MPI and CNN "The Eighties"

[KingKC]

I just saw an advertisement/trailer for CNN's new show on "The Eighties" to be aired on March 31, 2016 at 9 PM (probably Eastern Time). In the trailer was a quick shot of TM in the Ferrari pulling off a pair of sunglasses. It looks like MPI will get mentioned as one of the more significant or prevalent shows of the Eighties. I hope so!!!

[Cagliostro]

I just saw an advertisement/trailer for CNN's new show on "The Eighties" to be aired on March 31, 2016 at 9 PM (probably Eastern Time). In the trailer was a quick shot of TM in the Ferrari pulling off a pair of sunglasses. It looks like MPI will get mentioned as one of the more significant or prevalent shows of the Eighties. I hope so!!!

Well it looks like I'm going to have to watch CNN for the first time since forever, and MPI should be a significant part of the pop culture part of any eighties retrospective, since it started so early in the eighties it covers the entire zeitgeist of the decade. From the extremely tense early days to the later half were things lightened up significantly (yay,glasnost).

[KingKC]

Boy...what a disappointment with CNN's use of MPI. (SPOILERS AHEAD IF YOU DID NOT SEE THE SHOW "THE EIGHTIES, RAISED ON TELEVISION" ON CNN!!!)

First of all the advertisement/trailer changed in the last week before the airing and the MPI clip was not in it. MPI did get mentioned early in the show and was pretty much depicted as "just another one of the lighthearted dramas" of the early 80s while noting the lack of situation comedies at that time. All they showed was a brief scene from the episode with the goat TM was babysitting and Higgins thought was a kudu buck. It pretty much made MPI look like a silly show.

Granted MPI did not have the critical acclaim that many other shows like Hill Street, Miami Vice, Moonlighting, Cagney and Lacey etc. did but I think it deserved better mention than it got.

I would also take issue that the Eighties was the generation raised on television and assert that TV had a significant influence on those of us raised in 60s, including me.

KingKC

[ConchRepublican]

Shocked, SHOCKED I am that CNN doesn't get Magnum PI.

[Steve]

Boy...what a disappointment with CNN's use of MPI. (SPOILERS AHEAD IF YOU DID NOT SEE THE SHOW "THE EIGHTIES, RAISED ON TELEVISION" ON CNN!!!)

First of all the advertisement/trailer changed in the last week before the airing and the MPI clip was not in it. MPI did get mentioned early in the show and was pretty much depicted as "just another one of the lighthearted dramas" of the early 80s while noting the lack of situation comedies at that time. All they showed was a brief scene from the episode with the goat TM was babysitting and Higgins thought was a kudu buck. It pretty much made MPI look like a silly show.

Granted MPI did not have the critical acclaim that many other shows like Hill Street, Miami Vice, Moonlighting, Cagney and Lacey etc. did but I think it deserved better mention than it got.


KingKC

I was disappointed as well. I agree the shows they mentioned were indeed groundbreaking but, I felt they could have put Magnum,pi in that category as well. It was the first TV series, and for that matter only major media of the time that depicted Viet Nam vets in a positive light and not afraid to have flashbacks of the war and our boys experiences. Oh well,t least we keep the memory alive and well on here.............

[waverly2211]

MPI is my #2 all time favorite show, behind Miami Vice.

Having had a finance who worked for NBC on a popular 80’s show, Miami Vice, and then switch networks to CBS in 1988. She didn't work on MPI.

I can see why CNN didn’t spend as much time on MPI as I or we would have liked.

According to her back then CBS considered MPI as an escapism type show. Exotic local, handsome male lead with many romantic overtones. Magnum led a somewhat unobtainable lifestyle for many and it was hard to associate with his character. Living in a beachfront mansion in Hawaii for free, free Ferrari to solve crimes with very likeable friends. it was a dream, not reality for the vast majority.

