Spoilers MacGYVER reboot review thread
- Thread starter Christopher
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I like Amy Acker but is she cast as a good guy or bad guy because she tends to do a lot of roles as the bad guy.
She's a good guy here.
That is a nice change. Often I have seen her cast as the baddie. I guess she likes those roles more.
My mom is an avid viewer of all the CBS procedurals, so I asked what she thought of MacGyver. Her response was "It's okay, if there's nothing else on and your book fell in the toilet."
Well I'll find out tonight. We get the first episode today in the evening.
Well, Root on Person of Interest started out as a "baddie" but evolved into something far more complex and essentially heroic. And of course her breakout role was as sweet, innocent Fred on Angel, before changing into the demon Illyria, who was basically evil-ish but ended up on the good guys' side. Her role in Dollhouse was similarly ambiguous (everyone on that show was morally ambiguous), but she was pretty sympathetic there. And she was the voice of the Huntress on Justice League Unlimited, a heroine with a darker streak. And she's played kindly characters like Audrey on Agents of SHIELD, Myka's sister Tracy on Warehouse 13, and Nova on Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated. Even the villainous Wesen she played on Grimm was ambiguous. The one pure villain role I've seen her in was Kelly in Alias's final season.
So your experience with Acker's career must be very different from mine. I'd say she usually plays either morally ambiguous but sympathetic characters or straight-up sweethearts.
OH wow OK I had not seen all the other roles you mentioned........ I caught bits of her on Person Of Interest, and Alias which was the first place I saw her name. She was also I think in Nikita ..
Oh and my mistake. this reboot show starts next week for us on the 8th..
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The best part of Amy Acker looking so innocent is that she then turns around and reveals herself to be the baddie is so sweet. She needs some more baddie roles. Heck, she should play the "Murdoc" role in this new Macgyver.
As for the episode, meh.
As for the episode, meh.
Watched the pilot and made it about 20 minutes into the second episode before I finally gave up. Even for a guilty pleasure, the show is just way too cheesy and improbable (not to mention derivative of a dozen other CBS procedurals), and the lead actor doesn't make much of an impression at all.
And worst of all they rush through the actual science so fast that it almost feels like an afterthought. I realize it was always a bit ridiculous on the original show how much time MacGyver had and how many convenient ingredients he had around to craft his devices, but at least we got to see more of the actual process and how much care he had to take to get things right. And those were always the most fun and interesting parts of the episode. But here it comes across as nothing but a cute little party trick he does, and flies by so fast you can barely even follow it.
And worst of all they rush through the actual science so fast that it almost feels like an afterthought. I realize it was always a bit ridiculous on the original show how much time MacGyver had and how many convenient ingredients he had around to craft his devices, but at least we got to see more of the actual process and how much care he had to take to get things right. And those were always the most fun and interesting parts of the episode. But here it comes across as nothing but a cute little party trick he does, and flies by so fast you can barely even follow it.
CBS already has an over-the-top think tank type team based show with Macgyverisms in it, called Scorpion.
I have no idea where they are going with this but I hope they figure it out.
I have no idea where they are going with this but I hope they figure it out.
Yeah Channel 10 here in Australia are pairing this and Scorpion up as their new Saturday line up.
Good point. Maybe modern commercial-TV storytelling doesn't have the time or the attention span to give MacGyver's builds the attention they deserve. And with all the procedural/team stuff around it, with Mac getting less screen time overall, the builds do feel like an afterthought.
You know what? I would've loved to see a MacGyver reboot whose executive producers were Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman. Mythbusters did a couple of MacGyver-themed episodes, and Adam and Jamie were all about the builds. They could've helped keep the science right too.
I tried to give this a go. Gave up after ten minutes.
It's sad to say, to me Scorpion is a way better show than MacGyver.
I agree, their take seems to make more sense. Scorpion also has government/military support, but obviously untrained civilians (so no snipers), and it feels more right for them to improvise and make things. And while they end up in the field more than they probably should, the times they are there the actions make sense (ish).
Old Mac's whole thing was improvising because he was (usually) alone in the field, or working personal missions and things just sorta came up. In this instance, he just comes across as an either unprepared or super-arrogant generic spy. He's got armed backup and a techie in a surveillance van out front, so why isn't he going in better prepared?
Improvising should be more forced by the circumstances and less just about preference/challenge of doing so under pressure.
I don't quite get what the show is trying to do to stand out (and survive) yet...
Old Mac's whole thing was improvising because he was (usually) alone in the field, or working personal missions and things just sorta came up. In this instance, he just comes across as an either unprepared or super-arrogant generic spy. He's got armed backup and a techie in a surveillance van out front, so why isn't he going in better prepared?
Improvising should be more forced by the circumstances and less just about preference/challenge of doing so under pressure.
I don't quite get what the show is trying to do to stand out (and survive) yet...
Yeah... It's been a while since I've rewatched the first season (never my favorite), but I don't think Mac was really a full-time agent of the DXS so much as an asset they hired to help with certain things, usually nonviolent missions like rescuing people or retrieving important items. At times, MacGyver's job description was given as "troubleshooter" -- i.e. he was the guy you called in to fix things that went wrong, to use his special skills and methods to handle problems that couldn't be resolved through conventional means. He wasn't a 9-to-5 agent, but more of a special contractor that Pete sometimes called in to handle delicate matters. His involvement with the Phoenix Foundation was closer, but his job was pretty much the same.
So you're right. Making him just one member of a team of agents does make his methods seem like an arbitrary quirk, more a gimmick than anything else. It's a poor match of premise to character.
I liked the first few seasons of MacGyver before it got too preachy and had MacGyver stay close to home.
Yeah. Can we have one CBS show go without a team of highly skilled operatives?
Scorpion?
NCIS?
Hawaii Five-O?
I think Elementary just has Holmes,Watson and Lestrade.
The homages to the original show(The credits, MacGyver talking to himself) just aren't enough for me to get into the show
I also don't like how they're taking the parody of MacGyver (Chewing gum and Paper Clip) as an actual thing he does.
The original show rarely did that. The joke has become reality.
Yeah. Can we have one CBS show go without a team of highly skilled operatives?
Scorpion?
NCIS?
Hawaii Five-O?
I think Elementary just has Holmes,Watson and Lestrade.
The homages to the original show(The credits, MacGyver talking to himself) just aren't enough for me to get into the show
I also don't like how they're taking the parody of MacGyver (Chewing gum and Paper Clip) as an actual thing he does.
The original show rarely did that. The joke has become reality.
Lestrade only made a few guest appearances, and is unlikely to return now that Sean Pertwee is a regular on Gotham. Holmes and Watson work with Detective Marcus Bell and report to Captain Gregson.
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