The Absolute Worst Episodes

[Sisophous]

With Sharon Stone's looks, fame, and money, I bet the men are still lining up.

She was 26 when she did Echoes of the Mind and your photo is dated. Mine is from 2012. I suppose beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

[Rembrandt's Girl]

With Sharon Stone's looks, fame, and money, I bet the men are still lining up.

She was 26 when she did Echoes of the Mind and your photo is dated. Mine is from 2012. I suppose beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Nope, I intentionally got a recent photo from last month. Probably makeup vs. no makeup:

http://www.accesshollywood.com/sharon-s ... eo_2186037

[ConchRepublican]

I've never been a Sharon Stone fan, I guess I thought she did the "crazy" thing a little too well. That said, I thought she was good in Echoes of the Mind. You could see she had that something a magnetism with the screen.

[Turkey]

Great thread - I've long been curious about which episodes fans haven't really enjoyed - and I guess I started a bit of a double up thread last week, but had a good read here too.

Will have to re-watch Novel Connection and see if it bugs me second time around.

[Dave Anderson]

I like all the episodes of MPI. All of them except for one. And I HATE this episode.

I cannot stand the two part episode "Echoes of the Mind." Honestly, it makes me want to vomit, and my mind refuses to recognize it as part of the MPI library. Oh, I hate so much about it. I could never stand Sharon Stone. I've always hated her "hey, I can play a crazy chick" acting approach she uses time and time and time and time and time again in her movies. And, man, does she paint it on heavy in this episode - starting with that terrible opening in the car where her "two selves" are going at it back in forth. Ug.

The moment I see Thomas and the gang in this episode, I wonder what new writer wrote this piece of work. The characters don't seem like themselves. I hate how instantly and completely Thomas falls for Diane. I hate how he is shown so heartbroken at the end, and at the start of the next episode he's looking at the bottom of a bottle for relief - SO NOT THOMAS MAGNUM. ARGH! And is it just me, or does episode seem to leave a rather terrible comment in the end about mental health problems (my own family has dealt with some things, and this episode so makes me cringe).

There, this post let me get it off my chest. Man, I hate "Echoes of the Mind." Again, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE all the rest. But DESPISE this two part episode. And Sharon Stone has to be the most over-rated actress in the history of the biz.

Forgive me if I upset anyone who likes this episode. I never claim to always be right. But I hate this episode!

I completely disagree, I think both episodes of Echos of the Mind were among the best of the series. Sometimes its just destiny to fall in love, even immediately, and I can't imagine it would have been too hard to fall in love with a young Sharon Stone.

[Little Garwood]

I cannot stand the two part episode "Echoes of the Mind." Honestly, it makes me want to vomit, and my mind refuses to recognize it as part of the MPI library. Oh, I hate so much about it. I could never stand Sharon Stone. I've always hated her "hey, I can play a crazy chick" acting approach she uses time and time and time and time and time again in her movies. And, man, does she paint it on heavy in this episode - starting with that terrible opening in the car where her "two selves" are going at it back in forth. Ug.

While I didn't list Echoes of the Mind among my least-liked episodes, I noticed that I always skip it and that I haven't seen it in nearly six years. I've mentioned elsewhere that "EotM" is where TM's psychic nonsense really gets trotted out. I don't mind the concept of his "Little Voice" but here it's flat out psychic ability--and I despise it. It also makes Thomas out to be a real flake. There's a line of dialogue in part one when Thomas talks about his psychic ability that sounds so awkward and forced and that dialogue is given an awful line reading by Selleck, to boot. I've also noticed the writing going downhill in terms of TM's voiceovers, where he talks about his unlimited number of aunts and uncles and their idiotic, homespun wisdom. It distanced me from the character of Thomas Magnum and it's one of the many issues I have with seasons 5-8

I also take issue with him grieving like he does. After all, this man has already endured the death of his father, the supposed-and-then-still-to-come-death of Michele; Mac, and numerous comrades in Vietnam. He handled all of those traumas exceedingly well. Thomas has, to quote an episode of Kolchak, "a proclivity to cope." The introduction of TM's "psychic ability" and his out-of-character grieving feeds my greatest pet peeve: sacrificing character for the sake of a short-term plot development, which was something MPI did frequently during seasons five through eight--and in my opinion it all began with Echoes of the Mind.

[marlboro]

I think it would have been a lot better to keep Sharon Stone's character around for an entire season. Never as the central focus of the story, but as a love interest making occasional appearances. Drop a few clues that all is not quite right with her, and have her story climax with the season finale. The problem with Magnum and most shows, is that they want instant chemistry between the lead and the female guest star. It rarely works that way. You need time to build chemistry.


I wish they had left all of the psychic/paranormal stuff out of the series. And that goes for Higgins hypnotizing people, too. "Echos" was written by Bellisario, so it isn't like we can blame someone else for the silliness in the later episodes. A lot of the psychic/paranormal stuff had already been introduced in the early years w. Missing in Action and Woman on the Beach. It just became harder to ignore later on.

I've also noticed the writing going downhill in terms of TM's voiceovers, where he talks about his unlimited number of aunts and uncles and their idiotic, homespun wisdom.

Good point. I had never really thought about that, but you are right. It's a silly device to begin with (usually it's comic relief characters like Festus from Gunsmoke who have an endless supply of relatives), but to make matters worse, the "wisdom" is usually something pointless that you forget about 5 seconds later.

