| MacGyver | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background Information | |
| Genre: | Adventure-action |
| Based on: | MacGyver by Lee David Zlotoff |
| Developed by: | Peter M. Lenkov |
| Cast: | Lucas Till Tristin Mays George Eads Justin Hires Sandrine Holt Meredith Eaton Isabel Lucas Levy Tran Henry Ian Cusick |
| Country of origin: |
United States |
| No. of Seasons: |
5 |
| No. of Episodes: |
94 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s): |
Henry Winkler |
| Producer(s): |
P. Todd Coe |
| Camera Setup: |
Single-camera |
| Production company(s): |
101st Street Entertainment |
| Distributor: |
CBS Media Ventures |
| Release | |
| Original network: | |
| Picture format: |
1080i (SDTV) |
| Original release: |
September 23, 2016 – April 30, 2021 |
| GALLERY | |
MacGyver is an American action-adventure television series developed by Peter M. Lenkov which was premiered on CBS on September 23, 2016 and concluded on April 30, 2021. Starring Lucas Till as the title character. It is a reboot of the ABC series of the same name created by Lee David Zlotoff, which aired from 1985 to 1992. (Till had yet to be born when the original MacGyver premiered.)
The fourth season premiered on February 7, 2020 and concluded on May 8, 2020. It ran for 13 episodes, however 20 episodes were produced.
The fifth season premiered on December 4, 2020 and ran for 15 episodes, including the unaired episodes from the previous season.
In April 2021, CBS announced that the fifth season would be the series' final season. The series finale aired on April 30, 2021.
MacGyver takes place in the same fictional universe as two other series, both also developed by Lenkov and both also reboots of earlier police shows: Hawaii Five-0 and Magnum P.I.. The three shows have been collectively referred to as the "Lenkov-verse".
Cast[]
- Main article: Cast
Main[]
Current[]
- Lucas Till as Angus MacGyver (94/94)
- Tristin Mays as Riley Davis (94/94)
- Justin Hires as Wilt Bozer (94/94)
- Meredith Eaton as Matilda Webber (82/94) (1x18 - 5x15; Recurring: 1x13 - 1x17)
- Levy Tran as Desiree "Desi" Nguyen (36/79) (4x01 - 5x15; Recurring: 3x15 - 3x22)
- Henry Ian Cusick as Russ Taylor (28/94) (4x01 - 5x15)
Former[]
- George Eads as Jack Dalton (59/94) (1x01 - 3x14)
- Sandrine Holt as Patricia Thornton (12/94) (1x01 - 1x12)
- Isabel Lucas as Samantha Cage (12/94) (2x01 - 2x13)
Recurring[]
- Tracy Spiridakos as Nikki Carpenter
- Amy Acker as Sarah Adler
- Aina Dumlao as Andie Lee
- David Dastmalchian as Murdoc
- Kate Bond as Jill Morgan
- Lauren Vélez as Cassandra Glover
- Reign Edwards as Leanna Martin
- William Baldwin as Elwood Davis
- Lance Gross as Billy Colton
- Tate Donovan as James MacGyver/"Oversight"
- Sibongile Mlambo as Nasha
- Brendan Hines as Ethan Reigns
- Jeri Ryan as Gwendolyn Hayes
- Peter Weller as Elliot Mason
- Alexandra Grey as Parker
Special Guest[]
Episodes[]
- Main article: Episode List
| Season | Episodes | Originally aired (U.S. dates) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season premiere | Season finale | |||
| 1 | 21 | September 23, 2016 | April 14, 2017 | |
| 2 | 23 | September 29, 2017 | May 4, 2018 | |
| 3 | 22 | September 28, 2018 | May 10, 2019 | |
| 4 | 13 | February 7, 2020 | May 8, 2020 | |
| 5 | 15 | December 4, 2020 | April 30, 2021 | |
Production[]
Development[]
In October 2015, the original series' executive producer, Henry Winkler, signed on to produce a remake series with James Wan and R. Scott Gemmill for CBS, which owns the rights to MacGyver through its acquisition of the original Paramount Television. In February 2016, it was announced that CBS had greenlit production of a pilot episode written by Paul Downs Colaizzo and directed by Wan. Wan pulled out from directing due to scheduling conflicts and was replaced by David Von Ancken.
