Magnum P.I. (2018) - General Discussion

[Meredith Quill]

Discuss Magnum P.I. (2018) here!

[halopub]

CBS Trailer

[Raja]

I guess TC wasn't actually a USMC pilot. First they show a man on the ground guiding a chopper in then they show him in a Staff Sergeant's uniform.

Edited May 17, 2018 by Raja

[Raja]

There is the debate from the original if Hawaii 5-0 was a real thing or a joke from Magnum. Judging by the detective's comment in the trailer I would expect someone from the 5-0 task force to make a cameo appearance.

[formerlyfreedom]

 

I feel like Zach Knigton's Rick is just Dave from Happy Endings ten years later. And I can live with that.

[kassygreene]

Since the shows are going to overlap, it would be nice to cameo in either direction.

I'm interested in the new Robin's Nest; such a brief glimpse, but definitely not the old one.

[Kromm]

What happened to the idea that was floating around for years about simply doing Magnum's daughter as the center of a reboot?

Guess it was easier, like with 5-0 just to do a modernized repeat, eh?

 

When I heard of this I definitely wanted a Higgins, but I kind of rolled my eyes extra hard at the reality of getting a hot female Higgins. I can already see the bullshit coming way ahead of time surrounding that.  If they wanted a gender swap, as I implied above, Magnum was the one to swap. Not Higgins.

 

Also, maybe it's just me, but Jay Hernandez seems like a personality vacuum against the gold standard of Tom Selleck.

Edited May 17, 2018 by Kromm

[Kromm]

Here's a comparison opinion.

From what I've seen so far, this Jay Hernandez isn't even a pimple on the ass of the gold standard set by Tom Selleck.  Magnum, like most PI shows, is 100% dependent on the charm of the actor. Because the shows, other than quirks due to the setting, are usually mostly interchangeable in most other ways. It's great to have ongoing things like the Detective constantly ruining cars, or having to put up with an uptight person in their circle, or stuff like that, but Original Magnum was gold less because of those things than because of Selleck's unique combination of charming insouciance, goofy affability, and then also the personal quirks on top of that.

They needed a bullseye for a lead to justify this reboot. Did they get one?  Not so sure.

[Jaded]

I was underwhelmed by that trailer. 

The whole thing seemed like it was 5-0 with different faces on the actors. 

I too preferred the idea of doing Magnum's daughter as a reboot instead.
 

[Raja]

33 minutes ago, Kromm said:

What happened to the idea that was floating around for years about simply doing Magnum's daughter as the center of a reboot?

Guess it was easier, like with 5-0 just to do a modernized repeat, eh?

 

When I heard of this I definitely wanted a Higgins, but I kind of rolled my eyes extra hard at the reality of getting a hot female Higgins. I can already see the bullshit coming way ahead of time surrounding that.  If they wanted a gender swap, as I implied above, Magnum was the one to swap. Not Higgins.

 

Also, maybe it's just me, but Jay Hernandez seems like a personality vacuum against the gold standard of Tom Selleck.

They probably would have needed to wait a few years to convince us that Lily was a Navy SEAL, no other ex military are qualified for lead characters today.

[Jaded]

If they went into this intending for a Latino actor to play Magnum I'm sure they auditioned plenty of people. So it surprised me that they went with Jay Hernandez. The first thing I remember seeing him in was the NBC Saturday Morning show Hang Time. Anthony Anderson was in that show too. At the time neither one of them really stood out. I was wondering if anyone has seen more recent things Jay has been in? I looked at his IMDB profile and see he was in multiple episodes of Scandal in 2017. I quit watching that sometime in the 4th season.

Seeing Tom Selleck in Blue Bloods now makes it hard to reconcile that he's the same guy who played Magnum for all those years. His BB character seemed to get more devoid of a personality each season. I realize he's older now and playing a police commissioner in that show but even in the home "Sunday Dinner" scenes he seems like he's constantly constipated.

[Kromm]

4 minutes ago, Raja said:

They probably would have needed to wait a few years to convince us that Lily was a Navy SEAL, no other ex military are qualified for lead characters today.

The idea floated was ex-Navy Intelligence.

http://deadline.com/2016/09/magnum-p-i-sequel-daughter-abc-eva-longoria-1201824437/

And...
 

