J. "Digger" Doyle (1.17)

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How Would You Rate This Episode?

10 (Perfect!)
22
13%
9.5 (One of the Best)
49
29%
9.0 (Excellent)
47
27%
8.5 (Very Good)
35
20%
8.0 (Pretty Good)
10
6%
7.5 (Decent)
4
2%
7.0 (Average at Best)
1
1%
6.5 (Not So Good)
0
No votes
6.0 (Pretty Bad)
2
1%
5.0 (Just Awful)
1
1%
 
Total votes: 171

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Lindsay Writer
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Re: J. "Digger" Doyle (1.17)

#101 Post by Lindsay Writer »

This was the best episode of the first season and they screwed up bad by not having Erin come back they should have made her a regular cast member for season two where we'd see her in the opening credits as an equal player. The show needed a strong woman and it never had one. Carol Baldwin was the worst she was a whining namby-pamby very weak character. Digger could have been and would have been the 2nd star on the show after Selleck.

Bellisario wanted to spin Digger off into her own series but I don't think that would have worked. Don should have gone to CBS and told them he wants Erin to be a regular cast member. Think how much better all the future episodes would have been with Digger as an equal team member starting in season two and ongoing until the end. She could have continued to work for Star Guard and help Magnum whenever he needed help. The episodes would have been much better with her.

Luckily for Erin she wound up on Silver Spoons and she made a lot of money from that show but I know she would have had much more fun if she had been allowed to join Magnum as a regular cast member with an equal amount of time as Higgins, Rick and TC had and an equal salary she deserved to be a regular player on the show.

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Re: J. "Digger" Doyle (1.17)

#102 Post by ConchRepublican »

Lindsay Writer wrote: Bellisario wanted to spin Digger off into her own series but I don't think that would have worked. Don should have gone to CBS and told them he wants Erin to be a regular cast member. Think how much better all the future episodes would have been with Digger as an equal team member starting in season two and ongoing until the end. She could have continued to work for Star Guard and help Magnum whenever he needed help. The episodes would have been much better with her.
Hey now . . . a now and then Erin Gray visit, like Batgirl from the Batman TV series, would have been nice.

2nd lead? No thanks, I wouldn't sacrifice any of the Higgins / T.C. / Rick dynamic for Digger.
Last edited by ConchRepublican on Mon Jun 23, 2014 3:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: J. "Digger" Doyle (1.17)

#103 Post by Steve »

ConchRepublican wrote:
Lindsay Writer wrote: Bellisario wanted to spin Digger off into her own series but I don't think that would have worked. Don should have gone to CBS and told them he wants Erin to be a regular cast member. Think how much better all the future episodes would have been with Digger as an equal team member starting in season two and ongoing until the end. She could have continued to work for Star Guard and help Magnum whenever he needed help. The episodes would have been much better with her.
Hey now . . . a now and then Erin Gray visit, like Batgirl from the Batman TV series, would have been nice.

2nd lead? Not thanks, I wouldn't sacrifice any of the Higgins / T.C. / Rick dynamic for Digger.
I agree, I am a big Erin Gray fan (heck, I always ask for an Erin Gray Goose Martini) but I liked the fact that Magnum never had a on going romance. I didn't even like the Dana Delany arc as I prefer my Magnum footlose, fancy free and doing his best to deal with the Michelle issue...............

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Re: J. "Digger" Doyle (1.17)

#104 Post by Doc Ibold »

Ehhhh,

I don't know if Digger would have been the best choice as a full time. I liked the dynamic with all the guys and that they all had (somewhat) common backgrounds in which they could all relate back to.

Plus, the character was kind of meh throughout. I got "aloof" Digger, but when she warmed up to Magnum at the end, she was still lukewarm in terms of emotional range. "But Tom, I didn't sneeze on purpose"

:?

I agree with Steve in that a footloose and fancy free Magnum was the way to go, because they probably would have done a romantic arc that would have had it go all Moonlighting.

Now, don't get me wrong, J. Digger Doyle is up there on my list of great Magnum episodes.. But simply for the fact that it set up a lot of the storylines in the future.

i.e. The first time Magnum actually vocalizes that he respects Higgins (in front of him) the guys coming together to thwart a plot, the first instance of Robin Masters. Just good stuff. Now, if she was treated in the same vein as Luther Gillis (whom I hated at first... But actually grew to like his episodes), I could've been on board with that.

Overall, I thought they incorporated the women into the story pretty well as more friends and equals rather than a romantic interest.

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Re: J. "Digger" Doyle (1.17)

#105 Post by ConchRepublican »

Doc Ibold wrote:Ehhhh,

I don't know if Digger would have been the best choice as a full time. I liked the dynamic with all the guys and that they all had (somewhat) common backgrounds in which they could all relate back to.

Plus, the character was kind of meh throughout. I got "aloof" Digger, but when she warmed up to Magnum at the end, she was still lukewarm in terms of emotional range. "But Tom, I didn't sneeze on purpose"

:?

I agree with Steve in that a footloose and fancy free Magnum was the way to go, because they probably would have done a romantic arc that would have had it go all Moonlighting.

Now, don't get me wrong, J. Digger Doyle is up there on my list of great Magnum episodes.. But simply for the fact that it set up a lot of the storylines in the future.

i.e. The first time Magnum actually vocalizes that he respects Higgins (in front of him) the guys coming together to thwart a plot, the first instance of Robin Masters. Just good stuff. Now, if she was treated in the same vein as Luther Gillis (whom I hated at first... But actually grew to like his episodes), I could've been on board with that.

