Jay Hernandez and Twitter

[ConchRepublican]

Question for the Maniacs . . . Jay Hernandez is fairly active on Twitter and often using strong language or in a very political way.

Do you feel this effects ratings, and, if so, do you think it helps or hurts?

[MagnumsLeftShoulder]

I don't think it matters either way. Ordinary folks are not as engaged in what's trending on twitter as twitter's CEO and the media would like us to believe. The leader of the free world only has 55 million followers. That's less than 20% of the population of the USA and less than 1% of the world's population. So some actor with fewer than 22 thousand followers on a bad TV show is pretty insignificant even to his own show's ratings.

[sandbiscuits]

Interesting question. I don't think it matters one way or the other. People will like his work or not, but unless he's going beyond the pale (whatever that means to each individual), Hernandez's tweets are irrelevant. I'm on Twitter daily and didn't even think to find his feed... why would I?

So there you go: conclusions based on a sample size of one!

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

Question for the Maniacs . . . Jay Hernandez is fairly active on Twitter and often using strong language or in a very political way.
Do you feel this effects ratings, and, if so, do you think it helps or hurts?

Hi Conch,
Excellent idea for a new thread, kudos to you.
My humble opinion?
Jay is the star of a new show trying to make an impact. Common sense would dictate a "star" owes it to his employers and the hundreds of people whose jobs depend on Magnums success to put his energies into making Magnum better(and to take acting lessons, his reaction to TC saying they weren't pals anymore was crap, which also is an indictment of the director). I am not denying Jay's right to an opinion but stars uniquely have a duty to others and to a network that could make them immensely wealthy.
I think Jay should take a page out of Duke Wayne's book(admittedly before Twitter).
John Wayne would appear at political fund raisers and if asked for his opinions would give them but he wasn't an activist.
In a sense the audience, the people, were his bosses and there was no percentage for him and the movie companies in annoying the ticket buyers.
The only time he really got involved was to join President Carter to push for passage of the Panama Canal Treaty, which did help to get it passed over the opposition of the conservative groups Wayne normally identified with.
In any event Twitter, because of it's limited space is the perfect vehicle for the uninformed to spew without facts or actual thoughts, it is aptly named as it is for Twits with the attention span of a dung beetle.
Good God, pick up a frigging book and learn something, have an independent base of knowledge and the hucksters of the Right and Left won't be able to BS you. You will then recognize the contempt in their hearts that they have for you, that they can utter a few manipulative words and watch the lazy cry "amen"!
Whoa, I guess I climbed up on my own soapbox. I need a holiday with Mandy(Robin Deardon) from "No Need to Know".

"Democracy and false manners do not mean your ignorance is just as good as my knowledge"...Isaac Asimov

[NotthatRick]

I am not on twitter, but I have seen him on instagram. I don't care for him or his politics. But to answer the question, I don't think what he does on social media has much effect on the ratings of this awful show.

[sandbiscuits]

I am sort of surprised people on the forum are aware of Hernandez's politics at all, considering how inconsequential his opinions are to our lives. If someone, for whatever reason, started following him for his politics without knowing about MPI, I suppose they might be encouraged to watch the show. I assume most people here would have found their way to his Twitter feed because of the show.

I am pretty sure the show's ratings will go up or down on the merits of the show itself.

[KingKC]

What very little I have heard about his politics (and I don't pay much attention to TV/movie stars and their politics) seem to be somewhat fringe issues so I really don't care that much what he says. It doesn't change my opinion of the show which is still pretty "meh."

[T.Q.]

Question for the Maniacs . . . Jay Hernandez is fairly active on Twitter and often using strong language or in a very political way.

Do you feel this effects ratings, and, if so, do you think it helps or hurts?

I hate finding out* (and try to avoid) the politics of my favourite actors/actresses.

* Even though I know most of them share the exact same NPC views.

[MagnumsLeftShoulder]

I am sort of surprised people on the forum are aware of Hernandez's politics at all

LOL! I didn't know until Conch posted the question and I looked it up. I was shocked that he had only 22,000 followers. I thought the guy had some kind of cult-ish fan base? Anyway, I stick with my original theory that the influence of the twitter-sphere is vastly overrated.

He doesn't talk much about politics anymore, but Tom Selleck was no stranger to politics during the show's run. He campaigned for Reagan, did commercials for the National Review, and later was NRA spokesman. Do you think his politics affected the ratings of MPI in either direction?

[ConchRepublican]

I don't think it matters either way. Ordinary folks are not as engaged in what's trending on twitter as twitter's CEO and the media would like us to believe. The leader of the free world only has 55 million followers. That's less than 20% of the population of the USA and less than 1% of the world's population. So some actor with fewer than 22 thousand followers on a bad TV show is pretty insignificant even to his own show's ratings.

Good point on both, and while agree that the number of people on twitter is over-rated, I do thinking "trending" and "hot" guide a lot of decision makers in the media fields so I think the influence is disproportional to the actual numbers . .

[ConchRepublican]

Interesting question. I don't think it matters one way or the other. People will like his work or not, but unless he's going beyond the pale (whatever that means to each individual), Hernandez's tweets are irrelevant. I'm on Twitter daily and didn't even think to find his feed... why would I?

So there you go: conclusions based on a sample size of one!

I am sort of surprised people on the forum are aware of Hernandez's politics at all, considering how inconsequential his opinions are to our lives. If someone, for whatever reason, started following him for his politics without knowing about MPI, I suppose they might be encouraged to watch the show. I assume most people here would have found their way to his Twitter feed because of the show.

