TV's current reboot train is showing no signs of stopping or slowing down, and it seems to be mostly traveling through the late 1980s and early 1990s for its pickups. Audiences should probably get ready for a return to sun-soaked crimefighting in the form of the previously announced Magnum P.I. reboot, which has scored a pilot order at CBS. And that's not the only classic show set for a potential return, as CBS' recent pilot pickups also included a remake of the female-fronted crime drama Cagney and Lacey.
The world of TV private investigators has rarely been as bright and flowery as it was on Magnum P.I., which was one of the most popular shows in primetime during its eight-season run. CBS, which also gave fans the island-set Hawaii Five-0 reboot, went into development on a modernized Magnum P.I. back in October, with Hawaii Five-0's developer Peter Lenkov and its showrunner Eric Guggenheim penning this reimagining of Thomas Magnum's story. Apparently the network likes how things have gone, and this pilot order could very well result in Magnum P.I. hitting our TVs again this fall.
No one should expect any bizarre changes to go down with the Magnum P.I. reboot, as it will again follow the dashing Thomas Magnum making a name for himself as a private investigator in Hawaii. This time around, he'll be a celebrated ex-Navy SEAL who is settling back into civilian life after a tour in Afghanistan. He'll be repurposing his military skills for his life in paradise, and we can probably expect to see lots of fights and car chases.
This is actually the second Magnum P.I. follow-up project to go into development in the past few years. In 2016, we almost got a quasi-sequel from ABC that followed Thomas Magnum's daughter, which would have left the door open for original star Tom Selleck to make a possible cameo. But now that Magnum P.I. will be a full-on reboot, Selleck likely won't be used, even though he's already at home on CBS with the hit drama Blue Bloods.
Of the five other pilots that CBS ordered, the Cagney and Lacey reboot is definitely the most noteworthy. An updated take on the 1980s drama, CBS' Cagney and Lacey pilot is being written by Parenthood and Friday Night Lights writer and producer Bridget Carpenter, who also created Hulu's Stephen King adaptation 11.22.63. With new actresses set to take on the titular roles first filled by Tyne Daly and Sharon Gless, the new show would once again center on two detectives and friends who struggle to keep Los Angeles' streets safe.
According to THR, CBS has four other pilot orders set for contention. We have Chiefs, also from a Parenthood and Friday Night Lights vet -- in this case David Hugdins -- which would follow three starkly different women at the head of their own L.A. County police precincts. The Newsroom's Corinne Kingsbury penned the comedy Fam, which will center on a woman who wants a stable life with her new fiancé, but soon finds those dreams dashed with the arrival of her troublesome half-sister, who is attempting to escape their more-troublesome father. Here Comes the Neighborhood, from Big Bang Theory writer Jim Reynolds, is a comedy about a super-nice Midwestern guy moving to a rough L.A. neighborhood where his niceties aren't always embraced. Finally, there's Pandas in New York, a comedy set around the medical practice for an Indian family whose plans to arrange the youngest son's life are disrupted by the son's own goals.
CBS has already made a straight-to-series order for a Murphy Brown reboot, which makes these latest pilot orders all the more promising. Stay tuned for more information about the potential futures for Magnum P.I., Cagney and Lacey and all the rest, and to see what shows are definitely coming in the future, head to our midseason premiere schedule.
