MAGNUM P.I. at TCA: Live-Blog

MAGNUM P.I. has a new home on NBC, and the network is hosting a panel at the Television Critics Association for the cast (Jay Hernandez and Perdita Weeks) and showrunner Eric Guggenheim to talk about the upcoming fifth season.

Follow along (starting approximately at 9:45 AM PT/12:45 PM ET) to hear what they have to say…

Prior to the panel starting, watch the new trailer for season 5:

9:43 AM: It’s a very celebratory morning as the NBC microphone runners—who are wearing Hawaiian shirts for MAGNUM—are passing out smoothies ahead of the panel.

9:54 AM: A reporter asks how they’ll keep the show from “jumping the shark” now that Higgins and Magnum are together. “If you had asked us way back when we were doing the pilot, we might have said, maybe by the end of season 5” Guggenheim says. But the chemistry between Hernandez and Weeks made it so “it was becoming harder and harder to keep them apart.”

Weeks notes there’s still banter between the characters now that they’re together; things have changed, but they haven’t.

9:56 AM: “It was a shock that the show was going to go away in the first place,” Hernandez says. The revival “is such a rare thing to happen…the support from the fans was humbling to me.” He was blown away by the connection the fans have to the show and what they did to try and revive it.

9:58 AM: “He’s very, very, very at home in the car,” Weeks says of the 308. She jokes he won’t let transpo drive it. They have two cars—one is a spare.

10:00 AM: “Honestly, the effort to find a home for the show started within minutes of us getting word we wouldn’t be back on CBS,” Guggenheim says. NBC “stepped in immediately.” But he was also aware how rare it is to have a show get picked up post-cancellation, so he tried to temper expectations. But when things came through, the transition has been “seamless.”

“It was just the most extraordinary news,” Weeks says. She’s still relatively new to the TV world, she says, and feeling “incredibly lucky.”

10:03 AM: Yes, Guggenheim confirms Magnum and Higgins are together. He also notes this season the show is “sexier, more romantic…more emotional” this season. But it’s more about the story, not the new network.

“Two people who are meant for each other, but having to navigate working together and dangerous situation,” Weeks previews of what’s to come.

“The dynamic shifts when you’re [facing a dangerous situation] with someone you’re in a relationship with,” Hernandez adds.

10:05 AM: Weeks says she takes a swim suit everywhere they film, just in case. The downside, though, is her distance from her home.

For Hernandez, he got into surfing two years ago, “and it kind of changed everything for me,” he says. “Oftentimes we’ll find ourselves on locations and it’s breathtaking. And we’re paid to be there.”

10:06 AM: “We’re doing an episode that’s partially set in Molokai,” but they’re not leaving their island, Guggenheim says.

10:09 AM: “I thought with Juliet Higgins being quite…I don’t know if uptight is the right word, but she’s high-strung…I thought she would be more jealous than she is,” Weeks says of how Higgins is in a relationship.

“I think, it’s interesting, because we’ve lived in these characters for so long, and we feel like we know them intimately,” Hernandez says. “And sometimes we’ll get scenes or moments where we’ll go, ‘Huh, I didn’t think it would be like that’…Magnum is a bit more of a romantic than I imagined, in moments, which I think is quite nice.”

10:11 AM: When the show started, Hernandez wasn’t trying to replicate Tom Selleck’s work. “You’re not going to be able to do that,” he acknowledges. “Whatever I brought to the character, whatever they thought worked for [Magnum], I was going to go with that.”

“At the airport is where I experience a lot of this,” Hernandez continues. He says a lot of kids love the show!

10:13 AM: “One of the things I honed on when the show got canceled was how much it meant to the fans,” Hernandez says. The concept of family, and sticking up and fighting for each other, meant a lot to the fandom. “It’s an important message, without getting too meta about it.

10:14 AM: “You must have seen the promos by now—they’re everywhere,” Guggenheim notes. He says the network is excited to have them, and they’re excited to be there. “We so appreciate the opportunity we’ve been given here. We came back from the dead.” He points out they’re incredible revived company, like BROOKYLYN NINE-NINE and MINX, both of which were saved post-cancellation.

10:17 AM: Do Weeks and Hernandez get to do their own stunts? Weeks says they do a lot of their stunts, but they also have their stunt team do a lot. Weeks says she’s done three fun things so far this season. “It’s so, so fun,” she praises.

10:19 AM: The twenty episode order is technically a singular season, told in two parts. “By the time we get to episode 10 [in the first arc], there will be some stories that won’t be resolved by then,” Guggenheim says. “We’re looking at it as one season in two parts…we’re not sure when part 2 will air.”

As Guggenheim is answering, an alarm starts going off: “Everybody stay calm—you have two action heroes up here!” Hernandez jokes. (The panel was ending now, anyway.)

RELATED:

• NBC Saves MAGNUM P.I.
• Report: NBC and USA Network Could Save MAGNUM P.I.
• CBS Cancels MAGNUM P.I., GOOD SAM, and HOW WE ROLL

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