Tuesday, June 4, 2024

DVD/TV Series Review: MacGyver (2016) Season 1

 


The 21-episode first season of MacGyver aired during the 2016/2017 TV season. It starred Lucas Till, George Eads, Sandrine Holt, Tristin Mays, Justin Hires, and (later in the season) Meredith Eaton. Tracy Spiridakos played a major recurring character, and the season saw guest appearances by some of the stars of the Hawaii Five-) reboot, specifically Daniel Dae Kim, Grace Park, and Taylor Willy. The show itself is a fun reboot of the 1980s show of the same name. I never really watched the original show, so I am not sure how true to the feel of the old show this one keeps or does not. This version is set with MacGyver (Till) working for a "think tank" that is a cover for a secret off-the-books government organization. As was the case with the original show, they keep the gag about him being able to build a bomb out of paper clips and duct tape. More accurately, building whatever he needs to solve a particular problem with whatever happens to be handy.

He partners with Jack Dalton (Eads), who is the muscle to his brains, Riley Davis (Mays), who is a hacker who the team springs from prison, and Mac's best friend Bozer Hires), who is clueless about what he really does. The show is mostly a procedural case-of-the-week drama, much like CBS's other shows, but it does have a couple storylines that keep popping up throughout the season. It also exists in the Hawaii Five-0 universe (both shows have the same showrunners) and had a subtle shout-out to one of that show's season 7 storylines and then a crossover episode a bit later in the season.

The DVD set is a five-disc set. They are nothing more than a MOD release (even though I do not think they are burned on DVD-R). There are no extras of any kind, no subtitles. Just the episodes. The episode titles are not printed on the discs or the case, but they are on the DVD main menu screen when each disc loads. So, there is no reason to have to watch the episodes out of order unless you want to. There is no play-all option, but once the current episode stops playing, you can easily get to the next episode.

Overall, the show is fun and entertaining, much like the Hawaii Five-0 reboot, but the DVD release is lackluster to lousy. If you have a CBS all-access (now Paramount+) subscription, you can stream all the episodes and get better video quality, and you will miss absolutely nothing this DVD release offers. That said, whether you get the DVDs or stream it, the show is very entertaining and worth watching.

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