MacGyver Reboot Update #115

No season without some plot twist news. For this year, it’s Showrunner Peter Lenkov being fired by CBS; effective immediately.

Roadtrip Day 12 (via Mike Milligan)

(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.)

 

A new Showrunner for Season 5
The MacGyverWriters have been back in the (virtual) office since June 12. One person probably hasn’t been attending any meetings since last week: (Former) Showrunner Peter Lenkov was fired by CBS;  dismissed despite having a year left on his overall deal with CBS TV Studios.

The Hollywood Reporter was the first to break the news; stating that the dismissal happened after an investigation into multiple claims that Lenkov created a toxic work environment. Sources say that Lenkov had been the subject of at least three complaints alleging that he was manipulative and abusive while working on both Hawaii Five-0 and MacGyver.

As you can imagine, the extent of the allegiations plus CBS firing one of their biggest “moneymakers” made quite some noise online. A few former writers have already hinted about their past experiences, and it’s possible that former cast and crew members might come forward soon.

Roadtrip Day 13 (via Mike Milligan)

Back in May, I wrote about an Instagram post by the Rain Management Group (that was later edited). They announced that Jim Adler joined Season 5 as Co-Executive Producer while Monica Macer joined as Showrunner. They edited the post before I could take a screenshot; and I assumed they had meant Monica Macer will join as a Co-Showrunner. In a Skype interview with The Morning Show for Global News (Canada) on June 17, Lucas Till mentioned that the show just got Macer as a new showrunner. He explicitly said showrunner, which I again assumed was just a slip of the tongue (and he had meant to say Co-Showrunner).

Apparently, this has been in the works for a while now. During the investigation, CBS already set the wheels in motion to remove Peter Lenkov as quickly as possibly if needed. I always thought it was weird that Co-Showrunner Terry Matalas had so much input for Season 4, despite having a lot less experience and connections in the industry. For his overall deal, Lenkov was hired to develop new shows as well, but his latest project simply disappeared without staying in development. As you can imagine, this also sparked new speculations about the surprising cancellation of Hawaii Five-0.

New/Old BtS photo of “Son of the South” (via Joey Thurmond)

What’s going to happen now?
Jim Adler already was a Co-Executive Producer on Season 4. He recently indicated in a tweet that he was fired by Lenkov. Since he wrote Episode 4×16 (Jack + Kinematics + MgKNO3 + GTO), it must have happened during the ongoing season. I don’t know if he’s currently on the team or not (e.g. if he was “re-hired” for Season 5). Both H50 and MacGyver had sort of a revolving door for writers; and it seems a lot of them didn’t leave voluntarily. Since there’s never any official announcements, it’s hard to keep track and there might be more personnel changes coming. CBS has committed to bring more diversity to the network, and Monica Macer as new showrunner will sure adhere to that.

Since the “leftover” episodes from Season 4 were still written under Lenkov, the changes probably won’t be immediately noticed – but depending on how many episodes they will be able to film this year, we might get yet another soft reboot of the show; similar to Season 4.

ICYMI: The MacGyver Writers will share a teaser for Season 5 if they reach 8000 followers on Twitter; so you’ll know what to do if you don’t follow them yet.

Official Still for “Son of the South” (via Clear Horizon Entertainment)

There are a few CBS primetime shows listed with production dates for August (e.g. Magnum PI) and September (e.g. Clarice), but MacGyver is not part of it. Considering that Covid-19 cases are still rising in Georgia area and with California entering another soft lockdown, CBS might have to decide which shows will go forward and which won’t; maybe relocating some of them or push production to next year.

Tonight, there’s a rerun of Episode 4×02 (Red Cell + Quantum + Cold + Committed). Next Friday, they’re bringing back “The Greatest At-Home Videos” in our favorite timeslot, so there’s no more reruns listed at the moment. There are many more Fridays until “Fall” Season, though – especially if none of the primetime shows can start filming anytime soon.