[marlboro]

Back on topic.

I don't have a "Worst" list. I tend to just rewatch the episodes that I know I like, so the bad ones kind of fade from my memory. Which is the best thing about episodic tv shows; bad episodes can be ignored without damaging the overall story.

A few of the weaker episodes that do come to mind:

"Of Sound Mind" (Silly plot. Broad comedy.)

"Smaller Than Life" (What were they thinking?)

"Paradise Blues" (I don't like any of the T.C. centric episodes)

"Kiss of the Sabre" (Weak fantasy segments. Annoying guest star. Backhoe.)

"The Love-For-Sale Boat" (Fake Mac is terrible)

"Professor Jonathan Higgins" (My Fair Lady and Magnum just don't mix)

"Solo Flight" (A bit of a rehash of the classic Home from the Sea.The surrealism doesn't work for me.)

"Old Acquaintance" (Stolen plot from a bad movie and one of the worst female guest characters)

"This Island Isn't Big Enough" (Det. Katsumoto = worst character in the series)

"Going Home" (I hate every member of T.M.'s family)

"Out of Sync" What the heck was this?

"On the Fly" (Fake Mac was the worst mistake the writers ever made)

"Limbo" (Very poorly written imo. Very cheesy, too.)

"Resolutions" (Just a poor ending for such a great show.)

Dis-honorable mention:

All sports themed episodes.

[Milton Collins]

Wow some intensity and back and forth in some posts here, let's all remember this is a fun site and we are all fans and will like/dislike different episodes and have different opinions:) Sorry if that's too much, I'm just a peaceful guy!! I think it's interesting to see that some people's favs are other peoples least favs and vice versa. That tells you we have a great show that can reach and entertain an extremely wide audience. I think there is something good in every episode, it's the best show ever for goodness sakes!! But these few episodes that are EXTREMELY lacking in my opinion:

1) Kiss of the Sabre - Unthinkably bad, not sure what they were thinking here, worst one of all time in my opinion.

2) A Pretty Good Dancing Chicken - I find that when I have watched this one, I've actually questioned whether it was a Magnum or some random 80's soap opera or some made for TV movie. Almost unwatchable!!

3) By It's Cover - Rod Chrysler is in my top five dumbest characters of all time. The way his character is portrayed (and man is that guy a bad actor!) ruins this entire episode. I think the story could have been cool if Rod had been a serious grisled vet that was being harrassed by a parole officer that was well played (the guy who played Donner was pretty terrible too. Did they get in a pinch and pull folks off the street to act in this one? I honestly wonder!) Instead, they made Rod an idiotic lying, encyclopedia selling, chili cooking imbecille! Totally ridiculous that Thomas would trust someone that dumb and unreliable again and again. This is also nearly unwatchable for me!

4) Holmes is Where the Heart is - I know many of you love this one and I do find it to be the best of my "Frightful Four" but I just thought Higgy's old buddy David was too silly and ridiculous. With that being said Higgins was somewhat funny in this one and yes I do like many of the "funny" episodes but this one just came off as dumb to me.

Honorable Mention - These were just some others that I found to be pretty weak episodes:

- Paradise Blues (couldn't stand TC's lying girlfriend and the constant wandering trumpet player was annoying)

-Kapu (just seemed like a total strech and a very boring episode)

-Find Me a Rainbow (just seemed like a thin story to begin with that was totally overdone, annoying guest actors too!)


Ok with that off my chest I love Magnum PI to death and think every episode has some good in it, I just reviewed the episode guide and these were the ones I enjoyed the least.

[SignGuyHPW]

I absolutely hated Legend of the Lost Art. If that was my introduction to the series I have doubts I'd have given it another chance.

[Diandra]

I prefer to think of the episodes that are truly outstanding, and there are many! My favourite is Paper War, mainly because I think
John and Tom are at their bickering best!!! lol

[Milton Collins]

"Going Home" (I hate every member of T.M.'s family)

Thank you for reminding me of this painfully awful episode Marlboro. This is SO true, all very dumb and fairly hatable characters (other than Magnum's mom, who can hate a sweet old lady? lol). That stepfather is the biggest jack@#$ i've ever seen! During my 2 or 3 viewings of this awful episode (which have been extremely painful) I find myself wanting TM to just beat that guy senseless!! Anyway, good post Marlboro.

[Dave Anderson]

I think it would have been a lot better to keep Sharon Stone's character around for an entire season. Never as the central focus of the story, but as a love interest making occasional appearances.

A few more shower scenes would have been nice.

[ConchRepublican]

Back on topic.

I don't have a "Worst" list. I tend to just rewatch the episodes that I know I like, so the bad ones kind of fade from my memory. Which is the best thing about episodic tv shows; bad episodes can be ignored without damaging the overall story.

A few of the weaker episodes that do come to mind:

"Limbo" (Very poorly written imo. Very cheesy, too.)

GAH!

[No need to know!]

Back on topic.

I don't have a "Worst" list. I tend to just rewatch the episodes that I know I like, so the bad ones kind of fade from my memory. Which is the best thing about episodic tv shows; bad episodes can be ignored without damaging the overall story.

A few of the weaker episodes that do come to mind:

"Limbo" (Very poorly written imo. Very cheesy, too.)

GAH!

I agree on that. GAH!