“The effort to find a home for the show started, honestly, within minutes of us getting word that we weren't going to be back on CBS,” Magnum P.I. showrunner and executive producer Eric Guggenheim revealed during a TCA press conference for the show’s fifth season, now on NBC. Switching networks isn’t typical for a broadcast show, but in this case, it helped that Magnum P.I. was a co-production between CBS’ parent company Paramount and NBC’s parent company. “Universal has been our partner since the very beginning, since the pilot, and they've been amazing. NBC has been phenomenal. I mean, the transition there felt, in a lot of ways, just very seamless. And we certainly realize the opportunity we've been given. Not a lot of shows get it. We're grateful to the fans for their support.”
(Trae Patton/NBC)
“There's such negativity in the world, everyone's stressed out, we're in very interesting transitional times,” stated Jay Hernandez, who not only stars as Thomas Magnum, but also serves as a producer on the series. “It's one of the things that I honed in on when the show got canceled, how much it meant to [people] and the concepts of ohana and family and positivity. And those sorts of things really speak to people in these times that are just so complicated and divisive. I think this idea of ohana and family and really sticking up for each other and fighting for each other and really just generally trying to be good and do good things, I think that's kind of an important message, without getting too meta about it.”
It shouldn’t be a surprise to fans of the show that Season 4 ended with the will they/won’t they between Thomas Magnum and Juliet Higgins finally put to rest as they finally got together. “The rest of the season is showing where that goes,” revealed actress Perdita Weeks. “With two people who are obviously meant for each other, but then having to navigate working together, being in dangerous situations. I think people are really going to enjoy it. It's even more fun than it has been before.” Perdita also promised some fun dynamics when Thomas’ protective instincts take over while seeing his more-than-capable girlfriend in the thick of a fight.
While the show has departed CBS, Eric Guggenheim shared that the show still exists in the same universe as Hawaii Five-0. “There's one character from the Five-0 universe who's appeared on Magnum before, and he will appear again. That's Larry Manetti's character. Larry played Rick on the original show. He plays Nicky ‘The Kid’ Demarco. He's been on Magnum once before, but that character originated on Five-0, so we're going to see him later in the season.”
As for what this season has in store for fans, NBC’s 20-episode order is being split into two parts. “Part 1, we are telling sort of one story over those 10 episodes, with a beginning, middle, and an end,” Eric Guggenheim explained. “And by the time we get to Episode 10, there are some storylines that still won't have been resolved by then that will then continue on in part 2. We're looking at it as just one season total, two parts. We're not quite sure yet when part 2 will air.”
But we do know when part 1 stars, and that’s tonight with two back-to-back episodes at 9/8c on NBC. New episodes will air Sundays at 9 before streaming on Peacock the next day.