Really?
Well, it had to happen. As the increasingly cynical wusses of film and television industry continue to strip mine the past for any licensed tidbits worth resurrecting, I knew it was only a matter of time before they got around to the Mustachioed One.
Not that the new edition of perennial eighties cheese-fest Magnum P.I. (set to premiere this September 24 on CBS, is actually going to bring Tom Selleck back (he’s far too busy in Blue Bloods and hawking reverse mortgages to senior citizens on FOX News). No, show creator Peter Lenkov and showrunner Eric Guggenheim have cast affably bland Mexican-American Jay Hernandez as THOMAS MAGNUM, the laidback Hawaiian eye (out goes the ‘stache, in comes the stubble). Meanwhile good ol’ Higgins is also back, except he’s now (brace yourself) a chick (Perdita Weeks). Zachary Knighton and Stephen Hill round out the cast.
I’ve of two minds here. On the one hand, Lenkov and Guggenheim certainly deserve props for not slavishly following the template, but on the other hand, I’m not sure if “he’ll have you at ‘aloha’” as the promos promise. Will aging fans tune in to see their thirty year old memories trashed? Will their kids even care?
Perhaps that’s why the Dobermans, the Ferrari, and Higgins (even if she is a woman) will all be back. And the old esprit de corps that bonded Magnum and his Vietnam buddies returns as well, although now they’re all veterans of Afghanistan.
I guess we’ll see. Lenkov seems to have a knack for reboots, having already retooled Macgyver and Hawaii Five-0.Â
And there’s even talk of the Mustachioed One making a cameo.
Me? I always thought Selleck did better work as Lance White on Rockford.
Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.
