Leah Fitzpatrick

Com 290-Dr Rohler

February 7, 2003

Magnum, P.I.

Magnum P.I. aired on the CBS network from 1980 until 1988. A popular series with viewers, it ranked in the top twenty shows every year for the first five years it was broadcast. Set in Hawaii, the show was originally developed because CBS already had invested in an extensive production facility in Hawaii for the Hawaii Five-O series that was popular in the 1970s. When Hawaii Five-O went off the air, the network wanted to still use the sets in the tropical paradise so they came up with the concept for Magnum P.I.

The star of the show was a CBS contracted actor Tom Selleck, best known at the time for his guest appearances on the Rockford Files. Most of you would be more familiar with him as Monica’s older boyfriend on Friends, Dr. Richard Burke. Other major cast members included John Hillerman, as Jonathon Quayle Higgins III, Roger E. Mosley as Theodore Calvin (T.C.), Larry Manetti as Rick, and the voice of Orson Welles as the never-seen writer Robin Masters.

The show was actually a twist on the hard-boiled detective genre, mixing the required action with the exotic location and the handsome leading man, paving the way for later shows such as the Florida-based Miami Vice. Although Magnum P.I. was done in individual episodes, it moved far beyond simple characters solving the crime of the week. Although Magnum P.I. was not a prime time soap opera, as was popular in the 80’s, the characters in the show were complex and discussions of events from previous episodes would be brought up from time to time. This cumulative type of show helped Magnum P.I. move beyond the normal, everyday, detective series that was popular in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Regular viewers of the series got attached to the characters, not just the “who-done-it” aspect of the show.

One of the most important contributions of Magnum P.I. was that it was the first series to address the impact of the Vietnam War on the American popular culture. Magnum played a Vietnam vet, and many of his attitudes toward authority seemed to reflect the general mistrust of the government that came from the 1970’s. Several of the best episodes of Magnum P.I. dealt with memories of his Vietnam war experiences.

Before Magnum P.I., network programmers were afraid to address the Vietnam War because they thought viewers would be turned off by it. However, the success of the Magnum P.I. series showed that the public was ready to deal with the psychological scars of the war in the context of the 1980s. Some of the episodes were critical of America’s role in the Vietnam conflict while others justify and rationalize the U.S.’s involvement. Though many critics felt that this was contradictory, this balance may be just the thing needed to help the American public deal with the past and begin to heal along with Thomas Magnum. Dealing with the war, Magnum P.I. paved the way for other shows such as Tour of Duty and China Beach which examined the war in its historical setting.

But much of the success of the show can still be contributed to its charismatic leading character, Thomas Magnum. As an ex-Navy SEAL and Vietnam vet, he was also an extremely handsome and all-around lucky guy. He was hired to live on a beautiful Hawaiin estate for free and keep an eye on security which left him enough time to also solve crimes as a successful private investigator while riding around in his boss’s red Farrari. Dressed in Hawaiin shirts, Selleck combined comedy, action, and sensitive-guy earnestness into one package, attracting both male and female viewers. The relationships between Magnum and his buddies on the show created a fun camaraderie that viewers wanted to identify with, and the exotic location provided a unique setting that was ripe for the 1980s.

The writers believed that the series was canceled after the 1986-87 season, so they came up with an episode where Magnum was shot, killed, and heaven-bound. But when the show was unexpectedly renewed for one more season, the events were explained as a dream sequence. The real final show came in 1988 when Magnum re-joined the Navy.

Bibliography

http://www.yesterdayland.com/popopedia/shows/primetime/pt1363.php

Buxton,Rodney

http://www.umumseum.tv/archives/etv/M/htmlM/magnumpi/magnumpi.htm