Seasons 1-4 or Seasons 5-8

[T.Q.]

If they were to pass a law (LOL) that you could only ever watch either Seasons 1-4 OR Seasons 5-8 which would you choose?

I know, kinda silly and out-of-the-blue.

[Mad Kudu Buck]

Would this be a US law or international law? I always ignore US laws because I'm a Canadian and US laws are not valid here.

I think the answer is pretty obvious. Seasons 1-4 are far better than seasons 5-8. Sometimes I just wish they ended the series after season 5. That way, I wouldn't be disappointed about the way it dropped off.

[marlboro]

The beauty of episodic television is that you can ignore the crappy episodes. I agree with you that there was a big dropoff in quality over the years, but there are still some great episodes mixed in there too. I would have hated to miss out on Death and Taxes, Little Girl Who, Way of the Stalking Horse, Forty, and Laura.


My ranking of the seasons:
2
1
3
4
7
5
6
8


I could probably have done without season 8. There are only a couple of decent episodes in that one. I've said it many times in the past, but I think season seven's "Forty" would have made a good final episode. I'll just quote myself, I think:

Does anybody think that this would have been a good episode to wrap up season 7 (and the series) with?

I don't think it's a top ten episode or anything, but it is very solid and has everything that a good episode of Magnum needs: camaraderie, humor, action, mystery, and a hot babe.

It isn't an episode that resolves a lot of longstanding plot threads, and I think I kind of like it more because of that. There had been a big push to make Magnum more "mature" in the later seasons. "Resolutions" has Magnum become more mature by rejoining the navy. "Forty," on the other hand, has Magnum accept getting older gracefully, without making huge life altering changes. At the end of the episode Magnum is a little older, and a little wiser, but you get the feeling that life will go on for he and his friends much like it always has. Living in paradise, doing a job you love, and bringing a little justice to the world with the best friends a man could ask for - that's a pretty good life. And one I'd like to imagine Magnum has been living since the show went off the air.

[Mad Kudu Buck]

I do like Little Girl Who and Way of the Stalking Horse, but I don't know why Forty and Laura are so popular. I always skip those.

On my digital player, I only put copies (ripped from my purchased DVDs) of episodes I like. I have nearly all episodes from early seasons, but only two from season 6, one from season 7 and one from season 8.

[T.Q.]

Would this be a US law or international law? I always ignore US laws because I'm a Canadian and US laws are not valid here.

I think the answer is pretty obvious. Seasons 1-4 are far better than seasons 5-8. Sometimes I just wish they ended the series after season 5. That way, I wouldn't be disappointed about the way it dropped off.

UN backed international law.

Not obvious to me. Would be a hard choice. A lot of the more serious, dramatic, artistic, deeper episodes came later.

I’m more attached to later episodes too because I was getting older and remember them better during their initial run.

[Mad Kudu Buck]

UN backed international law.

Those are the laws Americans ignore.

I have a good memory of the entire initial run of Magnum P.I. I still remember how angry I was after watching the final episode.

[KingKC]

Clearly 1-4.

[ConchRepublican]

1-4.

Not even a hesitation. There were some really good later episodes, but the first 4 seasons were fantastic and felt right.

[marlboro]

1-4.

Not even a hesitation. There were some really good later episodes, but the first 4 seasons were fantastic and felt right.

1-4 felt real. 5-8 felt like the 80s.