Magnum, P.I. (TV Series) Novel Connection (1986) User Reviews

Magnum's mid-life hits its nadir

[safenoe · 7/10 · 17 February 2023]

I've been waiting two years to see Novel Connection, because I recorded Murder, She Wrote's Magnum on Ice (a continuation, well sort of if you kind of ignore the syndicated ending of Novel Connection) back in March 2021 when the world was in shutdown. I thought it appropriate to watch Magnum on Ice only after seeing Novel Connection, so finally.

The crossover with Murder, She Wrote is kind of a metaphor for Magnum, P. I.'s mid-life stage, with the doting Jessica Fletcher being the one to amplify this.

I would have loved for acclaimed British-Indian actor Victor Banerjee to make a guest appearance, as in real life Angela Lansbury and Victor crossed paths at one of the Oscar ceremonies back in the 80s.

I saw the syndication ending, where Magnum wins the day. But the follow-up Magnum on Ice follows up on the original run ending of Novel Connection, where Magnum is in fact arrested. It's confusing quite for sure, and I'm thankful to be able to reconstruct the events from the imdb user reviews. Also the Magnum on Ice recap at the beginning thankfully has the original run ending.

I must admit the crossover with Murder, She Wrote was kind of clumsy, but I guess Magnum producers wanted to appeal to the 70 age group demographic.

A writer's Magnum fan and Jessica Fletcher fan's episode

[theonejackdry · 9/10 · 22 February 2023]

As a Magnum or a Murder She Wrote episode, this episode wasn't that great. The story makes no sense, nobody knows what happens, and it doesn't get resolved.

But I think that's the joke. The whole joke is about what a detective is, and how they work their deductions. I imagine the writers had a lot of fun writing this and it's just so much fun seeing Magnum and Jessica together.

Sure, they could have "worked together" and gotten along, but it wouldn't have been this witty TV Essay.

It's like the set pieces of an episode are there: pursuit, disparition, discovery, gun fight. But it's all running on empty. The real action is in the dialogues and each character alleging they are the victim.

And who Jessica Walter hitting on Magnum!!?? Amazing.

It's either a no so great episode or a brilliant TV crossover Essay. I'll take the second interpretation.

Cross-over Cross-up

[schappe1 · 30 August 2017]

I've just watched this episode of Magnum PI, (not a show I watched much), and it's second part, which appeared on Murder She Wrote, (one of my favorites), which was entitled "Magnum on Ice" and I was disappointed, (to put it mildly) with what Magnum PI did to the ending of their segment in the version I saw, which was altered for syndication and for the DVD I was watching, (which was from the boxed set of Murder She Wrote's third season).

A hit man is threatening one of Higgins' several female guests, which include Jessica Fletcher. Jessica and Magnum get off to a bad start with Thomas presenting himself as a professional who should handle everything. At the end of the episode, as shown in the intro to the MSW finale, Magnum shoots the hit man but the hit-man's gun somehow disappears and he's found to have been shot in the back. A police Lieutenant who doesn't like Magnum arrests him for murder. He winds up in jail. He doesn't like it but now Jessica is his best hope for getting out of jail.

MSW got the right to add the Magnum episode to their DVD as a bonus. But the Magnum people wanted the first episode to be a stand alone for syndication and later the DVD so a phony scene was shot with Magnum and Higgins talking about how Magnum has killed the bad guy and his employer has confessed and Jessica and the other ladies have returned to the mainland after realizing that Jessica was wrong in her theories of the case. Magnum is not in jail at all. This ending makes Jessica look like an idiot.

There ought to be agreement when cross-overs are done that the episode of the other series should be made available for syndication and DVDs of each show so viewers can see these episodes as they were intended to be seen, instead of creating a false ending that makes the star of the other show look bad.

Interestingly, the original Hawaii Five-0 had two episodes where McGarrett teams up with a middle-aged female mystery writer, (played by Mildred Natwick) to solve cases, (Frozen Assets 3/30/78, and The Spirit is Willie, 1/25/79). In one episode she's trying to find out how an old friend died and in another she's trying to find out what happened to her niece's husband. Either could easily be a Murder She Wrote- Hawaii Five-0 crossover if the shows had been contemporary and both were better than this mish-mosh.

A whole bunch of REALLY annoying people...

[planktonrules · 2/10 · 7 November 2022]

Occasionally, one successful show is used to help another show. A great example is when Barnaby Jones was teamed with Frank Cannon to work a case...and one part of the two part episode was shown on "Cannon" and the other on "Barnaby Jones". Well, in the case of "Novel Connection"/"Murder on Ice", Magnum is teamed with Jessica Fletcher....and part one was shown on "Magnum, P. I." and part two on "Murder, She Wrote". I'm not sure why this teaming occurred. Unlike the case of "Barnaby Jones", BOTH "Magnum P. I." and "Murder, She Wrote" were established and successful shows.

I should point out that I had never seen an episode of "Magnum P. I." before I saw this episode. I only saw it because I started watching all of the "Murder, She Wrote" episodes and had to watch "Novel Connection" before I watched "Murder on Ice". So, I have no idea if Magnum is treated this abominably during the course of the show...and considering it occurred in season 7, it' seemed weird. Hadn't he already solved a ton of cases in the previous 6 seasons? So why is nearly everyone (other than Jessica) treating him so badly? I just didn't understand.

The show begins with someone trying to kill someone or all of the people in a carload of people. Higgins is driving and three annoying ladies are with him. Which is the target? Well, oddly, instead of asking for Magnum's help (since he IS a private investigator), Pamela Bates keeps saying that Magnum is a bum and that she wants a REAL investigator on the case! Even when one of the women vanishes and Magnum locates her, he's nearly killed AND Pamela keeps treating him like dog barf. She insists she wants some competent person to investigate...and eventually Jessica Fletcher arrives, as she's Pamela's choice to help.

After LOTS more disrespect and maltreatment of Magnum by her and others, Magnum springs into action...but by then I'd lost interest.

I sure hope "Magnum on Ice" is a lot better. In this one, apart from Magnum being constantly mistreated, Jessica Fletcher was pretty much wasted....and the show could have taken place without her.

This is a really bad crossover, just fails big time.

[pringlesarebestinworld · 1/10 · 4 October 2023]

This is a really bad crossover. Having two different networks and creators and writers working on two successful shows does not mean it will be a successful crossover.

Chicago Fire, Chicago Med and Chicago Med, plus NCIS and their spin offs all work together in successful crossovers due to the same creators, writers and locations.

But in this case of Magnum and Murder She Wrote fails big time as you have different creators, plus CBS, Universal and Belisarius Productions, Inc. And Glen A. Larson Productions all working together it does not work.

Although both shows are fine as standalone creations, it just does not work out as a crossover, you will be extremely bored with this attempt at crossover.

not very good

[MiketheWhistle · 3/10 · 20 February 2020]

This was not a very good ep. There was far too much play up about Fletcher and I think she was poorly used. I also have to say that I don't like Angela Langbury very much. Her style reminds me a bit of Shatner in the original Star Trek series. I'd have to read to see if she started out as a stage actor which is what a lot of tv actors end up doing over-acting if they had spent much time on the stage because they have to overact so as to be more viewable to people in the audience.