In May 2016, the network picked up the series. Co-creator and executive producer Peter M. Lenkov would serve as the showrunner. On May 18, 2016, CBS released a first video trailer for new series. In June 2016, the network scrapped the original pilot, with Wan to direct a new pilot episode.
On October 17, 2016, CBS ordered a full season of 21 episodes. On March 23, 2017, CBS renewed the series for a second season, which premiered on September 29, 2017 and ran for 23 episodes.
The third season premiered on September 28, 2018 and concluded on May 10, 2019. It ran for 22 episodes. On May 9, 2019, it was announced that CBS renewed the series for a fourth season which was premiered on February 7, 2020 and ran for 13 episodes.
On May 6, 2020, CBS announced that the series has renewed for a fifth season which was premiered on December 4, 2020.[1][2]
On July 7, 2020, it was reported that Lenkov was fired from his role as executive producer and showrunner following an investigation into allegations that he created a toxic work environment. Monica Macer replaced Lenkov as showrunner.[3]
Casting[]
In March 2016, Lucas Till was announced as the new MacGyver, Joshua Boone as Gunner, MacGyver's best friend from high school, alongside with former and longtime CSI star George Eads as Jack Dalton, who was originally named Lincoln, a man who could easily be written off as an eccentric conspiracy theorist but is a legitimate government employee with great capability for compassion. Later cast were Addison Timlin as Mickey, an app developer who is aggressively progressive in her political views but who has a soft spot for MacGyver, and Michelle Krusiec as Agent Croix, Dalton's sister who works for the Department of Homeland Security. However, the original pilot with this casting was scrapped by CBS in June 2016 – a new pilot episode was ordered with only Till and Eads from the original cast continuing on to the revised version of the show.
Around the same time the new pilot was ordered, Justin Hires was cast as Wilt Bozer, MacGyver's roommate who is an aspiring filmmaker. In July 2016, Variety reported that Sandrine Holt had been cast as Patricia Thornton, an ex-field agent who was the director of operations for the Department of External Services, and that Tristin Mays was cast as Riley Davis, a highly unpredictable computer hacker with a chip on her shoulder.
On November 26, it was announced that George Eads was set to depart the series midway through the show's current third season. According to creator Peter M. Lenkov, Eads had asked to be released from his contract for some time so he could spend more time with his young daughter who resides in Los Angeles; the series is filmed in Atlanta. Producers ultimately agreed with Eads being written out of the show but left the opportunity for him to return as a guest star in the future. His final episode aired on February 1, 2019.Deadline
Levy Tran was cast in a recurring role as Desiree Nguyen to replace Eads, then on June 7, 2019, CBS announced that recurring cast member Levy Tran who portrays Desi Nguyen, she has been upped to a series regular for the fourth season.
Cancellation[]
On April 7, 2021, it was announced that the fifth season would be the show's last, with the finale airing on April 30, 2021.[4] Viewers and longtime fans are unhappy, particularly by CBS's lack of response over the reason for cancellation. The ratings for MacGyver have been high for its Friday 8PM/7PM CT time slot, with a 0.5 demo on average and 4.8 million viewers for season 5. CBS did note that, of its 14 original dramas airing in the 2020–21 season, MacGyver ranked ninth in the 18–49 demo and tenth in overall viewership, but did not cite this as a reason for cancellation.
Since the announcement of the cancellation, fans have come together around the world. Many projects have been put in motion to support the MacGyver cast, crew and writers including: a petition to bring the show back from cancellation obtaining more than 18,000 signatures in a week, a GoFundMe campaign for advertising the efforts, a charity GoFundMe (called Operation Cure Cancer) raising more than $800 in three days to benefit Cancer Research Institute (following in Angus MacGyver's footsteps after the passing of his father mentioned in Season 5). MacGyver fans also sent more than 300,000 paperclips to CBS Studios and Kelly Kahl, currently serving as the President of CBS Entertainment. Following the announcement of CBS, fans voiced their disappointment with many tweeting with the hashtag #SaveMacGyver, trending it multiple times with over 250,000 tweets in a week.