They should have listened to Eva:

 

Quote

“We knew no one could replace the iconic role of Thomas Magnum, so John decided to make the reboot a sequel and continue the adventure of a Magnum — his daughter, who was established in the original series,” Longoria and Spector told Deadline.

[Raja]

19 minutes ago, Kromm said:

Here's a comparison opinion.

From what I've seen so far, this Jay Hernandez isn't even a pimple on the ass of the gold standard set by Tom Selleck.  Magnum, like most PI shows, is 100% dependent on the charm of the actor. Because the shows, other than quirks due to the setting, are usually mostly interchangeable in most other ways. It's great to have ongoing things like the Detective constantly ruining cars, or having to put up with an uptight person in their circle, or stuff like that, but Original Magnum was gold less because of those things than because of Selleck's unique combination of charming insouciance, goofy affability, and then also the personal quirks on top of that.

They needed a bullseye for a lead to justify this reboot. Did they get one?  Not so sure.

I think it was more than Tom Selleck, it was the return and making peace with the Vietnam veterans who might have been spat upon when they returned home. A Navy SEAL who jumped into North Korea, maybe to save 5-0 on one of their missions there, doesn't carry the same cultural weight as the original had in 1980.

 

That Higgins was a Sergeant Major telling stories of his nation pulling back from a fading empire, along with Magnum, Rick and TC being from a losing cause  will definitely be lost with a James Bond who looks like she should be at the peak of her career and not retired  to maybe writing books under the Robin Masters name

[Raja]

3 minutes ago, Kromm said:

The idea floated was ex-Navy Intelligence.

http://deadline.com/2016/09/magnum-p-i-sequel-daughter-abc-eva-longoria-1201824437/

 

Just like the new McGarrett of 5-0, replacing the Naval Intelligence alone background of the original Jack Lord version and the original Magnum where his active duty military contacts worked in the local Naval Intelligence office. But once into the show these days the elite bias takes over and all you hear is SEAL, SEALs, SEAL and the occasional Ranger if the lead was not in the military and one of the supporting cast was a veteran,

[Raja]

33 minutes ago, icemiser69 said:

No one does the girlish laugh better than Tom.  That, and when he occasionally whines.  I suppose we won''t see any rubber chickens or gorilla masks either.

I was hoping they would call this new show something else, because from what I have seen, the only think that is similar is the name of the show, and some of the characters names.

It is hard to believe that it was way back in December 1980 when the pilot aired.  Robert Loggia was in that two hour pilot.

It looks like Domenick Lombardozzi is playing a similar role from the trailer and in relation he would only be 8 years younger than Robert Loggia. Ex SEAL private investigator in Hawaii, there  nothing else they could call it

[Raja]

36 minutes ago, icemiser69 said:

They didn't have to call him Thomas Magnum, they could have picked a different name.

They could have gone completely of the board and remade Hawaiian Eye, and ditched the old former Navy Seal thing.  CBS already has a show called Seal Team.  Not to mention, NCIS,, NCIS Los Angeles, and NCIS New Orleans.  They have Navy shows up the wazoo.

Well that is the way it goes now from MacGyver to Prime Suspect to Cagney and Lacey being in development. If the movies don't get it first and make a spoof of the original then expect just about any show coming to steal the premise,  legacy and maybe the theme song of an old show to try to kick start the pitch.

 

It is not so much the Navy as the N in NCIS franchise means just about nothing since Bellasario was forced out, that we have out the wazoo but it is an elite bias as regular sailors also do not apply just any SEALs, or in the case with SEAL Team and 6 just Development Group, "we don't actually call SEAL Team 6" SEALs.

[Maverick]

 The guy playing Magnum is....not good.   

[Kimmel77]

This was the only trailer to captivate and motivate me to watch the show when it debuts.

Edited May 19, 2018 by Kimmel77

[Tachi Rocinante]

Zack Knighton is just not a good actor.  Lombardozzi would've been a better choice for Rick.

Don't mind the female Higgins.  Wonder if Robin Masters will be female as well?  (wink, wink)

Updated theme song sounds baad.

The CGI on the cliff stunt looked worse.