BtS photo of Episode 3×22: Mason + Cable + Choices (via CBS)

Season 3 Rerun Ratings
To recap: The rerun of Episode 3×20 (No Go + High Voltage + Rescue) on June 19 (at 9pm for once) got 3.140 million live-viewers; also with a demo of 0.3. The Saturday rerun of Episode 3×21 (Treason + Heartbreak + Gum) garnered 1.824 million live-viewers with a demo of 0.2.

Last week, the Rerun of the Season 3 Finale Episode 3×22 (Mason + Cable + Choices) had 3.480 million live-viewers with a demo of 0.3. Not too bad for a Friday rerun.

What are Cast and Crew up to?
Lucas Till is still on a road trip across the country with his brother Nick, roommate Mike and some friends. We got some Official Stills for his movie “Son of the South” a few weeks ago, but there’s no trailer yet. The release date was set for September 16 and last year, there had been talks about the movie having its premiere in Alabama before taking part in the festival circuits. It’s possible that the release date might be pushed to next year or that they decide for a premiere on a streaming network instead.

Cadillac Ranch (via Tristin Mays)

Tristin Mays also had a family outing (for the first time in months), posting a few photos of her visiting the Cadillac Ranch.

On July 24, Henry Ian Cusick will take part in an online panel discussion for “Comic Con at Home” (since the San Diego Comic Con had to be cancelled); hosted by Entertainment Weekly under the title “Brave Warriors”. He probably can’t talk much about Season 5 or the Lenkov situation, but maybe he can talk a bit about the unaired episodes they had initially filmed for Season 4.

MacGyver in Germany
The Free-TV-Premiere of Season 4 in Germany was on channel Sat.1 this Tuesday (8.15pm). Episode 4×01 (Fire + Ashes + Legacy = Phoenix) had 1.43 million live-viewers and a market-share of 5.2%. That’s a bigger audience than for the German Season 3 Premiere and a bigger audience and market share for the demo group (14-49 years). It also did better than a new episode of Hawaii Five-0 that aired two hours later.

Backcover Art Preview for the S3 German DVD (via Amazon)

Contrary to the other seasons, they only air one episode instead of two; probably to stretch out the weeks with new episodes. The upcoming German Episode Titles:

• 4×02: Projekt Quirk (literal translation: Project Quirk; Red Cell + Quantum + Cold + Committed)
• 4×03: Steuerlos am Himmel (Rudderless in the Sky; Kid + Plane + Cable + Truck)
• 4×04: Wettlauf mit der Zeit (Race against Time; Windmill + Acetone + Celluloid + Firing Pin)
• 4×05: Der Kaufmann (The Merchant; Soccer + Desi + Merchant + Titan)

MacGyver around the World
The Season 3 DVD was released in several countries this week: Australia, New Zealand (July 15) and Germany, Austria, Switzerland (July 16). The international versions contain a Gag Reel and Deleted Scenes. Considering the Gag Reel isn’t even 2 minutes long, it’s even more outreageous they didn’t put it on the US version as well. Also, it’s completely devoid of any snippets with George Eads.

Japanese Season 3 DVD Cover (Part 2, via Anemo)

Here are the other upcoming DVD release dates:

• August 26 (France)
• September 2 (Japan, Part 1)
• October 9 (Japan, Part 2)

Season 4 is supposed to air in the UK on July 26 (on Sky One). Let’s see if they keep the release date this time.

Looking Back at Season 3 (V) – The Official Stills (Part 5)

It’s been 6 weeks for the Fall shows on CBS. Not for MacGyver, sadly. So let’s (finally!) finish another blog post to help easing the pain of having to wait for Season 4, no?

As with Seasons 1 and 2, I’m looking back at the Official Stills for each episode of Season 3; picking my favorites and writing down some of my thoughts. (Because I just can’t keep quiet, as you all know.)

Episode 3×22: Mason + Cable + Choices (Official Still via Getty Images)

If you missed Part 1 (Episodes 3×01 to 3×05), you can read the post here. For Part 2 (Episodes 3×06 to 3×10), you can visit there. Part 3 (Episodes 3×11 to 3×15) is to be found here. And there you can read Part 4 (Episodes 3×16 to 3×19).

