Having paid to see acclaimed magic/comedy (or is that comedy/magic?) duo Penn & Teller not once, but twice in Vegas this year, it’s safe to say I’m a fan. The pair are no strangers to the small screen, having spent seven seasons taking the piss out of subjects ranging from bottled water to the Apocalypse on Showtime’s Bullshit! Not to mention burning an American flag (or not) on The West Wing. Now, however, Penn & Teller are trying their hand at fiction in a new hour-long ABC show where they’ll play…themselves?
Well, sort of. According to Variety, the untitled show will cast Penn & Teller as Penn & Teller, Vegas stage magicians who also happen to be reluctant detectives. The show comes from House writer Leonard Dick, who will executive produce the show with the duo.
With plenty of cookie-cutter detective shows littering the airwaves, I’d much rather see Penn and Teller cleaning up the criminal underworld than yet another C.S.I. spinoff. We haven’t had a decent crime-solving magician since Bill Bixby’s ‘70s series The Magician. (And yes, I did have to look that up.) Who knows when or if the show will actually make it to air, but in the mean time one crucial question remains: could anything in this show be nearly as memorable as Penn & Teller’s appearance as Rebo and Zooty in Babylon 5?
