There's no guarantee it'll get past the pilot stage. Hopefully it doesn't, because I think your idea would be a much better way to handle it. On CBS it would just turn into a generic procedural, except set in the '50s.
CBS orders pilots for Magnum, PI , Cagney and Lacey reboots
- Thread starter Enterprise is Great
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A
Amaris
Guest
Jay Hernandez as Thomas Magnum?
Seems okay, but he's way too slick and clean shaven. I've added some much needed pizzazz.
Seems okay, but he's way too slick and clean shaven. I've added some much needed pizzazz.
I'm not sure who I would've cast as Thomas Magnum but it wouldn't have been Jay Hernandez.
He looks like another bland and generic modern television lead. No screen presence.
I'll give him this: the hair is different.
I'll give him this: the hair is different.
I’d have cast Harrison Ford just to annoy Selleck.
It wasn't quite "lightning in a bottle" and more like "the third time is the charm" since Cagney was first played by Loretta Swit in the pilot and Meg Foster in season 1. It was canceled at the end of season 1 because the two stars were too "aggressive". It was canceled again at the end of season 2 (the 1st of Sharon Gless' season) and didn't become the powerhouse remember and love until season 3.
They've already done a Cagney & Lacey reboot, haven't they? I think it was called Rizzoli & Isles.
I loved season 7 when Sharon Gless guest starred as a convict when Jane was imprisoned. I just wish Tyne could have found her way onto the set too. At least in season 6, the original two women were brought up in conversation with LA police asking our 21st cent heroines if they were more like Cagney or Lacey.
No idea who she is, but she looks a lot like Kelly McGillis.
So besides genderbending, they are changing the age dynamic too? Hmmmmm.
It was; some early Magnum episodes have him handing villains over to the 5-0 team.
Off screen, Magnum was created to make use of the location crew H5-0 had built up, rather than letting them go.
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marlboro
Guest
"some early Magnum episodes have him handing villains over to the 5-0 team."
Not exactly. They only mention McGarrett's name a few times, usually in wink to the audience sort of way. No 50 characters actually appear.
I'm a big fan of Magnum. This show looks awful. MPI was a show of it's time. You can't replicate it today. The world has changed too much.
Not exactly. They only mention McGarrett's name a few times, usually in wink to the audience sort of way. No 50 characters actually appear.
I'm a big fan of Magnum. This show looks awful. MPI was a show of it's time. You can't replicate it today. The world has changed too much.
They mentioned "Five-O" as a police organization a lot, but "McGarrett," I think only once. In "Skin Deep," season one, Magnum called himself "McGarrett from Five-O" over the helicopter radio when he was trying to get some information, IIRC.
Jack Lord as McGarrett was like a robot. Tom Selleck as Magnum, that was something else. Like James Garner as Rockford, the show grew and built around the actor's personality, and I am very skeptical that can be recreated.
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marlboro
Guest
Absolutely right. Tom Selleck was made for that part.
I think the casting of the new Higgins was another huge mistake. Not because of the gender swap, but because of the age difference. The father/son WW2/Vietnam relationship between Magnum and Higgins was essential to the show, imo.
I’m not even really a fan of Magnum, but also agree with you. Selleck’s easy charm and charisma was a massive part of the original’s success, much like Garner in Rockford (or indeed anything).
Not to mention, didn't he have a large amount of input into his character?
Yes, he did. After appearing on Rockford Files, he wanted to do a character that was more believable, flawed--like Jim Rockford. He wanted the character to lose, to get beat up from time to time. So they made him a bit more laid-back, a bit of a mooch, etc, and showed him getting pulled over for speeding, getting beaten up by baddies. The actor and show-runners worked together to make the show what it was.