sandbiscuits wrote:...Yes, I agree with everything you 100% here, which is part of the reason I am curious as to where some viewers are seeing a political angle. Maybe conflating Tom Selleck with Magnum? I can see how this might happen. Anyway, just to repeat, I'm truly not looking to argue this, just want to know more about people's perspectives.
The characters on the original [real] Magnum PI were not overtly political, but culturally they were generally less overtly leftist than say characters on Murphy Brown, which makes them by default more "conservative." Frankly, I don't want any preachy political crap in my programming, though obviously its impossible not to get into that grey area, which is cultural rather than partisan. The 80's in general, by post-mid 90s standards, were relatively culturally conservative, though at the time, I don't think most of us viewed it that way. I remember my dad, every single week when the intro to Magnum came on when Magnum was staring at the girl's butt in the tidal pool making a comment how disgusting that was. Of course, he himself wasn't exactly a paragon of monasticism, lol. He cursed, liked to have a few drinks after work, and would comment positively on pretty women.
I think what's nice about watching the old shows from the "Most Awesome Decade Ever" is that they reflect a culture that was "less" political than what we have now, simply because many shows tried to be as bland and "safe" politically as possible by treading a middle ground. There were, of course, many exceptions, almost entirely, of course, veering toward the left, but it wasn't EVERY show like it is now. Even some Magnum episodes were "politically correct" for the time, and they tended to annoy me even then, but overall, most Magnum episodes weren't political for the time or era, and you could interpret them however you wanted, which is impossible for most entertainment today.
Gotta miss the optimism of that decade.
