What Happened to the Magic Box?

Last week (or was it two weeks ago?), David Blaine's latest television special hit the airwaves. The Dive of Death landed with a resounding "thud" in many an American household.

Ten years ago, I would have been glued to my TV set on the night of the broadcast. Blaine-mania and magic-on-tv-mania had what I took to be a stranglehold on the magic community in general. Every magician I interacted with seemed set on watching whatever magic appeared on TV. It was as if watching magic on TV had become part of every magician's job description, be he an amateur or professional. Magic shops used to report waves of phone calls on the days following a major TV magic special. Is that still the case, still the trend? I'm not so sure.

It now seems that fewer members of the magic community are as dedicated to tuning in on broadcast night than before? Is this simply a matter of personal perspective (since I don't watch them anymore, that doesn't necessarily mean that no one watches them anymore), or does it have something to do with the way entertainment is being consumed these days? Or worse yet, is the culprit of my suspicion directly related to a general disinterest in magic on TV in general?

It seems that the second supposition above - the good 'ol Internet's effect on broadcast media - is the most likely answer. While I didn't see Blaine's special on ABC-TV, I did check out the disappointing finale and the part where Big, Bad Bill Kalush shoots Blaine in the mouth (for real) on YouTube. And guess what? If more of the special were available on YouTube, I'd probably watch those clips, too.

So, dear readers, is there a general malaise out there in TV-magicland, is streaming video killing off TV (as I recently heard reported on NPR), or is there some other impetus for my possibly incorrect hypothesis that magic on TV just ain't the all-consuming magic community rallying point that it used to be?