Spoilers below for the series premiere of Magnum P.I.
The Magnum P.I. reboot made its television debut on CBS recently, and viewers both excited and skeptical alike tuned in to see how much this new version remained faithful to the original series. Jay Hernandez may look like a completely different Thomas Magnum from Tom Selleck's original TV hunk, but this new iteration paid homage by kicking off the episode with a red Ferrari 488 Spider that Magnum P.I. fans will recognize. The familiar car was then promptly destroyed it in an amusingly surprising move, and that wasn't the only vehicular destruction that went down.
The famous red Ferrari was a welcome glimpse of Magnum P.I.'s early days within the new reboot, and one could imagine Magnum letting his mustache blow in the wind while zipping down the highway. At least until the car was destroyed by gunfire not long into the episode.
Needless to say, Higgins wasn't too happy to hear that Thomas unintentionally totaled Robin Masters' Ferrari, but the Robin's Nest Majordomo eventually relented and allowed the detective to borrow another classic Ferrari so he could investigate the kidnapping of his friend. This time around, Magnum got a red Ferrari GTS Quattrovalvole, which again, called back to one of the snazzy rides that Tom Selleck drove on the original Magnum P.I. It seemed as though the series had officially revealed Thomas Magnum's new go-to car for the series...
...Ri-i-i-ight up until he crashed the new loaner into the bad guys, and it was sent careening off the edge of a cliff. Thomas survived thanks to a helicopter rescue from TC and Rick, but the car was not so lucky, as the video below shows.
With two Ferraris down in its premiere episode, Magnum P.I. had one more up its sleeve for the final scene. Apparently, ye olde Robin's Nest was fresh out of red sports cars, as Magnum and Higgins closed out the episode in a black Ferrari California T. Higgins was the one driving this time around, which is understandable, given Thomas' track record over those past few days.
The ending would appear to mean Jay Hernandez's Magnum will be a bigger fan of black Ferraris than red, although EW reports this isn't the end of red Ferraris, at least one of which is set to return during the season. Until then, he's just slumming it in the black California T until he can get ahold of another of Robin's sweet fire red wagons. Beggars can't be choosers, especially when it comes to luxury sports cars.
Had the show dropped Thomas Magnum's preference of red Ferraris, it wouldn't be the first tradition this new Magnum P.I. did away with. Jay Hernandez obviously does not sport the character's signature mustache that Tom Selleck made iconic. The premiere also had Hernandez give away his Detroit Tigers baseball cap to a young kid, although one would imagine an avid fan like Thomas would surely have another one or two lying around. It's still too early to see how viewers will respond to these kinds of changes, although early buzz appears to show opinions are mixed.
Magnum P.I. airs on CBS on Mondays at 9:00 p.m. ET. Keep up with all shows headed to television this fall by visiting and bookmarking our fall premiere guide.
