ThomasH
2008-08-29 05:16:43 UTC
I found the following explanation on Magnum Mania to Jeff's
so premature departure:
[...
Actor Jeff MacKay died Aug. 22nd from liver failure in Tulsa, Okla. He was 59.
Jeff was a regular on several hit TV shows, including Baa Baa Black Sheep,
Battlestar Galactica, Magnum P.I., Tales of the Gold Monkey, and JAG. Magnum
fans will always fondly remember him as "Mac". Jeff is survived by his father
and two brothers. RIP "Mac"!
...]
Personally I will remember him as the one who talked to us
here in this newsgroup. His old email address was "boink,"
like this ***@telocity.com, which he changed a few times.
Let me quote here one of his emails from my archive:
[...
And here another message about Berlin Break. After Magnum
both Jeff MacKay and John Hillerman met together professionally
to make in Europe a post cold-war detective series for RTL
(Radio Television Luxembourg.) I have two tapes with a few
episodes from this series...
This is what Jeff MacKey has had to say about Berlin Break:
[...
I was delighted to see Jeff MacKey acting later in Jag.
Don Bellisario was always connected to his team across
projects.
My news archives have approx 10-12 messages from Jeff MacKay,
I chose these two because they appear very unique.
RIP Jeff, we will miss you!
Thomas
http://www.pbase.com/goislands/alt_tv_mpi
so premature departure:
[...
Actor Jeff MacKay died Aug. 22nd from liver failure in Tulsa, Okla. He was 59.
Jeff was a regular on several hit TV shows, including Baa Baa Black Sheep,
Battlestar Galactica, Magnum P.I., Tales of the Gold Monkey, and JAG. Magnum
fans will always fondly remember him as "Mac". Jeff is survived by his father
and two brothers. RIP "Mac"!
...]
Personally I will remember him as the one who talked to us
here in this newsgroup. His old email address was "boink,"
like this ***@telocity.com, which he changed a few times.
Let me quote here one of his emails from my archive:
[...
Subject: Re: Computer consulting
Date: Mon, 03 Jul 2000 12:12:55 -0700
Newsgroups: alt.tv.magnum-pi
No, it's not a 9 to 5. I just do it to pay some bills and it's mostly for friends
who're trying to learn Macintosh. I've also designed databases to run different
small businesses. I find it absorbing and more fun than working in a car wash or
something worse.
I never sat at a computer before playing Mac on MPI, and didn't after that until
around 1990.
Mac
...]Date: Mon, 03 Jul 2000 12:12:55 -0700
Newsgroups: alt.tv.magnum-pi
No, it's not a 9 to 5. I just do it to pay some bills and it's mostly for friends
who're trying to learn Macintosh. I've also designed databases to run different
small businesses. I find it absorbing and more fun than working in a car wash or
something worse.
I never sat at a computer before playing Mac on MPI, and didn't after that until
around 1990.
Mac
Mac, You have mentioned several times that you are now involved in computer
consulting. I dont know about the rest of the group, but it would completely
floor me to have "Mac" come into my workplace and tell me about the pitfalls of
using 100 base T on the network. I probally have it all wrong, is it a 9 to 5
gig?
Pete
consulting. I dont know about the rest of the group, but it would completely
floor me to have "Mac" come into my workplace and tell me about the pitfalls of
using 100 base T on the network. I probally have it all wrong, is it a 9 to 5
gig?
Pete
And here another message about Berlin Break. After Magnum
both Jeff MacKay and John Hillerman met together professionally
to make in Europe a post cold-war detective series for RTL
(Radio Television Luxembourg.) I have two tapes with a few
episodes from this series...
This is what Jeff MacKey has had to say about Berlin Break:
[...
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: Wheres Higgins lately
Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2001 10:26:01 -0800
Newsgroups: alt.tv.magnum-pi
defensive for a moment...
