I can't watch this

[Nifty911]

I have watched 1 and 1/2 episodes. I just can't watch this.

What really lost if for me was the character jumping out of the moving car onto the helicopter. I mean come on. And Higgins was able to tie into some satellite to track the "bad guys". There is action and then there is a level of ridiculousness that goes beyond reason.

I haven't read all the discussions but I don't see how this makes it two seasons.

[T.Q.]

I have watched 1 and 1/2 episodes. I just can't watch this.

What really lost if for me was the character jumping out of the moving car onto the helicopter. I mean come on. And Higgins was able to tie into some satellite to track the "bad guys". There is action and then there is a level of ridiculousness that goes beyond reason.

I haven't read all the discussions but I don't see how this makes it two seasons.

I think it’s horribly cringe-worthy.

Some here like it though. Kinda surprised me.

I think Hernandez is just an awful actor. Had it been someone else (also better stories and more true to Magnum, P.I.) with acting chops and a smidgen of charisma maybe would be watchable.

[marlboro]

There was no way a Magnum remake was ever going to work. As I've said before, it is a show of it's time and can't be transplanted to the modern day.
The world has just changed too much culturally and politically. What is Magnum without Vietnam, the Iron Curtain, a WW2 father figure etc? Just another detective show. But this isn't 1980;these days it's all about forensics, satellites, and hacking - not about picking locks and bribing reluctant bartenders for tips. How many suspenseful moments on the old show could have been eliminated by someone having a damn cellphone?

Even if you had a great cast and phenomenal writers, the remake would still be pointless if set in another time period than the original. You would have a great show that was hampered by being shoehorned into the Magnum mold.

[Amian]

There was no way a Magnum remake was ever going to work. As I've said before, it is a show of it's time and can't be transplanted to the modern day.
The world has just changed too much culturally and politically. What is Magnum without Vietnam, the Iron Curtain, a WW2 father figure etc? Just another detective show. But this isn't 1980;these days it's all about forensics, satellites, and hacking - not about picking locks and bribing reluctant bartenders for tips. How many suspenseful moments on the old show could have been eliminated by someone having a damn cellphone?

Even if you had a great cast and phenomenal writers, the remake would still be pointless if set in another time period than the original. You would have a great show that was hampered by being shoehorned into the Magnum mold.

This reboot may fall apart sooner rather than later if we are to go on general opinion on this site and on the viewership numbers that have been reported each week. But reboots (remakes) definitely can work. They work all the time. Shakespeare gets remade into all manner of media and genres, and for less highbrow tastes, classic comics characters like Batman get the reboot treatment constantly.

If this MPI reboot tanks, it will be for its own shortcomings (and there are many), not because a reboot couldn't work.

Actually, one of the better episodes was the one with the vet in the wheelchair. Different military conflict, different era, but it worked pretty well.

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

If they redo "Death and Taxes" the Ripper will no doubt be some young computer geek and instead of calling MiniMag he'll be texting him all the time. Yay....

[Nifty911]

There was no way a Magnum remake was ever going to work. As I've said before, it is a show of it's time and can't be transplanted to the modern day.
The world has just changed too much culturally and politically. What is Magnum without Vietnam, the Iron Curtain, a WW2 father figure etc? Just another detective show. But this isn't 1980;these days it's all about forensics, satellites, and hacking - not about picking locks and bribing reluctant bartenders for tips. How many suspenseful moments on the old show could have been eliminated by someone having a damn cellphone?

Even if you had a great cast and phenomenal writers, the remake would still be pointless if set in another time period than the original. You would have a great show that was hampered by being shoehorned into the Magnum mold.

If they made it a continuation instead of trying to re-do it, it would stand a better chance of working.

[eagle]

Despite my constant statements that I'm done with the reboot, I kept at it until episode 7. I made it through 1.5 minutes of this week's episode, and I just couldn't take it. The writing and acting are terrible. The stories have not been true to the original. Camaraderie has been replaced by bromance. Rick & TC are unneeded characters. The show should have been called "Magnum & Higgins" (like so many other This & That detective series), because they are the only recurring characters that matter in the show.

If I have nothing else to do, maybe I'll continue, but it gets harder every week.

[KingKC]

Despite my constant statements that I'm done with the reboot, I kept at it until episode 7. I made it through 1.5 minutes of this week's episode, and I just couldn't take it. The writing and acting are terrible. The stories have not been true to the original. Camaraderie has been replaced by bromance. Rick & TC are unneeded characters. The show should have been called "Magnum & Higgins" (like so many other This & That detective series), because they are the only recurring characters that matter in the show.

If I have nothing else to do, maybe I'll continue, but it gets harder every week.