[Starscream]

On 5/17/2018 at 9:58 AM, icemiser69 said:

It is hard to believe that it was way back in December 1980 when the pilot aired.  Robert Loggia was in that two hour pilot.

Loggia also directed a couple episodes in the first season.  A lot of the scenes from the preview make me think that they may be recreating "Don't Eat the Snow in Hawaii" which I would be all for since I think it's a great entry story for this group.  I wonder if Rick will start off as sleezy as he did in that or if he'll be a reputable club manager from the beginning.

[Vixenstud]

I didn't watch the old MPI so I cain't go by all the pearl clutching that seems to be going on....I did see the trailer and found myself intrigued enough to watch it.

[VCRTracking]

[nilyank]

On 5/19/2018 at 8:05 PM, Tachi Rocinante said:

Don't mind the female Higgins.  Wonder if Robin Masters will be female as well?  (wink, wink)

 

In the voiceover, Magnum referred to Robin as he.

With this reboot, Higgins is younger than Magnum. Oh I have bad feeling they are going to hook them both up.

And in the promo, Magnum destroy 2 cars. Is this going to be a running gag? Because in the original, Higgins acted like Magnum was one step away from ruining the car but for the most part, he kept it from any minor/major damage.

[Kromm]

16 hours ago, Vixenstud said:

I didn't watch the old MPI so I cain't go by all the pearl clutching that seems to be going on....I did see the trailer and found myself intrigued enough to watch it.

I understand a desire to take this fresh and not react based on a past you don't share. But "pearl clutching" is pretty disrespectful of those opinions for those who care about them.

In my opinion, unlike Hawaii Five-0, which barely resembles it's original version... and it didn't much matter because the show was SO long ago, Magnum is a little closer in time and likely will share more viewership with it's original.  So the changes they make does matter, because unlike with you there will be an inherited audience to whom those choices matter.

Honestly, for myself, I was only an occasional Magnum viewer back in the day. So my emotional connection is only middling. But the actor DOES matter, and so if a pearl must be clutched, that's the one I'm going to dig in on and grasp hard. Selleck's charm and to be frank... slight weirdness... mattered.  Not the specifics of it--in a reboot you could get the same result with totally different quirks--but how well it was pulled off.  So that's what I'm personally going to judge more than if he wears enough Hawaiian shirts, grows a mustache or speaks with a voice a bit oddly too squeaky for a guy that size, who was a former Navy Seal.  The dude has to be a little off-center, but charmingly so, or any viewer of the old show isn't going to stay with the reboot for long.

[Raja]

Magnum may have been the first media SEAL, before him there was Sea Hunt and an ex UDT, like Governor Ventura. So the entire elite cult was just getting started. We had a "you where in the Navy but fought on the ground, in other words a grunt, in Vietnam?" weird background.

Now every military veteran lead character was a a SEAL. That basic this guy is different factor is gone.

[Vixenstud]

5 hours ago, Kromm said:

But "pearl clutching" is pretty disrespectful of those opinions for those who care about them.

Oy, I wasn't ball busting those that care about the original, chillax!  Actually, the comments here are nothing compared to the Youtube ones.

[Jaded]

I'm bummed out that this new version is being done by the H50/MacGyver people. 

[MissLucas]

I had to check with IMDB because Hernandez looked vaguely familiar but I couldn't place him. Turns out I know him form 'The Expanse' - he played Dimitri Havelock. He did a good job but that character was a far cry from Magnum. Guess we'll have to wait and see.

The gender-switch doesn't bother me that much although I wish they had switched TC instead of Higgins. (And I hope the writers took a good look at Elementary though I'm not too optimistic about that. Show's set on an island - ships need to sail.)

20 hours ago, Jaded said:

I'm bummed out that this new version is being done by the H50/MacGyver people. 

Yeah, this does not bode well. I can enjoy H50's specific brand of crazy  but Magnum P.I. is a show that requires a good handle on irony which is not exactly a forte of these folks.

[Stiggs]

Just like Angela Landsbury is Jessica Fletcher, Tom Selleck is Thomas Magnum. (I promise I'm not 110 years old. I've just had a crush on Magnum since I was 10, heh.) I'm sorry, but this reboot looks horrible. The ONLY way they could have pulled this off was with an actor who has even a fraction of the charm that Selleck had - and wow, they failed. 

