Season 2, Episode 1 Critique

Okay, before I begin, I need to correct you on one thing. The "Fire and Mice" episode isn't from Season 2, although it sure *does* feel like a new season. It's officially "Season 1, Episode 7" (http://www.syfy.com/wizardwars/episodes), or as Wikipedia puts it, ""Season 1.5". You see, the show was originally slated to run for six episodes, and since the ratings were good, it was renewed for another six episodes. How many more will be made after that, and what their officially season designation will be, awaits to be seen.

To me, there were a lot of unnecessary changes made to the series starting with this episode.

1. Too much makeup has been applied to judge Christen Gethart's face, and to a lesser degree, host Ellen Fox's face, too. I thought Christen looked absolutely gorgeous in the first six episodes. Now she looks like a clown. It makes me sad.

2. They replaced wizard Angela Funovitz with former challenger Billy Kidd. Billy's team had won the first round in the episode "Blown Away", but lost the second round, so I'm not sure what justifies her bump up to "wizard". While I miss Angela's exquisite beauty, what kinda irks me here is that they just swapped one woman for another, and kept the "three guys and a gal" dynamic of the wizards team, instead of making it "two guys and two gals".

3. The judges now all sit in front of tables, and not casually in chairs like the first six eps. The casualness gave it a much more relaxed atmosphere.

4. They added detailed info graphics whenever each person appears. Besides their name, it also gives the occupations/achievements, and their twitter handles. While I have no problem with this, it's way more than what they were showing in the first six eps. It kinda feels like information overload, sort of.

5. I'm positive that there are plants in the audience who always react to every trick in a camera-friendly way that guarantees they'll be shown on camera. In this episode, I lost track of how many times the camera focused in on this mature-looking lady wearing black-rim glasses and a green top with blonde/grey hair. Maybe the plants were there in the first six episodes, but I didn't notice them like I did here. It also seems like, as you said, that the judges are instructed to make goofy reaction shots, too. That one you commented on where Penn is sitting there in "jaw on the floor" shock struck me as completely phony, too.

6. Some new lighting effects here and there. It's not too bad, but there's "fireworks" lighting on the wall above the area where the wizards sit which is rather distracting.

I do like the new "Teach A Trick" segment, though the one in this episode ends with a new unexplained extension of the trick.

Anyway, it seems like the producers of the show felt the show needed a bunch of changes that it really didn't need. I'll continue to watch for now to see if I can tolerate the changes, but I may eventually stop watching.

And on a side note: What's with all of the magic shows popping up on Syfy? Besides "Wizard Wards", they just premiered "Close-Up Kings" and another show with a street magician/David Blaine wannabe named "Troy" (if I'm remembering his name correctly).
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Paul R.

http://www.spookcentral.tk

I thought the vast majority of the tricks were easy to figure out, the timing and performances were weak, and Penn usually looked bored when they cut to him. Yet the judges praised every contestant to high heaven! I hate to say it, but this show is causing me to lose a lot of respect for Penn & Teller, and I've been a fan for around 30 years.

I have to just defend Penn... by mocking him, kinda. Penn himself has admitted that he can't fake enthuseasm, he just can't. He once told a story of going to the Emmy awards and trying his best to look happy and enthuseastic, and apparently they were going to show him on the show but, and I'm quoting the producer "We can't show him, he looks bored as *beep* He just can't fake enthuseasm, he's a pretty blunt man so if he looked shocked and impressed, he really was impressed.

The only thing about the new season/half season that confused/irritated me is having Billy Kidd turning up as a wizard when she was just a challenger before (And one that lost)... also kinda getting bored with Gregory Wilson, does he know how to do anything other than picking pockets? It feels like that's all he ever does if he's picked to be in the final challenge.