Why do you love Magnum, P.I.? What drew you to it?

For all non-episode specific topics about the show, including MPI-related "tie-ins"

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MagnumILWU
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Re: Why do you love Magnum, P.I.? What drew you to it?

#31 Post by MagnumILWU »

Do most of you actually read the question? You all try to sound so deep, when you go off on tangets, and don't even answer the question! Tom Selleck,Magnum, Hawaii, his lifestyle, being a private investigater, the Ferrari, the estate, Higgins, Rick, TC, the lads, the characters, the stories, baseball, hot dogs! Just everything about the series! What guy back then didn't want to live his life?! That's what I love about Magnum, and drew me to it!
"pickled egg please"

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Work The Lock
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Re: Why do you love Magnum, P.I.? What drew you to it?

#32 Post by Work The Lock »

MagnumILWU wrote: Tom Selleck,Magnum, Hawaii, his lifestyle, being a private investigater, the Ferrari, the estate, Higgins, Rick, TC, the lads, the characters, the stories, baseball, hot dogs! Just everything about the series! What guy back then didn't want to live his life?! That's what I love about Magnum, and drew me to it!
Amen to those bullet points. His military backstory deepens him, but those aspects all just clicked perfectly. Combined with the relative innocence of the 1980's, it keeps it supremely appealing all these years later.

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Reef monkey
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Re: Why do you love Magnum, P.I.? What drew you to it?

#33 Post by Reef monkey »

The show premiered just before I turned 5, so I'm trying to reach back and remember what caught my eye about it. Certainly the Hawaiian scenery was appealing, and reminded me of going to Miami to see my grandparents, which I always liked. TC kind of reminded me of Gordon from Sesame Street. Thomas was the same age as my father, and it was interesting to see a man the same age as my dad who never wore a suit and acted kind of like a kid. I liked how he talked to the audience, but not in a hard-boiled noir way, in a relaxed conversational way. I started to imagine that Magnum was what I was going to look like, be like as an adult. Well, I got the hairy chest and the ability to grow a thick mustache (but found I hate having facial hair), but my dark brown hair ended up straight, and I topped out at 5'10". One thing that really stood out to me was Magnum's M1911A1. I was so used to seeing the characters in police and detective shows and movies carrying revolvers, and all my older brother and my toy guns were revolvers, his was the first semiauto I had noticed a character using. Soon I got my first toy "Magnum 45" in die cast metal, it looked like and what about the same size at this:
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/K3U80lM0RYo/maxresdefault.jpg

Then there was the Ferrari, which was the coolest car I had ever seen. I actually had a little pedal car that was a red Ferrari, though made to look like a Formula 1 racer.

I also really thought his surfski was cool, my family was already a boating family, so I thought the idea of having my own little one-man boat that I could paddle around by myself was pretty cool. And if you'll notice my profile pic to the left, that's one Magnum-inspired dream from my childhood that came true.

I continue enjoying Magnum partly for the nostalgia, but it is also just good action/adventure/drama with characters you like and care about, set in a beautiful tropical paradise.
My essay "In Country: Place and Historical Connection in Magnum PI", about the importance of the Honolulu/Vietnam connection in the show:
http://magnum-mania.com/Forum/viewtopic ... 850#p57850

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