 

Episode 3×20: No Go + High Voltage + Rescue (Still Photographer: Jace Downs)
For Episode 3×20, we got 11 Official Stills by Still Photographer Jace Downs. Most of them are not all that interesting, but there is a nice team shot that already has been used for a lot of Season 4 fan art.

Episode 3×20: No Go + High Voltage + Rescue (Official Still via CBS)

MY FAVORITE: The walking team shot one, of course.

NOW THAT’S DISAPPOINTING: Nothing downright disappointing. Four Stills of the cast sitting in a car just aren’t all that good for getting people interested in the episode beforehand.

 

Episode 3×21: Treason + Heartbreak + Gum (Erik Voake)
For Episode 3×21, we got 11 photos. Sadly, the Official Stills were never released on SpoilerTV in good quality. Some of the Stills aren’t even available anyhwere but on Getty Images.

Episode 3×21: Treason + Heartbreak + Gum (via MacGyverCBS)

MY FAVORITE: Pretty people doing obscure things. A longer scene with Desi and Oversight could have been very interesting – considering she’s now taking over the role of Jack (who Oversight kind of chose to be put together with Mac to watch his back while he didn’t with Desi).

NOW THAT’S DISAPPOINTING: Not much to choose from. Only one Still with the main character – and it’s watermarked. To be honest, I don’t really like this episode that much and I think the BtS photos are way more interesting. It had originally been intended to be the Season Finale and I’m really glad they didn’t go with it.

 

Episode 3×22: Mason + Cable + Choices (Jace Downs)
The Season Finale delivered 12 Official Stills. Weirdly, CBS later deleted 4 of them from their official press release page before SpoilerTV got a hand on them. As with Episode 3×21, these Stills are only available via Getty Images and therefore watermarked.

Episode 3×22: Mason + Cable + Choices (Official Still via TV Insider)

MY FAVORITE: It’s Mac doing his thing while the others don’t really know what’s going on.

NOW THAT’S DISAPPOINTING: With the press release, it wasn’t a secret anymore that Peter Weller would be guest-starring as the big bad in this episode. A Still with him would have been nice. Also, for a Season Finale, the Stills aren’t all that exciting – but the same can be said about the finale episodes for the previous seasons. On the other hand, they had released the first Still for the Season 2 Finale as a First Look Still of Oversight via TV Line. Nothing like that this time.

MacGyver Reboot Update #84

What a bummer: Although renewed for another Season, the show was moved to midseason, getting an order of 13 episodes only. Filming will start in July like last year, though.

Lucas Till at the Corus Upfronts 2019 (via CBS Studios International)

(Minor Spoiler Alert: You might get spoilered about characters and storylines in Season 4 by reading this post and its comments or by clicking on the links provided!)

 

What are Cast and Crew up to?
The Season 3 Finale aired on May 10. Some of the cast and crew enjoyed some downtime while others worked on different projects. Lucas Till wrapped his movie Son of the South a few weeks ago. He “disappeared” for two weeks – only to pop up at the Corus Upfronts in Toronto (more about that further down).

Tristin Mays at the IFS screening for “Breate” (via Troy Curvey)

The rest of the main cast was pretty busy in recent months as well:

• Justin Hires dropped the first single for his upcoming album. He has a new website and filmed a music video this week.
• Tristin Mays’ short “Breathe” was screened at IFS (Independent Filmmakers Showcase) in LA last month. She already won in the category “Best Actress” at “FirstGlance Film Fest Hollywood” back in March and reviews are good, but there’s no official release date yet.
• George Eads’ Korean War movie “The Battle of Jangsari” has been picked up for international distribution.
• Levy Tran went back to her old job and spent time with her family. She is busy packing this week – probably preparing to come back to Atlanta for Season 4.
• Amazon Studios has picked up “The Wilds”, the series that Reign Edwards filmed the pilot for in New Zealand last year. It’s not clear yet if Reign is still part of the project (we all remember the Unaired MacGyver Reboot Pilot), but if she is, that means we might probably have to say goodbye to Leanna for good.

Reboot-related, it’s gotten pretty quiet on social media before the Corus Upfronts. Every now and then, a new/old BtS photo (e.g. of Justin Hires or of Lucas Till in Episode 2×01) pops up.

