Rating: 
Summary: Why are they taking so long to release the DVD version?
Review: Magnum, P.I. is one of the best TV series ever produced. Gorgeous Tom Selleck played the lead character, tooling around Hawaii in a red Ferrari. John Hillerman provided a wonderful contrast with his portrayal of Higgins, and Roger P. Moseley and Larry Manetti were terrific as Magnum's war buddies. The series had excellent production values and really, really good scriptwriting. The superb balance among mystery/suspense, drama and comedy has yet to be matched.Selleck went on to a fairly successful movie career and recently returned to television in a recurring role on NBC's 'Friends'. 'Magnum' really showed off his acting versatility as well as his good looks and is the catalyst that led to all his later success. I desperately want to own the entire series but refuse to purchase it on VHS, which (as we all know) fades and degrades in other ways both visual and sonic. I would also love to see the release have special features including cast/crew interviews. How about it, eh? Let's get this baby out on DVD!
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Summary: Great from the beginning...
Review: Often times new TV series start out a little weak and eventually pick up steam. I'd say this was the case with shows like the X-Files, Star Trek TNG, and even Seinfeld. Magnum PI started out strong from the very beginning and stayed strong throughout most of the life of the series.
Even the first episode draws upon Magnum's ties to Vietnam, a theme that was continued throughout the series and made the show fascinating. Magnum's buddies Rick and TC are there from the start, as is the love/hate relationship between the three of them. And of course there is Higgins, Magnum's arch-rival and delightful comic relief.
This show is an absolute delight to watch. I thought after growing up with it as a teenager it might have lost some of its luster in the 21st century, but I was pleasantly surprised to see it had not. It holds up incredibly well even by today's standards, and remains, in my opinion, the best PI TV series ever made.
Rating: 
Summary: Some good episodes, but also some bad ones, and no extras!
Review: Right from the beginning, as evidenced in this Season 1 DVD package, Magnum P.I. was a magical mix of action, humour, and high drama that kept people tuning in from week to week. There were a number of dangers to the show in the first season - the Hawaiian locale, the Ferrari, the Vietnam tie-ins - that could have led it into a morass of gimmicky plots designed to highlight car chases, girls in bikinis, and post-traumatic 'Nam flashbacks. All these things are in the show, of course, but they are seamlessly incorporated into the fabric of the show, so they almost never stand out as gimmicks, but are legitimate plot points and atmosphere.
I say "almost never" because the first season tends to be somewhat uneven. There are some great shows, and there are some terrible shows. There are some great guest stars, and some cringe-inducing performances (of the latter, the most distressing is a young Ted Danson who ended up as such a reliable TV actor on Cheers). The low point in the season is the show "The Ugliest Dog in Hawaii," wherein the eponymous dog is somewhat ugly, but not nearly as ugly as the performances from all but the regular cast.
Of course, the star + ensemble format was the standard casting method of the time, and it works to perfection here. The actors all settle quickly into their roles (T.C. is a crass chauvenist in the first 2 or 3 episodes, but quickly evolves into the form he stays in for the rest of the series - we even see his volunteer work with local kids in a few episodes). Their performances are pitch-perfect for the tone of the show, which can quickly alternate from slapstick humour to high drama in seconds. This latter is another characteristic of the show that is evident early on - humour-based episodes do dominate the first season, but we also have some more serious plots.
Although the "extended universe" has not filled out yet (there's no Agatha, Michele, or Icepick in the first season, although Mac appears in a couple episodes), most episodes are immediately recognisable as Magnum shows, which speaks for the consistent quality of the performances of the regulars. Too bad there are so many bad guest-star performances (and some weak scripts) in this first season. I was also dissappointed by the lack of extras. Most welcome is the inclusion of the cross-over Simon and Simon episode that goes with one 3rd-season Magnum episode. However, one has to ask the question, "Why isn't this on the Season 3 DVD?" Other than that, there are no extras - no behind the scene stuff, no commentaries, no nothing! The show is worth having on DVD if only to watch uncut and without advertisements, but Season 1 is certainly not the highlight of the series. I'm anxiously awaiting the later seasons.
An interesting note: is there any '80's show with a more distinctive theme than Magnum's? That is more immediately associated with the show? And yet, for half of the first season, it had a different theme song!
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Summary: second season april 12th
Review: The second season will be released on april 12th. And will contain bonus episodes from knight rider and the A-team. So all you magnum fans get ready!
Rating:
Summary: coolest star and tv show in history
Review: this is about as good as televisual viewing gets..
the coolest star and backdrop and supporting cast ever - the car's not bad either.
just need to make sure that universal get all 8 seasons out in quick succession instead of all the other rubbish that is aired these days.
Rating:
Summary: The coolest Hawaiin PI
Review: This is far one of the all time favorite PI series. I have never heard a negative comment about this series. The fact that the supporting cast was great and the locations in beautiful Hawaii made it outstanding. I'm sure that if it was still on most would agree it would rival CSI and some of the current shows even today. The stories were exceptional and the guest stars were like reading Whose Who. I buy any detective series that is worth having like "Sherlock Holmes" (Jeremy Brett), "Cadfael", "Campion", "Woolster and Jeeves", "Shield", "Homicide", etc. and I can't wait till I can buy the Magnum P.I. series on DVD.
Rating:
Summary: Let's get this going!
Review: What is the problem, Universal? My God, there are so many LAME series that are now on DVD, why not put out one of the best action//drama/comedy shows EVER MADE? There are LITERALLY legions of fans that will buy this set as soon as it's released. COME ON!! And while you're at it, get Tom Selleck and the gang on the big screen for a Magnum, p.i. movie!
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Summary: ~From the Journal of Thomas Magnum~
Review: When I FINALLY get around to writing my book: "How to be a Private Investigator", I'm going to write a chapter on how sometimes the great masterpieces get overlooked. Take the show Magnum p.i., for example. Here we have the first show to feature a tarnished hero in a good light, he is a Vit Nam War vet who when he came home, became a private detective who works out of the guest house of a well-known writer named Robin Masters (Orson Wells), but we don't see much of him, instead we see J.Q Higgins (John Hillerman) who sort of runs the estate in Robin's absence. Thomas Magnum (Tom Sellick) surrounds himself with two old war buddies, an ace chopper pilot named T.C. (Roger E. Mosely) and an ace con man turned bartender (Larry Manetti). Now all of these guys help Thomas out with some major arm-twisting and bribing, but they usually come through. (Oh yeah, did I mention that they had some of the best shots of Hawaii for a television series to date?) But unfortunately, we probably won't be seeing any of that on out DVD machines in the near future, because the guys who are responsible for putting these episodes on disk are more interested in putting the newer series' on DVD really, really fast. Shows like "Threat Matrix" and such. I mean come on, they should at least let the season finish airing! They should concentrate on some of the hit shows of yesteryear, these perfect niches in television history like "Magnum p.i." and the cousin series "Simon & Simon".
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