Magnum Mania!

L.A. (1)

Episode ID: 128
Episode Number: 7.1
Air Date: 10/1/1986
Writer: Chris Abbott
Director: Alan J. Levi
Producer: Rick Weaver
Exec Producer: Donald P. Bellisario

Recurring Characters

Dana Delany (Cynthia Farrell), Kwan Hi Lim (Lt. Tanaka), Alfonso Ribeiro (Kenny)

Guest Stars

Mona Miller (Marti Jensen), J.A. Preston (Det. Sam McKee), Dennis A. Pratt (Eddy Rentzel), Michael Goodwin (Frank Danton), Inez Pedroza (Angela Morales), Jerry Boyd (Director)

Plot Outline

Magnum sees the not-so-glamourous side of Hollywood when he looks into the death of a young comedienne with the help of an attractive entertainment lawyer.

Rating

8.0 (14 votes) MM Episode Forum Thread & Poll

Notes

1 Starting in Season Seven, Tom Selleck's production company T.W.S. Productions, Inc. joins Belisarius Productions, Inc. and Glen A. Larson Productions in co-producing the show.

2 "L.A." originally aired as a two-hour movie, but it is broken up into two parts for syndication airings. The DVD version of this episode inexplicably omits a one-minute foot chase scene. The scene occurs just after Magnum is shot at by two uzi-toting henchmen. After his rental car is blown up, Magnum runs through several backyards to escape. In one of the backyards, Magnum encounters Playboy "Playmate of the Month" Kimberly McArthur (January 1982) in a hot tub and briefly talks to her [pic]! This entire scene is missing on the DVD (at the 32:52 mark, you can hear the musical score end abruptly). Oddly, this scene IS included in the standard syndication airings!

3 This is popularly known as "The Dana Delany Episode".

4 Unusual for the show, there is no opening preview.

5 Magnum spends the entire episode in Los Angeles. LAX Airport, Downtown Los Angeles, the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Ocean Front Walk at Venice Beach, and Universal City are all used as filming locations. Robin's Nest and the King Kamehameha Club are not featured at all.

6 For the first time in the series, the guest stars (with the exception of Dana Delany) are credited in alphabetical order. Dana Delany is billed last, as a 'Special Guest Star'.

7 Dana Delany will return as Cynthia Farrell ("Squeaky") in "Out of Sync" (7.19). Alfonso Ribeiro will return as Kenny in "Missing Melody" (7.11).

8 This episode is timestamped at "9-10-86" by a closeup shot of Marti's pay stub. The episode aired on 10-1-86.

9 Magnum utters the phrase "Don't look at the dogs, work the lock" (while being chased by dogs) for the first time since he famously used it in the opening scene of the "Pilot Movie". Magnum is chased by two Rottweilers and a German Shepard in two separate scenes.

10 The "talking car" in Los Angeles is a sly homage to Knight Rider, a show that was created and produced by Magnum P.I. co-creator Glen A. Larson.

Quotes

1
Magnum: I always thought of L.A. as the "City of Dreams", a place where you go when you want your fantasies to come true. Apparently, ten million other people agreed with me. Some of those dreams must have come true, but I couldn't help but notice that too many others had been buried beneath the smog and congested freeways that had sprawled out of control. (Narration)

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