Thread by @JayFaerber

I need an escape. So, inspired by my Hawaiian vacation, I’m gonna rewatch #MagnumPI from the start. It’s one of my favorite shows of all time, but I haven’t watched the entire series in ages. Some eps are burned into my brain. Others I barely remember. Join me? Mute as needed. 1/

The original Magnum is streaming for free on @AmazonFreevee if you feel like watching, btw. 2/

The Magnum pilot has a truly great cold open: Magnum on a morning swim, then “stealing” the Ferrari right in front of Higgins as part of a security check. It instantly sets the tone — fun, playful, wish-fulfillment. Who wouldn’t want to live rent-free at a Hawaiian estate? 3/

All the popular elements from the show were there right from the start, including Magnum's playful looks to camera. 4/

Jeff McKay (who appeared in a lot of Bellisario shows, and who later plays recurring character MacReynolds) shows up here for a brief role as a Marine guard Hickman Air Force Base. 5/

The Magnum pilot is a variation on one of the oldest detective tropes: avenging the death of an old military buddy. In this case, Magnum’s Navy pal, Lt. Dan Cook, who he served with in Vietnam. 6/

Magnum debuted in Dec 1980 and is one of the first shows to portray Vietnam vets in a positive light. Before Magnum, most vets on TV were shell-shocked burnouts. Magnum and his buddies carry their share of trauma (more on that in a later ep), but they’re still well-adjusted. 7/

The great Robert Loggia shows up in the Vietnam flashbacks as one of Magnum’s buddies. 8/

It’s worth noting that the Magnum pilot isn’t a premise pilot. He’s already a private eye (er, investigator) in Hawaii when we meet him. In fact, it’s never explained WHY he lives in Hawaii. Why did he, Rick, and TC settle here after Nam? We’ll never know. 9/

One of the challenges of writing private eye stories is covering why the authorities aren’t solving the case. This pilot has a good angle: the Naval commanding officer won’t investigate because the guy is jealous of how quickly Magnum and his pal climbed the ranks. 10/

These two heavies feel like they just walked over from a Rockford episode. 11/

Magnum mentions “five-oh” in his voiceover, and today it sounds like he’s just talking about cops. But he was literally talking about Hawaii 5-0. Magnum wasn’t a spin-off from that show, but McGarrett and 5-0 were referenced a few times in early Magnum episodes. 12/

While Higgins and TC are pretty fully formed when we meet them, they were still working out Rick’s character. He’s introduced as a Humphrey Bogart wannabe. His club is even called Rick’s Place. That’s dropped after the pilot (thankfully). 13/

One of my favorite things about Magnum is how self-deprecating Selleck is. He’s almost always the butt of the joke. Like the running gag of people asking who owns the Ferrari Magnum’s driving. When he suggests maybe it’s his, they always laugh at how absurd an idea that is. 14/

There’s a small exchange in the pilot that sets up Magnum’s entire character arc for the whole series. He explains he left the Navy because one day he woke up aged 33 and realized he’d never been 23. That’s why he acts so immature. He’s making up for lost time. 15/

A few years back I found the Magnum pilot script. In previous drafts he was called “Cutter.” I named the lead in my GLACER CITY comic “Cutter” as a nod to Magnum. 16/

Before they were famous sighting — Judge Reinhold! 17/

And that wraps up “Don’t Eat the Snow in Hawaii.” A pretty great pilot that shows the range Magnum would display for 8 seasons: lots of jokes and winks, balanced with real stakes and heart and even tragedy. 18/

Continuing my #MagnumPI rewatch with “China Doll,” the first regular episode. This one’s written and directed by Donald P. Bellisario, who created the show (revising it from Glen Larson’s original concept). 19/

This starts off with two great character actors: George Cheung opposite Lee de Broux. De Broux plays a rough-and-tumble sailor who brags about all the different “oriental” fighting styles he’s overcome. And then Cheung lays him out with one blow. 20/

There’s a sequence with Magnum and TC bickering in TC’s chopper that has almost nothing to do with the plot. It’s pure banter/character stuff, and it goes on for almost 3 full minutes. Unheard of in today’s TV landscape. 21/

