A NOTE ON “EXPOSURE”

In recent years, some television stations have delighted in exposing the secrets of magic to their viewing audience. In fact, when Criss Angel attempted an escape from an imploding building in Clearwater a few months back, one of the local news stations picked apart the trick and broadcast their theory on how it was done during the next morning’s news report. They punctuated this report with the justification, “our viewers have the right to know.”

We agree. The viewers DO have the right to know. It’s called Freedom of the Press and it’s a right we hold dear. The question is, do your viewers WANT to know?

When you expose a secret of magic, you rob the audience of any enjoyment they gained from the performance. This is the exact reason why your station’s movie reviewers don’t spoil the endings of the movies they review. The audience may have the right to know that the butler did it, but the fact is they’d rather be entertained than have you spoil it for them.

We’re pretty confident that you’ll walk away from this wondering how he did it. Not knowing. Wondering. Some of you may even have some theories. But if you do, we hope that you’ll consider what we’ve expressed above, and keep those theories to yourselves.

Of course, any inadvertently exposed secrets behind the inner workings of tonight’s performance are 100% “off the record.”