Best and weakest seasons!

[KingKC]

Okay, I know I am obsessing on this seasonal rating stuff but I have some more information some of you might find interesting.

The Nielsen ratings for MPI from more than one source seem to be:

Season 1 - 14
Season 2 - 17
Season 3 - 4
Season 4 - 6
Season 5 - 15
Season 6,7,8 - Not in Top 30

I did find an article in the LA Times - April 23, 1986 - claiming that MPI fell to 48th in the rankings for Season 6 primarily due to The Cosby Show as new competition. It looks like the members of this website thought Season 3 and 4 were pretty middle of the road while overall it looks like more people watched MPI in those years. I guess it also depends on competition for Nielsen Ratings.

I might point out that the TRIVIA section of the website (Paragraph 1) mentions that MPI topped out at #3 one year and averaged a rating of 17 over the course of the series. I cannot confirm that #3 rating and the math doesn't quite work out to a 17th overall place if the ranking of 48th is true for Season 6 and Seasons 7 and 8 are over 30. If those rankings are correct and MPI ranked 31 in both Season 7 and 8 then the average series rating was 20-21 which still isn't too bad. Maybe the author of TRIVIA used ratings other than Nielsen. I am too new and ignorant of all the workings of this website to be making too many critical remarks.

I still invite comments on what you think is the reason Season 6 got rated so low by the forums.

KingKC

[KingKC]

Okay...I admit it...I have gone completely mad with statistics!!!

Number of top 40 Episodes per season - (Since there was a tie for 40th place 46 episodes were listed)

Season 1 - 6 of top 40
Season 2 - 7 of top 40
Season 3 - 6 of top 40
Season 4 - 8 of top 40
Season 5 - 5 of top 40
Season 6 - 2 of top 40
Season 7 - 7 of top 40
Season 8 - 5 of top 40

Once again Season 6 comes in dead last. Any reasons????

KingKC

[Styles Bitchley]

Interesting stuff you bring to light. I'm a fan of statistical analysis also. Once you get into the numbers and start seeing patterns it's almost addictive.

Season six coming in last is a bit of a surprise, as it's got quite a few good episodes in it. But as it goes with statistics, there may be a few dogs that drag down the overall rating of a given season (i.e., This Island Isn't Big Enough and A Little Bit of Luck and A Little Bit of Grief). I also note that the highest rated episode for that season was the lowest rated, highest rated (you'll forgive the turn of phrase) episode for a season over the entire series.

Judging by my engagement with the forum over the years, there tends to be an agreement that Season Five was a low point (although not all would agree with that). Five is my least fave season, but it has some gems.

[MagnumFan]

I'm not sure what the weakest season is, but of the first half of the show, so far, on my re-watches, I'd say Season 2 may be the strongest. If not the strongest, I'd say it's the Season where Magnum, P.I. found it's groove and where a lot of the side character we'd come to love over the next 7 years would be introduced. Season 1 has some great episodes, but the show hasn't yet found itself. By the last few episodes of Season 1, we're getting there; Beauty Knows No Pain is a classic. But some of the very early episodes feel a bit off. You have Rick in the Pilot running a racy upscale Disco/coke club, which seems out of character for Rick and the show; Higgins' characterization doesn't jibe a little with the Higgy we come to know and love; he feels more like a thorn in Magnum's side/minor villain in TM's life rather than the begrudging mentor/ally figure we know him best as; The relationship in the beginning is one of mutual scorn rather than grudging respect and at the end of the day, close friendship. While Thomas never has time to listen to Higgins' stories, in Season 1 he treats them with scorn and vocal annoyance, and Higgins in turn looks at Magnum as sort of an uncultured rube, a loser. By Season 2, a lot of that antagonism is gone, even if they continue to have little petty feuds throughout the rest of the series.

But, come Season 2 and the show has finally figured out the tone overall, and some of the signature themes/storylines that would color the rest of the series are introduced here (IE the Michelle storyline). It's the season where all of the relationships are firmly established and sets us truly on course for the classic series the next seven years would deliver.

Watching those early seasons, it's wild to show how the '80s changed over time, in terms of fashions, music etc. The Pilot, everything is still wide lapels, Disco type fashion, Leisure Suits, and '70s hair.

Thomas has a much thicker mustache in the First and Second Season respectively, and the Hawaiian/Aloha shirt doesn't even become part of his signature wardrobe until Season 2 - he spends most of Season 1 wearing polo-type shirts, and has much bigger, curlier hair himself.







