am i the only one ??????

[Little Garwood]

It can be one of the things I view to get back my sanity after viewing a brand new crappy movie event or have some other disturbing things happen in life.

Welcome to Magnum-Mania, Primbud! Glad to have you here!

As for those life events that shake us to the core, last month a long-time friend of mine--and big-time Magnum, P.I. aficionado-- died, aged just 42, and believe me, something as seemingly "trivial" as a classic episode of our favorite show did so much to help out during a terrible time, so I know of what you speak.

[ConchRepublican]

Magnum is definitely a sanity anchor for me. Not that I don't watch the show when things are going well, but in difficult times I find I'm more apt to pop in the DVDs while doing things around the house. I find having the show on is comforting, even just as background noise.

[Little Garwood]

Magnum is definitely a sanity anchor for me. Not that I don't watch the show when things are going well, but in difficult times I find I'm more apt to pop in the DVDs while doing things around the house. I find having the show on is comforting, even just as background noise.

There are certain "go to" episodes I'll play just to have on in the background. Not intense stuff, but personal favorites that I don't think anyone else likes all that much.

And of course, Magnum is even better when things are going well!

[Styles Bitchley]

Add me to the list of those who find the show "anchoring" in stormy weather. I don't watch as often as I used to, but, like Danno, I go through phases of marathon watching. I do find watching an episode or two extremely cathartic when the real world seems to be going to hell.

[Primbud]

Thanx for the welcome & am sorry for the loss ...

I actually dislike the binge mode of viewing anything - a marathon once in a while is okay but to stuff an entire season, series or even portion into a quite shortened time frame takes away from the originality. For instance, the original viewers had to wait an entire season before a new season began - the anticipation, while annoying for our impatiences, is part of the experience of checking out a program as it airs.

However, since I'm excited about the gift of the series set, I've been going at at a higher rate than I normally would recently.

[Styles Bitchley]

Thanx for the welcome & am sorry for the loss ...

I actually dislike the binge mode of viewing anything - a marathon once in a while is okay but to stuff an entire season, series or even portion into a quite shortened time frame takes away from the originality. For instance, the original viewers had to wait an entire season before a new season began - the anticipation, while annoying for our impatiences, is part of the experience of checking out a program as it airs.

However, since I'm excited about the gift of the series set, I've been going at at a higher rate than I normally would recently.

I took the savouring path myself over the eight seasons once they were released on DVD. I think I bought the first two seasons in 2005 or 2006. I lingered in each season watching and re-watching episodes - most I'd never seen before. I finally watched Resolutions some time last year. Took me about eight years in total - like the original run! I hated the idea of not having a new episode to watch ever again.

[Dave Anderson]

Wow, I wasn't able to log in for a while. Thankfully its now letting me again.

No, I don't watch every day. I like to pace it out, and there are still a number of episodes I've never watched (though I may have watched them in the original run and it will come back to me when I do). In fact, much of seasons 4 and 6, I haven't watched. I intend to save a few episodes until I retire, which likely will be in 20 years or so. Instead, I re-watch the ones I have already watched. I do jump around though from season to season. When an episode I haven't watched comes on Cozi, I often shut it off. I have done this with every series I have on DVD. Hopefully I don't die unexpectedly and never see them, but that's the risk I guess.

That's also why I can't really rate all the episodes. I'm saving some of them like a vintage wine in the cellar at Robin's Nest.

[Hawaii Winds]

i wanted to ask a question here. i want to know if im the only one.
i watch one episode of magnum p.i. everyday.
i start in order from the first episode and work my way thru to the last episode then start over again.
i plan on doing this for the rest of my life.
this is my way of keeping my favorite show alive and still going forever in my life.
does anyone else do this?

I do! Have it set on my DVR, but COZI and Esquire just recently took it off....

[Styles Bitchley]

I'm saving some of them like a vintage wine in the cellar at Robin's Nest.

Love this.

[Derek]

i wanted to ask a question here. i want to know if im the only one.
i watch one episode of magnum p.i. everyday.
i start in order from the first episode and work my way thru to the last episode then start over again.
i plan on doing this for the rest of my life.
this is my way of keeping my favorite show alive and still going forever in my life.
does anyone else do this?

Magnum is a great way to take a short vacation without actually travelling to Hawai'i. I think that's one of the reason for its success, because the islands are what people dream of. I can't say I watch an episode every day, but when I do, I usually finish a DVD before proceeding with the next, and I watch the episodes in the right order, trying to avoid "episode hopping". That's what islands are for - for hopping Whenever there is a period without watching, after a while, there is always a point when I need my Magnum fix

It's hard to say what causes this fascination, I'm just reading through what this excellent site has to say about the topic... So at the risk of repeating what's been written before, I'll give it a try:

The Magnum/Higgins characters are really unique and growing, it wouldn't be the same without them, neither would it be with different actors. The right persons in the right place. On the other hand, I dare say it wouldn't be the same in another location. Not that it would be impossible to find breathtaking sceneries elsewhere, but in Hawai'i, you always feel the Aloha spirit. People just associate it with Paradise. And I clearly remember the one time that I spent there - that reputation is well-deserved. In my mind, I can go back anytime. Hawai'i does something to you, be advised

Back to Magnum: It's not just Hawai'i, it's about savoring the situation that TM is in: Having a nice life, lots of freedom, living on a millionaire's estate without actually being wealthy... Oh yes, and he lives in "his" own small house. For some reason, this prospect is very alluring. Somehow, he's still "one of us", but he "made it". The episodes cover a really wide spectrum - you have funny, even silly ones, and seriously dark ones. Sometimes I feel Magnum episodes are like theatre plays with one vacant position, it just invites your imagination to take part! Perhaps, the reason is that there are occasional contradictions or the story has some imperfections every now and then. (Complaining at a high level here!)

