Just watch my first episode only because it was on the channel when I turned the tv on. And kept watching because they filmed near where I vacationed this year and I wanted to see the sites. I can't believe this series was ever popular. Horrible acting although Tom Selleck tried to rise above the subpar script. And people made money from this dreck. Wow.
shareDo you remember which episode it was? Cause sometimes, they can be painful. And other times to have to get into the rhythm of the show. Like I could never get into the X-Files, but people must love it, cause they're still making movies.
The quality of mercy is not strained
[deleted]
This was 30 yrs ago. People talked different, dressed differently, acted differently, were entertained differently, and had different expectations as an audience of what was a good show. Nowadays it will mainly appeal to people who love it for nostalgia or who love seeing the beauty of Hawaii during a simpler time.
www.huffingtonpost.com/nathan-j-winograd/PETA-KILLS-PUPPIES-KITTENS_b_2979220.html
I love the show as much now as I ever did. I have not watched a new tv show in probably 20 years. Tv today totally bores me and I would rather watch an old movie or tv show. To me, Magnum was the best all around show I have ever seen. It has everything you would want. An excellent cast that works well together, great scenery, great music, an excellent mix of comedy/action/drama. I think Tom Selleck makes the show work so well. There have been many stories about how well he treated people associated with the show. He was very loyal.
I wouls also like to know the episode the person above saw. There are only a few episides in the entire series that don't rate at least good. There are not too mant shows you can say that about. Star Trek is one that only had 2 stinkers. Any Quinn Martin show is very good. Twilight Zone was hit and miss. There was a lot of great ones, but a lot of average ones and bad ones too.
I loved the show and all of the characters. But, there were somethings that bothered me over it's 8 year run. The character of Rick and his really bad Bogart impression was really awful and so glad they stopped doing it which was done in the first few episodes from the first season. And, the other were the flashbacks from Vietnam. They were depressing, all the gunfire gave me headaches.
Like you, I prefer to watch older shows than anything new they have to offer from the 3 networks. The ones I like and enjoy get cancelled. So, I just stopped watching altogether. I also watch UK series, they're all very well made and keep my interest. They're a little slower but longer episodes (no 44 minutes, sometimes 65 minute or longer) and number of episodes are less, sometimes 5 or 6 episodes each season. House of Cards (UK version is a mini-series), Prime Suspect (excellent show with the grand dame Helen Mirren), The Fall, Hinterland and Foley's War are my favorites. Some really good Canadian series. My favorites being Republic of Doyle and The Killings. If you haven't watched them check them out.
Yes, 30 years ago people had just begun to walk upright and grunt in two syllables.
What are you talking about Lets?
TV was not greatly different in the 1980's than it is now. There was slightly less overt sex, there was less gruesome violence (people got shot and killed a lot but there was less blood gore and details), and there were fewer four-letter words, and of course cable was still finding its legs so the networks were still king meaning there were fewer choices and (until NYPD Blue) no nudity (of white skin at least).
Magnum was a very uneven series. I loved its first two or three seasons but then the writers seemed to run out of ideas and it got repetitive and frankly a bit weird and then finally annoying. It had in some respects the strangest arc of any series I can recall, in that it vacillated from the early Ferrari driving, make Higgens nuts, good times, to some really heavy Vietnam war periods, to the beyond weird hallucination (?) period.
Every single character got more annoying as time went on and by the time the series sputtered to an end nobody much cared.
Yes, 30 years ago people had just begun to walk upright and grunt in two syllables.
What are you talking about Lets?
Yes, I agree that some shows appear to have been edited by someone wired (Hollywood is usually all about the latest fad and playing follow the leader), but there are shows that still feature some contemplation. NCIS, Bones, Criminal Minds, and Blue Bloods, for instance, are not terribly different from earlier eras in that regard.
Besides Tom Selleck's embarrassingly short shorts, I would say the main difference is pacing. When I watch shows like new Hawaii 5-0, I cannot believe how fast-paced everything is. People speak in rapid-fire bursts, scenes only last about 45 seconds. And then there's a jarring flash, and they switch to a different clipped, rapid-fire scene. They don't take time for the development of emotion or depth, to create a mood or offer characterization, like they did with drama shows back in the 80s. That's the main thing that would make it challenging/boring to watch a show like this for someone weaned on modern-day TV shows of 2015, and that's what I meant when I said people are entertained differently today than 30 yrs ago.
The last seasons of Magnum were better than the middle years and the two episode series finale was one of the highest rated shows in TV history.
Today, Magnum is dated but there are some episodes that are not hard to watch.
Agree. It got better as it went along.
