Magnum Mania!

In the episode "Deja Vu" TC returned a bottle of wine and explained to the lady that he didn't drink. In other episodes he was seen drinking beer or ordering scotch on the rocks. He also ordered non alcoholic drinks at the club when others were drinking alcohol. Did he actually drink or was he a non drinker?

T.C. drank a beer in every episode, in the title sequence...



I'm pretty sure he only drank alcohol in the first season (similar to Rick smoking cigarettes). I'm not sure what the last episode was that he drank in though. It was just kind of like all of a sudden he was a teetotaler.

Hi SignGuy and welcome.

I always felt TC was a great role model for any child viewers. He always came across as a good clean living guy who believed in passing on that positive lifestyle attitude to the "little league" kids in his charge. It also came across that TC believed participation in sport for the kids was an important factor in their character development.

terryfromkerry wrote:Hi SignGuy and welcome.

I always felt TC was a great role model for any child viewers. He always came across as a good clean living guy who believed in passing on that positive lifestyle attitude to the "little league" kids in his charge. It also came across that TC believed participation in sport for the kids was an important factor in their character development.

I agree. I don't have much to base it on, but I have the feeling Roger wanted to provide a positive image and influenced the character's switch without being overt about it. That was one of the things I also appreciated a lot about MPI, I think they handled a lot of "sensitive" issues in a positive, not obvious but realistic manner.

Mosley covers this in a late 90's interview with Dave Romas.

MOSLEY: So my character read and did not drink. When we did the pilot,
they had one scene with me talking to him and I'm holding a beer
bottle.

ROMAS: Yes, and it's the only time in the whole eight years of the show
that T. C. is shown drinking, as far as I know.

MOSLEY: Right. And I'm inviting him to come and why I had it there I
don't know. And so after that, when the show got picked up, I told
them "If we continue on the show, my character doesn't drink, ever.
And I was surprised at how many times that became an issue with
directors.


You can find the interview here.
Part one
https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en# ... fjDzeSVdeo

Part two
https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en# ... D2hpyU33w0

I don't think that he was shown drinking it, but I know that TC ordered a scotch on the rocks once and Rick ordered the same, but made it a double. It's when they were trying to set up the drug deal in "Wave Goodbye."

Hi SignGuyHPW,

Welcome to the board.
TC does order a scotch and when it arrives he picks it up with both hands,tilts the glass towards himself,makes a face and then puts it back on the bar.

Sam wrote:Mosley covers this in a late 90's interview with Dave Romas.

MOSLEY: So my character read and did not drink. When we did the pilot,
they had one scene with me talking to him and I'm holding a beer
bottle.

ROMAS: Yes, and it's the only time in the whole eight years of the show
that T. C. is shown drinking, as far as I know.

MOSLEY: Right. And I'm inviting him to come and why I had it there I
don't know. And so after that, when the show got picked up, I told
them "If we continue on the show, my character doesn't drink, ever.
And I was surprised at how many times that became an issue with
directors.


You can find the interview here.
Part one
https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en# ... fjDzeSVdeo

Part two
https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en# ... D2hpyU33w0

That was a really good read! I had a feeling a lot of TC was Roger's input. It made the character memorable for me simply because there were so many unique characteristics that weren't over the top... But made him stand out.

I've always found it ironic that TC didn't touch alcohol but he's the guy with the beer in his hand in the opening sequence.
I guess that and the different plates on the Ferrari are the two 'ah, that's so Season one' sort of moments.

I posted this yesterday, in the episode China Doll, he actually to TM that he was going in the restaurant and order a beer...

There was also an episode where Rick thought that warm beer gave Thomas heartburn and Thomas said that it didn't. Rick thought for a second and said, "oh, maybe that was TC." So, TC must have been a drinker during his military days.