BtS photo of Episode 3×22: Mason + Cable + Choices (via CBS)

Isabel DeLaCruz briefly talked about working on Episode 2×21 (Wind + Water) in a podcast. Technical Consultant Rhett Allain continued uploading blog posts with science notes about the MacHacks. He’s intent on finishing Season 2 during the hiatus; adding blog posts for Episode 2×06 (Jet Engine + Pickup Truck), for Episode 2×07 (Duct Tape + Jack) and for Episode 2×08 (Packing Peanuts + Fire).

About the Season 3 Ratings (Encore)
Let’s revisit the ratings. To freshen up your memory: The Season Finale had 5.472 million live-viewers with a demo of 0.6. In the +7 Ratings, it added 1.588 million viewers (+29%), reaching a total of 7.063 million viewers and a demo of 0.93 (+44%).

The Reboot ended Season 3 with an average of 6.107 millions live-viewers per episode with a demo-rating of 0.70. Comparing to Season 2, the show lost about 16% in demo and roughly 11% in live audience numbers.

BtS photo of Episode 3×22: Mason + Cable + Choices (via CBS)

Compared to the 26 scripted shows on CBS during the 2018-2019 Season, the Reboot made rank 22 in demo and rank 13 in audience numbers. Compared to the Summer shows on CBS at the moment, it would be at rank 2 in demo and first in audience, but we can’t assume the Reboot will be able to keep its current ratings when airing midseason.

Overall, CBS lost quite a bit in the demo ratings. This happened to the other networks as well – but compared to the ratings 7 years ago, it lost the most; experience an average demo drop of more than 65%.

Ratings prediction for Season 4
Usually, a new season of an ongoing Fall show continues in ratings in September the way it ended its last season. Then, it hopefully rises up and peaks around Christmas before dropping again – which did indeed happen for Season 3. Predicting the Season 4 ratings is pretty much impossible at this moment, though – since we don’t know yet in what timeslot the show will end up in and if it will air as a Winter, Spring or Summer show. Sadly, midseason shows aren’t very famous for their ratings in general.

BtS photo of Episode 3×22: Mason + Cable + Choices (via Lucas Till)

For comparison: The first season of Salvation (another project Executive Producer Peter Lenkov was involved in) in 2016 had a demo rating of 0.52 and 3.53 million viewers per episode. The second season managed a demo of 0.33 and 2.67 million viewers before it was cancelled in 2017. Before Code Black was moved to midseason, it had quite decent ratings: its demo was at 0.93. After being shoved to midseason for Season 3 in 2018, it ended on a demo rating of 0.7 (and 5.66 million live-viewers) and was cancelled.

CBS has several mediocre-rated shows on TV this Fall, so they’re tolerating shows to drop lower in ratings than they used to a few years ago. But it’s difficult to say what CBS will expect ratings-wise for MacGyver and what it will be willing to tolerate before cancelling it. Whatever timeslot the Reboot ends up in, the ratings will surely drop lower than they would have otherwise.

Justin Hires at West Palm Beach Improv (via Ulysses Burdenii)

It’s worth noting that both rookie Spring shows this year on CBS failed – they haven’t been renewed yet and didn’t get a back-order, so they’re essentially cancelled. After 8 episodes so far, The Code (Mondays 9pm) is at 5.10 million live-viewers with a demo of 0.57 on average. The Red Line (Sundays 8pm) ended its run of 8 episodes with 3.85 million live-viewers and a demo of 0.36 per episode.

Summer Show Blood & Treasure (Tuesdays 10pm) aired 4 episodes so far. The average at the moment is 4.94 million live-viewers with a demo of 0.56. It could stabilize because it has a great lead-in with NCIS and FBI.

Lucas Till at the Corus Upfronts 2019 (via Candids Toronto)

All you need to know about Season 4
On May 9, CBS finally broke the news that MacGyver has been renewed for another Season. Sadly, the celebration got ruined not even a week later: The show won’t come back this year since it was being shoved to mid-season. Its Friday Fall timeslot at 8pm will be taken over by Hawaii Five-0, since Magnum PI will be airing on Fridays at 9pm.

