Magnum P.I.'s Tom Selleck Had Some Strong Opinions On The Reboot
Nowadays Tom Selleck might be more known to the audience as Commissioner Frank Reagan from Blue Bloods.
But his most successful role overall probably remains that of Thomas Magnum, an ex-Navy Seal turned private investigator, in Magnum P.I. Though hat series ran for only eight seasons (as opposed to Blue Bloods, still going on after 13 seasons), it consistently ranked in top 20 of US television programs for five years.
It was so popular that in 2018 CBS decided to reboot it, with Jay Hernandez playing Thomas Magnum. The reboot was not able to live up to the original's fame. Insofar as a consensus can be established about it, people beyond a few hardcore fans agree that it was quite forgettable.
Rotten Tomatoes was unable to find enough critical reviews for its seasons past the first to formulate an aggregate score properly and the number of both critic and user review on Metacritic is ridiculously low as well.
The reboot was initially cancelled after four seasons, although NBC picked it up in 2022 for 20 more episodes, so apparently enough people have watched it, they just did not feel that the new Magnum P.I. was something worth talking about.
And Selleck, notably, did not have even the tiniest of cameo in the reboot, which is unusual, given that his name was once synonymous with the franchise and that he is still actively working as an actor.
As Selleck said in an interview with TV Insider, he was not against rebooting the series, even though his relationship with CBS was important enough that they could have abstained from making a reboot against his wishes:
"I just felt success is so hard to come by in this business, why do I want to root for somebody to fail. I just stepped back, and said, 'I won't get in your way.'"
But he refused to get involved with the reboot in any way: "They asked and I said, 'Absolutely not. I'm busy with Blue Bloods.'"
But it was more than being busy. According to Selleck, "It will never be what in my fantasy world, I would make it to be." He further added: "I told them that I won't do some cameo guest spot to let the audience know I approve."
Well, it might be that he had been rightfully skeptical about the reboot from the moment he heard its pitch.