The original MacGyver show from the 1980s was cheesy, and had a loose and tangential connection to scientific reality most of the time. But it had a certain charm despite its many and deep flaws. The new show does not have that charm. It basically just ticks all the trope boxes as fast as it can as it creates a paper-thin plot populated by paper-thin characters.
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Spoilers from the pilot ahead. Not that it matters.
The show begins in media res. Mac is infiltrating the usual party of organized crime bigwigs. His team is quickly introduced: ex-military muscle dude stereotype & love interest computer babe for magic technology stuff. They're after a macguffin. It goes south. Mac and girlfriend get shot. The macguffin gets stolen.
3 months later... (Like we've never seen that before.)
After leave to grieve, Mac's supervisor drops in. The macguffin was used to kill some people. Mac needs a new computer babe. Muscle guy knows someone. problem solved. Previous love interest computer girl's laptop gets hacked. Clue found. SURPRISE! Love interest computer babe isn't dead, and was working for the bad guy. The macguffin was sold though, and it has to be stopped.
It was stopped. Surprise.
Everyone gets together afterward and chats. The government agency they worked for until now is renamed the "Phoenix foundation" because of a plot convenience.
Closing scene: love interest computer babe escapes custody.
Pilot episodes tend to be pretty formulaic though. I'll watch a couple more episodes to see if it improves at all. But this isn't a promising start. The writing needs to improve a lot though. Stock characters and stock subplots could be forgiven 30 years ago. Not now.
I still would watch the original! I have no interest in this version!
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You'd think they would have learned something from the Knight Rider reboot attempt.
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UMMMM...NOPE!!! : - )
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The new Macgyver actor is just too pretty and not convincing in the role, he’s just not a Macgyver
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He does come off as more cocky than confidently cool sometimes, and he is more pretty boy than rugged man, although the latter is probably a consequence of the makeup and costume departments, and the former could be a writing/directing issue. I think the actor has the potential to play the role well.
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I actually kind of like the show, I like the side kick guy from NCI Miami, and the computer chick is pretty hot. I am not a fan of the small person boss though.
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The computer chick is hot, but not hot enough to distract me from the fact that her computer wizardry has a lot more to do with plot convenience than technological reality.
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She’s hot but in a non-sexual way, they don’t run her around in skimpy clothes or have many scenes where’s she’s other than a hot chick who’s a computer whiz. Aren’t all tv computer wiz’s plot driven?
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I do appreciate that she's more than eye candy on the show, and yes, TV has never done a good job representing computer technology accurately.
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I love the original Macgyver!! I don't know yet how I feel about a remake! I haven't seen it, not sure I want to!
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I loved the original MacGyver too. I haven't watched the new episodes yet but as far as I'm concerned there's no point reviving the series unless they are going to bring back Richard Dean Anderson in that role.
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They could adequately represent a younger Mac, but either the actor just isn't getting the role, or the writing and directing won't let him thanks to their efforts to "modernize" the show.
It does improve a bit after the first few episodes though. I will give it that. But Mac was almost always a solo agent in the original show when it came to actually doing whatever his mission of the week might be, so having a generic gun dude and a magic computer girl on hand feels very off-kilter.
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Next you'll be telling me they can do Star Trek without William Shatner! :)
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I would watch MacGyver: The Next Generation.
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If they did as good a job at that as they did with STTNG I would watch it. As it is, I'll probably watch the new series eventually...maybe I'll go back and rewatch the old one first...
I actually saw Richard Dean Anderson at MegaCon last year at a Q&A. Basically, he semi-retired after Stargate SG-1 to spend more time with his daughter. However, she had just recently gone off to college and I think he would be interested in doing MacGyver again if he had the opportunity. They might want him to lose some weight though. He gained a LOT of weight since SG-1.
Supposedly they are working on a MacGyver movie also but I think the concept has a college aged MacGyver in that one. He should definitely have a role in that movie if it ever gets made though even if it is only a cameo.
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On episode 2. You aren't missing anything thus far. I'm only watching it because the library had it on DVD, and I feel like crap tonight, so watching bad TV is the extent of my capabilities.
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Don't post empty compliments. Write something substantive.
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yes .... that's good feedback ...
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