bigjohn1 said:
Watched it last night on DVR.
I liked it. I think some of the negativity towards this is mis-placed, as the original was cheesy and over the top at times, with several 4th wall breaking moments of Magnum looking at the camera with his signature eyebrow raise and smirk. Some may have selective memory of the original show being a bastion of emmy-worthy writing and acting, but it was not in the first few seasons - it was more of a Hawaii tourism commercial.
That being said, I was a fan of the original, and I will give this one a shot, as I liked the actors and their spins on the various roles. (and I liked the Hawaii Five-O tie in with the ME)
Also, while not in the industry (someone correct me if I am wrong if one of you industry types is on here), it is my understanding that often a pilot is written, shot and in the can well before a season order is placed. The writing, producing, filming, character development, etc. can undergo changes and improvements by the time they production gets underway and 2-3 episodes into telling a full season story, rather than a single-shot attention-getting pilot episode. I try to wait at least 4-5 episodes in before making a decision to stick with a show or not.
But that is just my take...
I only watched the pilot, but the others are DVRed, so maybe I'll give it another shot.
But, within the context of what the original was allowed to work in, it was pretty damned good. Early on they were required to follow the "case of the week" format where each episode was wrapped in a nice bow. The network wanted episodes to air reruns in any order and not have viewers confused. It wasn't until later, (especially when Tom Selleck was producing) where they broke from that and started having plot lines span episodes and seasons. At that point I think it was easily the best show on television at the time.
It was also the first show to present Vietnam veterans in a positive light. That was something they had to fight the network over. Eventually they convinced CBS to let them film the pilot and that if the network didn't like the Vietnam stuff, that they could edit it out. Of course, they riddled Vietnam everywhere and made it virtually impossible to edit, so CBS basically had to air it as was. It hit big, and they received tons of letters from Vietnam vets and their families thanking the show for finally treating them fairly. The show was given more leeway after that. The more leeway they were given the better it got, IMO.
