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Magnum, P.I.

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For the 2007 film, see Magnum, P.I. (film)
Magnum, P.I.
File:MagnumPI.jpg
First Season DVD Cover
Created byDonald P. Bellisario
Glen A. Larson
StarringTom Selleck
John Hillerman
Roger E. Mosley
Larry Manetti
Country of originUnited States
No. of episodes162
Original release
NetworkCBS
Release1980-12-12 –
1988-05-05

Magnum, P.I. was an American television show that followed the adventures of Thomas Magnum (played by Tom Selleck), a private investigator living in Hawai‘i. The show aired eight seasons on the CBS network from 1980 to 1988.

The series

Thomas Sullivan Magnum is a former U.S. Navy SEAL[1] and Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) officer, who was awarded the Navy Cross[2] and strongly prefers being called “private investigator” over “private eye” or “private detective.” He lives in the guest house of a posh beachfront estate (“Robin’s Nest”) on the island of Oahu, at the invitation of its owner, celebrity author of lurid novels Robin Masters (whose face is never actually seen), in exchange for his expertise in quality control of the estate’s security. Magnum is a graduate of the Naval Academy, where he played quarterback, and left the Navy in disillusionment after approximately ten years service.

Robin’s Nest is managed by Englishman Jonathan Quayle Higgins III (played by Texan John Hillerman), an ex-British Army Sergeant Major, and is guarded by two highly trained Dobermann pinschers, Zeus & Apollo (AKA “The Lads”). Near the end of the series it was suggested that Higgins and Robin Masters might be the same person. In the final episode Higgins ostensibly admits to being Robin Masters, but at its conclusion he recants, perhaps whimsically telling Magnum that he had lied about Robin Masters, leaving viewers to wonder whether he was lying about Robin or lying about being Robin. During the early seasons of Magnum, the voice of Robin Masters (heard only a few times a season) was played by Orson Welles.

Magnum’s lifestyle represents every man’s dream. He comes and goes as he pleases, works only when he wants to, has the almost unlimited use of a Ferrari 308 GTS as well as many other of Robin Masters’ luxuries, keeps a mini-fridge with a seemingly endless supply of beer, comes into contact with countless beautiful women (who are often his clients or victims in the cases he solves), and enjoys adventures with his two buddies, both former U.S. Marines he served with in VM0-2 (a Marine Observation Squadron) in Vietnam. All three wear a gold Team Ring, which bears a Croix de Lorraine on a black field, as a bond of wartime camaraderie. The buddies are:

  • Theodore “T.C.” Calvin (played by Roger E. Mosley) (who—as does Magnum—often sports a Da Nang baseball cap), a helicopter pilot who operates a tourist charter business called Island Hoppers. His combat-trained flight skills are often enlisted by Magnum during the course of an investigation. He is very powerfully built and a teetotaller.
  • Orville Richard “Rick” Wright (played by Larry Manetti), a suave and quite short playboy who is manager of the King Kamehameha Club, an exclusive beachfront members-only club. In the initial movie, which was the predecessor of the series, Rick owned Rick’s Cafe Americaine - a reference to the movie Casablanca. Rick also maintains a number of underworld contacts (one of whom is Francis “Icepick” Hofstettler, a loan shark, gang boss, and Rick’s stepfather) and is an expert in weaponry—he was T.C.’s door gunner during the war.

Magnum, P.I. was a well-blended combination of action, comedy, and drama. The show moved beyond the simple plot lines of the characters solving the crime of the week and confronted the difficulty Vietnam era soldiers faced in making the readjustment to civilian life. In fact Magnum was one of the first shows to regularly explore the impact of the Vietnam War on the American cultural psyche. As of December 2005 Magnum, P.I. is one of a small handful of dramas voted by an overwhelming majority to have never "jumped the shark" on the user-edited website devoted to that concept.[3]

Magnum, P.I.’s theme tune was one of many iconic TV themes written by Mike Post. The theme made its debut during the second season of the show, and even replaced the opening and closing theme of the syndicated repeats of all season one episodes. The season one theme was composed by Ian Freebairn-Smith.

Magnum, P.I. was unique in the 1980’s media for showing a positive portrayal of an American veteran of the conflict in Vietnam. Neither Magnum nor any of his friends are apologetic for having fought in Southeast Asia, and while they carry some of the physical and emotional scars of that conflict, they are unashamed of their service, and do not ask for anyone’s sympathy or understanding. Neither do they “snap,” as other Vietnam veterans were portrayed as being prone to in such movies as First Blood. The show could be critical of the U.S. government, and particularly of the Central Intelligence Agency, but it was clearly to the right of center in its geopolitical view of the world at the time: the communist governments of Vietnam and the Soviet Union were targets of several episodes throughout the series.

