Magnum Mania!

Basket Case

Episode ID: 55
Episode Number: 3.15
Air Date: 2/3/1983
Writer: Julie Friedgen
Director: Ivan Dixon
Producer: Chas. Floyd Johnson
Exec Producer: Donald P. Bellisario

Guest Stars

Dana Hill (Theresa "Willie" Henderson), William Schallert (Bob), Jo Pruden (Vera), Joe Moore (Ernie), Madeline Press (Gloria)

Plot Outline

T.C. and Magnum play coach to junior basketball teams, but they call "foul" when they learn that their newest star player comes from a criminal foster home.

Rating

7.5 (16 votes) MM Episode Forum Thread & Poll

Notes

1 For her performance as Theresa in this episode, Dana Hill won the 1984 Young Artist Award as Best Young Actress, Guest in a Television Series. Dana, who suffered from diabetes which stunted her growth, was actually 19 when she filmed this episode. She sadly died in 1996 from a stroke after complications from her diabetes.

2 "Sweet Georgia Brown", the theme song of the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team, is played during the closing credits, instead of the usual MPI theme song.

3 The basketball scenes with the kids towards the beginning were shot at Kapaolono Park in Kaimuki [map]. (Noted by Sam and rubber chicken)

4 The King Kamehameha Club Jeep Wagoneer is seen for the first time [pic]. It appears to be an '81 or '82 model. The Wagoneer will only be used a couple more times in the show.

5 T.C. went to Grambling State University [see quote below] where he was the 3rd all-time leading scorer in basketball in school history. He shoots left-handed.

6 The rarely seen estate dining room set is used.

7 Magnum is seen wearing his gray U.S. Naval Academy t-shirt. We learn that in addition to football, Magnum also played basketball at the Naval Academy.

8 Higgins states that he invented the "Floating Zone" (aka the "Sphere Defense") defense while stationed in North Africa during WWII while the Allies prepared to take Tripoli. Of course, there is no such thing as a "Floating Zone" defense. The closest thing to a "Floating Zone" would be a 'Box and One Defense', or maybe a 'Triangle and Two'. In any event, his squad, which featured two "Yanks", was known as the North African Anglos.

9 Early in 1944, Higgins was at the Battle of Monte Cassino, north of Salerno, "bloody mess".

Quotes

1
T.C.: Man, talk is cheap! When was the last time you played anyway? Oh, the Academy! That basketball powerhouse (laughs) with their height limit. What were you, their center? Kareem Abdul Magnum! (laughs)
Magnum: Don't go anymore farther. I know what you are going to say next - the third all-time leading scorer at Grumbling.
T.C.: Grambling!!
Magnum: Oh...yeah (laughs)
T.C.: Yeah!!

Wish to add something? Got a correction? Shoot me an email.

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