I have been having the strangest phenomenon.
Ever since re-watching Star Trek Deep Nine I started thinking about the ages of the characters and the actors in shows I used to love. For example: I watched DS9 back when it originally aired in 1993-1999. I was in my late teens-early twenties at the time, so I was nowhere near the age of any of the actors or characters in the show… now suddenly I am.
When I was re-watching DS9 I started having these nagging thoughts. How old is Sisko? How old is Dr. Bashir? I never thought or worried about that stuff before. I think it was during season 2, that I actually came to the realization, holy crap… I might be the same age as Dax’s character now! Hold on, how old was Terry Farrell when that show was on? She couldn’t have been my age, could she?
Well, as it turns out, the youngest of the main group of actors was born a good 10-11 years before me. OK, but what about the ages of their characters? How old was Sisko? I never got a good answer for that, but in one ep. during one of the later seasons, they mention Chief O’Brien as just having his 40th birthday. WHOA! I’m 38, now, and looking at him…. hey, I think I look a good twenty years younger than O’Brien.
Anyway, something strange had happened. I love Deep Space Nine. I have seen it over and over again, but now I was seeing it through different eyes. The characters and the stories were more relatable and I noticed things I never had before. To top it off, I found myself attracted to different characters. Back in the 90’s I was in love with Terry Farrell’s Dax, but now… my tastes changed and I felt more attracted to Major Kira (after she loosens up some, or when she is playing the Russian spy, lol).
So with this new way of thinking I realized it was time to go back to my roots. What other shows will look and feel different?
There were several shows I loved as a kid that featured male main characters in their mid to late thirties (right where I am). How would I feel about these shows now? Would I relate more, would I understand the stories better, be more touched by the drama or would I only care about the action and comedy? It’s time to find out.
Last week I watched the first two episodes of Matt Houston and Magnum P.I. , both were two part story arcs that introduced their characters and some history. Let me start off with the facts of both shows.
Magnum P.I aired from 1980 to 1988. It premiered December of 1980 on CBS, I think its entire run was at 8PM. Created by Glen Larson and Donald P. Bellisario, (as a kid of the 80’s you will recognize these names, they were attached to half the TV programming you watched) the show actually filled the spot that Hawaii Five-O left, using its sets and production team that was already in place on HI.
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| I always got a sense that he really enjoyed driving that car. |
Played by Tom Selleck, Magnum was a Vietnam Vet turned Private Eye. As I remember the show, he never had much, was often struggling to make ends meet and forced to take on odd jobs. He drove a kick-ass Ferrari, but that belonged to his boss. The ladies loved him; it must have been the mustache.
In comparison…
Matt Houston aired from 1982 to 1985 on ABC. It premiered September 1982, and was designed by Aaron Spelling to take Magnum’s ratings away (you know Spelling created the other half of shows on during the 80's…). It was a smash hit… but was destroyed by Miami Vice in 1985.
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| Look at that suit, all class. |
Played by Lee Horsely, Houston was… big shocker… a Vietnam Vet turned Private Eye. As I remember the show, he had everything a man could wish for: money, tons of killer sports cars, nice clothes, and his own helicopter. (Magnum borrowed his friend, T.C’s). Houston even had a super computer called “Baby”, which was an APPLE III brand. Weird, right? Matt Houston got all the ladies too; probably because he was a rich, muscular Texan, but the mustache didn’t hurt.
Yes, it was the 80’s and TV shows were exciting! They were filled with action and adventure, hot girls and I admit it, maybe a little over the top drama, but we loved them.
Here are the links for both shows intros. See all the explosions while listening to some of the best 80's theme music! (Both are A+, but I have to give Houston the win.)
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I was super young when Magnum P.I. debuted. I would have been in first grade and probably not allowed to stay up past 7-8PM, but I am sure I was watching the show by fourth grade because I went out for Halloween dressed as Magnum that year. Basically the costume was a big fake moustache and a Hawaiian shirt, but I promise I rocked it.
So while I am sure I missed the original airing of the first several seasons of Magnum, I know I caught many of those eps. in rerun or syndication. Now, Matt Houston… my memory gets a little blurry as to whether I saw the second season in its original airing or not, but I am sure I saw all the third and final season which aired through 1985. It’s funny what you remember, and I totally remember Matt Houston airing at 10pm, which was super late for me, but there was also a time, around then, that I used to stay up late and watch Love Boat and Fantasy Island. I wondered if they were on the same night, but with some research I found that Houston was on Friday and the Love Boat/Fantasy Island pairing was on Saturday.
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| 8pm? That's a west coast channel... hmm... |
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| 10pm, right! and I think that's from my hometown network in Philly! |
Back then I had no concept of how TV ratings worked and that shows could just get cancelled… Matt Houston was on one year, and then gone the next. I know I asked my mother where my show was, and I remember checking the TV GUIDE every week for it for months… I was crushed when it never returned. Where did my favorite show go?
Yes, for many years I referred to Matt Houston as my favorite show of the 80's. So how do I feel now that I watched it in 2012?