So far, there’s no reruns planned for MacGyver either during the hiatus. The 8pm Friday timeslot is filled with “Whistleblower” and “Love Island” at the moment. Starting August 9, they will run Hawaii Five-0 reruns at 8pm, followed by Magnum reruns at 9pm and Blue Bloods reruns at 10pm; testing the new schedule for Fall Season. The same is happening on Wednesday, with CBS foregoing reruns of SEAL Team to air reruns of SWAT instead.

CBS Fall 2019 Schedule (via World Screen)

Here’s what we know so far about the upcoming season:

• Terry Matalas (12 Monkeys) will replace Craig O’Neill as new Co-Showrunner besides Executive Producer Peter Lenkov.
• As Peter Lenkov stated, they will start filming in July as usual, so in about 4 weeks.
• As Justin Hires revealed, they will film 13 episodes for now; filming from July to December. (The order for only half a season was later confirmed by Lenkov.)

There’s no further information about returning cast and crew. There’s also no Casting Calls out yet. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

(For daily news about Season 4 and to join the discussion and/or speculate away, you can head over to the MacGyverOnline Forums.)

BtS photo of Episode 2×01: DIY or DIE (via Robert Maxfield)

They might start filming soon, but if we’re unlucky, it could take another half a year until we get official news about the premiere date and the timeslot. There’s several possibilities:

• The Reboot could take over the 1-hour-timeslot of a rookie show or any other show that didn’t get a full season order, so probably premiering in January 2020. This is the most likely option. Good thing: We don’t have to wait too long and there’s room for more than 13 episodes. Bad thing: Options are Mondays 9pm (in place of All Rise), Thursdays 10pm (Evil) or even Sundays 10pm (Madam Secretary) – which probably doesn’t bode well for ratings since MacGyver has all the charactericstics of being an 8pm show. Shows often drop heavily in ratings when being shoved to a later timeslot (see Scorpion or Bull). Also, Sundays is considered the “Death Slot” on CBS (contrary to Fridays on other networks).
• The Reboot could take over the timeslot of a show with a full season order of 22 episodes that doesn’t get reruns after the season finale. Good thing: It could get an 8pm slot and even air on Fridays again. Bad thing: That would still mean we would have to wait until April or even May next year – which probably doesn’t bode well for ratings either since this would essentially make it a Summer show. (With only having 13 episodes, it wouldn’t need to start airing before June to be done in time for the new Fall shows to start in September.)
• The Reboot could take over the 1-hour-timeslot of a crime show that got pulled early. Good thing: We don’t have to wait too long and there’s room for more than 13 episodes. It could even end up on Friday again. Bad thing: Who wants to take over the timeslot of a show that failed spectacularly or got pulled because of a scandal? Also, this doesn’t happen very often; especially not with shows that made it further than the first season.

At the moment, it’s too early to speculate about it too much. Some rookie shows generated more buzz than others, but it’s still difficult to determine which show will be successful with a back-order and which might end after half a season; being replaced by MacGyver.

Lucas Till having fun at the Corus Upfronts 2019 (via Lucas Till)

The Corus Upfronts and other MacGyver Promo
Like back in 2017, Lucas Till promoted the upcoming season at the Corus Upfronts in Toronto for GlobalTV. It was a pleasant surprise to see BtS photos of interviews and of him posing with fans pop up on social media on Monday. So far, there haven’t been any interviews released yet.

Apparently, the MacGyver Manual got a new cover and title once again: It’s now called “The Official MacGyver Survival Manual: 155 Ways to Save the Day”. The release date stays the same (September 17) and it still has 208 pages, but it contains now 155 MacHacks instead of 153.

MacGyver Survival Manual title page (via Amazon)

MacGyver in France
After keeping stable and peaking at Episode 3×14, the ratings in France have been dropping since Episode 3×15.

