As a kid I was always a fan of the Bill Bixby series THE MAGICIAN, where Bill played a famous wealthy magician who used his magic to out smart the bad guys. Here is an updated version of that premise. Post "Barney Miller" Hal Linden plays Alexander Blacke, a wealthy magician who decides to not only use his magic to entertain, but to also fight crime. Blacke is living the good life as a bachelor when all of a sudden his life is interrupted when his father Leonard Blacke, played by post "M.A.S.H." Harry Morgan moves in. Leonard grew up working as a carnival "con man" and always seems to get involved with Alexander's crime solving by either interfering, helping or employing several of Leonard's old "Showbiz" buddies. Alexander usually used his magic as a ways to solve show the criminals did things such as make statues disappear. Like THE MAGICIAN this was a fun show, unfortunately it didn't last long and the NBC network started shifting it around the schedule. Also at the time since Morgan and Linden just departed very lucrative roles on their own successful TV series, I think the viewing public had a tough time adjusting.
