Magnum P.I. (2018)

Initial signs are promising. It nails the Selleck version’s have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too sensibility, kicking off with a joyously ludicrous action sequence set in North Korea (director Justin Lin of the Fast and the Furious series helmed the pilot), only to turn around and assure us that the rest of the show won’t be like this, then ultimately delivering something not terribly different from what it said it wasn’t going to give us.

[The death of someone close to Magnum is] a decent enough mystery to keep your action sweet tooth satisfied. Advances in special effects and stunt work since the 1980s are on display, and at least in this first episode, CBS spares no expense at highlighting them, from a HALO (high altitude) jump that opens the episode to the explosions that end it. The show's biggest weakness lies in its woefully surface-level characters, especially (and crucially) Magnum and Higgins. Hernandez is charming but bland, and the writers give him few other identifiers.

Neo-Magnum overdoes on goofy pyrotechnics, but a cheerfully bland Hernandez can't match Tom Selleck's charms. [28 Sep 2018, p.48]

It’s fine, escapist fare but lacking in much imagination.

In the new reboot (with Jay Hernandez in the title role, and without that starchy appositive comma in the title), Magnum is a generic, chill dude with an aggro streak. ... The series is ungainly in its rush to get Magnum and Higgins together as a fondly squabbling couple, and it’s uncertain whether the stars share the chemistry to sell a Benedick-and-Beatrice routine, but they sail through the fight scenes just fine.

As long as you can forget about what you loved deeply about the original and accept that the new series only shares names in common, you’ll enjoy the ride it’s offering.

Sure, there are cosmetic changes (Higgins is a woman now), but once you get past the name, this could be any detective show, one likely to rise or fall on Hernandez's appeal and Magnum's camaraderie with his various pals.

The plot is serviceable, which is all it needs to be, but there are car chases and helicopter stunts and banter all the while. That is exactly the sort of thing many people will require of a Monday night.

The pilot script's banter is, at the very least, better than the pervasive voiceover. That's more product of very solid supporting casting than writing, as Hill and Knighton slide easily into TC and Rick's shoes and will probably make a strong case for this becoming more of a true ensemble than a star vehicle. ... Hernandez isn't bad. At all. He just isn't Tom Selleck.

The newbie, Jay Hernandez (Scandal) comes across more like Tom Berenger in The Big Chill, playing a wimpy actor in a Magnum-like show.

The premiere hour includes heavy lay-of-the-land narration by Magnum, perhaps in part because the character dialogue can be pretty clunky at times. ... The Hawaiian scenery remains gorgeous and crossover episodes with the Hawaii Five-0 guys are inevitable. This time around, the new Magnum also will have romantic possibilities with Higgins, who’s already sending some signals.

Hernandez is good in what's otherwise a pallid, uninspired facsimile of the original.

So much less fun than than the original. ... Hernandez gives off the natural charisma needed to carry a procedural, and his cohorts (including “Happy Endings'” Zachary Knighton) are given brief moments to shine (albeit less brightly than the central star). The action scenes are fine, even if their special effects leave a lot to be desired, and the pilot is perfectly serviceable.

Magnum P.I. is sleek, loud and possessed of less personality than the expensive vehicles it shoots up and drives off cliffs.

As Thomas Magnum, Hernandez is charming enough, and does yeoman’s work selling the show’s endless voice-over. ... Hernandez deserves the chance to loosen up a bit; hopefully once the show finds its groove, the voice-overs will bear a little bit less exposition, and this new Magnum will come into relief as a character, not just a famous name.

Despite the calibrated charm of your star, Jay Hernandez (who casually assumes Tom Selleck’s defining role, knowing full well that a hint of a stubbly goatee is no match for the ’stache), your pilot episode is an uninspired slop of cornball action and opening misfires.