This episode features some unfortunate dated, casual racism as TC calls Magnum’s latest girlfriend — a petite Chinese woman — his “China doll.” The show itself is fairly progressive, but in this particular area… not so much. 22/

A lot of people deride the early music by Ian Freebairn-Smith. And yeah, it’s nowhere near the iconic rock-and-roll vibe that Mike Post & Pete Carpenter brought to the show, but it has its own charm. I kinda like it. 23/

Magnum’s girlfriend Mai Ling has hired Magnum to safeguard a priceless vase and keeps referring to Magnum as her “protector,” prompting laughs from everyone who hears it. Selleck took a cue from James Garner on Rockford — he wanted to be the butt of the joke. 24/

After TC gets beaten up by George Cheung’s character, Rick patches him up, explaining that he’s better than a doctor because he patched Magnum and TC up so many times in ‘Nam. I don’t remember them ever using Rick’s medical skills again. 25/

This episode also has the first appearance of the King Kamehameha club, which Rick manages. There’s no mention of his club from the pilot (or the fact that he no longer talks like Humphrey Bogart). 26/

This is also the first time we see Magnum in his iconic Detroit Tigers ball cap. Pretty sure that was based on some input from Selleck, who was born in Detroit. 27/

Magnum PI was produced by Universal, which also produced the Six Million Dollar Man, which explains the re-use of that show's signature "bionic sfx" in this sequence as Magnum hunts the Chinese assassin. 28/

And the episode ends with Magnum's classic eyebrow wiggle. 29/

So here’s a fun #MagnumPI fact: Selleck is famous for starring in a slew of failed pilots before Magnum. One of them was something called Boston & Kilbride, written be Stephen J. Cannell. It starred Selleck and James Whitmore Jr. 30/

Whitmore’s character was a nerdy scientist while Selleck was the brawn. I read somewhere that Bellisario was also involved (but he’s not credited anywhere) and Selleck suggested him to revise Glen Larson’s Magnum concept when Selleck came aboard the project. 31/

Boston & Kilbride was eventually released as a TV-movie called “The Chinese Typewriter” with a TON of stock footage to extend the running time. It’s a rough watch, but kinda fun if you’re a Magnum nerd like me.

. 32/

Got a lot of work done this morning, so I’m treating myself to another episode of #MagnumPI. It’s “Thank Heavens for Little Girls… and Big Ones Too.” It’s only the 3rd ep and it’s a Christmas episode! It literally aired on Dec 25, 1980. 33/

This one’s a very Rockford-type plot, where Magnum is hired by a group of schoolgirls on a class trip to Hawaii whose teacher has vanished. The whole thing’s a con, and through a series of unfortunate coincidences, the mob gets involved. Very Rockford. 34/

Geez, this one’s even more Rockford-like than I thought, as Magnum is in the mob’s clutches and pits them against each other by preying on their insecurities and rivalries — right out of Rockford’s playbook. 35/

Back in the day, James Garner appeared in a bunch of Polaroid TV commercials, and in this #MagnumPI episode Rick mentions he got a camera “like the one James Gardner (!!) always pitches on TV.” 36/

One of things I like about old TV shows is when they’d play episode-specific music over the end credits. Like this #MagnumPI ep has a jolly Christmas tune playing over the end credits instead of the standard Magnum theme. 37/

Here’s another fun #MagnumPI-related fact. About a month before Magnum premiered, Vega$ had an episode set in Hawaii and they used the Robin’s Nest estate AND the same chopper TC flew. Not sure which was shot first, though. 38/

Today’s episode of #MagnumPI is “No Need to Know,” the first of two episodes written by A-Team co-creator Frank Lupo. The episode synopsis: “Magnum is hired to protect a British Brigadier who is hunted by the IRA.” I remember liking this one, but it’s not one of my faves. 39/

This is the first episode to feature music by Mike Post (without Pete Carpenter in this one!), but the opening theme is still the Ian Freebairn-Smith score. 40/

