If You Removed Everything about Magnum PI ........

[wilko]

If you removed all references to Magnum PI from this so called show, the character names, locations, imagery, etc, would this show be able to stand up on it's own?

[Gatchaman]

I think it's impossible to tell, because the whole make up of the show seems to be molded around nostalgia of the original show.

[perfectlykevin]

I doubt any show would. Would Seinfeld have worked if it were set in Peoria? Take away that much and you take away the identity of a show. A huge draw from me in the original series was Hawaii itself.

[eagle]

For me (late 40s), it doesn't work. It's a product of its era, and I don't like most modern shows.

Basically this show is about 2 main characters (Thomas and Juliet), and there are some references to a show we love. If I consider it without the references to the original (easy to do since I think the references are lame), I just don't like the new show.

As I have said elsewhere, detective shows are some of my favorites. Recent series I enjoyed (not all are detective shows) include Blue Bloods, Castle, Psych, Burn Notice, and Monk. In this new Magnum, I don't like the way the characters relate to one another -- the are often rude and insulting, and not in the friendly ribbing kind of way. I don't see the point of Rick & TC as characters -- they contribute so little. The casting for Luther H Gillis is ridiculous. Jay Hernandez can't act (fortunately Perdita Weeks can). The voiceovers are annoying and the story lines are not believable, though both of those afflictions are lessened in the most recently aired episode.

I also loved Law & Order, and that show makes huge logical jumps during the episode. However, they give the viewer a visual and audible indication of the jump -- the "thump thump," combined with the fade-to-black and then a frame with words indicating the scene change. Those logical jumps worked in L&O because of the scene changes. In my mind, the logical jumps in the new Magnum just don't work.

In my mind, the fish episode was the most believable, and even it included logical jumps (USB drive, anyone?) that are not sustainable.

For me it just doesn't stand up. I'll give it one more shot, then I'm out.

[perfectlykevin]

I'm trying to look at these early episodes like any other show. I hated Star Trek: TNG when it first came out. The characters were clunky and not believable, but over time they developed and became more established. I've experienced most shows this way, and usually end up waiting for the second or third season before watching any new show.

I'm trying to view these early episodes of new Magnum like the original series. The characters didn't really come into their own until much later, probably a reason why I tend to prefer the later seasons vs the earlier ones

[eagle]

I'm trying to look at these early episodes like any other show. I hated Star Trek: TNG when it first came out. The characters were clunky and not believable, but over time they developed and became more established. I've experienced most shows this way, and usually end up waiting for the second or third season before watching any new show.

I'm trying to view these early episodes of new Magnum like the original series. The characters didn't really come into their own until much later, probably a reason why I tend to prefer the later seasons vs the earlier ones

I've been trying to do that as well. Some of the early character development in RealMagnum was over the top, but it settled down after only a handful of episodes in the first season.

If character development was the only issue I had with NewMagnum, I might be more charitable.

Edited to add: Regarding your TNG comment, the same is true of Seinfeld. Season 1 is really hard to watch; even season 2 was much better, but by season 3 they had it down.

[perfectlykevin]

I'm trying to look at these early episodes like any other show. I hated Star Trek: TNG when it first came out. The characters were clunky and not believable, but over time they developed and became more established. I've experienced most shows this way, and usually end up waiting for the second or third season before watching any new show.

I'm trying to view these early episodes of new Magnum like the original series. The characters didn't really come into their own until much later, probably a reason why I tend to prefer the later seasons vs the earlier ones

I've been trying to do that as well. Some of the early character development in RealMagnum was over the top, but it settled down after only a handful of episodes in the first season.

If character development was the only issue I had with NewMagnum, I might be more charitable.

Edited to add: Regarding your TNG comment, the same is true of Seinfeld. Season 1 is really hard to watch; even season 2 was much better, but by season 3 they had it down.

I am being charitable, I know. I could not watch TNG, I couldn't stand how unlike the original series the characters were but a few years later I watched an episode from around the fourth season and was impressed. I really think this series will be the same way. Having said that I really hope they keep a keen eye on the original series and have the characters mellow and become more refined. Unlike TNG, the Magnum characters are supposed to be the same characters, just set in a different time / alternate universe

[Gamer77]

I'm trying to look at these early episodes like any other show. I hated Star Trek: TNG when it first came out. The characters were clunky and not believable, but over time they developed and became more established. I've experienced most shows this way, and usually end up waiting for the second or third season before watching any new show.

I'm trying to view these early episodes of new Magnum like the original series. The characters didn't really come into their own until much later, probably a reason why I tend to prefer the later seasons vs the earlier ones

Funny thing your mentioning that. A family member and I were talking about just that the other day and we both agreed that due to the need for both the show and the actors playing it's leads to find their footings- Star Trek: TNG would have been cancelled before then had it been aired today. But more than this I feel what's hurt television is the internet.

Before internet, yes, there was cable. But it was still more niche, mostly subscription fare with some semi-terrible offerings on basic packages. Most families gathered around weekly shows such as Magnum or Next Gen, and so the public as well as the networks, were invested in having these shows around.

