There’s still no filming date for Season 5. But we got the title for the episode written as production number 501!
(Minor Spoiler Alert: You might get spoilered about Season 5 by reading this post and its comments or by clicking on the links provided. For daily news and to join the discussion and/or speculate away, you can find me on Twitter and head over to the MacGyverOnline Forums.)
All you need to know about Season 5
Despite the delay of Fall Season, some networks already released posters or teaser tweets about their upcoming shows. Sadly, CBS doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to promote any of their shows yet. Maybe they’re still waiting a bit to set definite premiere dates, unlike some other networks that already have premiere dates set in place and are moving them up and down depending how filming is going.
We did get some exciting news though, delivered by Justin Hires. On Wednesday, he uploaded the script title page for the episode written as production number 501. It’s titled “Telescope + S-218 + Amplifier + Frenemies + Fog”; indicating that David Dastmalchian will make another guest appearance as our favorite villain Murdoc (he was introduced as “Suspect 218” in Episode 1×08).
Several writers (e.g. Cindy Appel) and producers (e.g. Terry Matalas) moved on to other productions. At the moment, we don’t know exactly who’s on the writing and producing team. Back in July, Jim Adler tweeted that he was fired by Lenkov. Therefore, it’s very likely that this was one of the scripts with production number 421 or 422 that has been updated to fit better into new showrunner Monica Macer’s vision for Season 5.
It will be interesting to see how they will handle the difference in appearance between the seasons. Considering that Russ had his leg broken in the Season 4 Finale and has probably been out of commission for a few months, it’s very likely that they will add another, but smaller time jump for the start of Season 5.
Upcoming Episodes Overview
This overview I put together is probably not fully accurate. The infos were either provided by CBS, by the website for the Writers Guild of America West (episode titles), by social media accounts or IMDb (cast and crew info), from SpoilerTV (press releases) and The Futon Critic (airdates).
- production number 414 / presumably aired as 5×01: Thief + Painting + Viro-486 + Justice
Written by Peter M. Lenkov and Andrew Klein - 415 / 5×02: Resort + Desi + Riley + Witness
Written by Stephanie Hicks, directed by Avi Youabian - 416 / 5×03: Jack + Kinematics + MgKNO3 + GTO
Written by Jim Adler, directed by Ericson Core - 417 / 5×04: Golden Lancehead + Venom + Blood + Baggage
Written by Joshua Brown and Andrew Karlsruher, directed by David Straiton - 418 / 5×05: SOS + Hazmat + Frequency + Malihini
Written by Cindy Appel, directed by Yangzom Brauen - 419 / 5×06: Banh Bao + Drill + Burner + Mason
Written by Justin Lisson and Sophia Lopez, directed by Peter Weller - 420 / 5×07: Rails + Pitons + Pipe + Salt (unfinished production)
Written by Rob Pearlstein, directed by Christine Moore - 501 / 5x??: Telescope + S-218 + Amplifier + Frenemies + Fog
Written by Jim Adler and Stephanie Hicks
Note that the episode titles and their order is not definite until an official Press Release by CBS.
Sadly, they wiped the IMDb listings after the announcement that 4×13 would be the season finale, so I can’t access all the information about the guest stars anymore. It’s possible that the episodes initially filmed for Season 4 will be re-named and/or re-ordered for Season 5.
What’s going to happen now?
Several scripted CBS crime/drama shows have successfully started filming: SWAT, NCIS: LA, NCIS, Magnum PI (September 16), NCIS: New Orleans (September 21) and All Rise (September 23). The official accounts and cast members are not very forthcoming with posting BtS material. Therefore, it’s difficult to say if they are able to move along in the same tempo as before the pandemic or if production is going slower than usual.
Most of the other crime/drama shows have already been greenlit for production: Bull (September 25), Blood and Treasure (September), SEAL Team (September), Evil (September), FBI (October 6), FBI: Most Wanted (October 6), Rookie Clarice (October), Rookie CSI: Vegas (October) and Veteran Blue Bloods (tba).
The writers keep teasing us without saying too much. This Monday, they tweeted a GIF of a bear and a cabin in the woods. We did get a new BtS goodie for Episode 4×13 (Save + The + Dam + World), posted by Sarah Downer.
Season 4 Rerun Ratings
To recap: The rerun of Episode 4×08 (Father + Son + Father + Matriarch) beat the rerun of Blue Bloods in audience numbers, reaching 2.764 million live-viewers with a demo rating of 0.3. The rerun of Episode 4×09 (Code + Artemis + Nuclear + N3mesis) won over Blue Bloods in both audience numbers and demo ratings; entertaining 2.918 million live-viewers with a demo of 0.4. The rerun of Episode 4×10 (Tesla + Bell + Edison + Mac) got 2.711 million live-viewers with a demo of 0.3, again reaching more live-viewers than Blue Bloods.
Starting tonight, there will be at least 5 more episodes of “The Greatest AtHome Videos” in our favorite timeslot; followed by “Undercover Boss” starting October 2. In between, there’s also episodes of “Big Brother”. If CBS plans on airing MacGyver and Magnum PI together, they won’t start before November 6.
What are Cast and Crew up to?
There were several hints that Tristin Mays filmed a project in Colorado, but so far there’s no information on what she’s been working on. A few weeks ago, Justin Hires released his first podcast episode while both Lucas Till and Levy Tran pretty much disappeared from social media.
Lucas’ movie Son of the South was set for a premiere on September 16. With no trailer or reviews being released beforehand, it was no surprise when the premiere date got taken off IMDb again. There’s no new release date yet and also no information if Lucas and/or some of his co-stars will be involved in any promo.
MacGyver in Germany
To Recap: Episode 4×08 (Father + Son + Father + Matriarch) had 1.17 million live-viewers and a market-share of 4.1%. Until a few weeks ago, there was an episode of Reef Break sandwiched between MacGyver and Hawaii Five-0. Its ratings dragged down both shows airing before and after, so German channel Sat.1 unceremoniously pulled Reef Break off the primetime schedule; replacing it with a second episode of MacGyver.
Apparently, it paid off: Episode 4×09 (Code + Artemis + Nuclear + N3mesis) had 1.24 million live-viewers with a market-share of 4.4%. Episode 4×10 (Tesla + Bell + Edison + Mac) got 1.32 million live-viewers with a market-share of 4.9%. Episode 4×11 (Psy-Op + Cell + Merchant + Birds) had 1.25 million live-viewers with a market-share of 4.4%, followed by Episode 4×12 (Loyalty + Family + Rogue + Hellfire) with 1.22 million live-viewers and a market-share of 4.6%.
There’s only one episode left: The Season 4 midseason finale-turned finale 4×13 with the German title “Apokalypse” (Save + The + Dam + World). A week later, they’ll start airing new episodes of NCIS and Bull.
Other MacGyver News
ICYMI: Prince of Cats Literary Productions announced that they will release the first of at least three OG MacGyver novels in October. The first book is titled “MacGyver: Meltdown”, written by Original MacGyver Creator Lee David Zlotoff and Eric Kelley.
There are a few fan-voting “contests” going on pretty soon. Voting for the People Choice Awards will start on October 1. The Canadagraphs Awards should also announce their categories and nominees by next week. There’s no news about the Teen Choice Awards yet (that usually takes place in August). A 2nd surfboard trophy would be nice, don’t you think? I’ll keep you posted.
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