Magnum returns from a long case to find Higgins has stashed a British Brigadier in the guest house. As Magnum runs from the dogs, he has to pick the lock to the guest house, and he reuses the “work the lock, don’t look at the dogs” mantra from the pilot. 41/

You can tell the show is still figuring itself out. In one scene, Magnum also introduces himself as “Tom” Magnum, one of the only times he refers to himself that way. Throughout the series, he goes by “Thomas.” 42/

This is the second episode in a row where Rick basically acts as Magnum’s receptionist, taking messages from clients and arranging meetings. Probably because Magnum has no office, unlike most PIs. This device is used less as the series finds its legs. 43/

Lupo really nails Magnum’s tone. Lots of great one-liners and breezy interplay between the characters. There’s even a gag where Magnum has to borrow a dinner jacket from TC but it’s just embarrassingly too small because Magnum is taller, so he ends up looking ridiculous. 44/

Huh. Turns out Magnum charges “two hundred a day, plus expenses” just like our pal Rockford. 45/

At this episode’s climax, the bad guys put a bomb under Higgins’ Audi. But the car is conveniently behind some bushes when it blows up, so all we see is the some flames and smoke. Guess production didn’t want to blow up a perfectly good Audi. 46/

And that wraps up “No Need to Know.” Not a bad episode, but not a particularly memorable one, either. A perfectly good hour of television. 47/

Today’s #MagnumPI is “Skin Deep,” one of my favorite episodes. “Magnum is hired to investigate the shotgun suicide of a beautiful movie queen.” It’s written by co-creator Donald P. Bellisario, and is easily the darkest episode yet, in a show that’s so far been pretty breezy. 48/

The episode starts with a real bleak sequence where a young woman films herself affixing a shotgun to a chair, and tying a string to the trigger so she can shoot herself in the face, all while talking to the camera. It’s creepy as hell. 49/

Of course, we quickly learn the woman is an actress and she’s rehearsing a scene. When we get a look at the script she’s reading from, it’s written by one Donald P. Bellisario! 50/

This is the first time we see that Magnum occasionally has flashbacks to ‘Nam. He wakes up from a nightmare when we first see him this episode. It’s presented kind of matter-of-factly, not that he’s gonna snap. Just that he didn’t walk away from the war unscathed. 51/

The great Ian McShane has a wonderfully sleazy turn as Magnum’s client, a movie producer who wants Magnum to find out why his lead actress (and girlfriend) killed herself. 52/

There’s a terrific sequence where Magnum spends time in the house of Erin Wolfe, the dead actress. She was famous for her cheap jungle movies. Bad acting, lots of T&A. Magnum watches her rehearsal videotapes and starts to see a different side of her. 53/

He discovers she’s actually a talented actress who’s never been given a shot in a real role. This is all done through Magnum’s voiceover, and it’s really effective. We come to like and appreciate this woman who was only on camera for a few minutes. 54/

Higgins helps Magnum on this case by providing a ballistics test to help prove Erin Wolfe didn’t kill herself. It’s so smart to give Higgins this colorful past, because it allows him to have expertise in pretty much anything the script needs him to. 55/

There’s a moment where Higgins is rambling on and Ian McShane tells him to shut up. I can’t help imagining how he’d deliver that line if he was Al Swearengen! 56/

Ha! There’s a bit here where Magnum gets on the radio and claims to be “McGarrett, from Five-Oh.” 57/

There’s a pretty nice twist here where the dead actress turns up alive, hiding out on an uninhabited island. They bury the twist pretty well — you don’t see it coming. And now Magnum gets to spend time in the jungle with this actress famous for jungle flicks. 58/

Despite how many times I’ve seen this episode, I’d forgotten that after Magnum gets shot, he gets a bit delirious, forgetting he’s in Hawaii not ‘Nam. He even refers to the guy pursuing him as “Charlie” (the guy’s name is David). 59/

This episode has a really terrific ending, too. Check it out. 60/

Squeezing in another #MagnumPI before my in-laws arrive. Today’s ep is “Never Again… Never Again.” The synopsis: “Magnum helps two elderly Jewish Holocaust survivors who are being pursued by Nazis.” This is a pretty good one, from what I remember. A pretty dark twist, too. 61/

