Even in the world of overdone magic trick specials, this one looks like it was especially overdone.
If you haven't heard, illusionist Criss Angel escaped from an imploding building Wednesday night. The A&E star was handcuffed to a six story building and had to unlock the cuffs and escape the structure via a helicopter on the roof, before tnt went off and the building imploded. Did he make it? The fact that you haven't heard any news reports of his crushing will probably give you the answer.
A&E will celebrate the return of Mindfreak (in it's fourth season, God help us) by broadcasting the first ever live episode of the show. The special one-hour episode will feature Angel shackled to a six-story building. He must escape to a helicopter hovering over the rooftop as the building explodes. But wait, there's more. The fourth season kicks off one week before the live show with "Walk on a Lake," the season premiere. In this episode, the magician will attempt to walk on the world's largest man-made lake, Lake Mead in Nevada.
I think all the season premiere will prove is that Criss Angel definitely has a God-complex. He is the biggest megalomanic douchebag I've ever seen on TV. I think the best thing to come of Mindfreak is that parody Mad TV did. I put the video after the jump.
The live Mindfreak will air on July 30th at 10 p.m. ET on A&E. The season premiere will air on July 23rd at 10 p.m. ET. Will you be watching?
Hey, Brigitte here with TV Squad Daily. I'll be covering the TV stories I find interesting each day, Monday through Friday, in this video blog.
Today on TV Squad Daily:
Scott Baio filmed a reality show about helping him find a meaningful relationship... while he was in one with his ex's stunt double. Yeah, it's complicated.
According to the New York Post, Criss Angel's wife, Joanne Sarantakos (Sarantakos is Angel's actual surname), is suing her husband for divorce, claiming that he kept their marriage a secret to help his career and make him more appealing to fans.
Their marriage was enough of a secret that I had no idea he was even married, though it's not as if I spend every waking moment keeping up with Angel's personal life. Still, whenever a girl was by Criss' side on Mindfreak, she was always just credited as "Criss' girl" as far as I remember.
I've always respected Criss Angel for being an engaging performer, but magic and illusions have just never done much for me.
I know that, after watching someone walk through a wall, crawl out of a giraffe's mouth, or any number of super human feats, I'm supposed to stare, mouth agape, in complete amazement. The problem is, I know it's a trick, so I can never muster anything more than just, "oh yeah, that's pretty cool, what else is on TV?"
Summer is my least favorite season, by far. And not just because most TV shows are in reruns 'til the fall, though that's part of it. But nowadays the networks and cable are giving us more new stuff during June, July, and August, and it's also a good time to get caught up on shows you missed and those DVDs on your coffee table. Here's what I'm looking forward to this summer.
1. Mad Men (AMC): This is an original drama series for AMC, and it centers on the men (and women) who work for a big Madison Avenue ad agency in 1960. Advertising! 1960! Cool clothes! Cool music! Smoking! Drinking! I can't wait for this show to start. Premieres in July.
The actual season of summer is still a few weeks away, but the summer TV season is certainly upon us. New episodes are few and far between, and many of those that the networks do offer up leave something to be desired. Impersonators? Pirates? Bingo?
Fortunately, the fine folks over at A&E do have a nice summer distraction ready to roll. Tomorrow brings the third season of Mindfreak, starring Criss Angel. To kick off the new season Angel is currently housed in a giant block above Times Square which is being filled with cement by tourists. The block will drop tomorrow morning. You can see the live webcast of the event on the A&E site.
If you get bored with the web feed, which takes an average of 17 seconds I believe, because it's really just a mostly silent web feed of a rainy New York street, you can head over to TV Blend and read an interview with Criss. He talks about the new season, the cement block, his rivalry with David Blaine, and his acting gigs on Las Vegas and C.S.I., among other things. Mindfreak premieres June 5th, at 10PM.