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2018-09-23 22:01:46 UTC
From NYTimes.com ...
Review: New 'Magnum P.I.' Is Mostly Nostalgia and Testosterone
--------------------------------------------------------------
CBS has a lot to sort out as it faces life without Les Moonves,
its longtime chief executive who resigned this month in the
face of multiple sexual-harassment allegations. One is whether
to remain reboot central, the Dr. Frankenstein of old shows
about bros with guns and fast cars.
A new version of the private-eye-in-paradise series "Magnum
P.I." premieres on CBS on Monday, joining "Hawaii Five-0,"
"MacGyver" and "S.W.A.T." in the network's all-you-can-remember
buffet of nostalgia and testosterone. (A new iteration of
"Murphy Brown" joins the CBS lineup on Thursday, for your
crotchety liberal grandmother.) Like the others, "Magnum P.I."
is sleek, loud and possessed of less personality than the
expensive vehicles it shoots up and drives off cliffs.
That's unfortunate because the original series, which ran from
1980 to 1988, did have a personality. It was silly, superficial
and saddled with the attitudes of its time toward women and
nonwhite characters. But it had a little post-Vietnam
grittiness and raunchiness, a little hard-boiled romanticism
and an endearing (if unsophisticated) love of Hong
Kong-action-movie styles and poses. And as the Honolulu-based
shamus Thomas Magnum, a journeyman actor named Tom Selleck made
himself a star on the strength of a twinkling smile and a
modest gift for self-deprecating humor.
CBS gave critics only one episode of the new "Magnum P.I.," so
judgments are highly provisional. Most of the original's
premise and many of its details are intact. Magnum (a perfectly
capable Jay Hernandez) still lives in the luxurious house of an
unseen benefactor, a best-selling writer named Robin Masters,
and runs with his former Marine buddies T.C. (Stephen Hill), a
helicopter pilot, and Rick (Zachary Knighton), a club owner.
The guard dogs Zeus and Apollo, the red Ferrari, the war
flashbacks (now to the Middle East) and Magnum's voice-over
narration are all in place. The first episode even adapts the
story of the original show's two-part pilot, condensing it to
the point of incomprehension.
The character of Masters's major-domo, Higgins - a showcase for
John Hillerman's comic indignation in the original - has been
gender switched and is now played by an actual Briton, Perdita
Weeks. On the basis of the pilot, she'll be a kinder though not
gentler Higgins, less of a nemesis to Magnum than a colleague
in arms and, of course, a potential romantic interest.
It seems likely that the new "Magnum" won't supply complaisant,
mostly blonde bed-mates for its star in the same quantities the
original did ("Three French stews!" having been one of Mr.
Selleck's most enthusiastic lines in the 1980 pilot). The new
Higgins makes a disapproving meta-reference to "the endless
stream of young women who, for reasons passing comprehension,
choose to spend their time with you," probably an indication
that Magnum will be spending more time with Higgins.
One thing, however, hasn't changed: the lack of a native
Hawaiian or Asian-American character in the show's core cast.
It's at least a little surprising given the criticism that
Peter Lenkov, who developed "Magnum" with Eric Guggenheim,
received over diversity in casting when Daniel Dae Kim and
Grace Park left his other Hawaii-set show, "Hawaii Five-0."
In "Magnum" you have to go down to what looks to be, at best,
the fifth lead, a Honolulu police detective, to find an
Asian-American actor. And look fast: The character named
Tanaka, played by Sung Kang, in the pilot will be replaced by
a character named Katsumoto, played by Tim Kang, in subsequent
episodes. So, not exactly central to the show's conception.
Having spent much of this review looking back to the old
"Magnum P.I.," it's time to acknowledge that the real reason
there's a new "Magnum" is most likely synergy (and shared
production costs) with the rebooted "Hawaii Five-0." A "Five-0"
character, the medical examiner played by Kimee Balmilero,
crosses over into the "Magnum" pilot, and there will be more.
Under Mr. Lenkov's supervision, the shows share a high-gloss,
production-line finish and an emphasis on joking male
faux-vulnerability. (Mr. Knighton, the most engaging performer,
is playing a version of Scott Caan's querulous sidekick from
"Five-0.") There's no evidence, however, of the old "Magnum"
twinkle.