Hey, this one’s directed by the big bad guy from the pilot! 62/

Glen Cannon appears here as a red herring villain. He later recurs throughout the series as Magnum’s doctor, Doc Ibold. Cannon appeared in most shows that shot in Hawaii over the years: Hawaii 5-0, Jake & The Fatman, Tour of Duty, even Lost. He passed away in 2013. 63/

Cringe. I hate when old TV shows shoot day for night. Here are two guys breaking into Robin’s Nest under cover of “darkness.” 64/

Thank god Magnum remembered to turn his headlights on, or else he might’ve crashed in the dead of night. 65/

So the big twist in this one is that the kindly old Jewish couple that Magnum rescues from Nazis are actually Nazis themselves, posing as Jews to remain hidden. And the “Nazis” that are hunting them are actually Mossad agents. 66/

So the climax has Magnum on a boat, squaring off with the old Nazi woman who’s wielding a scalpel. Magnum’s got a gun, of course. She lunges at him and we cut to an exterior shot of the boat. Pretty sure there was a gunshot sound in the original airing, but it’s missing now. 67/

Firing up another #MagnumPI this afternoon. And congrats to the reboot for getting saved from cancellation! 20 mores episodes coming to NBC!

Meanwhile, I’m watching “The Ugliest Dog in Hawaii,” from the first season of the original. I remember this one trying a bit too hard. 68/

Magnum is hired to protect an annoying dog from mobsters who want to abduct it. My gripe with this episode is how much time we spend with the mobsters: an old school Italian wiseguy and his two bumbling henchmen. They’re played for laughs, but it’s more tedious than funny. 69/

Magnum ends up hiding out at the Makai Research Pier, which becomes the location of TC’s Island Hoppers business in later seasons. I saw this from the air while on my helicopter tour of Oahu a few weeks ago. 70/

I’d forgotten that Rick ends up recognizing the old mobster in this one. Rick mentions he’s “Orville, from Flatbush.” Only in later seasons I’m pretty sure it’s established that Rick grew up in Chicago. That’s how TV was in the old days — details changed all the time. 71/

This one must’ve come in short, because the end credits are almost 90 seconds long! They’re worth watching because there are a few bloopers from the episode — Selleck and Hillerman cracking each other up. 72/

Today’s #MagnumPI is “Missing in Action,” in which “Magnum is hired by a new singer at the King Kamehameha Club to find her fiancé who is listed as MIA during the Vietnam War.” I half-remember this one. It’s the first (but not last!) ep to deal with psychic phenomena. 73/

Turns out this is the first appearance of Jeff McKay as MacReynolds, Magnum’s pal in the Navy who always gives him intel. Mac’s a pivotal recurring character in the first few seasons. 74/

This is interesting. Magnum talks vaguely about a girlfriend he had to say goodbye to when he shipped off to ‘Nam. It’s played as this big untold story, but as far as I can remember, this past romantic tragedy never comes up again. 75/

This week’s damsel in distress is played by Rebecca Holden, and her voice seems to be dubbed in almost every scene so far. It sounds like her, so maybe it was a technical issue or something. 76/

This is the great Lance LeGault’s first appearance in the series — but he’s not playing his recurring character, Buck Green. Instead he’s playing a government agent named Newton. I don’t think he appears as Buck until the next season. 77/

Lotta firsts in this episode. It’s also the first time it’s made clear that Robin Masters has an ownership stake in the King Kamehameha Club, and that Higgins is on the board. This creates a natural intersection for Rick and Higgins to interact that doesn’t hinge on Magnum. 78/

This is weird. Magnum sneaks into the Navy base by putting on his old uniform and… the rest just isn’t explained. We see him drive up to the guard shack and flash some document, but even the voiceover is vague as to how he’s pulling this off. 79/

At least Mac catches Magnum in the act and has the good sense to point out how absurd Magnum looks in a Navy uniform with his hair so long. 80/

I try to watch the season 4 premiere of #MagnumPI every 4th of July. It’s a standout episode (set on the 4th) where Magnum is stranded at sea for 24 hours. But since I’m doing this rewatch, I’m gonna wait til I get there chronologically. Still… great ep. 81/

