Saturday, September 24, 2016

Really? Truly? Magnum?

Hollywood’s determination to revive once-popular TV programs proceeds apace. The latest target: Magnum, P.I., which ran originally on CBS from 1980 to 1988. This report comes from Deadline Hollywood:
A famous 1980s title is eyeing a comeback. ABC has nabbed Magnum, a sequel to the classic series Magnum, P.I. that starred Tom Selleck, with a script commitment plus substantial penalty. The project, from Leverage creator John Rogers and Eva Longoria’s UnbeliEVAble Entertainment, will keep the fun, action-packed style of the original as it follows Magnum’s daughter, Lily “Tommy” Magnum, who returns to Hawaii to take up the mantle of her father’s P.I. firm. She and her tribe of friends mix tropical beaches with the seedy underbelly of international crime and modern espionage, even as she tries to unravel the mystery of the blown spy operation that ended her career in Navy Intelligence.

Rogers will write the script and executive produce through his Kung Fu Monkey banner alongside UnbeliEVAble’s Longoria and Ben Spector and Kung Fu Monkey’s Jennifer Court. Universal TV, which owns rights to the original series and where UnbeliEVAble is based, is the studio. …

“We knew no one could replace the iconic role of Thomas Magnum, so John decided to make the reboot a sequel and continue the adventure of a Magnum—his daughter, who was established in the original series,” Longoria and Spector told Deadline.
Hmm. This sounds like just another way to get more swaying palm trees and women in skimpy bikinis onto the boob tube. OK, maybe it’s not such a bad idea after all …

(Hat tip to Linda L. Richards)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Or maybe like mostly of today's to a way to get sex, violence, and greed into the mix. Shameful! We are ruining our children.

Ronald Tierney said...


What's wrong with having an original idea? Why not a new series with a new P.i.? Or bring to the screen one of the great P.I.'s still trapped on paper? There are dozens of them.

michael said...

This is the time of year where the internet can overreact to possible TV series. This means ABC has bought the script and idea. Next the project faces more rewrites and discussions on cast. ABC in a few months may give an ok for a pilot to be made or it will fade from memory like the sequel comedy that was to feature Remington Steele and Laura Holt's daughter. If a pilot is made it still faces huge odds against being picked up.

Recently, Adweek interviewed top (advertising agency) media buyers and while they understood the reasons behind all these remakes they wondered why the networks keep doing so many when so few have worked.

Remember David Shore who seems to have spent his post-House days trying to revive old TV series? I found an early draft of his remake pilot of The Rockford Files. From January 2010 the script was not bad but Shore had not quite got some of the characters voices right (IMO) especially Beth. Yes it included Angel. http://www.zen134237.zen.co.uk/Pilot_Hell/Rockford_Files_1x01_-_Pilot.pdf

J. Kingston Pierce said...

Wow, that's one hell of a find, Michael! I look forward to reading Shore's "Rockford" script.

Cheers,
Jeff