Hard to argue with this post.

[T.Q.]

Despite my constant statements that I'm done with the reboot, I kept at it until episode 7. I made it through 1.5 minutes of this week's episode, and I just couldn't take it. The writing and acting are terrible. The stories have not been true to the original. Camaraderie has been replaced by bromance. Rick & TC are unneeded characters. The show should have been called "Magnum & Higgins" (like so many other This & That detective series), because they are the only recurring characters that matter in the show.

If I have nothing else to do, maybe I'll continue, but it gets harder every week.

Hard to argue with this post.

I still watch snippets during football or hockey commercials just to see if it’s getting better. NOPE.

[marlboro]

There was no way a Magnum remake was ever going to work. As I've said before, it is a show of it's time and can't be transplanted to the modern day.
The world has just changed too much culturally and politically. What is Magnum without Vietnam, the Iron Curtain, a WW2 father figure etc? Just another detective show. But this isn't 1980;these days it's all about forensics, satellites, and hacking - not about picking locks and bribing reluctant bartenders for tips. How many suspenseful moments on the old show could have been eliminated by someone having a damn cellphone?

Even if you had a great cast and phenomenal writers, the remake would still be pointless if set in another time period than the original. You would have a great show that was hampered by being shoehorned into the Magnum mold.

This reboot may fall apart sooner rather than later if we are to go on general opinion on this site and on the viewership numbers that have been reported each week. But reboots (remakes) definitely can work. They work all the time. Shakespeare gets remade into all manner of media and genres, and for less highbrow tastes, classic comics characters like Batman get the reboot treatment constantly.

If this MPI reboot tanks, it will be for its own shortcomings (and there are many), not because a reboot couldn't work.

Actually, one of the better episodes was the one with the vet in the wheelchair. Different military conflict, different era, but it worked pretty well.

Would you make a new version of Hogan's Heroes and insist on setting it in modern day Germany? No, of course not. But you could write a similar show in a different setting or in a different time period. I don't think you can say the same about Magnum, however, because the time period ties into who the characters are in an essential way.

Magnum - Vietnam - WW2 era father figure Higgins - Reagan era America - Cold War backdrop - the ability to use classic PI skills due to 21s century technology = ?

All you are left with is a Hawaiian shirt and a nice car. You have the trimmings but none of the substance. It's unavoidable.

As for a continuation, it might beslightly more palatable. You still wouldn't have anything remotely resembling the old show. You would have nothing more than a modern crime scene/detective show but with the added "benefit" of having our beloved original cast members making cameos. Frankly, I think I would find it a bit depressing.

ps The only way to do a remake is if it was set in 1980, imo. I would give that a shot at least. Too expensive to ever happen, though.

[karolis]

ps The only way to do a remake is if it was set in 1980, imo. I would give that a shot at least. Too expensive to ever happen, though.

I was looking forward to this reboot, but i'm getting more and more disappointed. I liked only two episodes - the one with stolen fish and Carl Weathers (S01E02) and another one with Ben Vereen (S01E06). But last two episodes were very weak, almost as weak as the pilot. Someone above mentioned that original partly worked because it had 80s atmosphere. This gave me an idea exactly as yours - make reboot set in 80s. But yeah, that would be very expensive. Most of the shows that is accurately set in 70-80s have only about 10 episodes per season due to the cost. But i am still trying to imagine it with Clayne Crawford as Magnum.

[Amian]

This reboot may fall apart sooner rather than later if we are to go on general opinion on this site and on the viewership numbers that have been reported each week. But reboots (remakes) definitely can work. They work all the time. Shakespeare gets remade into all manner of media and genres, and for less highbrow tastes, classic comics characters like Batman get the reboot treatment constantly.

If this MPI reboot tanks, it will be for its own shortcomings (and there are many), not because a reboot couldn't work.

Actually, one of the better episodes was the one with the vet in the wheelchair. Different military conflict, different era, but it worked pretty well.

Would you make a new version of Hogan's Heroes and insist on setting it in modern day Germany? No, of course not. But you could write a similar show in a different setting or in a different time period. I don't think you can say the same about Magnum, however, because the time period ties into who the characters are in an essential way.

Magnum - Vietnam - WW2 era father figure Higgins - Reagan era America - Cold War backdrop - the ability to use classic PI skills due to 21s century technology = ?

All you are left with is a Hawaiian shirt and a nice car. You have the trimmings but none of the substance. It's unavoidable.

As for a continuation, it might beslightly more palatable. You still wouldn't have anything remotely resembling the old show. You would have nothing more than a modern crime scene/detective show but with the added "benefit" of having our beloved original cast members making cameos. Frankly, I think I would find it a bit depressing.

ps The only way to do a remake is if it was set in 1980, imo. I would give that a shot at least. Too expensive to ever happen, though.

