Magnum Mania!

A lot of long run series have three phases. They start off well and then evolve into something even better as producers figure out what works. Finally, somewhere along the line they get to a point where the edge is gone and they start to go downhill.

For me this happened for Hawaii Five-0, Mash, All in the Family and sadly for Magnum PI as well. Somewhere around season 5 or 6, Magnum PI started to cross over to a show that reminded me more of Murder She Wrote than one of the harder hitting stuff of the earlier seasons.

Does anyone else find this true and if so around what season did it happen for you?

Fortunatetly Magnum and Higgins interplay still kept the show watchable to the end.

Actually, Magnum was one of the shows that was voted to have never "Jumped The Shark" by a prettty significant margin.

will agree Season 6 was pretty bad, but it got better in Season 7... and 8 existed just to wrap everything up (so I don't look for stellar writing, as they knew it was coming to an end).

I can see your point though!

Blasphemy!!!!!!!

(OK season 6 wasn't too good, but . . .)

Don't worry buddy, I'm still of the opinion that it never jumped..but Season 6 wasn't that great (In magnum terms)

There were some lesser episodes, but IMO Magnum never jumped. Even at it's weakest it was still worth watching.

I do think however that "way of the stalking horse" was one of the better episodes of the series. When Magnum is blowing away at mannequins in the end..you're like holly crap..he just unloaded. Usually there's a bang here or there, but in that one WOW. Deja vu is also a good one in the respects it shows and tells a little more about Magnum and his snipping abilities, that latter would be seen again in "Unfinished Business" and the little flashback scene to Nam with Jeffery (taken from the movie The Green Berets) awesome.

Yes, the show wobbled a little. Seasons 6-8 had a mixture of good shows and 'what were they thinking' shows. I don't know how this can be prevented. Every show has cast concerns, writer and producer concerns, network support concerns... there is a great deal to be juggled to keep a great show great. I understand why they chose to grow Magnum up but it may have been a mistake. The carefree and adventurious Magnum is what everyone loved to watch. Some of the later episodes were more like dramas than MPI episodes. It was still much better than MSW however!

Yes it did. But I still liked it.

Seasons 5-6 were mostly pretty weak for me (I've just started season 5 to review, and aren't all that excited about it).

It just seemed to lose the freshness and sharpness that it had previously, and, after so many classics in seasons 1-4, had very few really outstanding episodes IMO.

BUT...

1) It got a bit better again in seasons 7-8

2) Even at it's weakest, MPI is generally better than most of other shows, be it of the era, or of now.

I think anytine a show runs that long you are going to have hit and miss episodes, but the fact that so many fans see Season 7 as one of the best shows that the show retained it's quality throughout it's run.

I don't know if there's a better episode than Season 7's Limbo . . .

IKnowWhatYoureThinking wrote:I think anytine a show runs that long you are going to have hit and miss episodes, but the fact that so many fans see Season 7 as one of the best shows that the show retained it's quality throughout it's run.

Yes and no. I'd say it dipped but picked itself up again. Which is a good thing, as many shows don't manage that.

OK, I felt a drag during Seasons 5-6 but some of the episodes were excellent. I think what must happen is that the writers simply begin to struggle. "What can we do now?" They want to keep the ratings up, money, gotta keep working, etc., but they still struggle. They picked up the pace in Season 7 maybe because they knew it was over but then, well, we simply wouldn't let them. Season 8 was pretty good and the last episode wrapped it up
Anyway, being a newbie, I watched during the 80s, loved it, got the DVDs last year and am just getting into Season 1 for the 2nd time and have to say that I enjoy it more than the first time through. I am hoping that will be the same for 5 & 6!

I am starting to feel that the writers saw this as more the story of a few Vietnam vets getting their lives together after the war. TM was the main character and the show ultimately is how he put his lift back together. Hawaii, the Ferrari, Robin's Nest.....it wouldn't have made it had it been filmed in Boston, TM driving an old Chevy and living in a flop house. Anyway, I think there was a case of writer's block during 5 and 6, that's all.

Welcome Higgy_baby! Great first post!

The run of MPI is interesting because it was great for the first several seasons, then not-so-great (but still good) for a couple of seasons, then great at the end, especially Season Seven.

For the life of me, I can't think of another show that rebounded as strong as MPI did towards the end of its run. I'm sure there are some examples, but I just can't think of any.

Thanks James. It was definitelty good all the way through.

I just prefer the early stuff with hard hitting action and light hearted humour between the main 4. Later episodes had long lost Aunts showing up (although Barbara Rush wasn't bad at 59), too many Agatha tea parties and even Angela Lansbury. Cute, but not the same edge as the old stuff.

Still going out with a bang in season 7 and 8 shows that the producers knew when to hang it up. MPI and Hawaii Five-0 are my two all time favourites. Magnum went out like John Elway and Joe Montana. Five-0 went out like Brett Favre and Jim McMahon. Some go out on top and others just linger a bit too long.

Higgy Baby I love your football analogies! Welcome aboard and football season is right around the corner!