Magnum, P.I. was famous for wearing a Hawaiian-style shirt and a VM02 Da Nang Hat.

Recurring characters

The series featured a large ensemble of minor characters who appeared in many episodes over multiple seasons. Many of these actors first played other characters in earlier episodes and then became regulars in the following roles:

  • Lt. Yoshi Tanaka — Homicide police lieutenant with the Honolulu PD (played by Kwan Hi Lim), characterized by his casual dress and ironic sense of humor. Seasons 2 – 8
  • Agatha Chumley — Higgins' quintessentially English friend (played by Gillian Dobb). Seasons 3 – 8
  • Col. “Buck” Greene — Marine Corps intelligence officer (played by Lance LeGault), Magnum's former superior and often nemesis. Seasons 2 – 8
  • Carol Baldwin — assistant district attorney (played in all but first appearance by Kathleen Lloyd). Seasons 3 – 8
  • Lt. “Mac” MacReynolds — doughtnut-munching Navy Intelligence lieutenant (played by Jeff MacKay), killed off in the series and later brought back as a ghost of his character. Seasons 1 – 3, and 7 – 8
  • Jim Bonig — con man (played by Jeff MacKay) who was MacReynolds’ look-alike. In one episode MacKay appeared in both roles. Seasons 5 – 8.
  • Francis “Icepick” Hofstetler — see above (played by Elisha Cook Jr who had a number of other roles in the series as well)
  • Doc Ibold — very minor character (played by Glenn Cannon) who nevertheless appeared in many episodes whenever a physician was needed in the script. Seasons 2 – 8
  • Michelle (Magnum) Hue — Magnum’s former wife (played by Marta DuBois), presumed dead but reappearing as the wife of a North Vietnamese general and the mother of Magnum’s child, and often seen in flashbacks. Seasons 2 – 8
  • Lt. (later Lt.Cdr.) Maggie Poole — successor of the deceased MacReynolds (played by Jean Bruce Scott). Seasons 3 – 8
  • Luther H. Gillis — mock-film noir private eye from St. Louis (played by Eugene Roche), and narrator of the episodes in which he appeared. Seasons 4 – 8

Trivia

File:TVGuidemagnum.jpg
Magnum, P.I. on the cover of TV Guide magazine.

One reason this show was set in Hawaii was so that CBS could re-use many of the sets from its other hit show, Hawaii Five-O which had just completed its on-air run in 1980. Several early episodes make reference to the fictional “Five-0” squad, setting this series in the same “universe” as Hawaii Five-O. Due to crossovers with other programs, the series is also shown to take place in the same continuity as Murder, She Wrote and Simon and Simon.

The fictional license plate on the Ferrari changed from “56E-478” after the pilot “ROBIN 1”, which it remained for the duration of the series. It’s evident the producers hadn’t considered, decided on, or paid for a “ROBIN 1” vanity plate when the initial episodes were shooting, and only added it later. The original plate number can be seen, briefly, in the titles of every episode, just as the 308 pulls away from the shoulder of the highway. Other vehicles in the series displayed similar “ROBIN” vanity plates, including a green Ferrari (“ROBIN 28”) driven by Robin’s nephew, R.J. Masters.

It was originally intended for there to be an episode of the science fiction program Quantum Leap where main character Sam Beckett leaps into the body of Thomas Magnum. The episode would have Beckett (played by Scott Bakula) stumbling through a day-in-the-life of Magnum, P.I., and presumably interacting with the varied series regulars. Plans for a Magnum, P.I. movie led to the early demise of the crossover, but some footage was filmed; namely, the end-of-episode “jumping in” scene, in which Beckett jumps into Magnum’s body, turns to the camera, and raises his eyebrows the same way Selleck made famous.[4]

Selleck’s contract commitment to the Magnum, P.I. series notoriously cost him the role of Indiana Jones in the first Jones film Raiders of the Lost Ark, which went to Harrison Ford instead, and in the final season the producers gave a nod to his sacrifice with the episode—“Legend of the Lost Art”—parodying the film.

Broadcasters

DVD Releases

Film version

Over the years there has been much talk of bringing Magnum back, as either a television movie or a theatrical film. Most recently, in January 2006 it was announced that a film is again in the planning stages (after several false starts most recently in 2005) on and Rawson Marshall Thurber would write the screenplay.[5]

Notes

  1. ^ While it was never mentioned on the show, when Magnum was in uniform he wore the trident and insignia of a SEAL.
  2. ^ The Navy Cross was also shown on Magnum’s uniform, and mentioned on air.
  3. ^ Magnum, P.I. at JumpTheShark.com
  4. ^ The Quantum Leap episode would also have caused a bizarre continuity error as Magnum, P.I. had already been established as a television program in the Quantum Leap “universe.”
  5. ^ Magnum, P.I. movie news at CNN.com
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