Before I get into our topic today, I just want to thank all of you who have been supporting my blog. Today marks the first blog of my ninth year. Not sure where the time went, but it has been so much fun and I have learned an incredible amount of television knowledge. I spent some time this summer putting together new schedules, so I’m committed to 2030 for more fun and learning.

This month we are Rebooting. Almost every month I mention some reboot or another about a show that was on in the fifties, sixties, seventies, or eighties. Many of them have been on and off the air in a blink. Some of them stuck around for a season or two. Others rivaled the original in the quality of the scripts and characters in the reboot. Those more popular shows are the shows we are zeroing in on this month.

Today is all about MacGyver. The original show was on ABC from 1985-1992. Created by Lee David Zlotoff, this show starred Richard Dean Anderson. Henry Winkler and John Rich were the executive producers.

Angus MacGyver (Anderson) was a secret agent. MacGyver works for the Phoenix Foundation in LA.  He is an agent for the Department of External Services, a made-up agency. He had been a bomb team technician in the US Army Special Forces in Vietnam and was a scientist majoring in Physics at Western Tech. The show started out with moderate success and gained a loyal following. MacGyver creates things from ordinary objects to solve complex problems. These creations were vetted by scientists before being integrated into the plots.

Arsenio Hall mentioned in 1989 that he heard “MacGyver” used as a verb meaning “to do the impossible.” In 2015, the term did become part of the Oxford Dictionaries to mean “make or repair an object in an improvised or inventive way, making use of whatever items are at hand.”

MacGyver prefers not to carry any firearms due to an accident in his childhood which resulted in the death of a friend. Instead, he packs a Swiss army knife and a roll of duct tape.

MacGyver lives on a houseboat which was credited to Winkler. His favorite sport is hockey, and he often sports a Calgary Flames hat. He also enjoys racecar driving, chemistry, and baccarat. What he does not like are heights.

Joining MacGyver was Pete Thornton (Dana Elcar), his boss and best friend. When Thornton was made director of operations at the Phoenix Foundation, he brought MacGyver into the program. His other friend is Jack Dalton (Bruce McGill).

In a weird meeting of the minds, Rich was working on a sitcom called Mr.  Sunshine for ABC, Winkler was finishing his run as the Fonz on Happy Days, and Zlotoff was producer for Remington Steele on NBC. The three got together to propose MacGyver, and ABC found room in its schedule for the series.

Winkler convinced Anderson to audition for the role of MacGyver after seeing him on The Love Boat.

During its second season, MacGyver became a bigger hit.

So, what are some of the fun inventions MacGyver came up with: using jumper cables, a generator, and 2 quarters, he invented a welder. With satellite parts and a plastic shield, he made a hang glider. A blood pressure pump and alarm clock became a lie detector test. A bazooka was made from a muffler, gear shift knob, seat cushion stuffing and a cigarette lighter. And sunglasses with nail polish remover and a lamp equal a spectroscope.

From 2016-2021, a reboot series debuted on CBS which owns the rights to both series after acquiring the original series from Paramount Television. In 2015, Winkler signed on to produce the reboot with James Wan and R. Scott Gemmill for CBS. The reboot was canceled in 2021. In this version, Lucas Till became MacGyver.

Anderson was asked if he had seen the reboot in 2019. His response was that “I have, and I’m not real crazy about it, I’ll be honest. They approached me early on. They’d done a test for the show and found it wasn’t as attractive as they wanted it to be, so they called and asked if I wanted anything to do with it, and I said no. It’s a business, but . . . I don’t think they’ve been fair or true to the series. They’re shooting up everybody and there’s so much going on that you don’t see the thought process that we prided ourselves on. You know, MacGyver sees the problem, he sees the solutions to the problem, you see him gathering the solution, and then solving the problem. In this new one, its boom-boom-boom, and it happens so fast.”

Perhaps this lack of letting viewers in on the process and adding more violence hurt the reboot. The series was never a huge hit. I read several reviews from fans of the original show that referred to some of the issues. One said that George Eads isn’t the same free spirit that Jack was on the original. Making MacGyver part of a team instead of a maverick agent was also mentioned. A couple reviewers said that the original not only explained the scientific processes but there was a moral embedded into most episodes about the use of technology or social behavior.

While these are all valid viewpoints, other factors that might have had more to do with the series ending was the decline in numbers and the dysfunction on the set. From season four to five, the series lost 20% of its audience which is quite a bit.

After learning about the show’s cancellation, Till wrote on his Instagram account that “the past five years have been what I will look on later as the most formative years of my life. Lots of tough, lots of love. I made lifelong friends, actually no, family. I learned to push myself to new limits, breaking through and through and through. Was nervous to take up the mantle of an icon and you guys allowed me into your homes and accepted me. I’m like the Roger Moore of MacGyvers now thanks to your support.” While he dwells on the positive things that came out of the show, the “tough” things he was referring to was probably the toxic work environment created by executive producer Peter M. Lenkov. I read many articles that discussed the difficulties he created in filming before he was fired in 2020.

Given the difficulties of the show and the differences between the original and the reboot version, it’s probably not surprising it was cancelled, but I think the fact that it went five years before being cancelled is a win for the cast.