Today’s #MagnumPI is “Lest We Forget.” Jose Ferrer and June Lockhart play estranged lovers who haven’t seen each other since the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the actors’ adult children, Miguel Ferrer and Anne Lockhart, play the couple in flashbacks. 82/

This episode also features this amazing scene. 83/

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This episode has a pretty nifty setup: Robert Caine has been nominated to the Supreme Court and he needs Magnum to find his old love — who he hasn’t seen since the attack on Pearl Harbor — in 24 hours to get in front of a scandal that could sink his nomination. 84/

Magnum just introduced himself as “Tom” (not Thomas) again. And this ep was written by Bellisario, which surprises me.

When I told my wife I’m a nerd, it took her awhile to understand that I obsess over Magnum the way other nerds obsess over Star Wars or LotR. 85/

My god, there’s a sequence of Higgins being suspiciously nice to Magnum, clearly buttering him up for something. And Magnum keeps trying to figure out what Higgins wants and it goes on forever — nearly 3 minutes until we get to Higgins’ point. It’s delightful, but soooo long. 86/

There’s a flashback to the attack on Pearl Harbor, and they use footage from the 1970 movie Tora! Tora! Tora! 87/

Today’s #MagnumPI: “A Kahuna places a curse on Rick and the King Kamehameha Club.” 88/

I forgot just how much this show broke the fourth wall in the early seasons. This one has TC speaking directly to the camera. 89/

Oh wow, this one’s got Gretchen Corbett (who played Rockford’s lawyer). I remember her appearing in season 4, but completely blanked on her appearance this season.

And the world’s first hipster is her cameraman!

90/

This episode isn’t very memorable, but there is a pretty impressive sequence in a burning sugar cane field. It’s achieved through a combination of stock footage and some practical fire effects. 91/

There’s a fun moment towards the end of this one where Gretchen Corbett (the villain!) tries to bribe Magnum. Asks him to imagine owning his own estate, his own Ferrari. And Magnum declines, saying “That’d take all the fun out of it.” 92/

Huh. Don’t think I’ve ever seen Mike Post credited with someone who’s not Pete Carpenter. 93/

Today’s #MagnumPI: “TC is arrested for smuggling a man into the islands, but won’t reveal who the man is or why he did it.” This is the first TC-centric episode in the series, and it’s a good one. 94/

So after a pretty exciting opening with TC trying to outfly a Coast Guard chopper after smuggling a guy onto Oahu, we get this scene. It’s the kind of scene network shows don’t do anymore. It’s pure character and has nothing to do with the rest of the ep. 95/

I don’t know who voices this “Sarah” character, but her tone sounds like she’s speaking to a small child. I know Magnum’s immature, but c’mon… 96/

There’s a fun sequence here where Magnum needs to get access to a freighter, so he poses as a longshoreman. When he gets caught on the ship by one of the crew, he enlists the help of his new longshoremen buddies to fight off the ship’s crew in an old-fashioned brawl. 97/

Magnum also reuses the “work the lock, don’t look at the guys, work the lock” gag from the pilot in this one, when he’s trying to pick the lock to gain access to the captain’s quarters on the freighter. 98/

There’s a fun fistfight between Magnum and TC, which TC calls “an instant replay of our first meeting in Saigon.” Classic macho action movie stuff here — the two buddies who started off on opposite sides in fight. 99/

What makes this Magnum/TC fight so fun is Rick trying to break it up the whole time, but he’s so small he just keeps getting knocked aside. 100/

#MagnumPI was on the air for 8 seasons and it’s kind of remarkable this is the only time they squeezed all three guys into the Ferrari. 101/

Hey, it’s the first appearance of Magnum’s gorilla mask, which makes numerous appearances throughout the series. 102/

So in order to get Higgins' help earlier in the episode, Magnum agreed to move out of Robin's Nest. And this fun little scene is how they walk that decision back. 103/

Today’s #MagnumPI: “Magnum is hired by a woman from Kansas to find her father who she has not seen for ten years.” 104/

