NBC Just Rescued Fan-Favorite CBS Show From Cancellation
NBC has stepped in yet again to save a fan-favorite series from cancellation when another network does not listen to fans.
With the summer months upon us, many television series have seen aired their last episode for the season. Unfortunately, some have experienced cancellation, both on the various streaming platforms and on network television. A handful of these types of shows have been rescued by fans campaigning to keep their favorite programs on the air, as was the case with Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Family Guy, Friday Night Lights, Jericho, Manifest, and Lucifer, to name a few from the past twenty years or so. Some were saved by their network, while others were picked up by other networks believing they could salvage the wreckage of cancellation. Recently, Magnum P.I. was added to the list of canceled shows, but apparently, it is coming back from the dead.
According to Deadline, NBC has stepped in to rescue Magnum P.I. from permanent cancellation. The network announced that it has picked up the series from rival CBS, who canceled the show just last month. NBC has chosen to order 20 episodes of the series where these episodes will be split into two seasons. This move will create a season five and six for the series, totaling 96 episodes overall, with the option for more in the future if the NBC version goes well. Coincidentally, NBC also became the home of Brooklyn Nine-Nine when it was initially canceled by FOX in 2018, airing new episodes on NBC until its final season ending in September 2021.
Magnum P.I. began its initial run in 2018 and ran for four seasons up until May of this year. It is a reboot of the CBS show of the same name from the 1980s starring Tom Selleck, created by Donald P. Bellisario and Glen A. Larson. In the 2018 version of the series, actor Jay Hernandez plays Thomas Magnum, a private investigator who investigates crimes taking place in Hawaii, aided by his experience as a former Navy SEAL and his partnership with Juliet Higgins, played by Perdita Weeks. As reported by TV Line, Hernandez and the rest of the cast negotiated their way back into the series and are expected to continue their roles on NBC. In addition to Hernandez and Weeks, Zachary Knighton of Happy Endings fame, Stephen Hill, Tim Kang, and Amy Hill are all set to reprise their roles.
As hope is restored for the once canceled Magnum P.I., NBC looks to profit off a series that became popular with a loyal fan base on network television. According to IndieWire, the show will begin filming later this year, with a proposed air date sometime in 2023. This timeline will theoretically take the NBC show to 2024 with its two-season order. The show is expensive to film as it shoots in Hawaii, a rare location for television these days. However, per IndieWire, Magnum P.I. has consistently ranked in the top 30 network shows for its last season on the air. Evidently, the outcry of a fan base on social media drove NBC to consider taking the series on, despite Magnum P.I.’s lackluster appeal to critics.