Watching the first two-part episodes of both Matt Houston and Magnum P.I. was a fun experience. Netflix provided Magnum and a DVD set Houston. I had almost forgot how great 80's actions shows were, that and just how open and big the worlds felt. The cinematography for both shows… just wow… HUGE outdoor shots encompassing entire buildings, homes, businesses. So many great aerial shots, following cars on highways… YES, back then the actor’s drove the cars for real, not dumb green screen fake driving. I have to admit, I love the shots of the cities from way above… you just don’t get that anymore. Today TV shows can make you feel claustrophobic at times now, the air so stale in these tiny Hollywood sets. Go outside, the real outside, and shoot!!! Show us the setting and how people interact with it.
Watching Magnum P.I.’s first eps., called “Don’t Eat the Snow in Hawaii” I felt like I was watching something nearly on the scale of a movie. The flashbacks to Vietnam were good and well timed. Lots of explosions and gunfire, bullets striking and splashing in the water... Stallone would have been proud!
Matt Houston’s first eps., simply called “Pilot”, to my surprise had more of a comical side than I remembered. There was even some weird, circus-like music they played from time to time as Matt was doing his leg-work research on the job. It did not fit right to me, unless they wanted you to have a tongue in cheek response. But hey, maybe this is why I preferred Houston to Magnum as a child. Maybe it was the humor. I forget.
FYI—In the first ep., Matt is driving a Delorean, which predates Back to the Future. So let’s give him some credit.
Both shows had the following: hot girls in bikinis, gun fire, helicopter rides, awesome cars, a car chase resulting in said car going off a ledge/mountain side and blowing up (an 80's staple) and an ending that made me ask, “hey, where are the cops during this mess?”
Wait-Why? Well, in Magnum he took his gun into the airport and shot someone in the bathroom, yes, he was shot too, but it felt sorta like murder to me, and this was after he impersonated an Naval officer and broke into a base. Some serious stuff, which as a kid, I probably did not realize would have got him hung or shot.
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| Awesome TV Guide write up. Fun internet find. |
Matt Houston on the other hand carried a baseball bat to a fight he picked. He had a policeman buddy to help him “bend laws” if needed. He also seemingly slept with one of the ladies he suspected for murder. Poor Magnum fought off the advances of the sister of his friend who was killed, regardless of the fact that she seemed nice and was pretty. (is Houston the Anti-Magnum?)
This brings me back to how do I relate to this shows now that I am the age of the characters. Magnum was in his mid to late thirties, and so was Tom Selleck. Matt Houston, I’m not entirely sure, but I think was supposed to be in his mid thirties, whereas Lee Horsely was a few years younger starting the show at 30.
It’s hard to make a full judgment based on two eps., but I’m thinking I would actually enjoy watching Magnum P.I. more now for several reasons. One of the most important would be the fact that the show seemed more real. Magnum himself was a more believable character. In the second episode he says he retired from the Navy because he was 23 years old and one day woke up 33, but forgot what it was like to be 23. I took that as he was forced to grow up too quickly and was now trying to recapture his youth. This makes total sense to me, I understand that feeling too, and Magnum portrayed it well. He sorta was a beach bum living off Robin Masters and the kindness of his friends. They were good friends, he was always indebted to them, and sure they ribbed him for it, but it seemed like they loved him regardless.
Magnum P.I. just seemed better written and better acted too. Tom Selleck gave Magnum a wide range of emotions and he was very comfortable in the character, not rushing his lines or looking nervous at all. This helped the show feel genuine, and gave me more room to connect to him. In the first ep. he is calling his friend and at the same time juggling the phone and his binoculars because two super hot, foreign, airline stewardesses are skinny dipping on the beach. Sure, the act seems immature, but at the same time, it’s exactly what I would be doing if I was him, well, I would want to run down and join them, but you know…
So yeah, watching Matt Houston I spent most of the time thinking, damn, I want to be him. Look at all the kick ass sports cars. Matt never seems to have to worry about things, he has the money to answer all his problems, and those not answerable… hey, he has an in house lawyer and a beautiful assistant who used to be Princess Ardala. That’s hard to beat, but at the same time impossible to relate to. I also did not like the goofy comedy side of the show. I felt like, wait, this guy was my childhood hero and I remember him being the coolest of cool, why are they cheapening him. Maybe it was different in the last season, I may never know, unless Netflix hooks me up!
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| As a kid I had a "Knight Rider" style watch, and yes, I talked to it... |
When I stop and think about all the shows that were on back then, at the same time as these, my head begins to swell and nearly explodes! I mean Knight Rider was on back then too! I loved Knight Rider… and A-Team and… MacGyver. Holy crap, they were all so great. But when I think of watching Knight Rider or MacGyver now I kinda cringe… if Matt Houston is this cheesy when I re-watch it, oh, dare I tempt those beloved shows? (probably at some point, yes.)
In the end, I have decided to continue watching Magnum P.I. In fact, I hope to watch all eight seasons and no doubt catch a bunch of hours I forgot or never saw. I do expect to cross paths with some moments I will never forget too, like when Magnum was treading water in the open ocean, when he was mimicking Indiana Jones, and when he was shot and “killed.”
What about my old favorite, Matt Houston, a show I had nothing but the highest respect for… for many many years… I may watch a few more eps. on my DVD set of season one, but no serious plans. I just think watching it now will leave me obsessing/wishing I had his awesome life and at the same time not quite understanding it.
Kevin James Breaux
Wishing I was a cool 80's Private Investigator
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