I’ve seen this episode before, but I just noticed something for the first time. Magnum’s at the airport and there’s an announcement over the PA for a “Douglas Ibold.” That’s the name of one of the editors on the show — and there’s later a recurring character named Doc Ibold. 105/

Legendary character actor/stuntman/songwriter — and former Elvis Presley bodyguard — Red West is in this one. 106/

A couple episodes ago we got Rockford Files alum Gretchen Corbett as a guest star, this week we’ve got Noah Beery Jr., who played Rockford’s dad. We’ll eventually see Stuart Margolin and Joe Santos, too. Basically, all the Rockford regulars except the man himself. 107/

Welp, I didn’t remember much about “All Roads Lead to Floyd” and that’s because it’s not a particularly memorable episode. 108/

Today’s #MagnumPI: “A woman hires Magnum to protect ‘Norman,’ a prized show horse who may be kidnapped.” Not one of my favorite episodes, but maybe it’ll surprise me. 109/

Remember that “Boston & Kilbride” pilot I mentioned upthread? Selleck wore this Al’s Automotive Tigers trucker hat in that pilot, and now he’s wearing it in this Magnum episode. 110/

Christine Belford plays Adelaide, your classic “pretty but doesn’t know it” damsel in distress. 111/

This one’s written by Robert Hamilton, who also wrote a bunch of episodes for Spenser: For Hire (plus many other shows). It’s his first Magnum script, and he’d write 11 more over the life of the series. None of them are my go-to favorites, but his episodes are always solid. 112/

Today’s #MagnumPI: “Agatha Kimball, a wealthy blind woman, is being blackmailed and she hires Magnum to pay the blackmailer.”

This is another one where I remember the basic plot, but it’s not a favorite of mine. 113/

Mercedes McCambridge — who voiced the demon child in The Exorcist — plays Agatha Kimball, the wealthy blind woman who’s friends with Magnum. 114/

And here’s Ted Danson, a year before Cheers. And a number of years before he’d reunite with Selleck for Three Men and a Baby. 115/

Man, this episode’s a mess. It’s directed by Winrich Kolbe, a veteran director. But it’s edited weirdly — the scenes are flabby, etc. Guess there’s a reason it hasn’t stuck with me over the years. 116/

Today’s #MagnumPI: “A rich, bored woman, married to one of the richest men in Hawaii, hires Magnum to act out some of her ‘games,’ but then the ‘games’ become reality.” 117/

This one isn’t one of my favorites, but it’s fun: a bored rich woman hires Magnum to play “games” with her, where she pretends to be a femme fatale and he’s a hardboiled PI. Magnum thinks it’s absurd, but needs cash (of course), so he goes along. With funny results. 118/

The scene where Rick and TC play thugs that Magnum has to “protect” the rich lady from is pretty damned funny. 119/

The actor playing the bored rich lady is Judith Chapman, who was all over TV screens in the 80s. She’s played upper crust British women so many times I was surprised to learn she’s from South Carolina! 120/

Never noticed this before. Magnum’s end credits always play over scenes from the episode, but this time there’s footage in the end credits that wasn’t in the episode — a scene cut for time, most likely. 121/

It’s been quite a week, so I’m treating myself to a second #MagnumPI today, because this one’s a particularly fun episode: “Thieves are attempting to steal tapes of Robin Masters' new book. Magnum joins forces with security expert J. "Digger" Doyle to prevent the theft.” 122/

The great Erin Grey plays J. Doyle, the security expert who plays Magnum like a fiddle to gain access to Robin’s Nest. It’s a great series of scenes as she plays juuuust hard to get enough to make her irresistible to Magnum. 123/

This is also the first time we hear — and kind of see, from a distance — Robin Masters. And he’s voiced by Orson Welles! Later in the series they introduce the idea that Higgins is actually Robin Masters, which doesn’t really square with this episode. 124/

I’ve read that this episode was a backdoor pilot for a J. Digger Doyle series, but I don’t quite see it. It still feels like a Magnum episode — and a great one at that. You don’t really get the sense of what a Doyle series would be like. 125/

