40th Anniversary Watch Party

[308GUY]

I’m in for tonight!

X's2

[SeamanWolfe]

I watched on Roku tv last night. While not my favorite episode (Billy Joe Bob was a bit much and I much prefer the later seasons Higgins/Magnum dynamic).

The picture quality on Roku was first rate, maybe I am jaded by watching a lot of episodes on Charge tv (over the air with an ok signal), but I thought this one looked really clean.

Looking forward to watching over the next 7 months - most of this season I have not seen in a long time (30 years).

Looking forward to everyone's thoughts on this season.

[T.Q.]

I’ll say about Billy Joe Bob that it was a very weak episode to start season 2.

Usually a series wants to come out super strong in S02ep01 so it’s a bit strange.
Glad our Magnum, P.I. survived it.

Also shows how much the series matured over time.

[Styles Bitchley]

Watching today. Thanks for the bump, Seaman.

I just didn’t have the commercials to remind me of the season premier!

https://youtu.be/mhE0rXYYiwM

[Pahonu]

Watching today. Thanks for the bump, Seaman.

I just didn’t have the commercials to remind me of the season premier!

https://youtu.be/mhE0rXYYiwM

Wow! So of the era. Thanks for that Styles!

[Pahonu]

I just finished watching and I’m not a really big fan of this episode, but it is a decent entry. I don’t much enjoy the show’s depiction of cowboy behavior with Billie Joe punching several people, though I do see Magnum’s response as equitable, if crude. The two scenes I very much enjoy are: Magnum talking to the bartender with the broken nose and his comment on Billie Joe’s sister’s singing Cole Porter and Higgins’ description of TM spreading recycled vegetation coming through the cow. The fact that Higgins loses out in this deal is lots of fun.

Since I commented last season on the estate and/or camera angles in most episodes, I took note of the long shot from the tidal pool when TM tells Billie Joe about his sister. It’s a very beautiful angle of the estate that was probably more complicated to shoot then than most people think. Getting the camera blocked, the lighting correct, and the sound recorded properly in several feet of water took more time and effort than many realize. It was worth it for the long view of the estate’s sea walls and beach… now sadly altered.

I’m looking forward to one of my favorite episodes of the season next… Dead Man’s Channel.

[308GUY]

Not one of my "favorite" episodes, but enjoyable none the less. Certainly not one of the "worst"....if there can even "be" such an animal!

One thing that always made me "ponder" a little...was when TM was at HPD HQ and they wheeled Carol Ann in and TM "introduced" himself to her, she responds with "He told me about you"....first response is to think there would have been no opportunity for BJB to tell her, then after my own "wheels" stop turning, it occurs to me that she must be referring to officer and not BJB. As I said, just a random thought that runs through.

Something else that sort of "bothers" me is when BJB first arrives at Ito's place in TC's chopper, he kind of "sweeps" the welcoming committee and apparently knocks all of them unconscious for quite a while....this has always seemed one of the more "unrealistic" things in any of the episodes that occur to me. Again, just a random thought. Just seemed to me, that yea...I can see where it might have knocked them down, but to render them completely out of it for as long as indicated was too much of a "stretch", IMHO.

Always liked the look on TC's face and the apparent empathy felt, when TM is trying to talk him into keeping BJB occupied and therefore "out of the way" and realizes how that must have affected BJB, thinking/knowing that his sister had become a "lady of the night".

As with every single one of the episodes in this series, no matter how far fetched, ridiculous or absurd the episode seems, there is always at least a redeeming scene or two, at least for me.

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

Bumping this to the top of the board. Anyone watching season 2 40 years later? Watched Billy Joe Bob tonight (40 years exactly) and will not be upset if it is another 40 until I see it again.

I actually like this episode.

You and me both! I really like the "Texas justice" story here. James Whitmore, Jr. is always good in these types of roles. I actually prefer it to the next one - "Dead Man's Channel" where the only thing I really like is the kudu buck subplot (one of the best).

[Styles Bitchley]

I was all set to put some fresh thoughts down here on Saturday when the lights went out. Suddenly no Magnum Mania. Was this the end?? Thankfully, we're back in action. Nevertheless, everyone has already covered much of what I thought in the episode, but I think I like it more than most of you. It's a little silly and the cowboy justice schtick is a little over the top. But it fits right in with those stereotypes of the era (we see the same with the over the top Kahuna depiction in Curse of the KKC in season 1).

Another thing I noticed was when Carol Ann gets nailed by the car and is tossed into the harbour, the stunt is really well done. I mean, she really goes flying into the water at a serious velocity. I was so struck by it that I slowed it down and watched frame by frame and noticed that she looks pretty darn big in the action parts of the scene. They don't have any scenes where you can actually see the face of the stunt person, but I'm convinced it's a man and I think it's actually John Nordlum. It was very well constructed.

[T.Q.]

October 15, 1981

[CBS 8:00] Magnum, P.I. Dead Man's Channel
Season 2, episode 2

With Wendy Girard (Marion Hammond), Ina Balin (Professor Martinez), Mamaluna (Tehani), Curtis Malia (Keone).

After her archaeologist father's boat is found deserted at sea in the Nehoa Channel, a young marine biology student hires Magnum to find out what happened to him. Ancient superstitions say that the channel is "cursed".

[Styles Bitchley]

[CBS 8:00] Magnum, P.I. Dead Man's Channel
Season 2, episode 2

This is one of my all time favourites.

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

[CBS 8:00] Magnum, P.I. Dead Man's Channel
Season 2, episode 2

This is one of my all time favourites.

Good but not as good as the season opener "William Joseph Robert".

[Styles Bitchley]

[CBS 8:00] Magnum, P.I. Dead Man's Channel
Season 2, episode 2

This is one of my all time favourites.

Good but not as good as the season opener "William Joseph Robert".

That, my friend, is a true dad joke. And I strongly disagree.

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

[CBS 8:00] Magnum, P.I. Dead Man's Channel
Season 2, episode 2

This is one of my all time favourites.

Good but not as good as the season opener "William Joseph Robert".

That, my friend, is a true dad joke. And I strongly disagree.

And I am a dad!

[Pahonu]

[CBS 8:00] Magnum, P.I. Dead Man's Channel
Season 2, episode 2

This is one of my all time favourites.

Good but not as good as the season opener "William Joseph Robert".

That, my friend, is a true dad joke. And I strongly disagree.

And I am a dad!

I also disagree, both with dad jokes and the quality of Billy Joe Bob. The cowboy justice was way over the top, almost to the point of absurdity. He rigs a noose from a tree and has him stand on chair while pointing his six shooter from out of his cowboy holster. Seems a bit silly to me.