create When I watched the original broadcasts of MacGyver, I had a lot of conflicting opinions: I loved the Science aspects of it. The fact that a house contained many over the counter items that were dangerous to a mind that knows science was something that had never been seriously explored in any type of series before this show premiered. And if nothing else, I always err on giving original ideas a try. But this wasn't a science fiction show. If they had tried to be, I doubt they would have gotten on the air.Science Fiction was all the rage in the movie theaters with the original trilogy of Star Wars just finishing up, Terminator and Aliens having great receptions, and the Star Trek adaptations being a monster hit. But even though Star Trek had three hundred-million dollar films in a row, the spin-off, Star Trek: Generations- which came out at the same time as MacGyver - couldn't get a network to broadcast it.MacGyver mostly concentrated on the spy-fi aspects of the show, which was a grave mistake. Whereas the creative team made a great decision to keep the science somewhat real, Producers Henry Winkler & John Rich; and the Creator of the show, Lee David Zlotoff (plus, whoever was the show runner – if they had a show runner) simply had no reasonable knowledge of the spy community, and the show suffered. Add to that the fact that the show got life due to the break-out success of writer Tom Clancy - a technical wizard of how the spy/military community worked, and the show was instantly behind the eight-ball.There were several episodes that had plot holes that one could drive an RV through. MacGyver had no concept of keeping his ID a secret - which led to bad guys coming after his family for revenge plots. A concept that got praise from the political community - MacGyver refused to use guns to shoot his assailants, even to just shoot them in the leg - led to many twisted adventures in which MacGyver would place the villains and innocent bystanders in more physical jeopardy by blowing something up to stop their attack. And the Phoenix Foundation, which employed MacGyver, seemed to lack the knowledge of how the laws of the United States worked much less the inner working of the minds of America's threats.As far as plots were concerned, there were three types of shows the first season: A Handy Man at the Right Place, and Right Time These were by far the best of the shows. It had MacGyver be an adventurer more like Indiana Jones, and Science took center stage. They covered everything from Wildcatting to Nuclear Power Plants MacGyver, established operative With the exception of the breakout sections most of these shows were the poorest written of the stories. It involved MacGyver going on assignment, but without having any clear idea of what a spy does or a spy agency for that fact. It's not like I know, but there were more than a few times that MacGyver would give out his agency's address and phone number, and ask some stranger to just make contact. At the end of every show, every character would know that character was a spy and working for a top-secret organization that was always named. Some secret ID.Propaganda Basically, there was a Soviet plot everywhere. Not to dismiss the Russians, but it was incredible that so many Russian spies were operating unimpeded in the United States. That was the opinion back then. Now? Living in the age of Trump? With everyone knowing who the Russian spies are, with the possible exception of the Donald, and all of those spies under surveillance, these stories seem even more impossible.What Rich/Winkler/Zlotoff did do right was mix a seventies action show philosophy with low budget special effects. Their unit teams were top notch, and never once did anyone watch their shows and accuse them of cheesy special effects or production values. This made the science seem more urgent, and gave a tension to science never before shown. Would the Science work? Would it be effective? There were several stories in which MacGyver faced intimidating technology only to bend it to his knowledge of the science behind it. This fueled a hunger of Science in the show's audience. (Which backfired on adult watchers: As the show became popular, the creative team devolved the character into a role model and went for kid friendly plots.) Also, the creative team scored big by giving the lead role to Richard Dean Anderson, who created a complete lead character that had never been allowed in either a science fiction show nor a spy-fi adventure before this show's run. He was modest, self-effacing, aloof, and yet still an action hero. He didn't know everything about science, just enough to get him out of jams. MacGyver often used science that seemed to point to some say a prayer plot. (Save me! Please) But as the character would often say: He was open to a better plan. Without this deep mannered portrayal, Mulder of the X-Files could not have existed. (Again, Anderson's good work goes out the window after season one.) MacGyver was a great idea that needed a stronger creative team(...maybe one that would have tried to keep this a serious show after the first season?) Could you imagine what would have happened had they had someone with the technical knowledge of Tom Clancy as a co-Creator of the show, and Stephen J. Cannell as the Producer? But as it is, the show is just sort of maddening.

williamwbritt I might get flack from this statement but I believe Macgyver is the American Doctor Who. Think about it. Both hate the use of guns. Uses their smarts and wits to get out of bad situations. Love both shows and a fan of both. I heard there is going to be a reboot and have seen the trailer. Just hope it has the same heart as the original series and doesn't become another shoot it up remake. On YouTube saw the pilot for Young Macgyver with one of the stars from Supernatural. The pilot kept it true to the original. It had heart and the hero used his head to get out of tight spots. Hope this new remake does the same.Actually started to binge watch Macgyver on my Amazon Account. Brings back fond memories. Like me climbing the roof to turn the TV antenna to take the snow out of the screen and yelling to my brother a little to the left or to the right? Kids now a days don't know what we had to go through to get a simple TV station to come in. Those were the days.

suzie_wong62 Hi, I was wondering if anyone else has found out McGyver's first Name? I spent many a night watching episode after episode,never hearing his name mentioned, but knew it would come out eventually,as things like that always do, it's just a shame it took till the very last episode to find it out,but perseverance paid off with this one, and I must say, i am still addicted, and just love Richard Dean Anderson, he has shown his acting prowess in many forms, one of which was Stargate, But all in all, he is just a good actor, and i just loved all his episodes of McGyver, waiting to see what unusual and amazing tricks he has up his sleeves. Well stop wondering, his name is "Angus McGyver"

cocacolafanatic I just wanted to say how great the show was and I use to watch it all the time. It amazed me how great he was making things out of nothing really. I liked it so much that I named my younger son after the show and also took his middle name in real life for my son's middle name. So my son is named MacGyver Dean. It was amazing how he can do things in the middle of no where and how he always came out of things without a scratch.Wish that show was still on but I guess I will have to settle for the DVD's that are out at the store now and I am collecting them. So when my son has kids I can show them why he was named MacGyver. He can do a lot also.