All their projects can be seen on a website that has been launched for the cause, SaveMacGyver where you can see fans' projects, supportive messages and even fan-arts.
Reception[]
Critical response[]
MacGyver has received generally negative reviews from television critics, with many comparing it poorly to the original and some praising and criticizing CBS for making it an updated show. Variety wrote: "Lucas Till’s performance as the title character misses the mark completely; even when MacGyver explains the contraptions he builds on the fly via voiceovers, Till’s delivery is wooden and clunky. The writing doesn’t help — the pilot script is full of silly plot short-cuts and painfully cheesy lines — but there’s no getting around the fact that the new version of the character has very little appeal.... George Eads does what he can to bring a bit of energy to the MacGyver spy crew, but it’s a futile effort. MacGyver may know a lot about chemistry, but this unmemorable team has none."
USA Today wrote: "If... you’re looking for something approaching the original’s simple DIY charms — or, for that matter, something even marginally original — look elsewhere. What you're getting here is a factory-made retread that is less MacGyver than MacGyver: Impossible, with the title character now just one member of an impossible mission team.... MacGyver may not fully engage you, but at least it won't actively annoy you."
IGN's verdict was: "CBS' MacGyver is an unnecessary, middling reboot that has little to offer - its biggest sin being a bland hero and eye-rolling stakes. Lifting more than a few swerves from the Mission Impossible franchise, this new MacGyver somehow even manages to make the science gimmick dull."
Rotten Tomatoes shows a 25% "rotten" rating for Season 1 and a 57% audience score, with the sites critical consensus reading, "Despite using spare parts from countless successful TV procedurals, the new MacGyver fails to cobble together a compelling show." The audience score for Season 2 is much higher, at 82%. Similarly, Metacritic shows a score of 38 out of 100, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". The Metacritic score for Season 2 is more positive, with a score of 61 out of 100.
Movie Pilot was more positive, commending Till's performance while noting that the show does a good job of "maintaining the essence of the original while appealing to a modern generation".
Over time the reviews have become more positive and its audiences increasing significantly to make MacGyver the number one viewed show on CBS roster.
Ratings[]
| Season | Timeslot (ET) | No. of episodes |
Premiered | Ended | TV season | Rank | Avg. viewers (in millions) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Premiere viewers (in millions) |
Date | Finale viewers (in millions) | ||||||
| 1 | Friday 8:00 PM | 21 | September 23, 2016 | 10.19 | April 14, 2017 | 6.57 | 2016–17 | #27 | 9.80 |
| 2 | 23 | September 29, 2017 | 6.69 | May 4, 2018 | 6.10 | 2017–18 | #38 | 8.59 | |
| 3 | 22 | September 28, 2018 | 5.77 | May 10, 2019 | 5.47 | 2018–19 | #48 | 7.70 | |
| 4 | 13 | February 7, 2020 | 5.94 | May 8, 2020 | 5.77 | 2019–20 | #44 | 7.50 | |
| 5 | 15 | December 4, 2020 | 4.90 | April 30, 2021 | 4.48 | 2020–21 | |||
Home media[]
| Cover Art | DVD Name | Release Date | Ep # |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
MacGyver (Season 1) | February 27, 2018 | 21 |
 |
MacGyver (Season 2) | September 18, 2018 | 23 |
 |
MacGyver (Season 3) | January 14, 2020 | 22 |
| MacGyver (Season 4) | June 18, 2021 | 13 |
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MacGyver's vehicles[]
MacGyver drives a 2016 Toyota Tacoma truck. In the Army he drove a AM General HMMWV.
References[]
- ↑ CBS Renews 18 Series, Including Freshmen ‘FBI: Most Wanted’, ‘Bob ♥ Abishola’, ‘All Rise’ & ‘The Unicorn’
- ↑ CBS Sets Premiere Dates For Friday Night Series ‘MacGyver’, ‘Magnum P.I.’, ‘Blue Bloods’
- ↑ https://deadline.com/2020/07/peter-lenkov-fired-cbs-macgyver-magnum-pi-showrunner-1202979733/
- ↑ https://deadline.com/2021/04/macgyver-end-canceled-season-5-series-finale-cbs-1234729818/