L.A. (1)

Episode Number: 128
Season Number: 7.1
Air Date: 10/1/1986
Writer: Chris Abbott
Director: Alan J. Levi
Producer: Rick Weaver
Exec Producer: Donald P. Bellisario

Recurring Characters

Kwan Hi Lim (Lt. Tanaka), Alfonso Ribeiro (Kenny)

Guest Stars

Dana Delany (Cynthia Farrell), J.A. Preston (Det. Sam McKee), Mona Miller (Marti Jensen), Dennis A. Pratt (Eddy Rentzel), Michael Goodwin (Frank Danton), Inez Pedroza (Angela Morales), Jerry Boyd (Director)

Episode Brief

Magnum heads to the "City of Angels" to deliver lawsuit papers to a small film company on behalf of Robin Masters, and during the trip befriends a stand-up comedienne. But when he finds her murdered in his hotel room, he investigates to find who is behind the killing. When he goes to deliver the subpoena to the film company, he strikes up a relationship with the attractive young attorney, and the pair work together to find the murderers. Meanwhile, back in Hawaii, one of the players on T.C.'s baseball team is mixed up with some small-time car thieves, and witnesses his friends being shot dead after stealing a car.

Rating

8.1

(41 votes)

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Notes

¹ Starting in Season Seven, Tom Selleck's production company T.W.S. Productions, Inc. joins Belisarius Productions, Inc. and Glen A. Larson Productions in co-producing the show.

² "L.A." originally aired as a two-hour movie, but it is broken up into two parts for syndication airings. The Region 1 DVD version of this episode inexplicably omits a one-minute foot chase scene. The scene occurs just after Magnum is shot at by two uzi-toting henchmen. After his rental car is blown up, Magnum runs through several backyards to escape. In one of the backyards, Magnum encounters Playboy "Playmate of the Month" Kimberly McArthur (January 1982) in a hot tub and briefly talks to her! A few moments later there is also a brief scene with her being interviewed on the news, in which she states that a man nearly attacked her in her backyard (in fact, Magnum just stood there and told her that he's "not the sushi man"). This entire scene is missing on the Region 1 DVD (at the 32:52 mark, you can hear the musical score end abruptly). Oddly, this scene IS included in the standard syndication airings on television (and is included in the German DVD)!

³ Dana Delany will return as Cynthia Farrell ("Squeaky") later in the season in "Out of Sync" (7.19). Also, Alfonso Ribeiro will return as Kenny in "Missing Melody" (7.11).

⁴ The title of this episode appears center screen (about 2/3 of the way down), instead of the usual bottom left. The font size is also larger.

⁵ Unusual for the show, there is no opening preview.

⁶ Magnum spends the entire episode in Los Angeles; LAX Airport, Downtown Los Angeles, the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Ocean Front Walk at Venice Beach, and Universal City are all used as filming locations. The Little League baseball game in Oahu with T.C.'s Tigers was filmed at Lanakila District Park in Kamehameha Heights. (Park ID'd by Bernd-Christian Schulze)

⁷ This is one of the few episodes in the series to not feature Robin's Nest, or the King Kamehameha Club.

⁸ At the 7:06 mark, just before we see Marti's comedy routine, a brief shot of the "Legends of Hollywood" mural is seen. This large mural was created by artist Eloy Torrez and used to cover the entire wall of a building at the southeast corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Hudson Avenue. It was destroyed in the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

⁹ For the first time in the series, the guest stars (with the exception of Dana Delany) are credited in alphabetical order. Dana Delany is billed last and receives a 'Special Guest Star' billing.

¹⁰ This is local comedian Mona Miller's (Marti Jensen) lone credited television or film role. Today, she's a guest lecturer, author and talk radio host.

¹¹ This episode is timestamped at "9-10-86" by a closeup shot of Marti's pay stub. The episode aired on 10-1-86.

¹² Magnum utters the phrase "Don't look at the dogs, work the lock" (while being chased by dogs) for the first time since he famously used it in the opening scene of the "Pilot Movie". Magnum is chased by two Rottweilers and a German Shepard in two separate scenes.

¹³ Although he has been seen with an earring since Season Six, here T.C. wears a much bigger and more noticeable earring in his right ear. (Noted by Jay-Firestorm)

¹⁴ The "talking car" in Los Angeles is a sly homage to Knight Rider, a show that was created and produced by Magnum P.I. co-creator Glen A. Larson.

Quotes

¹
Magnum: One of the first things my grandfather taught me was about the American Dream. To some folks he said it was staying at home and watching the grandchildren grow up, to others it's travelling to exotic, faraway lands, to others it's owning fancy cars and big houses, but one thing was for certain; whatever their version of the American Dream, a lot of people were willing to go to great lengths to get it. (Narration)

²
Higgins: Hot dogs, peanuts, get your Red Hots here. Hot dogs, peanuts, get your Red Hots here.

³
Magnum: I always thought of L.A. as the "City of Dreams", a place where you go when you want your fantasies to come true. Apparently, ten million other people agreed with me. Some of those dreams must have come true, but I couldn't help but notice that too many others had been buried beneath the smog and congested freeways that had sprawled out of control. (Narration)


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