Free trips in a buddies helicopter to run down leads, drinks at an exclusive club where he had the run of even though he was not a member. Another “connected” friend to get any number of background checks on and little to no real ongoing drama in his life, or the other lead characters.

Other than the petty run-ins with Higgins Magnum led a pretty wonderful life and all the while driving a Ferrari with any number of beautiful women at his feet. Out of the 180 or so episodes, maybe 10, had any real personal drama. Of the rest, many were light hearted or not very edgy. Not really a setup for critical acclaim or a statement on current life in the 80’s.

Even during the “Heavy” episodes, MPI received little critical acclaim during the 80’s. Even though, IMO, it should have gotten more for its positive portrayal of our Vietnam veterans at a time when they didn’t get much good press, or were portrayed in a positive light at the time. Which I feel CNN should have focused their attention to, not Magnum with a baby goat in his car and a very pretty, but perplexed looking client looking on.

IMO, CNN portrayed MPI exactly as many had seen the show.

[KingKC]

MPI is my #2 all time favorite show, behind Miami Vice.

Having had a finance who worked for NBC on a popular 80’s show, Miami Vice, and then switch networks to CBS in 1988. She didn't work on MPI.

I can see why CNN didn’t spend as much time on MPI as I or we would have liked.

According to her back then CBS considered MPI as an escapism type show. Exotic local, handsome male lead with many romantic overtones. Magnum led a somewhat unobtainable lifestyle for many and it was hard to associate with his character. Living in a beachfront mansion in Hawaii for free, free Ferrari to solve crimes with very likeable friends. it was a dream, not reality for the vast majority.

Free trips in a buddies helicopter to run down leads, drinks at an exclusive club where he had the run of even though he was not a member. Another “connected” friend to get any number of background checks on and little to no real ongoing drama in his life, or the other lead characters.

Other than the petty run-ins with Higgins Magnum led a pretty wonderful life and all the while driving a Ferrari with any number of beautiful women at his feet. Out of the 180 or so episodes, maybe 10, had any real personal drama. Of the rest, many were light hearted or not very edgy. Not really a setup for critical acclaim or a statement on current life in the 80’s.

Even during the “Heavy” episodes, MPI received little critical acclaim during the 80’s. Even though, IMO, it should have gotten more for its positive portrayal of our Vietnam veterans at a time when they didn’t get much good press, or were portrayed in a positive light at the time. Which I feel CNN should have focused their attention to, not Magnum with a baby goat in his car and a very pretty, but perplexed looking client looking on.

IMO, CNN portrayed MPI exactly as many had seen the show.

I have to agree with a lot of what you say but I cannot imagine MPI being more escapism than a lot of other television shows that had no touch with reality and got rave reviews. Do people really believe vice cops run around wearing colored t-shirts and linen suits wearing deck shoes and no socks? Do people actually believe a model goes broke and ends up as a private detective? Do people honestly believe that rich oil men are all evil and snide and constantly plotting behind everyone's back? Do people really believe cops run around in flack jackets pulling their guns and yelling "clear" after they bust into a pretty much vacant house? We flock to prime time television to get away from the real world. We live vicariously through our "heroes." I don't sit and listen to CNN and the news three to four hours per day to be inundated with reality. Maybe the afternoon talk shows draw some attention to reality but they always seem to be discussing, if not sensationalizing, the extreme behavior of very dysfunctional people. Sometimes I think they do a really great job of promoting the latest book someone has written.

Oh well....!

KingKC

[MagnumsLeftShoulder]

According to her back then CBS considered MPI as an escapism type show.

Gee, I'm shocked that network brass didn't get their own show! Do they ever?? That's probably a good thing though. If they had understood what the show was really about, they likely would have cancelled it by claiming that the viewers would never understand it. I've always had a theory that Bellasario got to do the show the way he and the cast wanted because Hawaii is a long way from New York and LA network bosses.

[Mrs. Higgins]

CNN is ardently anti-second amendment. Tom Selleck is a member of the NRA. Sounds like they were just pushing their agenda by dismissing the show.