I saw previews of the new show and give this version of the original series maybe one season before it goes belly up. The cast is not even close to the origal idea, specially casting Higgins as a female, really?
I followed Magnum PI from the first to the last show in the late 80’s and was not impressed by this “new” version. I found the original series to be entertaining and placing attention on the Viet Nam veterans since TM had been a SEAL himself during that war. “Did You See the Sunrise” is my favorite episode showing TM dealing with Ivan in the best possible way. Justice took a while but it finally came for Ivan.
The ‘new’ Hawaii Five O is another one I saw and one episode did it for me. What’s next, an I love Lucy reboot? Hollywood is lacking some serius amounts of imagination.
I tend to agree with you, Steve. Used to watch both the original Magnum and Five-0. Some roles are so appropriately cast with a particular actor, they become almost definitive.
Looks like they are portraying Magnum as some kind of superhero,thats not what it should be,he was pretty an everyman.No one can play him like Tom Selleck,an iconic role.
Got to meet him in 1981 while on our honeymoon in Honolulu,in those days you could pretty much just stroll onto the set.Caught him coming out of his trailer,very gracious,he stopped and chatted and posed for a picture with my wife.
I found a flyer from the production crew in my gate asking if they could use my house as a shooting location, but I just laughed and tossed it. My house is in serious need of repainting, so they probably wanted to use it for a meth lab! Dog the bounty hunter nabbed a probation violating perp two houses away, so my street does not need any more bad press!
Yeah these reboots are just dumb. When the new 5-O first aired, we were howling with laughter when a character said that they were not local just because they “spoke the bird”. The bird? What’s that? Oh, pidgin! Ha ha, NOBODY here calls it “the bird”. Just a case of Hollywood writers trying to sound hip, but tripping on the cracks in the sidewalk while wearing “rubbah slippas” (NOT flip-flops).
I had thought maybe these Hawaii based reboots would try to mix in actual geography and fun island factoids in with the story, but no. The characters still start a chase in Kaimuki where I live, duck behind the old theater parking lot, and emerge in Waikiki, several miles away. “Ho, dose mainland buggas, dey run so fast!!!”
You probably could have gotten a new paint job out of the deal. Friend of mine got his lawn resodded in return for his driveway being used in a car commercial.
I really liked the original, so yes, probably be disappointed in the remake.
TM was Thomas Magnum in the series. Yes in real life he was in the National Guard but he played an ex Navy SEAL in the show. TC and Orville (Rick) were both Marines in the show and all served in Nam in the story line.
Saw the prview too…my how Higgens has changed, pretty sure he was a pompus Brit in the original…maybe he took a trip to a country that “re-assigns” things. I smell a secret love affair in the wind and I too most likely will not watch but part of 1 episode.
They’re flying the same ugly helo, it was the one thing I hoped would change. I’m going to try it, a lady Higgins presents a different dynamic, along with a different era of military conflict for a backstory. I liked 5-0 til it went macabre about the third or fourth season, and I lost interest.
There’s a couple other shows being re-cast and released. Can’t they come up with something original? How many different versions of shows and movies can they do? Marvel alone has re-written almost all of its series from Spiderman through the Fantastic Four. I tried to explain to a kid at church how they have altered the characters and story lines but he finds it hard to believe. I might get him a copy of teh bood with the original comics laid out and see if that helps. Either way, I’m done with all the changes .
Yeah that’s what my coworkers said too. But I didn’t want an army all over my yard. I watched 5-O set up at a house in my neighborhood, and it was a major production, with the streets clogged with trailers and equipment.
Yeah, stick a fork in Hollyweird… it’s done. When you’re so creatively bankrupt the only thing you can do is dig up and remake the past it’s over. I don’t even give these reboots a chance anymore, I’m always disappointed.
I picked up the complete series on DVD a year or so ago and have been slowly watching though them. I haven’t seen the show since it ran back in the ‘80s and it’s interesting to note the little things I remember and the majority that I’ve forgotten. ‘Did You See the Sunrise’ was a friggin’ amazing episode. Thoughtful and pretty dark for a series that was mostly a light-weight fun show.
The new show sounds like a disaster. The whole show revolved around the chemistry between Thomas and Higgins- without it you don’t have a show. And as the show went on Higgins not having any children and Thomas losing his dad when he was just a child they became more and more surrogate father and son. With a female Higgins you’ve just shot that relationship in the head and buried it.
Good post Gamera. You can see the slow change in Higgins’ attitude at Thomas thru the seasons. I was actually sorry to see the show come to an end but at least the final episode did have a happy ending.
Not only was it a light weight fun show in general but it did have a couple of ghostly ones that were pretty interesting to watch. ‘Flashback’ was very good too dealing with time travel. But just how in the heck did that old Tigers cap find its way into the modern day Ferrari at the end…??
I rewatched the entire series again a couple of years ago. It had its high and low points, I must admit. It’s an example of typical 80’s television. Still, I found it much more entertaining than typical 21st century TV fare. I did not bother watching the reboot, as the commercials just did nothing to rekindle any nostalgic feeling. Perhaps the 12 year old audience will find it interesting.
Television many years ago was called a “vast wasteland”. Today, televsion looks like that wasteland has been visited by barbarian hordes who have burned it to the ground.
