Does anyone know any information about the magicians in THEM?

Here's what I Know of THEM taken from http://www.magictimes.com/index.html
"T.H.E.M. -Totally Hidden Extreme Magic" is the title of a new reality television special where magic and illusion is used to surprise and mystify strangers during real life situations. Enrico de la Vega who created the show with Chris Gongora told MagicTimes that "We've taken a lot of stage illusions and brought them into real life situations." Hidden cameras and staged situations capture magicians Danny Cole, Thomas Meier, Michael Grasso, Jason Neistadt, Cyril, Lisa de la Vega, Justin "Kredible" Willman along with Chris Gongora and Enrico de la Vega performing some amazing magic to unsuspecting bystanders. Ken Mok who directed the show described it as, "It's like 'Candid Camera' meets the world of magic." The one-hour show is scheduled to air on Wednesday Jun. 23 at 8pm ET on NBC-TV.(6/1)

I won't miss this for anything. I saw the commercial for it for the first time tonight. I was impressed. I laughed out loud when one of the magicians coughed/sneezed or whatever and his head fell off. Don't miss it guys!

I know most of T.H.E.M. and they are wonderful entertainer and thinkers...I am expecting this show(s) to be great!

It sounds unique. I will try to watch it.

To be honest, I didn't think much of the show.

Far too many people on one 44-minute show to make it compelling viewing. Copperfield, Burton, Angel, Blaine, Brown, Henning, etc.. They all shine and, make great viewing on television because it’s just them, doing the magic. There are subtle storylines and developments in style and character. You can relate to that one person, and you can really grow to like the performer. Whereas with a ‘team’ of 'them', there is no time for any of that, by the end of the first show, I couldn’t even remember any of their names, or really anything about them.


The opening 'trick', with 'them' in a "legitimate" Casino being filmed by "hidden camera's" was a bad way to start things off. It looked so completely unnatural and screamed 'gimmicked cards', and just about every suspect editing technique in the book. Even to the layperson I watched it with was thinking along the same lines.


I wasn't very impressed, although the plastic spoon-bending bit made me laugh.


If you want to see quality edgy, hip showmanship, entertainment and bewilderment in the same loose 'genre' of hidden camera’s in ordinary places, go find copies of Derren Brown's Mind Control shows, where he sometimes uses them to his advantage, and simply shines.

Malini,

I agree with you fully here. There was not enough time for the viewers to really relate to any of the performers on the show. Personally, I would have liked it very much if I could have seen more of each magician. However...

I think that you may possibly be missing the point of T.H.E.M. This is the first time (that I can think of) that such a talented group of magician friends have come together as a team to showcase not one, but all of the "posse". I look at T.H.E.M. as a "band" and not a "solo singer".

In this respect, I agree that 44 minutes is far too little time to learn anything about all of THEM. Which is why I truly do hope that there is a continuation of their special. Wouldn't it be great if the public had the opportunity to get to know THEM and choose their favorite? Much like the Beatles?



Agreed. With all of the good material they had, this wasn't the best way to start off the show. And true, I'm not a big fan of the editing. That being said...

A friend of mine pointed out a different persepctive. Look at the way all of the people being targeted REACTED. Regardless of the editing, each "victim" really honestly and truly believed that what they were seeing was real! There was no setup of "let me show you a trick," so the people weren't expecting one. Which leads me to this...

When you perform a trick for someone, they're expecting something strange to occur, and therefore, they're ready for it. No matter how good the setup is, and how surprising the effect is, they still know there's some sort of trick to it...

...the "victims" in T.H.E.M. had NO CLUE that anything was coming, and even dismissed the "effect" as REAL! (until the end when they were let off the hook, which I thought was bad, too. Why not let them go home thinking what they saw was real?). So I ask, isn't that what we as magicians all want? To make our audiences believe in miracles? To make them believe that the impossible really IS possible?

To the "victims" in T.H.E.M., it was.

As for me, I look forward to seeing what T.H.E.M. can do when given the chance to. They're pushing magic in a great new direction. On a personal note, I wish I could be "one of T.H.E.M."

...and yes, Derren Brown is pretty amazing.

I thought the show was airing on Wednesday. How did anyone see it already?

Looks like Brad at Ellionsionist.com has seen it already and gives a review on each effect. You can read it here http://www.ellusionist.com/Them-Totally-......ians.htm

He also has some vidoes for the promo spots.

Enjoy!

Correct me if I am wrong but the special airs on Wednesday June 23. How did you guys review the show before its air date? Are you getting mixed up with another special?

You're correct. T.H.E.M. does air in the states June 23rd. It already aired here in the UK in Feb.

-E

It's on tonight, I can't wait. It looks pretty funny. I wonder if this will spawn a whole crop of copycat magicians, trying to bite off of the "surprise magic" theme. Sort of how street magic became the cool thing to do when Blaine aired his specials.

You must be a mentalist because that's exactly what will happen... as it always does.
Greg

Well, we all got inspired someway. just a thought

I agree, but inspiration is one thing and just copying what you've seen is... well, just copying.
Greg

I dread the copycat backlash. However, if this series takes off and the PAX series in the fall (The Magician) takes off we may have another wave of popular TV magic.

Here's another link to the cast of THEM:
http://www.magicxlive.com/

Nothing about the show, but there are small bios of each of the members of the group.

Deerbourne

I just saw THEM. I liked the magic, I got bored with some of the setups.

The thing that got me mad the most is that they made it seem corney with their "we're one of them" lines. Now everyone is going to be asking me if I am one of them.

Another thing that I didn't like is they didn't do anything original. It's one thing to get famous with your own illusions, but they took a bunch of stuff you could have bought through the advertisements in MAGIC magazine. They are getting famous off of everyone else's tricks and work. I really didn't like (though it looked cool) that head falling off trick. It looked oddly like a Peter Marvey Illusion........

I definately think that they should have never said anything about them being magicians, it just made the show more cheezey. It was definately more of a reality show using magic, than a magic show using the reality style to present it.

Why is it that the only kind of magic that is "marketable" any more is magic where you try to shock people or make them freak out? Those are the only kind of reactions they aired for David Blaine and same with them. I know the producers think it makes good tv, but it is just a shame that magic specials aren't charming, or dare I say, as magical?

I was very excited to watch T.H.E.M., and now that I've seen it, I am a bit disappointed. To some degree, I did enjoy some of the effects, but some things just bored me. I particularly liked Rico walking through the window at the club, it had a nice build up and the atmosphere and response of the crowd was good. I also liked the elevator crawl, although if one of those spectators had a heart attack (which some seemed close to), it would have been slightly less funny.