<https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/23/arts/television/magnum-pi-review-reboot-jay-hernandez.html>
Review: New 'Magnum P.I.' Is Mostly Nostalgia and Testosterone
--------------------------------------------------------------
CBS has a lot to sort out as it faces life without Les Moonves,
its longtime chief executive who resigned this month in the
face of multiple sexual-harassment allegations. One is whether
to remain reboot central, the Dr. Frankenstein of old shows
about bros with guns and fast cars.
A new version of the private-eye-in-paradise series "Magnum
P.I." premieres on CBS on Monday, joining "Hawaii Five-0,"
"MacGyver" and "S.W.A.T." in the network's all-you-can-remember
buffet of nostalgia and testosterone. (A new iteration of
"Murphy Brown" joins the CBS lineup on Thursday, for your
crotchety liberal grandmother.) Like the others, "Magnum P.I."
is sleek, loud and possessed of less personality than the
expensive vehicles it shoots up and drives off cliffs.
That's unfortunate because the original series, which ran from
1980 to 1988, did have a personality. It was silly, superficial
and saddled with the attitudes of its time toward women and
nonwhite characters. But it had a little post-Vietnam
grittiness and raunchiness, a little hard-boiled romanticism
and an endearing (if unsophisticated) love of Hong
Kong-action-movie styles and poses. And as the Honolulu-based
shamus Thomas Magnum, a journeyman actor named Tom Selleck made
himself a star on the strength of a twinkling smile and a
modest gift for self-deprecating humor.
CBS gave critics only one episode of the new "Magnum P.I.," so
judgments are highly provisional. Most of the original's
premise and many of its details are intact. Magnum (a perfectly
capable Jay Hernandez) still lives in the luxurious house of an
unseen benefactor, a best-selling writer named Robin Masters,
and runs with his former Marine buddies T.C. (Stephen Hill), a
helicopter pilot, and Rick (Zachary Knighton), a club owner.
The guard dogs Zeus and Apollo, the red Ferrari, the war
flashbacks (now to the Middle East) and Magnum's voice-over
narration are all in place. The first episode even adapts the
story of the original show's two-part pilot, condensing it to
the point of incomprehension.
The character of Masters's major-domo, Higgins - a showcase for
John Hillerman's comic indignation in the original - has been
gender switched and is now played by an actual Briton, Perdita
Weeks. On the basis of the pilot, she'll be a kinder though not
gentler Higgins, less of a nemesis to Magnum than a colleague
in arms and, of course, a potential romantic interest.
It seems likely that the new "Magnum" won't supply complaisant,
mostly blonde bed-mates for its star in the same quantities the
original did ("Three French stews!" having been one of Mr.
Selleck's most enthusiastic lines in the 1980 pilot). The new
Higgins makes a disapproving meta-reference to "the endless
stream of young women who, for reasons passing comprehension,
choose to spend their time with you," probably an indication
that Magnum will be spending more time with Higgins.
One thing, however, hasn't changed: the lack of a native
Hawaiian or Asian-American character in the show's core cast.
It's at least a little surprising given the criticism that
Peter Lenkov, who developed "Magnum" with Eric Guggenheim,
received over diversity in casting when Daniel Dae Kim and
Grace Park left his other Hawaii-set show, "Hawaii Five-0."
In "Magnum" you have to go down to what looks to be, at best,
the fifth lead, a Honolulu police detective, to find an
Asian-American actor. And look fast: The character named
Tanaka, played by Sung Kang, in the pilot will be replaced by
a character named Katsumoto, played by Tim Kang, in subsequent
episodes. So, not exactly central to the show's conception.
Having spent much of this review looking back to the old
"Magnum P.I.," it's time to acknowledge that the real reason
there's a new "Magnum" is most likely synergy (and shared
production costs) with the rebooted "Hawaii Five-0." A "Five-0"
character, the medical examiner played by Kimee Balmilero,
crosses over into the "Magnum" pilot, and there will be more.
Under Mr. Lenkov's supervision, the shows share a high-gloss,
production-line finish and an emphasis on joking male
faux-vulnerability. (Mr. Knighton, the most engaging performer,
is playing a version of Scott Caan's querulous sidekick from
"Five-0.") There's no evidence, however, of the old "Magnum"
twinkle.
<https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/23/arts/television/magnum-pi-review-reboot-jay-hernandez.html>