Magnum P.I.: Season 1

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.

If you drew even a single breath between the years of 1980 and 1988, you know this show. You might not know you know it, but Magnum is part of your soul.What's great is that once you go out and buy this set, you'll realize that it's a bigger piece of your soul than you'd thought. I'm wiling to bet that even the crappy theme song that was used for the first half of this season rings a bell. You can't think of it now -- you CAN remember the brash, catchy, action/adventure theme song that was adopted after the first few episodes -- but you'll remember that old song and say, "Oh, yeah. I never knew this was the original Magnum theme."And then the episodes start. From the very first minute of the pilot, you get to see why this was one of the top-rated TV show of the eighties. There are car chases, Vietnam flashbacks, competent mysteries, astoundingly good comedy, sexy stewardesses, gravitas, suspense, drama, exotic locations, and remarkable consistency.What's crazy is how quickly the show hit its stride. This set contains a couple crossover episodes and specials from later seasons, and -- aside from the opening credits -- it's very tough to tell the difference between those and the first-season episodes on the discs. The cast and crew went into the show with confidence, and a pretty clear idea of what they hoped to accomplish. So the writing is great right off the bat. The cast jelled instantly; even though their characters weren't fully fleshed-out, they played like actual people. (It kind of makes you realize how often other TV shows -- and movies -- are filled entirely with stock characters, stereotypes and cardboard cutouts.) Larry Minetti as Rick is particularly grand as the proprietor of an eighties club, and the stellar John Hillerman nearly steals every scene as the overbearingly British Retired Sergeant Major Jonathan Quayle Higgins.But let's have a word on the subject of Tom Selleck. This is the guy who was originally cast as Indiana Jones, but had to bow out because Raiders of the Lost Ark was scheduled to begin shooting at the same time as Magnum's first season. Did he make the right decision? It's tough to say whether Thomas Magnum is a better or worse character than Indiana Jones, but it's obvious that there wasn't a bad choice to be made there. He's absolutely delightful as Magnum, though, so let's just say that he made the right call.To quote Magnum, "I woke up one day, age 33, and realized I'd never been 23." Arrested adolescence found the perfect actor in Tom Selleck, it seems. He plays the part of Magnum perfectly, but more than that, he anchors and holds together the cast and carries the stories quite ably.Overlook the bad wardrobe and hair that clamor for screen space. This was 1980, and frankly, the hairstyles seen here were remarkably tasteful for that year. Not timeless by any stretch of the imagination, but tasteful.Very first spoken line of the series: As two Dobermans are charging and Magnum is trying to pick the lock on a chain-link fence... "Don't look at the dogs. Work the lock," Magnum tells himself. "Work the lock. Don't look at the dogs. You looked at the dogs!" So good.

Love Magnum P.I

Ok. I love this. And weeks is perfect. I’d go as far to say she makes the tv show. I love it and am binging now.

When I say wholesome, I’m referring to the general messages and premise of the show. Love the relationship/bromance between the soldiers and their shared jarring military experiences. Love the relationship dynamics between the main character and Higgins. The plot is interesting enough and pulls you in. Well done.

I had no problems with the playback of any of these dvds. No skipping, etc. I thoroughly enjoyed watching this classic show!

en lo particular me gusta esta serie y la encontré a buen precio

Superbe. Magnifique travail de restauration par Elephant films dont je possède déjà l’intégrale de L’incroyable Hulk. Belles couleurs, son dynamique. Piqué d’image au top. VF et VO disponible.

I was excited to be able the first season (after watching all the rest). THANKS!!!I already had the box set of Magnum PI (purchased elsewhere) but imagine my surprise when I discovered that 2 of the discs were totally blank and another two were corrupted...pissed!!! Hence my recent purchase, now my set is complete again.

I bought this mainly for nostalgia having watched the original series as a child. Unlike other series re-watched recently from around the same date I found myself pleasantly surprised. Yes it is slightly dated in terms of the obvious i.e. clothes and cars etc. and the fact that Hawaii seems relatively tourist free (though the Ferrari still looks pretty good to me) but the story lines are much more modern than I remembered, some bitter sweet, some without the traditional expected happy endings (i.e. the drug addict who when Magnum is asked is he going to be ok at the end of that episode, says it's up to him). The only down side was the dreadful original music I can't remember having heard before up until around the 9th episode which was really awful. I found myself cheering when the sound track most people remember finally replaced it. Fantastic. Overall a very very good example of the early 80s American crime shows. Like the related NCIS of today the complex nature of friendships and loyalties is explored and makes the series Magnum so much more than light viewing.