- Title: MacGyver (2016) – The Complete Series
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All five seasons of the MacGyver reboot are collected here featuring Lucas Till as Angus MacGyver working for the covert Phoenix Foundation solving problems all over the world with the help of his friends Jack (George Eads), Riley (Tristin Mays), Bowser (Justin Hires), and in later seasons Desi (Levy Tran) and Russ Taylor (Henry Ian Cusick).
More high-tech than the original MacGyver, often with some kind of hacking need by Riley, the reboot saw more team action in the field but still worked in MacGyver’s various on-the-fly inventions to get out of tough jams. The show was hit hard by the COVID-19 outbreak, which was worked into an episode after filming began again, leading to some shortened and truncated final seasons.
Given its larger regular cast, rather than MacGyver working solo with various guest-stars, and a bigger emphasis on computer skills needed to be supplied by Riley, the show has a different feel than the original. Seasons also tended to have longer ongoing arcs, such as searching for Mac’s ex-girlfriend (Tracy Spiridakos) and the team’s ongoing battle against Codex, rather than the episodic nature of the the original series. CBS pulled the plug on the show despite continuing to pull in viewers and even winning its timeslot.
The use of recurring guest-stars is one thing the show did take from its predecessor with David Dastmalchian, Amy Acker, Aly Michalka, Emerson Brooks, and the various others such as the members of the Colton family making multiple appearances. Viewed better on its own than compared to the original show which it shares its name, the newer MacGyver may never quite measure up to its namesake but does supply its share of entertainment over the show’s somewhat uneven 94 episodes (even if certain characters, and even some plot threads, feel hastily written off at times).