I am pretty sure the show's ratings will go up or down on the merits of the show itself.

Well, I only decided to follow Hernandez because of the show (TBH - I didn't know who he was when he was cast) and was surprised that, as a lead, he was so vocal.

[ConchRepublican]

Question for the Maniacs . . . Jay Hernandez is fairly active on Twitter and often using strong language or in a very political way.
Do you feel this effects ratings, and, if so, do you think it helps or hurts?

Hi Conch,
Excellent idea for a new thread, kudos to you.
My humble opinion?
Jay is the star of a new show trying to make an impact. Common sense would dictate a "star" owes it to his employers and the hundreds of people whose jobs depend on Magnums success to put his energies into making Magnum better(and to take acting lessons, his reaction to TC saying they weren't pals anymore was crap, which also is an indictment of the director). I am not denying Jay's right to an opinion but stars uniquely have a duty to others and to a network that could make them immensely wealthy.
I think Jay should take a page out of Duke Wayne's book(admittedly before Twitter).
John Wayne would appear at political fund raisers and if asked for his opinions would give them but he wasn't an activist.
In a sense the audience, the people, were his bosses and there was no percentage for him and the movie companies in annoying the ticket buyers.
The only time he really got involved was to join President Carter to push for passage of the Panama Canal Treaty, which did help to get it passed over the opposition of the conservative groups Wayne normally identified with.
In any event Twitter, because of it's limited space is the perfect vehicle for the uninformed to spew without facts or actual thoughts, it is aptly named as it is for Twits with the attention span of a dung beetle.
Good God, pick up a frigging book and learn something, have an independent base of knowledge and the hucksters of the Right and Left won't be able to BS you. You will then recognize the contempt in their hearts that they have for you, that they can utter a few manipulative words and watch the lazy cry "amen"!
Whoa, I guess I climbed up on my own soapbox. I need a holiday with Mandy(Robin Deardon) from "No Need to Know".

"Democracy and false manners do not mean your ignorance is just as good as my knowledge"...Isaac Asimov

Thank you, I try to contribute occasionally . . . I can't let you guys do all the heavy lifting.

I lean towards your way of thinking (I pretty much let Hernandez know that, if he even paid attention) that as the central figure of a TV series he has responsibility to the cast and crew not to do things that would jeopardize the success of the show. I get that social media is a relatively new phenomenon but sports guys learned long ago when dealing with the media, bland is best. Which is why I was wondering of things had changed that much and while I'm only just passed 50, could Fogeyness have caught up to me?!?

[ConchRepublican]

Question for the Maniacs . . . Jay Hernandez is fairly active on Twitter and often using strong language or in a very political way.

Do you feel this effects ratings, and, if so, do you think it helps or hurts?

I hate finding out* (and try to avoid) the politics of my favourite actors/actresses.

* Even though I know most of them share the exact same NPC views.

LOL! Bonus points for you! Love that meme . . . and yes I feel the same way.

And it's not even finding out their political position it's just that some are so over the top that any opposing viewpoint is cause for rage. Short attention spans and twitter's character restrictions reduce any chance of intelligent dialogue down to name calling.

[ConchRepublican]

I am sort of surprised people on the forum are aware of Hernandez's politics at all

LOL! I didn't know until Conch posted the question and I looked it up. I was shocked that he had only 22,000 followers. I thought the guy had some kind of cult-ish fan base? Anyway, I stick with my original theory that the influence of the twitter-sphere is vastly overrated.

He doesn't talk much about politics anymore, but Tom Selleck was no stranger to politics during the show's run. He campaigned for Reagan, did commercials for the National Review, and later was NRA spokesman. Do you think his politics affected the ratings of MPI in either direction?

I think the way Selleck handled politics was a little more subtle. He wasn't in your face on panels attacking or defending positions, he just put his name towards things he supported, and did it on his own time.

As for the effect on ratings, I don't believe it had a negative effect, considering the subject matter of the show and the more conservative lean Selleck had, it would they would compliment each other a bit. It's not like he was off sitting in a anti-aircraft gun of an enemy or anything like that.

[sandbiscuits]

I am sort of surprised people on the forum are aware of Hernandez's politics at all

LOL! I didn't know until Conch posted the question and I looked it up. I was shocked that he had only 22,000 followers. I thought the guy had some kind of cult-ish fan base? Anyway, I stick with my original theory that the influence of the twitter-sphere is vastly overrated.

He doesn't talk much about politics anymore, but Tom Selleck was no stranger to politics during the show's run. He campaigned for Reagan, did commercials for the National Review, and later was NRA spokesman. Do you think his politics affected the ratings of MPI in either direction?

I think the way Selleck handled politics was a little more subtle. He wasn't in your face on panels attacking or defending positions, he just put his name towards things he supported, and did it on his own time.

As for the effect on ratings, I don't believe it had a negative effect, considering the subject matter of the show and the more conservative lean Selleck had, it would they would compliment each other a bit. It's not like he was off sitting in a anti-aircraft gun of an enemy or anything like that.

Again, a sample size of one, but I never paid attention to Selleck's politics when I was growing up watching MPI. Even when I started rewatching as an adult, and knew a little bit about TS's politics, they were completely irrelevant to me. I just enjoyed the MPI universe.

The media landscape is very different today compared to the 1980s. Who knows whether or not TS would have a Twitter account or would feel more compelled to be vocal in today's world.

Considering the major role TS played in MPI, both on and off screen, it's reasonable to assume his ethics (maybe politics too?) seeped into the writing, but I never thought of the show as pro-NRA or pro-Reagan.

Do some folks feel like the reboot has a political bent?