New Magnum still has that hammy panache
Kelly Lawler: CBS reboot an average, inoffensive, reliably amusing effort
Magnum (the P.I.) isn’t the same, but for better or worse, he isn’t all that different, either.
Some fans may be upset that CBS has remade the Tom Selleck hit with a new cast – a Latino detective without Selleck’s iconic mustache. The original show was a cheesy macho ball of 1980s humor and style, and squeezing that into a 2018 mold can either make or break a remake. Some, such as “Lethal Weapon” or “One Day at a Time,” thrive with new stories. Others, such as “Full House,” should have remained frozen in time.
“Magnum P.I.” falls in the middle of that spectrum, an average, inoffensive and reliably amusing hour. Created by Peter Lenkov and Eric Guggenheim, the new version (Monday, 9 p.m. EDT/PDT, ★★g☆) is unlikely to engender the hero worship that greeted Selleck’s CBS series, but it’s a serviceable entry in CBS’ slate of peppy procedurals, with action antics set against a beautiful Hawaiian landscape, not unlike the rebooted “Hawaii Five-O,” which this week begins its eighth modern season. Magnum looks and sounds different, but the private investigator still solves his cases with considerable hammy panache.
The new Thomas Magnum is played by Jay Hernandez, who’s less inherently charming than Selleck but carries the show with a dazzling smile. The series kicks off after Magnum retires as a Navy SEAL and sets up shop as a private investigator in Hawaii, in the guesthouse of an author friend’s villa.
He’s assisted by his mostly dopey and loyal friends and fellow veterans Rick (Zachary Knighton) and T.C. (Stephen Hill). Also living at the estate is former British intelligence agent Juliet Higgins (Perdita Weeks), a genderswapped version of John Hillerman’s character from the original series. They crack jokes and solve crimes, with the begrudging assistance of Det. Gordon Katsumoto (Tim Kang) of the Honolulu Police department.
To its credit, the new “Magnum” doesn’t aspire to be more than the original. The first episode introduces Magnum’s team and re-establishes his strong-willed, square-jawed attitude as he investigates the death of someone close to him. There are many hand-to-hand and gunfights, two helicopter rescues and the destruction of no fewer than two red Ferraris.
It’s a decent enough mystery to keep your action sweet tooth satisfied. Advances in special effects and stunt work since the 1980s are on display, and at least in this first episode, CBS spares no expense at highlighting them, from a HALO (high altitude) jump that opens the episode to the explosions that end it.
The show’s biggest weakness lies in its woefully surface-level characters, especially (and crucially) Magnum and Higgins. Hernandez is charming but bland, and the writers give him few other identifiers. His Latino heritage is never mentioned in the first episode, which feels like a missed opportunity to give this Magnum an intriguing back story.
And while changing Higgins to a woman was clearly designed to modernize the series, putting a woman in a “conflict role” with Magnum, as Lenkov described her, makes her a shrewish stereotype who gets in Magnum’s way with her silly insistence that he not wreck expensive sports cars. What a buzz kill.
Still, there’s promise that the show will add a little fun to TV’s current lineup of detective series. “Magnum” isn’t trying to be too serious or important: Just a nice guy, some nice cars and a bit of wild adventure.
Sometimes, that’s all you need.