Magnum, P.I.

Finally, MAGNUM's abbreviated 1980-81 Season was put on DVD with each and every episode complete and uncut like it originally was during MAGNUM, P.I.'s whole 8-year run on CBS with the exception of each episode on this DVD being commercial-free, which is wonderful and even better than having to worry and wait about all the commercials we'd have to watch in between even on CBS, plus all these episodes of MAGNUM on COZI-TV, WGN, USA, and A&E don't even compare to how they're all shown on this DVD, since every episode had too many deleted scenes with too many commercials added in between to allot for time whenever MAGNUM, PI was shown in reruns on on both cable TV and syndication.In addition, each episode of this detective drama also includes a brief summary along with it's original air-date of this 1980-1981 Season of MAGNUM on CBS and includes closed captioning on them too, but it's just too bad they couldn't make MAGNUM's 6th, 7th, and 8th Season DVD box set like this one, because it would've made them even better.For instance, the original air-dates to each of this seasons episodes are12/11/80-DON'T EAT THE SNOW IN HAWAII(a.k.a. The Pilot Episode)12/18/80-CHINA DOLL12/25/80-THANK HEAVEN FOR LITTLE GIRLS & BIG ONES TOO1/8/81-NO NEED TO KNOW1/15/81-SKIN DEEP1/22/81-NEVER AGAIN, NEVER AGAIN1/29/81-THE UGLIEST DOG IN HAWAII2/5/81-MISSING IN ACTION2/12/81-LEST WE FORGET2/19/81-THE CURSE OF THE KAMEHEMEHA CLUB2/26/81-THICKER THAN BLOOD3/12/81-ALL ROADS LEAD TO FLOYD3/19/81-ADELAIDE3/26/81-DON'T SAY GOODBYE4/2/81-THE BLACK ORCHID4/9/81-J. "DIGGER" DOYLE4/16/81-BEAUTY KNOWS NO PAINAdditionally, the First Season shows us how the former Navy Intelligence officer & Vietnam veteran now turned private investigator Thomas Magnum(Tom Selleck)got started along with his love/hate relationship with his Navy buddies from the Vietnam War T.C.(Roger Mosley) and Rick "Orville" Wright(Larry Manetti), along with the often exasperated British butler Jonathan Higgins(John Hillerman)and the dogs(Zeus & Apollo)and explains the estragned relationship and situation that Magnum and Higgins had with the so-called famous Robin Masters even though Robin was never shown on the series, even though the snazzy red Ferrari Magnum always drove was Robin's, which even said "Robin 1" on the license plate throughout MAGNUM's whole 1980-88 run on CBS.This 1980-81 Season was also one of the funniest seasons of this private detective drama as well and was my second favorite season of MAGNUM, P.I. as well as the season that made Magnum(Tom Selleck)the sexiest & most charming detective on TV back then, especially in the early 1980's along with the fact that MAGNUM was in its honeymoon phase of the show during this season too despite the fact that this was only half a season.This is also the season that made Tom Selleck a superstar and a sex symbol along with the fact that MAGNUM, PI came out a year later from playing his role as fellow gumshoe(Lance White) on the detective drama THE ROCKFORD FILES, which was an inspiration to MAGNUM, P.I., but it just so happens that MAGNUM had made its debut on CBS 11 months after NBC had abruptly cancelled the ROCKFORD FILES in the Winter of 1980, due to James Garner's back & knee problems.Additionally; it was also interesting seeing guest stars like*Gretchen Corbett in "The Curse Of The Kamehumeau Club" episode after her co-starring days as Rockford's sexy attorney girlfriend(Beth Davenport) in the first 4 seasons of the ROCKFORD FILES which was of course before Corbett left Rockford in the Winter of 1978 due to a salary dispute.*Rebecca Holden in the "Missing In Action" episode before her co-starring days as KITT's technician(April Curtis) on KNIGHT RIDER in its 2nd Season*Erin Gray in the "J. Digger Doyle" episode before her co-starring days as Kate Summers on SILVER SPOONS and during her co-starring days as Buck's foxy sidekick(Col. Wilma Deering)on BUCK ROGERS*Lance LeGault in the "Missing In Action" episode before his co-starring days as the hard-nosed Army nemesis(Col. Decker)on THE A-TEAM and before his co-starring days as Magnum's hellbent Navy nemesis(Col. Green) on MAGNUM*Noah Beery, Jr. in the "All Roads Lead To Floyd" episode after his co-starring days as Rockford's retired long suffering truckdriving father(Joseph "Rocky" Rockford) on the ROCKFORD FILES*Ted Danson in the "Don't Say Goodbye" episode before his co-starring days as Sam Malone on CHEERS and before his co-starring days on BECKER*Judy Chapman in "The Black Orchid" episode before her co-starring days on YOUNG & THE RESTLESS and DAYS OF OUR LIVES*Laurie