Magnum P.I.

I understand the concept of reviving the series. It was insanely popular, and you are already filming Hawaii 5-0, so it's a no brainer. My biggest gripe, the casting is horrible! No charisma (no Tom Selleck look alike), no chemistry, unbelievable situations, just blah! Liked the scenery!

So, since CBS moved the new Magnum PI to Friday night, after Hawaii 5-0, I decided to give it another look. I had stuck through S1E1&E2 back in September of 2018. I gave it 3 stars. I was very disappointed with all of the characters ant the writers. I have watched the last 4 episodes as reruns, and it is growing on me. Not as much as the remake of Hawaii 5-0 but I'm interested to see where this will go.

For some reason, there are many reviewers here who are upset about Higgins being portrayed by a woman. I don't really care about Higgins being cast as a woman. What I miss is the relationship in the original show, a relationship which cannot exist in this reboot of the show.

In the original series, Magnum and Higgins represented two archetypes.

Higgins, the elder of the two, represented a warrior of an older, for formal era. As we learned more about him, we discovered that his stiff upper lip concealed an action-packed history of service.

Magnum, the younger, represented the Viet Nam era. During this time, military service was changing, reflecting the less formal society of the 1960's and 70's. Service people came home with the memories of a wet jungle war and were no longer considered heroes.

Over the course of the series, we saw a grudging growth by both, each gaining respect for the other. While almost never a central element of any story, the ongoing subplot enriched the series. As well, Higgins age and experience allowed the character to be both a hero and a damsel in distress without negative impact.

In this reboot, Higgins is younger than Magnum. She is intelligent, attractive, supremely confident and competent in almost all things. By resetting the structure in this way, she becomes an antagonistic partner and an ongoing potential love interest. Moreover, if we consider Magnum a competent protagonist, she cannot bring the element of greater experience to the relationship.

The Higgins character could easily be played by by either a male or female. I suppose that casting Perdita Weeks, who plays what she is given with some skill, was to appeal to middle aged men who enjoy the scenery. Had they cast a woman 20 years older, a different older chemistry could have blossomed, one of respect, cooperation and affection. In this remake, we are stuck with another will they/won't they relationship.

This remake is unexceptional and it hardly required watching for me. Still, it had potential.

I loved the original show and was excited to see the remake. Huge disappointment. Weak acting, characters, storyline. Took me a bit to realize this wasn't supposed to be a slapstick remake. So disappointed. Can't believe this is a CBS show. Well below this network's standards.

Let me start with making one thing very clear: I was (and still am) a big fan of the orignal series. No love lost over the last 30 years, I still watch the original series and nothing can be compared to it.

Ok now that's clear, let's get back to this reboot, which receives a 5.5 rating on IMDB at the moment of this writing.

But now scroll down.... check the episodes....and check these individual ratings. Quite high, right? Actually...if you add these all up and divide it over the episodes, you'll probably end up with a rating closer to an 8.

So why the 5.5 as an average overall rating?

That's quite easy to explain: it's coming from people like me, who are so desperately stuck in the 'good old days'. We loathe any reboot because nothing these days can be compared to what we had back than. I know.... it was a magical time. Magnum P.I., Miami Vice..... we were extremely lucky to witness it all.

This time I actually bothered to WATCH the series first before talking bad about yet another reboot (like the upcoming Miami Vice we're getting next year. Let's hope it's better than the 'movie'....yikes...)

And what did I see? A very fresh and cool approach very similar to the original series but not quite the same. Oh boy....I hated the fact that Higgins was now a woman, because you know....who better than John HIllerman?

But the series grew on me....Close your eyes and Jay Hernandez sometimes even has the same voice as Selleck. And Perdita Weeks (the new Higgins) adds something to the series....

Would I prefer this over the original series? No. But that was then.... And you don't have to watch it if you're a hater from the start. But I highly recommend you just give it a chance and admire the fact that these directors, cast and location managers actually work hard to recreate that feeling we had back then. It's 2019.....we live in a world full with people ready to be the next Jersey Shore. We should be rooting for people who at least try to give us quality tv.

So, in my humble opinion, what could be improved? Rick.

I really like the new actor, but the original series was very funny and often mocked Rick. The new Rick is a lot tougher and bigger than the original one, and that makes it hard to mock this character. Also, the original Rick (Larry Manetti) was really concvincing being a connected guy. His accent, the clothes.... it was perfect. Hard to believe he was almost axed when the original series started, right? I read Larry Manetti's Aloha Magnum book and it sheds a light on how things went down in those days. I'd highly recommend it.

What I'm basically trying to say... Don't compare, but be grateful there are still some people trying to recreate that feeling we had back then.

And please remember that the IMDB rating is unreliable. People who didn't even bother to watch the show just give it a poor rating.

Always look at the ratings PER episode.... that's the rating which was done by people actually watching the show.