I'll have to defer on Hogan's Heroes since I've never seen it, so I'll take your word for it. From a broader perspective, though, transplanting shows to different times and places can work. Since I mentioned Shakespeare before, I'll point out that Akira Kurosawa remade several plays into films, including Throne of Blood (based on MacBeth) and Ran (based on King Lear). Both films used very different contexts and dramatic conventions, and both are great. And for what it's worth, Throne of Blood then served as a major influence for Star Wars.

If we're talking about Magnum P.I., I still think an adaptation is possible. Hawaii, as a paradise, is kind of static and unchanging. Magnum often commented on how most days were indistinguishable from the one before or the one to come. This can make the setting useful as a timeless place, as a metaphor for lots of things. For example, it echoes the arrested development of Magnum as he faces the prospect of ageing, and it can also symbolize that he and his friends have not yet moved on... they are stuck between the past (Vietnam) and a future they can't envision. In this regard, Hawaii works as a more literal link between Vietnam and the mainland than it does when Afghanistan is substituted for Vietnam. However, there is a strong military presence in Hawaii, so it's not that surprising some vets might end up there. And it remains a paradise that, in both the original and the reboot versions, serves as a kind of purgatory where the guys work out their demons.

The reboot doesn't have a father figure (or any mentor to speak of), which I think is to its detriment. I like the new Higgins, but the new show has changed the dynamic dramatically with that. I think you're right to bring that up, for sure.

The differences in technology and Cold War backdrops are just that: backdrops. This is acceptable to me, just as the differences between Shakespeare's world and Kurosawa's films are acceptable. The Reagan-era aspect I don't think is that crucial, either. Or maybe I don't know what you mean by this. To me, the Hawaii of Magnum P.I. was divorced from 1980s politics. The continuation of Vietnam for the guys (e.g. Ivan, Michelle) was more about the past than the present.

In the end, I think the reboot will succeed or fail on its own merits. A few people have brought up the constant over-the-top gunfights and some other examples of lazy writing. I think the lack of imagination in the writers' room is where the real problem lies.

[marlboro]

Transplanting plots is different than transplanting characters. Japanese characters playing out a plot similar to Macbeth in Japan isnt the same as Lady Mabeth, King Duncan, and Banquo literally being plopped into feudal Japan.

Why does Magnum take place in Hawaii? Though it's never said on the old show it's because Hawaii is half way between America and Vietnam. The characters are Americans but the war in the east has irrevocably changed them. Now, why is the new one set there?

Some characters and plots can be updated, reinvented, and transplanted and some can't. You can't set American Graffiti in the 1850s or The Last Picture Show in Boston without losing the essential qualities that made them special. Magnum is the same for me.

PS The Kurosawa flick you are thinking of is Hidden Fortress, not Throne of Blood, I think. ToB is a great movie though. I also like Ran (based on King Lear) and High and Low. Magnum fans might be interested in checking out Rashomon since its story structure was the basis for season four's "I Witness."

[Amian]

Some characters and plots can be updated, reinvented, and transplanted and some can't. You can't set American Graffiti in the 1850s or The Last Picture Show in Boston without losing the essential qualities that made them special. Magnum is the same for me.

I think this is the long and short of it. Even in those cases you just mentioned, I actually still think they could be remade in those settings, depending on the thematic elements you want to use.

I'm not actually a big Shakespeare fan (my old high school English teacher would not like to hear this), but just for the sake of consistency, we can look at the 1990s remakes of Romeo and Juliet (same title, but with Leo DiCaprio and Claire Danes, set in CA) and 10 Things I Hate About You, (based on The Taming of the Shrew). They might or might not work for each viewer, but they are about as far from the original as the examples you gave. Yet the writers mine the themes that work for them.

But in the end, I respect your opinion... if Magnum just isn't suited for adaptation in your eyes, I'm good with that.

PS The Kurosawa flick you are thinking of is Hidden Fortress, not Throne of Blood, I think. ToB is a great movie though. I also like Ran (based on King Lear) and High and Low. Magnum fans might be interested in checking out Rashomon since its story structure was the basis for season four's "I Witness."

Good catch! I'm a big fan of classic Japanese movies, and it sounds like you are, too.

[marlboro]

Hogan's Heroes in s a late 60s sitcom about a group of Allied POWs in a German prison camp ran by a nincompoop. My dad watched it, but Im not a big fan.

It was inspired by the classic William Holden movie Stalag 17. Coincidentally, that is the movie Magnum was watching in Did You See the Sunrise? It's pretty good, imo, and I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who likes older movies.