MacGyver Memories: Season 1

I never talk about watching TV (cuz I don’t), so here we go:

Watched the first two episodes of MacGyver: Season 1 a few nights ago.  A few impressions as all the magical memories of childhood come flooding back (or glaringly not):

1) MacGyver is a pretty cocky guy.  And yet kinda humble.  And yet kinda cocky.

2) What kind of accent is that?  Oh, he’s from Minnesota.

3) The gun sounds of the 80’s were LAME.  P-chu!  P-chu!  I think the average McDonald’s Happy Meal (TM) toy makes more realistic sounds of combat.  Oh yeah, the knuckle-sandwich-into-the-camera sounds are SUPER LAME too.

4) Macgyver likes to speak in weird metaphors.  For the first 10 minutes of the pilot episode, he maintains an extended monologue about a golden Palomino trapped in a corral.  Only by the end of the ten minutes do you find out he’s actually referring to a stolen missile kept in a tent by armed guards (and by then, he’s managed to disarm the thing using a handy dandy missile-disarming spatula tool.  (No, not his swiss army knife! Gasp!!)).

5) Macgyver is multiethnic and kid-friendly.  There are all sorts of feel-good images in just the first two episodes alone, including Angus himself playing basketball in the observatory with his “little brother”, a black kid who to my knowledge never shows up in future episodes, and also rescuing an entire Burmese village from opium-picking slavery and bonding with a little “Burmese” kid who strangely doesn’t really look Asian.

6) MacGyver is a player:

Barbara:” I know, maybe it’s not the right moment to ask, but what’s your name anyway?”
MacGyver: “MacGyver”
Barbara: “That’s a good name.”
[…]
Barbara: “I’d kiss you MacGyver, but I’ve got this cold…. ”
MacGyver: “So what’s a little cold between friends, huh?….”
[From the Pilot Episode, where he gets to kiss the girl after she’s on screen for maybe 5 minutes.]

“You may not believe this, but there have been times when I’ve had a lot more fun in the back seat of a car.”
[From the 2nd episode, when he’s trapped in, well, the back seat of a car.]

Things to look forward to:

-Does anybody remember Teri Hatcher (with big hair) as Penny Parker in MacGyver?
-Murdoc!