There’s a scene between Magnum and TC that borders on cruel. Magnum needs TC’s help, but TC has a plush gig. So Magnum tells TC’s latest client that TC failed his latest flight check, so the clients bail on him, freeing TC up to help Magnum. Inventive, but damn…! 126/

Jacqueline Ray — who was married to Selleck at the time — plays one of the heavies in this one. 127/

Another thing I love about this episode is how they incorporate Ohau’s breathtaking Haiku Stairs, built into the side of a steep mountain. 128/

And that’s a wrap on another Magnum. I love this episode — it’s got great camaraderie among the guys, a simple plot, some nice twists and reversals. All the ingredients for a quintessential Magnum episode. 129/

“…loves fast cars and slow blondes”…? Yikes. This TV Guide ad for #MagnumPI sure hasn’t aged well! 130/

This article is fascinating. I sure never recognized a “revamp” of #MagnumPI at any point. It’s such consistent show through its entire run. 131/

Today’s #MagnumPI: “Magnum is maneuvered into an ‘iron man’ race by a fitness instructor who wants him to find her missing fiancé.”

This is a pretty good one, making good use of Selleck’s athleticism for an episode all about him training for an iron man race. 132/

Hey, Magnum’s riding a city bus, just like one of my favorite TV private eyes, Harry Orwell! In fact, Magnum’s voiceover notes how difficult it is to tail a bus — and Orwell made a similar observation on his show, years earlier. 133/

Oof, check out the pockets on Magnum’s jeans. 134/

Magnum’s client just asked if he’d ever been married or engaged. He says no, but we’ll find out next season that’s not true. It’s obviously a retcon, but the way Magnum’s marriage played out it makes perfect sense that it’s not something he talks about casually. 135/

This episode, which has Magnum competing in an Iron Man race, was written by Robert Hamilton, who also wrote a Spenser: For Hire where Spenser ran in the Boston Marathon. This is the kind of useless trivia that takes up space in my head. 136/

This one has a great ending. TC sponsors Magnum in the Iron Man race, but partway through, Magnum solves the mystery and turns around to catch the culprit. He never finishes the race, and TC is furious — until they see the news, where Island Hoppers gets name-checked plenty. 137/

It’s a #MagnumPI morning over here, rolling into the second season premiere: “Texan Billy Joe Bob Little hires Magnum to find his sister, Carol Ann, who was a nightclub singer before going missing.” 138/

James Whitmore Jr. plays Billy Joe Bob. He co-starred with Selleck in the Boston & Kilbride pilot, and worked with Bellisario previously on Baa Baa Black Sheep. He plays a much more memorable role in Magnum’s third season. 139/

Check out the chopper pilot. It’s supposed to be TC, but the pilot appears to be wearing a neck gaiter-type mask. Can’t tell if the pilot is really white and they’re trying to hide that fact, or what. 140/

This episode is a variation on my least favorite 80s trope: our hero is stymied by an exasperating client. Rockford suffered from this too. This kind of story can provide some laughs, but if you do too many of these episodes, your hero ends up looking like a dumbass. 141/

Lunch time! Today’s #MagnumPI: “Magnum’s search for a missing man leads him to a mysterious sea channel considered sacred by some locals.” 142/

This is the first episode that doesn’t feature all four regulars. TC doesn’t appear. I remember Bellisario saying on an E! True Hollywood Story episode that Roger Mosley was a little difficult in the early seasons, so he was written out of this episode. 143/

Today’s #MagnumPI: Another Rick-centric episode as he and Magnum re-investigate a suicide from the 1940s. This is the second and final episode directed by series co-creator Donald P. Bellisario, and the only episode he directed that he didn’t also write. 144/

This one isn’t one of my favorites. In fact, I barely remember it. But there’s some great interplay between the guys when Rick’s “true love” — who he’s known for 2 days — stands him up and Magnum and TC can barely keep a straight face to offer their “sympathy.” 145/

Judith Chapman shows up again, having appeared in a different role just a few episodes ago. 146/

It’s a little-known fact that when Magnum gets in over his head, he picks up that red phone and calls Batman. 147/

Here’s the TV Guide ad for this episode. 148/

Today’s #MagnumPI: “Magnum takes on the KGB to aid in the defection of a former Russian pilot’s fiancée.”

