Magnum Redux.

Tonight was the debut of the 21st Century version of Magnum PI  As someone who watched the original when it was new I have mixed feelings.  On the one hand they definitely had some hints of the old show that people who saw it will recognise, including TC's Hughes 500D(as it was in those days) helicopter in its familiar striped paint job, the Ferrari 308 GTS Magnum drives in part of the episode, and Zeus and Apollo.  On the other hand there have been changes given the contemporary setting, such as that Magnum and his buddies are now vets of Iraq instead of Vietnam, and that Higgins is a woman this time around.  The latter is sure to upset some old fans, but it doesn't bug me much.  But it looks like they might be setting up a romance between Higgins and Magnum, which would be pretty cliché.

I'm not quite convinced about Jay Hernandez, the new Magnum, just yet.  To me he doesn't seem to have the charisma that Tom Selleck did pretty much from the start of the original series.  It will be interesting to see if that changes as the series progresses and we get more familiar with the new version.  Perdita Weeks will probably have an easier time of things as Higgins, since she won't face the kind of direct comparisons any male actor would to John Hillerman from the original.  But it remains to be seen how their versions of Magnum and Higgins  will play off against each other. 

One critique I have is the obvious use of CGI in some places.  They probably didn't want to boost their budget by doing certain scenes with practical effects, but they just didn't seem right for this show. 

Will the series succeed?  The revived Hawaii Five-0 has had a successful run, so it's possible.  But revived series have also flopped, like the new version of Ironside a few years back.