David Blaine may not have broken the record he set out to break earlier this week in his live television special, but he did manage to emerge from his human-sized snow globe with one record of his own: World’s Most Boring Two Hours of Television.

Blaine’s failure illustrates the inherent weakness of television magic specials: There are absolutely no surprises. After all, is there really any chance the illusionist won’t pick the right card? Might the magician accidentally choose the cup that doesn’t have the ball under it? Not a chance, that’s why it’s called a trick. It is because of this lack of suspense, that television magic in the 21st century frequently turns the focus away from the illusionists and towards the participants, making the specials more reality TV than surrealistic TV.

Keith Barry, an Irish illusionist, who makes his broadcast TV debut on May 12th with his special, “Keith Barry: Extraordinary,” traffics in the same kind of goods as his fellow TV illusionists David Blaine and Criss Angel: Up-close magic that plays with people’s minds as much as their eyes. Barry’s twist? Celebrities.

“Extraordinary” is essentially “Punk’d” gone magic. Rather than confusing Matthew McConaughey with an elaborate car crash or a series of misunderstandings, Barry captures celebrity reactions to elaborate illusions. Elijah Wood is conned during a dangerous version of the shell game. Singer Eve is petrified as she and Barry drive blindfolded down a curvy mountain pass. And Jessica Simpson is awestruck that a glass bottle is shattered by merely her thoughts (wait, she thinks?). The illusions are well produced, but they aren’t riveting TV.

The corporate synergy in “Extraordinary” is also a bit maddening. In one segment, Barry travels to the set of “Entertainment Tonight,” a syndicated show produced by CBS, where the show’s hosts participate in a piece that involves the book “The Da Vinci” code. A film version of that same book is being released this summer by Paramount, a subsidiary of Viacom, former parent company of CBS. This kind of corporate tagteaming is nothing new, but it is a bit over the top, particularly stacked on top of each other on top of each other on top of each other. We’ll give you one guess which network Barry’s special is airing on.

Though David Blaine’s special drew about 10 million people to the tube, it was still a ratings disappointment. If CBS can indeed snag a big ratings coup with this magical dud, it would undoubtedly be Barry’s best trick of the night.

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