I swear, I would have watched the hell out of a show about papaw Magnum. 

[kassygreene]

I'm looking forward to the reboot (although the "continuation" story with Lily "Tommy" Magnum which apparently didn't sell would have been very interesting).  I think Jay Hernandez did a good job in The Expanse, and I have no other preconceptions.  

The trailer wasn't bad - the almost recurring car gag (two destroyed doesn't quite make recurring - yet), the clear callbacks to the original pilot, the ridiculous chase/crash sequence at the end (CGI has done a lot of wonderful things for entertainment, but also opened the door to much that isn't wonderful).  BUT, it did have the original theme music, starting just right for punctuation.  As with 5-0, get the music right and I will definitely try it out.

The burning questions that remain:

1. Will the re-booted 5-0 be part of the re-booted MPI universe (as the old 5-0 was part of the old MPI universe), or will it be fiction (as the old MPI was to new 5-0)?
2. Where is the new Robin's Nest, especially since the Main House of the old Robin's Nest was demolished last April?
3. Is that the original Easter Egg helicopter, or did they paint a new one?
4. How many more Navy SEaLS will have to return or re-locate to Hawaii before they are declared the newest invasive species?

[Raja]

Don't you know only SEALs come out of the armed forces in the 2010s. 

Although the original Magnum may have been the first media SEAL that was before the cult of the special forces in fiction

About as close as you can get to 1980 America and its combat veterans would have made Magnum a vet of the politically bad war, say a Marine in Iraq between 2004 and 2008. Not another super man who Robin Masters exaggerates into making a parachute jump from space into North Korea 

[AlleC17]

I am certainly going to give it a try, although I really, really, really hope that hot chick Higgins and Magnum are not a love interest.  Friends would be great...see Watson and Holmes in Elementary.  No hook ups needed.  I tried to figure out from the trailer where the new Robin's Nest was, but was not able to figure it out yet.  Sad that the old was was torn done, but I heard it was in disrepair. I still go swimming near it.

I am not confident that Hernandez can pull off Thomas Magnum, but I guess we will all find out!

[statsgirl]

I agree, the charm of the actor is essential in selling the character who was basically a layabout living off of the largesse of Robin Masters and  unable to have a romantic relationship that lasted more than a couple of episodes..

On 5/22/2018 at 11:52 AM, Jaded said:

I'm bummed out that this new version is being done by the H50/MacGyver people. 

Yes.  I'm worried it's going to be a whitewash.

One of the surprisingly good things about the original show was that is went against the prevailing view that everything was fine for the vets who came back from Viet Nam.  Magnum P.I. showed that there was PTSD and pain and broken families for the returnees. (These were the days before Bellisario swung hard to the right.)

I will be surprised if the reboot carries that speaking truth to power aspect.

[reggiejax]

On 5/22/2018 at 2:30 AM, Kromm said:

In my opinion, unlike Hawaii Five-0, which barely resembles it's original version... and it didn't much matter because the show was SO long ago, Magnum is a little closer in time and likely will share more viewership with it's original. 

I was curious, so I looked it up, the original Hawaii Five-O ended it's run in 1980, with the new series premiering in 2010. A difference of 30 years.

Magnum ended it's run in 1988. It will premiere this fall, 30 years later.

Perception is an amazing thing.

Edited May 26, 2018 by reggiejax

[Jamoche]

46 minutes ago, reggiejax said:

I was curious, so I looked it up, the original Hawaii Five-O ended it's run in 1980, with the new series premiering in 2010. A difference of 30 years.

Magnum ended it's run in 1988. It will premiere this fall, 30 years later.

Perception is an amazing thing.

Wow, 1980? I was a kid in the 70s and I would've sworn it ended around 1972 - and I do remember my parents watching it, plus I was born in Hawaii and read TV Guide cover-to-cover (that was the TWoP/PTV of its day) so I think I'd have remembered if there was any buzz.

[Morrigan2575]

On 5/21/2018 at 9:25 PM, nilyank said:

In the voiceover, Magnum referred to Robin as he.

I imagine that Robin Masters is never seen, just like the original. In the original it's heavily implied (don't remember if it was officially revealed) that Higgins was the Real Robin Masters.

WHY CBS?! WHY?!!!

