2008–2009) |
| Release | November 24, 1997 – February 21, 2009 |
In its original incarnation there were four shows in 1997–1998 and a special in 2002 broadcast on the Fox network in the United States, and on Sky and ITV in the United Kingdom. In 2008–2009, a new series of thirteen shows was broadcast by MyNetworkTV in the United States and ITV4 in the United Kingdom. On May 1, 2012, reruns of the first season began airing on BIO in the United States.
The first four specials and the full series featured incognito magician Val Valentino as the Masked Magician performing large-scale illusions and a few smaller-scale close up magic tricks before revealing the secrets of the tricks.
The performers for the 1997–1998 specials were Sybil Azur, Michelle Berube, Marisa Gilliam, Denise Holland, Kelly Danielle Jones, Jennifer Keyes, Diane Klimaszewski, Elaine Klimaszewski, and Elizabeth Ramos.
A special was produced in 2002, with a new magician, who, for this iteration of the show, was not Valentino, but instead an unknown performer, presenting the tricks with Kimi Bateman, Kelly Cooper, Noelle Naone, and Kadee Sweeney. A 13-part series was televised across 2008 and 2009. Allie Cohen, Lyndsay Haldorson, Samantha Faye Lee, Lauren Melendez and Paige Peterson were the principal performers.
Actor Mitch Pileggi presented the original series, acting as both the introducer and narrator. In the fifth special, Pileggi was replaced by narrator Mark Thompson, who served as the introducer for all the other episodes. Pileggi returned for the revived series where he solely serves as narrator.
The series is made by production company Nash Entertainment. The title alluded to the magician's code: the promise by working magicians not to reveal the basis of their tricks, or else risk getting blackballed by fellow magicians. The first special, which aired in November 1997, scored the highest ratings for any Fox special to that point; another three specials were broadcast through 1998.[1] Fox returned on May 15, 2002, with Breaking the Magician's Code: Magic's Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed 5. A new magician was wearing a new mask with artificial hair that did not cover their entire face, and a purple glistening outfit. It was never revealed who portrayed the magician in this episode.
MyNetworkTV bought thirteen new episodes for broadcast in the U.S. starting in the fall of 2008, with the first episode shown on October 2. They were shot at 516 South Anderson Street in Los Angeles, (34°2′25.7604″N 118°13′27.1668″W) during the summer of 2008. The assistants learned the illusion the same day they shot it and filmed four to six illusions per day. These specials were also shown on TVB Pearl in Hong Kong, with the first episode shown on June 13, 2010.[2] Valentino was credited as a producer and Mitch Pileggi returned as narrator, although he did not appear on camera like the original specials. The show also aired in the UK on ITV4, and in Australia on 7Two with new narration by Grant Denyer. Wrestlers Maria Kanellis and Eve Torres who at the time were both active signed to WWE appeared in the first episode as part of a trick.
There is an Australian version of the show that first aired at 7:30 Monday, June 14, 2010, on Network Seven and has changed to Sundays at 6:30 on 7Two. This is the same show as the US version with some minor changes. This show also began to air on Australian pay television network Fox8 on Wednesday September 21, 2011. This version is a duplicate of the American version. Since the first run of the series, the shows have been rerun many times on Sundays on Channel 7. The show also had a Portuguese adaptation in the public TV Channel SIC, essentially a duplicate of the American version only with a different Portuguese narrator.
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