Compared to the last season

[Donuts ensucrats]

For me, from best to worst

3 (it's where I enjoy Magnum-Higgins relationship better and the life in the Estate also)
4 (it contains Home from the sea, operation silent night...not awful episodes here)
1 (i like the hawaii background and the 70¡'s mood)
2
7
5
8
6


It's difficult because some seasons are on the same level. For example 1-2

[UHmanoa-guy]

From best to worst (lets be clear: for me all seasons are good to great depending on what season it is)
2
3
1
4
7
5
6
8 (because it was too short and the series ended )

[KingKC]

I have been agonizing over this issue for the whole time I have been a member which is all of about six weeks. I think I have the results of my personal favorites. From best to less best....(because all of them had at least some redeeming qualities)

1 - clear winner
2 - pretty strong second
7 - came back strong from weak 5 and 6 season
8 - almost a tie with 7
3 - still holding pretty strong
4 - fading but only a little
5 - considerably weaker after Echoes of the Mind and Macs Back
6 - definitely the weakest

Again I reserve the right to change my mind after I sleep on it....lol.

KingKC

[☨magnum.t]

This is a very interesting topic indeed. I have to agree with most about 1, 2, 3 being the most enjoyable and really setting the example for what Magnum is. It's funny though that most people put season 7 in the middle or bottom of the list and yet 5 of the top 10 episodes as ranked on the site are from Season 7, and 1 episode being from season 8. Season 1 doesn't even have a top 10 appearance. Although I put J. Digger as top episode of all time for the simple fact that it has every element of what Magnum should be even with some smaller plot holes it really has it all.

[jeffran]

This may be controversial, but I'm a season 1-4 guy. While there are several good - maybe great - episodes post season-4, the tone of the show changed sufficiently that I don't enjoy those seasons.

Given that, my ranking would be:

S3
S4
S2
S1

[Styles Bitchley]

This may be controversial, but I'm a season 1-4 guy. While there are several good - maybe great - episodes post season-4, the tone of the show changed sufficiently that I don't enjoy those seasons.

Given that, my ranking would be:

S3
S4
S2
S1

As in, you don’t even like any episodes post season 4?

[jeffran]

This may be controversial, but I'm a season 1-4 guy. While there are several good - maybe great - episodes post season-4, the tone of the show changed sufficiently that I don't enjoy those seasons.

Given that, my ranking would be:

S3
S4
S2
S1

As in, you don’t even like any episodes post season 4?

No, there are some good ones, but overall I think the tone of the show became more serious, less fun, and less about the core group of characters.

[Mad Kudu Buck]

This may be controversial, but I'm a season 1-4 guy. While there are several good - maybe great - episodes post season-4, the tone of the show changed sufficiently that I don't enjoy those seasons.

Same here - but I'll also watch a couple early season 5 episodes. As you say, there are a few good episodes in later seasons, but they feel different. (I've analyzed many reasons for the change, but I won't bore people by going into details.)

[ConchRepublican]

This may be controversial, but I'm a season 1-4 guy. While there are several good - maybe great - episodes post season-4, the tone of the show changed sufficiently that I don't enjoy those seasons.

Same here - but I'll also watch a couple early season 5 episodes. As you say, there are a few good episodes in later seasons, but they feel different. (I've analyzed many reasons for the change, but I won't bore people by going into details.)

Really? You do know who your audience is, right?

[jeffran]

This may be controversial, but I'm a season 1-4 guy. While there are several good - maybe great - episodes post season-4, the tone of the show changed sufficiently that I don't enjoy those seasons.

Same here - but I'll also watch a couple early season 5 episodes. As you say, there are a few good episodes in later seasons, but they feel different. (I've analyzed many reasons for the change, but I won't bore people by going into details.)

I wouldn't mind the details!

I have a hypothesis - no data - but I think the arrival of Miami Vice, which was relatively edgy and dark (and certainly not fun IMO), perhaps led to the writers striking a similar tone with MPI.

[marlboro]

I have a hypothesis - no data - but I think the arrival of Miami Vice, which was relatively edgy and dark (and certainly not fun IMO), perhaps led to the writers striking a similar tone with MPI.

Miami Vice was hugely influential on some of the later episodes. Death and Taxes and Laura are the best examples. But after those two there are only 2 or 3 more that had that MV vibe, I think. I honestly think the later seasons may be a bit lighter than the first 4.

I think that the main issue is that the writing just isn't as good. I think I've read that Donald Bellisario took a step back from the series around the half way point, and I think his steadying hand was missed. I think there were still a lot of great episodes in those later years, but the hit to miss ratio took a swing after Bellisario left. So you end up with Jim"Mac"Bonnick, Higgins as Robin, Magnum acting more childish, Rick being relegated to comic relief a lot of the time, etc.