• 3×16 (May 11): 1.73 million viewers
• 3×17 and 3×18 (May 18): 1.52 and 1.44 million viewers
• 3×19 and 3×20 (May 25): 1.39 and 1.27 million viewers
• 3×21 and 3×22 (June 1st): 1.08 and 1.05 million viewers

As you can see, the numbers for the Season finale were a bit disastrous, but that’s probably because of an important European Soccer Game on another channel airing at the same time.

The French DVD for Season 2 will be released on July 24. There’s still no further information about the extras.

MacGyver Reboot Update #83

Although the show got renewed for another Season, fans are pretty bummed: Season 4 was moved to midseason, getting an order of 13 episodes only. That means we have to wait until next year for the Season 4 Premiere.

Episode 3×22: Mason + Cable + Choices (Official Still via What2Vue)

(Minor Spoiler Alert: You might get spoilered about characters and storylines in Season 4 by reading this post and its comments or by clicking on the links provided!)

 

About the Season Finale (Episode 3×22)
Although it was the Season Finale, CBS didn’t provide any additional promo for this episode. They did release three Sneak Peeks, though. Thankfully, the Official Stills were posted on SpoilerTV this time.

Since the episode has been filmed a while ago, I couldn’t find any of the guest stars uploading BtS photos. They mostly posted some screenshots of their scenes. Since the cast and crew is either on holiday or working on other projects now, there was hardly any live-tweeting and posting. At least the official CBS account posted several interesting BtS photos on Instagram.

BtS photo of Episode 3×22: Mason + Cable + Choices (via CBS)

On May 12, Technical Consultant Rhett Allain uploaded the blog post with science notes about the MacHacks in this episode. He later added a blog post for Episode 2×05 (Skull + Electromagnet) and for Episode 2×06 (Jet Engine + Pickup Truck) as well; intent on finishing Season 2 during the hiatus.

Let’s take a look at the ratings for the last few episodes. To freshen up your memory: Episode 3×21 had 5.326 million live-viewers with a demo of 0.6, making it the episode with the lowest ratings this season. In the +7 Ratings, it added 1.511 million viewers (+28%), reaching a total of 6.840 million viewers with a demo of 0.93 (+50%).

BtS photo of Episode 3×22: Mason + Cable + Choices (via CBS)

Episode 3×22 fared a bit better: It had 5.472 million live-viewers with a demo of 0.6. In the +7 Ratings, it added 1.588 million viewers (+29%), reaching a total of 7.063 million viewers and a demo of 0.93 (+44%).

About the Season 3 Ratings
The Reboot ended Season 3 with an average of 6.107 millions live-viewers per episode with a demo-rating of 0.70. Episode 3×14 airing on February 1st had the highest audience number.

Comparing to last season, Season 3 lost about 16% in demo and roughly 11% in live audience numbers. As in Seasons 1 and 2, the ratings peaked around midseason before dropping again.

MacGyver Audience Numbers Overview (graph by DashboardOnFire)

Back in September 2018, the Hollywood Reporter predicted that while the 18-49 race may be tighter this season, CBS should easily lead its target demo of adults (between 25 and 54) and the total viewer count again. They stated: CBS didn’t do anything to its MacGyver/Hawaii Five-0/Blue Bloods lineup, for good reason: It works. Of course, the pediction turned out to be true with CBS winning Friday night in ratings and/or audience numbers over 30 times.

Compared to the 27 scripted shows on CBS during the 2018-2019-Season, the Reboot is at rank 22 in demo and at rank 13 in audience numbers.

Episode 3×22: Mason + Cable + Choices (Official Still via SpoilerTV)

The other CBS crime-action shows with similar audience numbers as MacGyver have also been renewed. Let’s compare how well they faired: 

• SEAL Team finished Season 2 at 5.027 million live-viewers (Rank 23) and a demo of 0.76 (Rank 19) on average. Compared to last year, they lost about 25% in both demo ratings and audience numbers.
• SWAT ended their 2nd season at 5.302 million live-viewers (Rank 21) with a demo of 0.78 (Rank 17) per episode. It lost about 17% in demo ratings and about 10% in audience numbers compared to last season.
• Magnum PI closed their first season at 5.992 million live-viewers per episode (Rank 15) with a 0.89 demo-rating (Rank 8).
• Bull ended at 6.708 million live-viewers per episode (Rank 11) with a 0.75 demo-rating (Rank 21) . It lost about 37% in both demo ratings and audience numbers, which makes it the CBS shows with the biggest loss this season.

