‘Magnum’ returns; ‘Company’ debuts
Magnum and Higgins ponder just where they’re headed as the reboot of “Magnum P.I.” (9 p.m. Sunday, NBC, TV-PG) enters its fifth season. The first four were broadcast on CBS, which dropped the series in its purge of nostalgic reboots, including “MacGyver” and “Hawaii Five-0.” Tonight’s season opener is sandwiched between the conclusion of season four (8 p.m.) and a second new helping (10 p.m.).
This Hawaiian-based procedural is hardly the only retread on tonight’s schedule, nor the only series to jump networks. ABC premieres its sixth season of “American Idol” (8 p.m., TV-PG) with auditions both cringeworthy and moving. The showcase’s first 15 seasons unfolded on Fox, where for the most part, its strong ratings earned it the name of TV’s “Death Star,” destroying all competition. But that was a long time ago in a TV galaxy far, far away.
CBS’s vigilante thriller “The Equalizer” (8 p.m., TV-14), harks back to a series that ran on the network from 1985-89, ending a year after the original run of “Magnum, P.I.” closed up shop.
Commercial networks aren’t alone in rummaging through the attics of their past.
A Christmas decision changes everything on the second season finale of “All Creatures Great and Small” on “Masterpiece” (9 p.m. Sunday, PBS, TV-PG, check local listings). This marks the revival of a popular BBC series that also ran on PBS and aired 90 episodes over seven seasons, between 1978 and 1990.
And Sundays aren’t the only nights for nostalgia. There’s “Fantasy Island” on Monday, “Night Court” on Tuesday, “Kung Fu” on Wednesday, “Law & Order” on Thursday; “S.W.A.T.” on Fridays and any number of repeats on Saturday.
Get used to it. Programmers are falling in love with old-fashioned series, sitcoms and procedurals that aren’t as hard to follow as “Peak TV” binge fare that can take eight episodes to set up stories that used to be introduced in series pilots. Peacock has a hit of sorts with “Poker Face,” a reiteration of “Columbo.” And Paramount+ has
warned us that a new version of “Frasier” is in the works.
› The heist movie depends almost entirely on style. But what if it’s substance-free? At least the new series “The Company You Keep” (10 p.m. Sunday, ABC, TV-14) is not a reboot, but that may be the most we can say about it.
A tale of pretty people, shiny objects and cliche surroundings, “Company” begins in what a satire might call “Any-warehouse, USA.” Charlie (Milo Ventimiglia) and his family gang, including sister Birdie (Sarah Wayne Callies) and dad Leo (William Fichtner, “Mom”) look like they’re about to sell their huge building to a shadowy figure with an Irish brogue for a cool $10 million in cryptocurrency. Only it isn’t theirs to sell. And after a few buttons get pushed, it looks like a brilliant score — until it isn’t. Not to spoil things, but the love of Charlie’s life has a scheme of her own and places to go
after she skedaddles away with the cool cache of faux cash.
Meanwhile, gorgeous and brilliant Emma (Catherine Haena Kim), a systems analyst who keeps her job at the tippy top of the CIA from her meddling and ambitious parents, is having a bad night of her own. After finding her fiance in bed with another woman in the city’s swankiest hotel, she winds up at the bar and runs into a crestfallen Charlie. One drink leads to another half-dozen, and chemistry ensues. Dim the lights, you can guess the rest.
It’s not giving too much away to reveal that these lovebird fashion plates are linked to some of the same bad characters, unbeknownst to each other.
For a series with a lot of moving (and pretty) parts, “Company” moves at a glacial pace. Its hourlong series pilot seems much longer.