I have to agree that consensus has it that the show was pretty bad... in
German. We made the series in English. It was produced by Reuben Leder,
a wonderful writer, who wrote/produced many MPI episodes. Often, given
the cultural differences between the US and Germany, humor doesn't
translate. In fact, German humor is a strange animal to most Americans
at best.
The truth of what happened to Berlin Break is that there was a major
power struggle between the head of programming and the head of
development within RTL, the network that produced the show in Europe.
Our supporter, the head of development, wanted desperately to bring
American production values to a German production. When our man lost the
battle and was canned, so were his projects... including Berlin Break.
The network then put, what I've heard, is terrible dubbing/translation
on the English dialog; sometimes _sacrificing what the scene was written
about_ in order to match the lips moving to whatever German words they
thought would suffice. How can a show be any good with that kind of
treatment. Not only that, but the budget for each episode was about what
it would cost to produce a quiz show here.
One of the leads of the show, Kai Wulff, a German, is a fine actor that
lives/lived in the States. He was hired in LA and went with the rest of
us to Berlin. He was born and raised in Germany. They would not allow
him to do his own dubbing of the English... of his own voice! Too much.
Nevertheless, John Hillerman was great in the show. I learned much from
working with him during that year.
And you're right, the show never aired here. The episodes sit in a
Columbia Pictures vault somewhere, gathering dust. We made 26 hours of
it. RTL aired them at something like midnight on Tuesdays.
Whew. I feel better now. End of rant.
Mac
...]Subject: Re: Wheres Higgins lately
Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2001 10:26:01 -0800
Newsgroups: alt.tv.magnum-pi
<John Hillerman did a
German/US TV show called "Berlin Break" in 1992, shortly after the fall
of the Berlin Wall. I remember, at that time he was big in the news in
Germany, but the series was pretty bad. They took it off the screen
quickly, and it never made it to the US (I believe).>
I'm afraid you struck a nerve with me on that comment. Allow me to beGerman/US TV show called "Berlin Break" in 1992, shortly after the fall
of the Berlin Wall. I remember, at that time he was big in the news in
Germany, but the series was pretty bad. They took it off the screen
quickly, and it never made it to the US (I believe).>
defensive for a moment...
I have to agree that consensus has it that the show was pretty bad... in
German. We made the series in English. It was produced by Reuben Leder,
a wonderful writer, who wrote/produced many MPI episodes. Often, given
the cultural differences between the US and Germany, humor doesn't
translate. In fact, German humor is a strange animal to most Americans
at best.
The truth of what happened to Berlin Break is that there was a major
power struggle between the head of programming and the head of
development within RTL, the network that produced the show in Europe.
Our supporter, the head of development, wanted desperately to bring
American production values to a German production. When our man lost the
battle and was canned, so were his projects... including Berlin Break.
The network then put, what I've heard, is terrible dubbing/translation
on the English dialog; sometimes _sacrificing what the scene was written
about_ in order to match the lips moving to whatever German words they
thought would suffice. How can a show be any good with that kind of
treatment. Not only that, but the budget for each episode was about what
it would cost to produce a quiz show here.
One of the leads of the show, Kai Wulff, a German, is a fine actor that
lives/lived in the States. He was hired in LA and went with the rest of
us to Berlin. He was born and raised in Germany. They would not allow
him to do his own dubbing of the English... of his own voice! Too much.
Nevertheless, John Hillerman was great in the show. I learned much from
working with him during that year.
And you're right, the show never aired here. The episodes sit in a
Columbia Pictures vault somewhere, gathering dust. We made 26 hours of
it. RTL aired them at something like midnight on Tuesdays.
Whew. I feel better now. End of rant.
Mac
I was delighted to see Jeff MacKey acting later in Jag.
Don Bellisario was always connected to his team across
projects.
My news archives have approx 10-12 messages from Jeff MacKay,
I chose these two because they appear very unique.
RIP Jeff, we will miss you!
Thomas
http://www.pbase.com/goislands/alt_tv_mpi