That looks like a steeming pile of ? ?

[BigDfromLA]

I would have preferred a show featuring Magnum's daughter, Lily, who came from the episodes with Magnum's wife Michelle, which I think were the two best episodes of the original series. Lily would be what, late 20's-early 30's now? Selleck could have guest starred as her father Thomas Magnum in a few episodes as well.

Will the T.C. and Rick characters be featured in the new show?

[Raja]

26 minutes ago, BigDfromLA said:

I would have preferred a show featuring Magnum's daughter, Lily, who came from the episodes with Magnum's wife Michelle, which I think were the two best episodes of the original series. Lily would be what, late 20's-early 30's now? Selleck could have guest starred as her father Thomas Magnum in a few episodes as well.

Will the T.C. and Rick characters be featured in the new show?

Assuming the show was near real time Michelle and the Vietnamese visit Hawaii around 1980 and Lily is conceived then only to have Michelle go back to Vietnam with her new husband  as a US intelligence asset. So Lily would be pushing 40 by now.

In the trailer instead of being a Marine Captain helicopter aviator TC had Staff Sergeants stripes on. But was also piloting a black helicopter in addition to his Island Hopper tourist helicopter.  So it looks like he did his Marine service and then became a CIA or private contractor pilot before retiring to Hawaii. It remains to be seen how tied in Rick is to the Hawaiian organized crime scene. or if he would just be a exclusive club manager.

Edited May 27, 2018 by Raja

[Constant Viewer]

On 5/25/2018 at 1:31 PM, AlleC17 said:

I am certainly going to give it a try, although I really, really, really hope that hot chick Higgins and Magnum are not a love interest.

Me too. I have no problem with a female Higgins, but they could have had an older woman play Higgins and they could have the same type of relationship between Magnum and original Higgins. With a younger woman it seems like a romantic entanglement might be inevitable. Although I could be a wrong and it might be like Holmes and Watson on Elementary as you mentioned.

[Raja]

If Higgins is young where is the lifetime worth of stories for her to be continually telling going to come from?

[Irate Panda]

I watched the end part of the original Magnum as a child and this new one based on the trailer doesn’t even come close.  I realize you can’t make a true judgement on just the trailer, but the chemistry of the original cast was a big part of the charm of the show.  Jay Hernandez has never been memorable in anything I’ve seen him in and I agree they should have made the new Higgins character older.  I don’t really care if the new Higgins is a male or female.  I’ll give the new show a chance, it might even be good, but it won’t ever be Magnum, PI.

[sinycalone]

Just watched "Did You See the Sunrise."  I always felt the reason the ending was so shocking was that Magnum, while obviously no softie (a Vietnam vet and Seal)...he had a code of honor.  Not that I thought Magnum was wrong to shoot Ivan, but I assumed the denouement would follow the standard ending of the time....hero shoots villain because he pulls a weapon at the last moment.  If the new series is similar to Hawaii 5-0, NCIS, etc.  -- they "heroes" pretty much kill ten people a week....so where is the moral dilemma we saw in "Sunrise?"

[Raja]

5 minutes ago, sinycalone said:

Just watched "Did You See the Sunrise."  I always felt the reason the ending was so shocking was that Magnum, while obviously no softie (a Vietnam vet and Seal)...he had a code of honor.  Not that I thought Magnum was wrong to shoot Ivan, but I assumed the denouement would follow the standard ending of the time....hero shoots villain because he pulls a weapon at the last moment.  If the new series is similar to Hawaii 5-0, NCIS, etc.  -- they "heroes" pretty much kill ten people a week....so where is the moral dilemma we saw in "Sunrise?"

TV cops have been killing more people on their own in one year then their entire city police force has in ten but that is not the issue. Up to that point Magnum and Rick meeting Ivan on the road towards deportation I can't recall in my life a TV hero who murdered a man. As you said always before we were given the out like the hero deciding not to fire and then the bad guy  pulls a gun at that moment. I know on 5-0 a character  murdered like Magnum and Rick did to Ivan, he had no jurisdiction and those who did would let the bad guy go. And you have had shows like Dexter built around the concept so today a remake of that episode with someone who captured one of Magnum's friends will no longer have the shock that those of us had when the muzzle flash came from Magnum's gun back in the day.

