Editing Bill Bixby (section)

===1973 to 1977===
In 1973, Bixby starred in ''[[The Magician (American TV series)|The Magician]]''. The series was well liked, but lasted for only one season. An accomplished amateur magician himself, he hosted several TV specials in the mid-1970s which featured other amateur magicians, and was a respected member of the Hollywood magic community, belonging to [[The Magic Castle]], an exclusive club for magicians. During the show's popular, although short-lived, production, Bixby invited a few old friends along to co-star such as [[Pamela Britton]] (in her final role), [[Kristina Holland]], and Ralph O'Hara.

Also in 1973, he starred in ''[[Steambath (play)|Steambath]]'', a play by author [[Bruce Jay Friedman]], on [[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]] with [[Valerie Perrine]] and Jose Perez.

Bixby became a popular game-show panelist, appearing mostly on ''[[Password (American game show)|Password]]'' and ''[[The Hollywood Squares]]''. He was also a panelist on the 1974 revival of ''[[Masquerade Party]]'', which was hosted by [[Richard Dawson]]. He had also appeared with Dawson on ''Cop-Out'', an unsold 1972 pilot produced by [[Chuck Barris]], and on the 1972 revival of ''[[I've Got a Secret]]''. In 1974–1975, he directed four episodes of the eighth season of ''[[Mannix]]'', guest-starring as Mannix's friend-turned-villain in one of the episodes.

In 1975, he co-starred with [[Tim Conway]] and [[Don Knotts]] in the Disney movie ''[[The Apple Dumpling Gang (film)|The Apple Dumpling Gang]]'', which was well received by the public.

Returning to television, Bixby worked with [[Susan Blakely]] on ''[[Rich Man, Poor Man (miniseries)|Rich Man, Poor Man]]'', a highly successful television miniseries in 1976. He played a daredevil stunt pilot in an episode of the short-lived 1976 [[CBS]] adventure series ''[[Spencer's Pilots]]'', starring [[Gene Evans]]. In 1977, he co-starred in the pilot for the television series ''[[Fantasy Island]]''; starred in "No Way Out", the final episode of the NBC anthology series ''[[Quinn Martin's Tales of the Unexpected]]'' (known in the [[United Kingdom]] as ''Twist in the Tale'');<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ctva.biz/US/Anthology/TalesOfTheUnexpected.htm|title=CTVA US Anthology – "Tales of the Unexpected" (Quinn Martin/NBC)(1977)|website=ctva.biz|access-date=August 17, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140819083515/http://ctva.biz/US/Anthology/TalesOfTheUnexpected.htm|archive-date=August 19, 2014|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}</ref> and appeared with [[Donna Mills]], [[Richard Jaeckel]], and [[William Shatner]] in the last episode, "The Scarlet Ribbon", of NBC's Western series ''[[The Oregon Trail (TV series)|The Oregon Trail]]'', starring [[Rod Taylor]] and [[Andrew Stevens]]. Bixby directed two episodes of ''The Oregon Trail''.

In 1976, he was honored with two [[Emmy Award]] nominations, one for Outstanding Lead Actor for a Single Appearance in Drama or Comedy for ''The Streets of San Francisco'' and the other for Outstanding Single Performance by a Supporting Actor in Comedy or Drama Series for ''Rich Man, Poor Man''.<ref name=TrialBio/>

Bixby hosted ''[[Once Upon a Classic]]'' on [[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]] from 1976 to 1980.