Overall, I thought they incorporated the women into the story pretty well as more friends and equals rather than a romantic interest.
What he said. :magnum:
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Re: J. "Digger" Doyle (1.17)

#106 Post by Stelth »

For me, a woman "team member" would have ruined the show.

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Re: J. "Digger" Doyle (1.17)

#107 Post by EZiller »

Stelth wrote:For me, a woman "team member" would have ruined the show.
Yeah, agreed. Although a few more guest appearances from Digger wouldn't have hurt. With obligatory T & A exposure of Erin.

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Re: J. "Digger" Doyle (1.17)

#108 Post by SignGuyHPW »

I am a big fan of Erin Gray so I especially enjoyed this episode. This was a really fun episode as it had a little of everything including a great twist towards the end. It also gave a good bit to do for all of the principles in the show plus the main guest star.

There wasn't a lot I didn't enjoy about this one really. I wish they'd have brought Digger back later in a couple of more episodes, but it may have been contracts that prevented such.

This is the main episode I point towards in my theory that Higgins could not be Robin. Why would Higgins prepare a resignation letter in private if he was the man that owned the estate? The Lasertronics escape with a drugged Higgins was pretty funny. It was also one of the first episodes to explore Higgins questioning if he was still relevant to the times and Magnum helping to confirm that he is.

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Re: J. "Digger" Doyle (1.17)

#109 Post by BWheelz54 »

Just finished watching this episode again. Liked it more than ever. Just noticed this time how Magnum and Digger's wardrobes appear to have been purchased at the same shop. Digger and Magnum are definitely dressed to go together. I have to say that I think Digger is the woman for Magnum, even more than Michelle, and, oh my god, don't get me going about that Sharon Stone catastrophe. I agree it was too bad they didn't get Digger back into the series. She was to Magnum's character what Marian Ravenwood was to the character of Indiana Jones.

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Re: J. "Digger" Doyle (1.17)

#110 Post by Milton Collins »

ConchRepublican wrote:
Lindsay Writer wrote: Bellisario wanted to spin Digger off into her own series but I don't think that would have worked. Don should have gone to CBS and told them he wants Erin to be a regular cast member. Think how much better all the future episodes would have been with Digger as an equal team member starting in season two and ongoing until the end. She could have continued to work for Star Guard and help Magnum whenever he needed help. The episodes would have been much better with her.
Hey now . . . a now and then Erin Gray visit, like Batgirl from the Batman TV series, would have been nice.

2nd lead? No thanks, I wouldn't sacrifice any of the Higgins / T.C. / Rick dynamic for Digger.

Agree completely that Erin Gray would not have been a good fit as a regular. This is a really outstanding episode abd she was a great guest star but the show is called "Magnum PI" for a reason:) I would have liked to see her return though, cool tough female character and not hard on the eyes lol.

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Re: J. "Digger" Doyle (1.17)

#111 Post by ConchRepublican »

I also thought this was the episode that puts the big monkey wrench in the "Higgins is Robin" idea.

While Higgy-baby he was under the effects of the truth serum wouldn't he have told them?
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Re: J. "Digger" Doyle (1.17)

#112 Post by Milton Collins »

Ok I'm going on record and posing this to all the guys on this site, J Digger/Erin Grey is the hottest woman ever on Magnum! (Side comment, are we seeing Sellecks first wife as one of the attempted killers? I know she's in a later episode too and this sure looks like her. She's quite attractive herself!) I thought there were many hot women on Magnum (Michelle/Marta Dubois, was another fav for me:)) but J Digger was a 10! And I gave this episode a 9, she was a great character/actress and this was a very good episode and story. Fantastic action, halarious drugged Higgins, several Robbin scenes by The great Orson Wells that were very very good and should have been done more, just an all around excellent episode. I have one small complaint though, would TM have really been so naive with Digger in the beginning? As I've stated (and overstated lol) she was extremely attractive but I have to think that Magnum might have smelled a rat at how badly she specifically wanted to get inside the mansion, Robbins room, etc. Oh well, guess it had to happen for the episode to work and it is a tv show:)

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Re: J. "Digger" Doyle (1.17)

#113 Post by Little Garwood »

A request for someone to add a WAV of Magnum's "Higgins shut up!" to the Magnum-Mania Audio section.
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Re: J. "Digger" Doyle (1.17)

#114 Post by Hawaii Winds »

Milton Collins wrote:Ok I'm going on record and posing this to all the guys on this site, J Digger/Erin Grey is the hottest woman ever on Magnum! (Side comment, are we seeing Sellecks first wife as one of the attempted killers? I know she's in a later episode too and this sure looks like her. She's quite attractive herself!) I thought there were many hot women on Magnum (Michelle/Marta Dubois, was another fav for me:)) but J Digger was a 10! And I gave this episode a 9, she was a great character/actress and this was a very good episode and story. Fantastic action, halarious drugged Higgins, several Robbin scenes by The great Orson Wells that were very very good and should have been done more, just an all around excellent episode. I have one small complaint though, would TM have really been so naive with Digger in the beginning? As I've stated (and overstated lol) she was extremely attractive but I have to think that Magnum might have smelled a rat at how badly she specifically wanted to get inside the mansion, Robbins room, etc. Oh well, guess it had to happen for the episode to work and it is a tv show:)

HOT....just a hottie in these years!!!!.....

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Re: J. "Digger" Doyle (1.17)

#115 Post by terryfromkerry »

ERIN GREY ............. YEAH BABY !
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