Hendler in the "Thank Heaven For Little Girls & Big Ones Too" episode before her co-starring days on GIMME A BREAK*Anne Lockhart in the "Lest We Forget" episode after her co-starring days as Lt. Sheba on BATTLESTAR GALACTICA*Edward Grover in the "No Need To Know" episode after his co-starring days on the short-lived NBC series SUPERTRAIN in the Winter of 1979.The 1980-1981 Season of MAGNUM, P.I. was also the season that became almost a spin-off of HAWAII 5-0 and the ROCKFORD FILES.This season takes me all the way back to memory lane to the recession we had going on back in 1981-1982 when we had all those budget cuts going on during Ronald Reagan's presidency after winning the presidential election in November of 1980.So now that Universal has all 8 seasons of MAGNUM, PI out on DVD, I can hardly wait till Warner Bros. finally puts the detective drama MATT HOUSTON out on DVD, since I liked that show too along with the fact that MATT HOUSTON was a very popular private detective show in competition with MAGNUM during MATT HOUSTON's 1982-85 run on CBS's rival network(ABC), not to mention the intriguing slight resemblence between Magnum(Tom Selleck)and Houston(Lee Horseley), except Houston was a lot more fortunate, a lot tougher, a lot huskier, and a lot spunkier than Magnum ever was along with the fact that Magnum was always broke and Houston never was since Magnum was just a Hawaiian beach-bum private investigator who lived rent-free on a rich man's estate in Oahu, Hawaii; but Houston was a filthy-rich Texas style private investigator & former Vietnam Vet who lived high on the hog in a swanky penthouse in Hollywood & had a detective agency in Downtown LA that only did detective work on the side as a hobby & would often pay people money in $100 bills to get information to get leads & solve his cases along with the fact that Houston was like the Rolls-Royce in private detective shows who always wore spiffy 3-piece suits as opposed to Magnum usually wore more casual clothes like Hawaiian shirts, blue jeans, shorts, & often wore a Detroit Tigers cap.Therefore you could say that MATT HOUSTON was like a rich-mans MAGNUM since Houston outclassed Magnum in many ways since Magnum couldn't even touch Houston, especially since Houston lived the kind of lifestyle that Magnum would've envied and wanted for himself, but unfortunately MATT HOUSTON tanked after its 3-year run on ABC since MATT HOUSTON took a nose-dive in the ratings since it started losing a lot of viewers thru MIAMI VICE when it debuted on NBC in the Fall of 1984 resulting in MATT HOUSTON's cancellation in the Summer of 1985 when MAGNUM's 6th Season was underway on CBS which simply goes to show you that sometimes old things and old ways are better than newer ones, which is probably another reason why MAGNUM, P.I. outlasted MATT HOUSTON which also takes me all the way back to memory lane to when both MAGNUM and MATT HOUSTON used to be on KTLA every Monday thru Friday at one time back in the early Fall of 1987 kicking off with MATT HOUSTON at 5PM followed by MAGNUM, PI at 6PM.As a matter of fact, people used to tease Lee Horsley(Houston)a lot by asking him if he was trying to copy Tom Selleck(Magnum), but Horsley would always answer "No, but I'm flattered you see a resemblence" although Horsley knew people were just trying to hassle him, but Horsley would never take it personally because MATT HOUSTON was a very popular TV show just like MAGNUM was, despite the fact that MAGNUM lasted 5 times longer than MATT HOUSTON did and unlike Tom Selleck, Lee Horsley was never a sex symbol either.Fortunately Paramount will be releasing MATT HOUSTON-Season 1 out on DVD on March 9th, 2010 and is available for pre-order, which is wonderful news for all you MATT HOUSTON fans out there.In the meantime, I hope Universal re-releases this MAGNUM, PI-Season 1 DVD box set on single-sided discs to avoid all the skipping & freezing that I keep getting on these double-sided discs on this box set, especially on the "Missing In Action" episode along with the freezing & skipping I kept getting on KNIGHT RIDER-Seasons 1, 2, and 4; MAGNUM, P.I.-Seasons 1, 2, 3, and 4; A-TEAM-Seasons 2 and 4, MIAMI VICE-Seasons 1, 2, and 3; etc.; which is why Universal now only makes their DVD's on 1-sided discs only like MAGNUM, PI-Seasons 6, 7, and 8 instead of putting them on 2-sided discs like MAGNUM'S first 4 seasons including this one, but I would hate to have to purchase the MAGNUM, PI-The Complete Series box set to be able to watch this 1980-1981 Season on Single-sided discs instead along with MAGNUM'S first 4 Seasons of course.