As you can see, the audience numbers for these shows aren’t all that great. To be fair, they do a lot better in DVR and have better demo ratings than MacGyver, but that’s probably not the main reason why out of all these shows, it was MacGyver that had been moved to midseason (more about that further down).

BtS photo of Episode 3×22: Mason + Cable + Choices (via CBS)

There is an interesting snippet in a recent interview Executive Producer Peter Lenkov gave to Matt Carter a day before the Season Finale of Hawaii Five-0:

Matt Carter: I know the show wasn’t renewed until recently, but you probably felt good about coming back at the time the finale was coming together, right?

Peter Lenkov: I always feel good because the show has been strong for a long time, but you never know. Everything changes. Sometimes shows don’t come back for other reasons that have nothing to do with the ratings or the quality.

All you need to know about Season 4
On May 9, CBS finally broke the news that MacGyver has been renewed for another Season. The info for both MacGyver and Hawaii Five-0 being renewed came right on Executive Producer Peter Lenkov’s birthday. Understandably, the fans were elated.

BtS photo of Episode 3×22: Mason + Cable + Choices (via CBS)

Sadly, the happy parade got ruined not even a week later. On May 15, CBS announced the new Fall Season schedule ahead of the Upfronts presentation – and the Reboot was absent. MacGyver got demoted from a Fall show; being benched to mid-season. Its Friday timeslot will be taken over by Hawaii Five-0, which in turn had to make room for Magnum PI at 9pm.

CBS wasnt’ forthcoming with more information since the Upfronts are all about the Fall schedule. It will probably take months until we get an inkling about the premiere date and until we know for sure in what timeslot the Reboot might end up in.

There’s several possibilities: The Reboot could take over the timeslot of a rookie show that didn’t get a full season order or of a show that ended their last season on a short run, so probably in January 2020. It could take over the timeslot of a show with a full season order of 22 episodes that doesn’t get reruns after the season finale. That would mean we might have to wait until April or even May next year.

Temporary Key Art on social media (via CBS)

Of course, waiting for an entire year for new episodes is kind of torture if you’re a fan. Also, there’s the risk of people forgetting about the show since like last year (and unlike almost all other CBS shows), there’s no reruns planned. (The 8pm Friday timeslot will be filled with “Whistleblower” and “Love Island”.)

But, there’s no point in wasting too much energy on being disappointed or angry. Here’s what we know so far about the upcoming season:

• Terry Matalas (12 Monkeys) will replace Craig O’Neill as new Co-Showrunner besides Executive Producer Peter Lenkov.
• As Peter Lenkov stated, they will start filming in July as usual.
• As Justin Hires revealed, they will film 13 episodes for now. (The order for only half a season was later confirmed by Lenkov.)

There’s no further information yet about the recurring cast or about the exact production dates. Justin Hires recently did a radio interview before one of his stand-up comedy shows and said that they will film from July until December.

BtS photo of Episode 3×22: Mason + Cable + Choices (via CBS)

On Monday, they changed the Facebook header on the official account. Nothing dramatic – just exchanging the “Fridays 8/7c” sign with the one for CBS All Access. There’s no key art yet for Season 4 and it might be months until we get to see any. Unlike for the other seasons, they also didn’t provide a new production SAK logo.

(For daily news about Season 4 and to join the discussion and/or speculate away, you can head over to the MacGyverOnline Forums.)

MacGyver in France and Germany
The ratings have been dropping again after Episode 3×15, but the decline last Saturday could be due to the Eurovision Song Contest airing at the same time.

• 3×13 and 3×14 (April 27): 1.52 and 1.42 million viewers
• 3×15 (May 4): 1.95 million viewers
• 3×16 (May 11): 1.73 million viewers
• 3×17 and 3×18 (May 18): 1.52 and 1.44 million viewers

Even the reruns must draw enough audience since they dedicate overall 4 hours of screentime to the Reboot; filled with either one or two episodes of Season 3, followed by one or two episodes of Season 2 and one episode of Season 1.