Flash ahead thirty years later and a couple big recessions later everyone is trying desperately to save money. A full series is considered thirteen to sixteen episodes at best. We have oxymorons entering the lexicon such as 'mid-series/season finale.' Over half the shows produced are done in Canada in order to benefit from five year funding agreements. If you wonder why many of the outdoor segments have the look of the forests surrounding Vancouver -well...

It's a scarce thing for many shows to live up to or past five series -often beginning in a somewhat longer storytelling format when they begin -when producers believe the gravy train will last forever- and then eventually being curtailed by the mid point and then rushed to an incomplete and abrupt-feeling ending when executives give them their walking papers in advance. Many of these series also don't have much of a plan - where they want to be five years down the road. They lack direction in a way that more than not shows the man behind the curtain -the rehash of BSG, celebrated as it was, comes readily to mind. Whiteboarding works in a pinch -not as the backbone of a long-running show, however. It's the scriptwriting equivalent of living hand to mouth.

But yes- thirty years later and who should have guessed that networks would be keeping back some of their better offerings from the public by hiding them behind ill-conceived streaming services? Thanks to Netflix, and now Amazon, every network believes they have to have one to compete - when basic internet is still struggling to be in even fifty percents of homes. It boggles the mind.

It's all becoming spread a bit too thin. Balkanised even. Viewers only have so much money. Cable was supposed to be a solution to finding local network programming and a bit of premium service in a single package, but having to have cable then decide which networks you'll want to spend for outside of one of those packages for their separate streaming services- often for only a single programme you want to watch? It's asinine. It's a bubble that's just waiting -begging even- to be burst. Something that won't be good for anyone as it could spell the end for certain networks. At least books are still on paper for however long that lasts.

But to get things back on topic(apologies) If you took away the most obvious trappings of Magnum -the homages etc. I believe the show could work. The more salient question, I believe, is would the show have gotten made? Again- Hollywood executives are a cowardly and superstitious lot. They're extremely risk averse, which is why much of the entertainment of the last two to three decades has been reboot/nostalgia fare.

There's plenty of room for an action-packed series about a private investigator and their adventures in an exotic location -if you want to distill the show down to its most basic elements. But if it's not got Magnum, or MacGyver or some other fondly remembered name attached? Probably not today.

It's a wonder we haven't seen Simon and Simon(especially as it's in the same universe as Magnum), Matt Houston, Mike Hammer(or Sledge Hammer), or Hunter given another turn. Or Moonlighting -Grief, I hope Moonlighting never comes back.

[perfectlykevin]

Good points, especially about how tv was made before cable and the internet got involved. It really is a different animal nowadays vs today.

[eagle]

One other big difference between now and the 1980s is that back then there were only a few dozen channels on cable. Now there are hundreds. Sure, most of it is not new programming, but there is much more product coming from Hollywood today than there was back then; unfortunately most of it today is of poor quality.

[rgholmes]

[ If you took away the most obvious trappings of Magnum -the homages etc. I believe the show could work. The more salient question, I believe, is would the show have gotten made? Again- Hollywood executives are a cowardly and superstitious lot. They're extremely risk averse, which is why much of the entertainment of the last two to three decades has been reboot/nostalgia fare.

There's plenty of room for an action-packed series about a private investigator and their adventures in an exotic location -if you want to distill the show down to its most basic elements. But if it's not got Magnum, or MacGyver or some other fondly remembered name attached? Probably not today.

It's a wonder we haven't seen Simon and Simon(especially as it's in the same universe as Magnum), Matt Houston, Mike Hammer(or Sledge Hammer), or Hunter given another turn. Or Moonlighting -Grief, I hope Moonlighting never comes back.

Next Generation is a great example.
I was saying the same thing to a friend of mine last weekend. He introduced me to MPI in 1983 when we were in high school.

Fast forward 35 years and we're comparing the new and old. We talked about the first season of MPI compared to this one and how shows in the past had a chance to find their legs and build an audience.

It's a study in how television was made then and now. Classic Magnum and Classic Hawaii Five-O were considered "action-packed." But now when I watch my DVDs of the classics, today's tv shows are what I call "simplified for short attention spans" but more filled with shootouts and CGI. Not just New MPI and H50, it's a lot of shows. We watch NCIS, and the same arguments apply. It's not Peter Lenkov's fault, it's the differences in viewers now and then. Things have to happen every certain time increment or viewers lose interest.

Personally, I like the new show. It's not classic MPI. It's a different show. It's an escape. I get a second hour of Hawaii each week. And the production brings jobs to Hawaii.

Now if you really want to get me mad, let's discuss the Will Ferrell "Holmes and Watson" trailer and THAT's how you take a BIG STEAMING DUMP over the source material...

Gary
(USN 2009-?)

[Reef monkey]

Nah, without the Magnum branding, this would just come off as a spinoff of Hawaii-5-0, and too similar to it in style, , characters, etc, to survive. It would just look like an attempt to resurrect 80s-era private detective shows - Simon and Simon, Riptide, etc., a format that is pretty played out, with just some 21st Century window dressing here and there. And I've said it before, as a "private eye in paradise" show, "Burn Notice" was far better than this show is.