Thomas Magnum (Tom Selleck) was one of the best of the flock of memorable TV detectives of the 1980's, and this is the first volume of his adventures. When we first meet him in the two-hour pilot, "Please Don't Eat the Snow in Hawaii" (yes, the title makes sense, but only after you've watched it), he's a 34-year-old private investigator (he hates to be called a "private eye") who served as a Navy SEAL in Vietnam (and is still occasionally troubled by dreams and flashbacks), then in the Naval Intelligence Agency at Pearl Harbor--two experiences that have made him cynical about most things official--before he "beached himself" a year ago. Somehow he met Robin Masters, a famous and fantastically successful novelist with an estate on the island, and was offered free occupancy of its guesthouse in exchange for acting as backstop security for Sgt.-Maj. (Retired) Jonathan Quayle Higgins III (John Hillerman), the self-proclaimed "major-domo"--actually a glorified caretaker--of the place. Once there he contrived to also obtain use of Robin's red Ferrari, though he often has to wheel and deal with Higgins to keep it. Though most of his off-camera cases seem to be low-paying divorce jobs--at one point we find out that he hasn't "had $200 in his checking account since he left the service," though what he spends his money on isn't clear--he has his share of intriguing and dangerous ones, and these are the focus of the series. In solving them he often calls on two former teammates from the war, T.C. (Roger E. Mosely), who has translated his experience as a chopper pilot to ownership of Island Hoppers, a tourist flying service, and Orville "Rick" Wright (Larry Manetti), a cocky, wiry, street-wise native of Flatbush, formerly T.C.'s door gunner, notable for his shady contacts and ability to find out almost anything; in the pilot he owned a disco, Rick's Club Americaine, but after the series was picked up he was made manager of the King Kamehaha Club, a private outfit on the beach where Magnum--as the permanent guest of Robin Masters, who's among the most prominent members--spends a lot of his time.Like all the detective series of its era, MPI (as it was called by its fans) had to find something to make itself unique among a crowd of other such shows, and what it chose was the relationship between Magnum and Higgins. Higgins, despite having been only a noncom, was clearly reared an aristocrat (in future seasons we learn that he attended Sandhurst, the British equivalent of West Point), and has a tendency to look down his nose at Magnum, whom he regards as a lazy, uncultured freeloader--which is unjust, because while Magnum does prefer to live in faded jeans and aloha shirts, he runs the eight-mile beach route from the estate to the Club every morning, swims, paddles a surf-ski, plays sand volleyball and (when he can con Higgins into letting him use the estate courts) tennis, looks quite dashing in a suit, is cool-headed in moments of peril and capable of fast, graceful action--it's a treat to watch him move. Higgins also has what Magnum considers an annoying habit of launching into long tales of his army service during and after World War II at the drop of a hat ("This reminds me of...," he'll begin, and you never know whether the story will end up perilous or humorous), and flatly states that he doesn't "like the way you live...[or] the way you drive [the Ferrari]...[or] your friends..." He and Magnum are perpetually locked in conflict over the car, Magnum's use of the estate wine cellar/tennis courts/hot tub/big-screen TV, and Higgins's two Dobermans, Zeus and Apollo, who share their master's dislike of him. Yet as the series proceeds, Higgins apparently finds Magnum growing on him: he once says that he's "glad you're all right," and another time, after Magnum has agreed to move out in order to get Higgins's help in clearing T.C. of a smuggling rap, Higgins not only provides the help but ultimately maneuvers him into staying on.Magnum is a slightly quirky, very attractive, soft-spoken but definitely masculine character who often provides voice-over narration that brings us up to speed on his thoughts on a situation or what's been going on when the camera wasn't looking. The series exteriors were filmed on location in Hawaii, and some of the scenery--especially the sheer cliffs past which T.C.'s chopper sometimes flies--is incredible. The set includes three double-sided discs and a single, containing all 18 first-season segments (including the pilot, aired as a two-parter), plus "Kiis Don't Lie/Emeralds Are Not a Girl's Best Friend," the crossover with  Simon & Simon: Season Two  (which isn't on the latter) and "Echoes of the Mind," a two-part fifth-season episode featuring Sharon Stone, which is also available on the Fifth-Season set.