Today, we rarely ever watch ANYTHING on network TV. It has honestly become THE 'vast wasteland' that has been reported for years. We watch classic TV sometimes on StarzPlay or Netflix and of course, most things on HBO are good.
Let me guess: You`re from the U.K. (``dreck``) and you`re in your 20`s. Am i right?
shareI disagree with the OP. I watched the show in its first run and recently decided to give it a try again after all of these years. I have to say it holds up well. Tom Selleck does a great job.
While the Vietnam flashbacks look a bit cheesy, this wasn't a "war movie" and it had budgetary constraints, but it was one of the very first positive portrayals of Vietnam vets.
I did not like the show back in the day. Thought it was too much fluff. Now, I appreciate it more. Not from nostalgia but for the unusual manner in which the stories are presented and how Tom Selleck breaks the usual mold of a P.I. show from the era and before. Being a P.I. was only a facet, and a minor one at least in the episodes I have seen on Encore these past few months, it was more a show about how different colleagues mix with improbable experiences.
I admit I see a great deal of realism in the little touches presented in the show. Perhaps as an afterthought by the cast but very real as I have done them myself. Grief, exultation, danger, fear, play,etc.
I agree on the VietNam / Cambodia / Laos scenes. They are indeed far too 'Hawaii'. Often there are mistakes that show up. I notice the plantings which are often just not right and appear to have been popped into the scene to provide cover. Papaya trees at eye level in a battle scene? Not likely.
In the episode "Unfinished Business', when Magnum is supposedly on the fictitious, isolated island 'Ile Debonnevie ', you see a large passenger jet on approach behind the mountain.
But hey, I guess it's better than trying to stage it in Los Angeles.
Exactly. The OP sounds like a butthurt millennial.
shareI had the same thought about it being someone in their 20s-30s that never saw it during the 1980s.
share[deleted]
I'll bet the networks didn't realize that you are the only person who's opinion matters -and the millions who enjoyed the series were either under-qualified or too stupid to have a say. You should make sure all the network chiefs are aware that they should run everything past you before putting it on the air for more than one episode.
sharehahahaha
funniest post ever!!
Great post, sueupdyke!
Well, you might have caught a bad episode. They were written and directed by different people (even if they were in the same season), so the quality of the episodes varied somewhat. I am watching them again for the first time since I first saw them when they originally ran back in the 1980s, and I must admit some of the episodes were pretty bad. Then again, some were very entertaining. The acting does get better with the main cast as the series progresses and they start getting better guest stars as the show got more popular. Tom Selleck does have a great deal of natural charm and John Hillerman is the best actor of the group.
You have to remember that this show was made only 30 years after television first started broadcasting, so it was still a fairly new medium. Also, television was the "small screen" and did not have the budgets that the movies had. It also was considered to be less of a art form than film, so it didn't attract the same level of talent (both in front of and behind the camera) as films.
While Magnum P.I. does have its faults, it does remind a lot of us of a simpler time, especially if you are like me and spent a lot of time in Hawaii back then. It's fun to see the way Hawaii used to be - you would be surprised how much Oahu has changed since Magnum P.I. was made. It also reminds me of the way things were when I was a teenager when my shorts were shorter, my hair was longer and my heart was lighter.
Really don't understand the hate from the OP. As an avid TV fan (and detective series in particular), I would not list Magnum P.I. as an all-time favorite, but it is hardly an "awful" show unworthy of watching. Magnum had plenty of good episodes and didn't run 8 years by accident.
As for the acting, say what you will, but a who's who of name actors/actresses appeared on the show during its run. Frank Sinatra, Pat Hingle, Cameron Mitchell, Vic Morrow, Angela Lansbury, Ernest Borgnine, Sharon Stone, Norman Fell and Bo Svenson were among the dozens of good character actors appearing on the show.
Certainly better than the vast majority of crap offered on network TV today.
Von,
I'm not sure if Oahu changed THAT much because I just watched a video of Bellisario (on YouTube) talking about making Magnum from a 1950's Hawaii travel guide. When he went there he was shocked and told them to shoot the show without condominiums, or four lane roads or big buildings...he wanted it to look the old way with empty beaches, palm trees, small roads, etc.
memayse, I saw that too. He wanted them to stay off the 4-lanes and use beaches away from the condos. I don't think it looks that much different than it does today, to be honest. They just used a different filming 'ethos' per the writer. And good for him!
shareWatching "Little Girl Who" presently and loving Tom Selleck. What a hunk!
You can't judge a series on one episode. Obviously, many people enjoyed this show and these characters-as well as all the sub-plots.Maybe all producers in Hollywood and other locations should ask you to decide what is good and what isn't. Your opinion must be the most important one.
share[deleted]