CBS Boss: Magnum P.I. Cancellation Was ‘One of the Tougher Decisions’
Saying a sad aloha to Magnum P.I. was one of the tougher decisions CBS had to make this renew/cancel time of year, says network chief Kelly Kahl.
The reboot this season averaged 7.3 million total viewers and a 0.7 demo rating (with Live+7 playback), down just a tick from its Season 3 tallies (7.5 mil/0.8). Out of the 14 dramas that CBS has aired this TV season, it ranks No. 9 in both measures — though both CSI: Vegas (6.8 mil/0.8) and S.W.A.T. (6.5 mil/0.8), which drew smaller audiences, earned renewals.
Our sister site Deadline reported that a mutually agreeable new licensing deal could not be reached with lead Magnum P.I. producer Universal TV, as waning linear ratings drive down what a network is willing to pay.
Speaking with TVLine, CBS Entertainment president Kelly Kahl said, “You have some tough decisions to make and you have lots of factors — and I’m not going to rule [the licensing fee] out as one of them. It was a great team to work with, and one of the tougher decisions we had to make.”
Thus far, there have been no meaningful rumblings that Magnum is being shopped around for a possible Season 5 “save,” though TVLine is keeping its ears open.
Of some note: With Magnum‘s cancellation (and Hawaii Five-0 long gone), CBS for the first time in four years finds itself heading into the fall with only one Aloha State-based drama — NCIS: Hawai’i. As such, is the network perhaps angling to set up a future series there? (Hmm, can Kauai pass for East New York…?)
“We’ll never rule out shooting there,” Kahl said, “because it’s obviously beautiful and they have been a good home to us and our shows for a long time.”
Want scoop on what Magnum Season 5 might have been? Email InsideLine@tvline.com and your question may be answered via Matt’s Inside Line.
It’s genuinely sad that the show likely would have got another season had it been fully owned. It’s much easier to find a path to renewal for shows that belong to you rather than have a third party equally as interested in making profits off that show as you are.
Would have GOTTEN.
Shame on CBS.
It’s a great show that still has a huge following and could go another 4 seasons easily!
Corporate greed once again…..
That’s assuming that what they replace it with will be a success, and given their track record that’s not a gimme. Probably another trash reality show that costs chump change to make. I won’t be watching.
Shame shame on CVS for canceling Magnum! It’s was a great show! Looked forward to watching it all week!!
What a shame. It was the only Friday night show on CBS worth watching.
They could have saved some money by dumping SWAT.
Agree!!
Wasn’t easy? Gonna call B.S on that. CBS isn’t going all in on a deal for a show they don’t own. Bottom line…it was an easy business decision.
Heads will roll starting at the Top!!!!
Dummies! That was a awesome show!
Now what?
Magnum was a go to show for entertainment.
Agree
A bad decision.
Here’s holding out hope that one of the ideas Alex O’Loughlin mentioned he is working on could be set or filmed in Hawaii. I’m not talking a Five-0 reboot or clone but something new & challenging. He really understands what the fans like. It sort of reminds me of Taylor Sheridan.
Alex Oloughlin has nothing to do with Magnum so why bring him up? Besides it would be difficult for him to do another hawaii based show without everyone comparing it to hawaii five 0. NCIS Hawaii is experiencing that from some H50 fans, you in particular. I won’t even address the Taylor Sheridan comment because it is absurd to compare the two.
Hey Maria, do you need a chill pill?
I brought AOL & a future show up in relation to the comment about CBS now only having one show filming in Hawaii. And maybe you could only see him as Steve McG but others are allowed to see things differently, right?
I think the “why bring it up comment” would apply to you bringing up your thoughts on my opinion on NCIS:Hawaii since I never mentioned it at all. Obviously you are trying to settle some twitter score on TVLine but I’m not into that so I’ll just say aloha.
I wish someone would pick up the show, but since there are no rumblings thus far, sadly I won’t hold my breath.
And it wouldn’t be the craziest idea for NBC/Universal to take a look at continuing MPI. It’s been fairly solid.
I could also see them shelving the franchise for a short time and then coming forward with a fresh reboot.
Yeah, CBS took Medium from NBC years ago, so NBC should take Magnum from CBS and air it with The Blacklist.
Dan, great idea! That would be a great combination.
