A Look at ABC’s New Show: Deception
I have an eclectic taste in television shows, and it takes a lot for me to commit to trying out a new show. While in Los Angeles for the premiere of “A Wrinkle in Time” we screened four new ABC shows and I really liked two of them. One of those was “Deception.”
At first glance I thought it might be another illusion show (I LOVE those) but it’s actually more of a drama series. It’s like a detective show meets Oceans 11 where every episode leaves you wondering “how did they do that?” and you get a bit of a reveal.
Image: Louise Bishop
After screening an episode we interviewed Creator and Executive Producer Chris Fedak & Co-Producer David Kwong, who also happens to be a magician! We even got a little private magic show which blew my mind! I’m hoping to show some of it later in a vlog once I get around to editing all of the video from this really cool trip!
I asked if the tricks were real and could be replicated or if they were made up for TV.
“We try to do it as real as possible,” Chris said. “When you’re making a show, you’re always up against time constraints, so occasionally we have to juje something. But it was important for all of us to make it- to make them all tricks that could be possible, that I could actually do. So it’s all real sleight of hand. Jack’s doing almost all of it himself. That opening, that opening trick, that’s a one-take of him shooting cards and catching them, he’s really doing that whole thing.”
ABC/Giovanni Rufino
Here’s a bit more about the show:
When his career is ruined by scandal, superstar magician Cameron Black has only one place to turn to practice his art of deception, influence and illusion – the FBI. Using every trick in the book and inventing new ones, he will help the government catch the world’s most elusive criminals while staging the biggest illusions of his career. The series is from writer/executive producer Chris Fedak (“Chuck”) and executive producers Greg Berlanti, Martin Gero and Sarah Schechter. Illusionist David Kwong (“Now You See Me”) will co-produce.
“Deception” stars Jack Cutmore-Scott as Cameron Black, Ilfenesh Hadera as Kay Daniels, Lenora Crichlow as Dina Clark, Amaury Nolasco as Mike Alvarez, Justin Chon as Jordan Kwon, Laila Robins as FBI Agent Deakins and Vinnie Jones as Gunter Gustafsen.
The series is from Berlanti Productions and Quinn’s House in association with Warner Bros. Television. “Deception” is directed by David Nutter, who is also executive producer.