And then there is the 80s factor. The other day, I read about musics in the 80s:

"There was a disarming, charming naivete and openness to much of the music of the '80s [...] A sense of joy. People generally sounded happy to be making music -- sometimes even optimistic."

This is true of films, too, and of Magnum. Thinking about it, I could have just posted this quote, it says it all
Perhaps I'm completely wrong about all this. For example, note all episodes are focussed on Magnum/Higgins, and not all play in Hawai'i. But you can't take away both. In any case, having written this, now is one of these moments when I need to watch an episode. I'm in season #4 right now

[Coops]

It really is hard to pinpoint what exactly it is about this show that we hold so dear. The time period, the setting, the characters, the plots, the acting...who knows? Like most others here it is a very emotional subject for me as it was the last time I remember true joy, I was a teen that wasn't saddled with adult responsibilities and drama, both professional and personal. I love how others have said what they love and the show and what it means to them. It truly is part of me, in a spiritual sense. I try to watch an episode a day, sometimes two, but I find myself getting lost again, going back to that time when Thursday nights gave me so much excitement and pure joy, and I get lost in the fact that I'm a teen and not approaching 50!

Ah, well, the rose-colored glasses of nostalgia, I wear thee again.

[Styles Bitchley]

It really is hard to pinpoint what exactly it is about this show that we hold so dear. The time period, the setting, the characters, the plots, the acting...who knows? Like most others here it is a very emotional subject for me as it was the last time I remember true joy, I was a teen that wasn't saddled with adult responsibilities and drama, both professional and personal. I love how others have said what they love and the show and what it means to them. It truly is part of me, in a spiritual sense. I try to watch an episode a day, sometimes two, but I find myself getting lost again, going back to that time when Thursday nights gave me so much excitement and pure joy, and I get lost in the fact that I'm a teen and not approaching 50!

Ah, well, the rose-colored glasses of nostalgia, I wear thee again.

Thanks Coops. I needed that. Nice to see you around these here parts again!

[308GUY]

It really is hard to pinpoint what exactly it is about this show that we hold so dear. The time period, the setting, the characters, the plots, the acting...who knows? Like most others here it is a very emotional subject for me as it was the last time I remember true joy, I was a teen that wasn't saddled with adult responsibilities and drama, both professional and personal. I love how others have said what they love and the show and what it means to them. It truly is part of me, in a spiritual sense. I try to watch an episode a day, sometimes two, but I find myself getting lost again, going back to that time when Thursday nights gave me so much excitement and pure joy, and I get lost in the fact that I'm a teen and not approaching 50!

Ah, well, the rose-colored glasses of nostalgia, I wear thee again.

Very well stated. Pretty much sums things up for me as well.

Thanks for putting into words.

[Little Garwood]

It really is hard to pinpoint what exactly it is about this show that we hold so dear. The time period, the setting, the characters, the plots, the acting...who knows? Like most others here it is a very emotional subject for me as it was the last time I remember true joy, I was a teen that wasn't saddled with adult responsibilities and drama, both professional and personal. I love how others have said what they love and the show and what it means to them. It truly is part of me, in a spiritual sense. I try to watch an episode a day, sometimes two, but I find myself getting lost again, going back to that time when Thursday nights gave me so much excitement and pure joy, and I get lost in the fact that I'm a teen and not approaching 50!

Ah, well, the rose-colored glasses of nostalgia, I wear thee again.

You state this so well and it's applicable to me as far as Magnum getting me through some tough times in adulthood. However, Magnum served that exact function back when I was a kid, too! Sure, the problems of a middle school kid don't amount to a hill of beans in this world, but I remember being so happy when Thursday rolled around. It meant that Magnum would be on--unless President Reagan chose that particular Thursday for one of his seemingly endless prime time Oval Office addresses to the nation--and then with the next day being Friday and then came the weekend, I considered Magnum the start of my weekend, which shortened the "hell" of the typical school week! So at least in my case, Magnum isn't just nostalgia for me, it was at the time of its original broadcast a saving grace. I can't say that for any other show, then or now.

[Coops]

Thanks guys, I just type what I feel. And, as I've stated before, it's hard for me to be active on this board because how this show, this magnificent show, has become a part of me and all of us. I honestly never thought I'd communicate with other people who felt the same way about this show as I do. I keep telling my wife that if (WHEN!) we ever get to Oahu, I don't know how I am going to react when we are standing at the gates of the Anderson estate, it will be like the greatest dream coming to life for me and I really don't know if I'll laugh, cry, collapse, scream, whatever.

Here's the thing that really, really kills me. From '86 to '90 I serviced in the US Navy. The ship that I was on during that time was the USS (later USNS) Concord, based out of Norfolk, VA., about as opposite of Pearl Harbor as you could get! She was decommissioned in 2009 and stored in, get ready for this, Pearl Harbor for a few years until she sunk as a target during RIMPAC12. For those 3 years I could have boarded a plane, flown to Oahu, said goodbye to my old ship and visited the mythical places of my teenage dreams! But, alas, I wasn't astute enough to make that happen. So, to this day Hawaii is STILL a mythical place to me and MPI is the vehicle I use to visit it as often as I can. It'd be cool if we could somehow organize a Magnum Mania get-together in Oahu and go site-seeing! Man, that would be a blast!