I don’t know about a reboot,i really enjoyed & looked forward to seeing Magnum,love the cast too,so another reboot even after a break might not work as well
Just say it, Kelly…the viewers aren’t even a factor In our final decision because we don’t care about them! CBS didn’t even give it a chance to go to Paramount+…just cruelly axed it! I wish another streaming service would give a platform! It’s got an audience…and a loyal one at that too!
Why do you think they should care about you?
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Magnum is a product. Hell, NCIS, the Chicago and L&O shows , and Star Trek are full-on brands at this point.
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That shows entertain you is barely on the radar. They are IPs that exist to make money and it was decided that Magnum wasn’t making them enough compared to some other fully-owned IP.
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You don’t need to be rude! And…yes, It was pure greed on their part! They didn’t want to share profits with Universal Television… so let’s just cancel it and put a lot of people (cast and crew) out of work! Classy, CBS!
If they couldn’t reach a deal for the network, there’s no effing way they’d have reached one for a streaming platform, which gets a fraction of the viewers the network gets and makes even less money.
It is à great cast í looked forward to watching . It every week i hope someone is smart and picks it up. If not its a great loss to all of us. Its really sad that we have no control over what show gets cancelled.
Nobody would watch it on Paramount + just like they didn’t on CBS. It’s not the real Magnum, just a cash grab cheap imitation.
And you know no one would watch it because..??? Cancel your favorite show and you would be begging for ANY station to pick it up. Why bother to comment? Rude!!
….
Magnum was a win win show and it was really a mistake not to renew. Sometimes people up high let money rule good sense. That show had so many fans and now you put in a ridiculous show about fire that I fit one have no interest in against the beautiful scenes of Hawaii. I will not be watching that show. I will watch Swat, turn from your network and go back at ten for Blue Bloods. Hope the rest of Magnum Fans follow suit.
It would be nice if another network picked up Magnum PI. CBS has been going downhill for awhile now. I have been streaming a lot more lately or watching reruns of the Jeffersons and the old comedies on digital channels. They were so much better than what we have now.
Yeah, I myself am very capitalist but that does not mean I don’t believe in the saying about being pennywise but pound foolish.
CBS is short sighted. They promote NCIS incessantly, perhaps had they promoted Magnum that much it would have more viewers. It definitely was a better show. I found all those NCIS shows unwatchable because I didn’t feel any bond with the casts and the writing is awful.
Yes I will big mistake not renewing it some of the programs they renewing look crap
Sounds like from this quote “you have lots of factors — and I’m not going to rule [the licensing fee] out as one of them. ”
That they were just looking for the excuse to cancel it. The info will come out in the wash further down the line, as I suspect there is more to this.
Having said this Universal need to shop Magnum around.
Read between the Iines, non agreement on license fee ends 99.9 percent of negotiations for modestly rated bubble shows.
Sounds just like a bunch of politicians making excuses for their decisions.
Said it in another thread, Universal and CBS have previous for these sorts of squabbles. I’m willing to bet Magnum paid the price for The Equalizer getting a 2 year renewal.
BS – another stupid fireman show replacing Magnum. Soon, all we will have are cop, fireman, and medical shows to watch on Network TV.
Great, creative programming- NOT!
Wrong decision completely! CBS needs to reconsider their decision or look more at the person making the decisions! I watch CBS on Paramount+, so CBS I was paying to watch the adventures of Magnum & Higgins and the gang each week! I watch firefighters on both Chicago and 911, I don’t need another show! Maybe I need to reconsider paying y’all each month by subscribing to Paramount+!
I was for one watched MPI .really enjoyed it. going to missed watching it. One of my best TV shows. Won’t be watching firefighters. hope you can find a way to bring it back.
Hey, anyone else remember when this show setup a recurring plot of Magnum being followed by a white SUV? And Magnum heard about someone named “Ivan” that was after him? (a reference to Ivan on the original series who killed Mac)
Yeah, the show forgot all about these plots.
Yes, for me that was a major problem with this show, especially with the last two seasons. Writers just didn’t know how to make or keep big arcs going. They invented some charatcters or plots and they just disappeared. Ivan, Maya.. That “plot twist” with the white SUV had to be explained by the writers themselves on twitter, because no one understood what happened to it. Not to mention all those secondary characters like Ethan and Knighton’s wife, to name a few, who existed behind the scenes most of the time. We kinda knew they were introduced to the show, they were mentioned from time to time, but most of the time they were nowhere to be seen.
