The Magician

From: Wikipedia.org
The Magician was an American television series that ran during the 1973–1974 season. It starred Bill Bixby as stage illusionist Anthony "Tony" Blake, a playboy philanthropist who used his skills to solve difficult crimes as needed.

Though it ran only a single season, The Magician was an influence on later series. The show was a favorite of The X-Files creator Chris Carter, who worked it into Special Agent Fox Mulder's "origin" story: a teen-aged Mulder was watching The Magician when his sister Samantha was abducted by mysterious forces.

In the Quantum Leap episode "The Great Spontini", Sam Beckett leaps into an amateur magician in 1974 who aspires to appear on Bill Bixby's The Magician; however, Sam's Swiss-cheesed memory can at first only recall Bixby's connection with The Incredible Hulk, which had not been made at that time.

The Incredible Hulk itself featured an episode that paid homage to both The Magician and Bixby's earlier series, My Favorite Martian. In the Hulk episode "My Favorite Magician," Bixby's character became the temporary apprentice to a stage magician played by Bixby's Martian co-star, Ray Walston. Mark Wilson was on hand again as the episode's "magic consultant" as well.