These friendly-Russian-wants-to-defect plots were all over 1980s detective shows. 149/

I love how the subtitles are in the same font and color as the credits. 150/

I made some serious progress on a comic book script this morning, so I’m treating myself to a double-length #MagnumPI. Season two’s been a bit of a snooze so far, but this episode — which introduces Magnum’s presumed-dead wife — is one of the series’ best. 151/

I was talking about the X-Files the other day, how they’d juggle standalone episodes with “mythology” episodes. And Magnum developed its own “mythology” episodes — the ones dealing with Magnum’s time in Vietnam, which were mostly interconnected and built on each other. 152/

Magnum is one of those shows that straddled the line between old-school crime drams of the 70s and 80s and the more sophisticated shows like Hill Street Blues that would emerge in the late 80s. And Magnum got more serialized and sophisticated as it went on. 153/

Pretty sure this is the first episode episode to feature Higgins writing his memoirs, which he’d continue pecking away at for the rest of the series. 154/

I love this scene. For a season and a half we've watched Magnum and Higgins bicker and barter every time Magnum needed something from Higgins. But this time is different -- and Higgins, and the audience, can tell immediately by Magnum's uncharacteristic demeanor. 155/

I also love the creative transition out of this Vietnam flashback. 156/

Magnum could learn a thing or two from Rockford about how to con your way into a place. 157/

This episode is also the introduction of ‘80s TV staple Lance LeGault as Col. Buck Green, Magnum’s frenemy from his days in Vietnam.

Fun fact: I named a character in my Generation X run after Lance LeGault.

158/

This episode is so great. There’s tons of emotion surrounding Magnum and his wife, but it’s also a great espionage story, with Magnum’s wife now married to a Vietnamese general, but secretly working for Naval intelligence — with Buck Green as her handler. 159/

They don’t make ‘em like this anymore — a true 2-hour episode, conceived that way from the start, with one writer and one director. These days if a network show does a 2-hour ep, it’s usually just two single episodes (with their own writer/director) stitched together. 160/

And that’s a wrap on this one. It’s a great, pivotal episode that gets referenced frequently throughout the rest of the series. 161/

Today’s #MagnumPI: “Magnum can’t persuade Higgins that the woman he’s seeing is up to no good.”

I have almost no memory of this one, beyond the fact that Magnum fights a sumo wrestler and a dwarf.

162/

This is another Robert Hamilton-written episode, and I’m pretty sure it’s first time Magnum begins his narration with the phrase “When I write my book on how to be a world-class private investigator…” We’ll hear that phrase frequently throughout the series. 163/

Okay, my memory’s a little off. It’s not a sumo wrestler, just a big guy. 164/

There’s a sequence shot at the Valley of the Temples. I can think of two more memorable sequences set here in later episodes. 165/

This one starts out as light-hearted — a pretty young British woman is more interested in Higgins than Magnum — but it takes a nice dramatic turn when they start revealing she has ulterior motives linked to Higgins’ colorful past. 166/

This one’s got the wonderful Roy Dotrice as the young woman’s accomplice. We still don’t know his motive, but he’s got some sort of grudge against Higgins. 167/

This is actually a lot better than I remembered. The young woman’s interest in Higgins is a con, of course — Roy Dotrice masterminded the whole thing to gain access to the estate, so he could rob it (which means Higgins fell for the same trick Magnum fell for last season). 168/

But there’s a nice additional layer on all of this. The young woman who duped Higgins was also duped by Dotrice. He told her lies about Higgins betraying her mother, so she’d go along with the plan. 169/

There’s also an obvious — yet still damn funny — gag at the end where Rick and TC square off against the dwarf and the big guy. But TC winds up with the dwarf, leaving Rick to take on the big guy. 170/

Dug out these two weird #MagnumPI graphic novels. Pretty sure there’s a third volume floating around out there that I haven’t been able to get my hands on yet. But these are fun — a combo of comic book stories, prose stories, articles, and activity pages. 171/

Some more #MagnumPI graphic novel fun. 172/