No….they had Ivan on and faced him. Played by Peter Facinelli.
Huh? They answered the white suv thing. It was the son of an old client. He ended up kidnapping Higgins. And Ivan got magnum down to South America to get him close to target. The rest of the ohana came down to rescue him.
I am sad to hear of Magnum Pi cancelation. I started watching because I was a huge fan of Hawaii Five O. Both these cancelations were a loss to the TV viewer. Fewer shows stick around very long. Viewers get vested in these characters and they become like family to many. There aren’t any good choices left. Right now the only show on CBS I enjoy is Equalizer with Queen Latifa. I think Magnum should be UnCancelled and given a second chance. Or bring back some characters from Hawaii Five O and Magnum and call it Task Force Hawaii.
Thats a brilliant idea. I.loved both Hawaii five O and Magnum PI. I am in the UK.
But who would be producing it? CBS licensed it from UniversalTV who produced it . CBS does not hold any rights to it.
Magnum PI is a great show and I hope someone else picks it up. The multiple csi shows doctor shows and fire fighter shows are a waste . I won’t be watching other crap they try to replace the gang with. Hopefully all viewers comment Fred Ontario Canada 🇨🇦 fringe minoity
Blah, Blah, Blah!!! Same old BS!
Big Big Mistake – Fire The CBS boss – Wrong Decision.
The Head of CBS has lost his mind. No concern whatsoever for fans. A boycott is the only thing that CBS will respond to.
I agree Magnum was getting interesting with a relationship between Magnum and Higgins. It is about money 💰. Not what the fans want. It had good ratings. I will miss it. Keep the Wonder years, The Connors, and The good Doctor and not Magnum. Why?
I cannot believe that Magnum P.I. was cancelled, I love this show. It makes me feel like I’m in Hawaii when I watch this show and what I’m going to missed the most are all the good characters, they’re awesome. I also loved how Magnum & Higgins works together. Yeah I’m also going to miss the awesome cars that Magnum drives….
They fiilm new remakes such as Quantum Leap and get rid of shows like Magnum PI. Paramount or another network needs to pick them up. Im tired of remakes but Magnum has a good story line.
I was looking forward to see how the relationship ship either Higgins & Magnum would develope.
So very sad CBS is not bringing this back
Everyone is angry with CBS for canceling it, but how about Universal TV for not coming to an agreement on price? Perhaps the cost of shooting in Hawaii meant that they couldn’t lower the price for CBS *and* make a profit (which companies like to do) or maybe they were just being inflexible because they wanted maximum profit; who knows? Or maybe CBS was the one who pushed for too low a price and Universal just couldn’t do it for that amount. All I’m saying is that CBS may not be the (or the only) villain of the piece.
I’m still totally ticked at them for canceling US of Al and B+, though.
The end of the season had a demo at 0.6, the finale had 0.5… This didn’t help to convince CBS to pay the price Universal wanted.
The show deserved better that’s for sure but we all know how this works. If you don’t meet the figures they expect, you’re usually gone.
cbs has lost me as a viewer. When you have a decent series and drop it and keep other series that did not do as good. They could have moved it to another time slot. Me and my wife are done with CBS.
Haven’t totally lost me, but I’m about to cancel my Paramount+ subscription. Originally signed up because I wanted to catch all of the H50 episodes I’d missed over the years before it ended, then found it convenient to catch NCIS & Magnum episodes off schedule. Watched the first couple of seasons of Discovery until it “jumped the shark”, now I’ll finish the current season of Picard and pass on Strange New Worlds. CBS, are you listening? Don’t know who does your market research but they are missing lots of viewers. I’ll end up buying these shows on disc before I pay Paramount/CBS to stream things that they’ve cancelled for weak, repetitive replacements.
Why would Paramount+ pick up a Universal show to air? If anything Peacock (Universal/NBC) streaming would. But even they aren’t interested in picking up their own show
It was *all* about the licensing fee.
if it was a tough decision why cancel it. just to make room for new shows that will probably wont do well
Bad decision. Thete are shows still on CBS that should have been canceled instead of Magnum
Bad decision cutting Magnum PI. It was my favourite show on Friday nights and I looked forward to it every week. I wish some other station would pick it up.