I remembered this as being colourful - a huge red car, lovely bright patterned short sleeved shirts and a pair of matching dobermans. Oh yes and lots of lovely turquoise sea. Tom Selleck a very young hunk. I wanted something colourful to entertain myself instead of all the misery shown on television now so bought this. Yes it is vibrant and happy but I feel it is dated - enjoyed this but don't think I will be buying any more.

Didn't realise the first few had a different theme tune?? This brings back the memories, but it's not just for us oldies of the 1980's, anyone can enjoy these (once you get used to the old look as it's not all HD'd and bright colours). Magnum lasted 8 series and once you get into the characters you see why, it's endearing and infectious. Not only does Tom Selleck play the Private Investigator in a way that makes him so likeable, but John Hillerman is the unsung hero as the thoroughly British housekeeper and he turns in a performance in every episode that adds something extra. His scenes with Magnum are often the best.

I recently watched the first series of Magnum PI again and really enjoyed it. It had been many years since I had seen it and it had lost none of its charm. Tom Selleck was perfect in the role. In some ways he was ideal: he was tall, fit, playful pretty much the leading man type and yet he was also constantly broke, lived in a small bungalow and owned little of his own.It was an inspiration to change the theme music to the now recognisable tune which is quintissential Magnum. It is also the other characters: TC, Higgins, Rick and "The Lads" which made the show. The argumentative banter between Higgins and Magnum was always fun as well as his English idiosyncracies.A totally enjoyable experience.

Looking at this through a 21st century lens isn't really an option. Or if you do you need to ignore clothing, bad acting and stunts.Basically the stories are good for background noise. You aren't going to be overly taxed and the characters grow slowly over the seaon. The first season would/was the Castle/Rizzoli& Isles of it's day. I feel that the story lines were good and that you could see the good dynamic between Magnum and Higgins.One of the things that surprised me is how some of the female were actually very strong characters... I mean a female terrorist assassin.Looking forward to season 2

I remember watching this in the 80s on ITV, love the interaction between Thomas and the other characters, picture and sound is fine, slimline dvd cases hold the discs fine. I'm very satisfied with this, I'm certainly considering the second series especially if it is at this bargain price.