[sinycalone]

2 minutes ago, Raja said:

TV cops have been killing more people on their own in one year then their entire city police force has in ten but that is not the issue. Up to that point Magnum and Rick meeting Ivan on the road towards deportation I can't recall in my life a TV hero who murdered a man. As you said always before we were given the out like the hero deciding not to fire and then the bad guy  pulls a gun at that moment. I know on 5-0 a character  murdered like Magnum and Rick did to Ivan, he had no jurisdiction and those who did would let the bad guy go. And you have had shows like Dexter built around the concept so today a remake of that episode with someone who captured one of Magnum's friends will no longer have the shock that those of us had when the muzzle flash came from Magnum's gun back in the day.

Yep, I believe that was first example of a central (heroic)  figure in a tv show just flat out killing the villain.  No wiggle room.  After that, I think Miami Vice had an episode where Don Johnson's character did the same thing.  

[fishcakes]

There's been talk of reviving the series or doing it as a series of feature films for at least twenty years. At one point George Clooney was going to play Magnum and later it was rumored Matthew McConaughey would do it. Tom Selleck was involved in the movie package (which didn't go anywhere), and when asked over the years if he would be involved in a new TV series, he'd always been really positive and said he'd love to if he were asked. But as far as I know, Selleck's only comment on this reboot is that he's not a part of it and sort of a half-hearted, yeah ... good luck with all that. So I wonder if he's not thrilled that it's a Peter Lenkov project, meaning that it will probably just be an implausibly-plotted shoot 'em up, like the Hawaii 5-0 reboot. I enjoy the new 5-0, mainly because it's preposterous, but there's no comparison to the original. Or possibly, Selleck was willing to be involved and got snubbed, or maybe he just feels like he wants to leave Magnum in his past. No idea, but I am curious to know what he thinks. (Even though I love him less these days now that he's hawking reverse mortgages.)

I know I'll watch the Magnum reboot mostly, to be honest, for the new Zeus and Apollo, but I'm not expecting much.

Edited May 28, 2018 by fishcakes

[Magnumfangirl]

3 hours ago, fishcakes said:

and when asked over the years if he would be involved in a new TV series, he'd always been really positive and said he'd love to if he were asked.

Don't know where you got this, but Tom has been adamantly against a re-make, a re-boot, or a sequel.  Whenever he's asked "Who should play Magnum?"  He says "Me."  He was interested in a reunion movie, but only if all the original players were in on it.    

[MissLucas]

4 hours ago, fishcakes said:

I know I'll watch the Magnum reboot mostly, to be honest, for the new Zeus and Apollo, but I'm not expecting much.

Ditto! I watched the trailer just to check if they're in, all worried they might be replaced by Pit Bulls!

I understand people being wary of this reboot. Lenkov & Co have a knack for the preposterous -  which makes me wish they would go after a reboot of Airwolf, that'd be a better match. And really  - in the current wave of reboots where the hell is Airwolf???

[Raja]

1 hour ago, MissLucas said:

Ditto! I watched the trailer just to check if they're in, all worried they might be replaced by Pit Bulls!

I understand people being wary of this reboot. Lenkov & Co have a knack for the preposterous -  which makes me wish they would go after a reboot of Airwolf, that'd be a better match. And really  - in the current wave of reboots where the hell is Airwolf???

Airwolf, a preposterous reboot of a preposterous show which gave us a big brother who looked 15 years younger than his little brother when he emerged from deep undercover.

[MissLucas]

Of course it was preposterous but who cares - it was all about the Lady in all her orca-inspired awesomeness! I have a fetish thing for helicopters and the Island Hopper isn't quite doing it for me ;)

[Kromm]

On 5/27/2018 at 5:41 PM, Raja said:

Assuming the show was near real time Michelle and the Vietnamese visit Hawaii around 1980 and Lily is conceived then only to have Michelle go back to Vietnam with her new husband  as a US intelligence asset. So Lily would be pushing 40 by now.

That can be fudged pretty easily. The same way that baby characters between seasons of shows age 4-5 years, you can simply insist Thomas Magnum's kid is around 30 and ignore the details of how that isn't possible. Since TV writers tend to not overthink things like that... neither should we.