Cover-Preview for the French Season 2 DVD (via CeDe Switzerland)

ICYMI: According to CeDe Switzerland, the French DVD for Season 2 will be released on July 24. The German DVD for Season 2 has a relase date of July 11. Both covers are an old version of the Season 2 promo poster with Jack in front of Mac.

MacGyver Reboot Update #82

It’s Season Finale Friday! You can enjoy it without any worries, since the show just got renewed for another Season!

Episode 3×22: Mason + Cable + Choices (Official Still via TV Insider)

(Spoiler Alert: You will get spoilered about characters and storylines in Season 3 by reading this post and its comments or by clicking on the links provided!)

 

About Episodes 3×20 and 3×21
As for almost the entire season, the teasers were only 10 seconds long. Both episodes got Sneak Peeks – but as so often, Hawaii Five-0 and Blue Bloods got their Sneak Peeks almost two days earlier than MacGyver did. Also, the Official Stills for the last two episodes were never posted on SpoilerTV.

Some of the guest stars uploaded a few new BtS photos for Episode 3×20; e.g. Eileen Faxas. Lucas Till had also offered a new BtS photo. Justin Hires’ Bozer stunt double Tim R. McAdams uploaded BtS photos and videos of one of the stunts on Wednesday.

BtS photo of Episode 3×20: No Go + High Voltage + Rescue (via Lucas Till)

On April 28, Technical Consultant Rhett Allain uploaded his usual blog post with science notes about the so-called MacHacks in this episode.

For Episode 3×21 (Treason + Heartbreak + Gum), ET Online posted an interview with Meredith Eaton talking about her character in the last two episodes and an exclusive, additional Sneak Peek of Matty meeting up with Ethan (Brendan Hines).

It’s worth noting that the article had been edited shortly after posting, although it’s not stated in the article itself. For once, they’ve edited Meredith’s age, but they’ve also edited the part with Meredith talking about the “sparking relationship” between Matty and Oversight.

Episode 3×21: Treason + Heartbreak + Gum (via MacGyverCBS)

It’s not clear if there was a misunderstanding or if they just spoilered the Season Finale since Episode 3×21 has been written and filmed as Episode 3×22 originally. They must have switched the airing order during post-production. So it’s possible this interview has been done a while ago, while still thinking Episode 3×21 would be the last one of this season.

Very few of the guest stars uploaded a few new BtS photos for Episode 3×21; e.g. Zane Stephens. Meredith Eaton uploaded a BtS photo of her during post-production with her doing ADR. The official CBS account posted a few of the Official Stills on their social media accounts.

For her “heartbreak scene” in Episode 3×21, Tristin Mays got an honorable mention as “Performer of the Week” by TV Line. MacGyver’s quips about burning stuff to get Riley laughing also made it for TV Line‘s “Quote of the Week“. On the same day, Technical Consultant Rhett Allain uploaded the blog post with science notes about the MacHacks.

Episode 3×20: No Go + High Voltage + Rescue (Official Still via What2Vue)

Let’s take a look at the recent ratings. To freshen up your memory: Episode 3×19 caught the attention of 6.075 million live-viewers with a demo of 0.7. All three CBS shows had a demo of 0.7, winning both the demo and the audience numbers timeslot for Friday. In the +7 Ratings, the episode added 1.444 million viewers (+24%), reaching a total of 7.523 million viewers with a demo of 1.02 (+45%).

Episode 3×20 managed 5.541 million live-viewers with a demo of 0.6. In the +7 Ratings, the episode added 1.465 million viewers (+26%), reaching a total of 7.009 million viewers with a demo of 0.86 (+49%).

Episode 3×21: Treason + Heartbreak + Gum (via MacGyverCBS)

Episode 3×21 had 5.326 million live-viewers with a demo of 0.6, making it the episode with the lowest ratings this season. There weren’t that many tweets sent out, but fans seemed to appreciate the episode on social media; especially the hugging scene between Mac and Riley.

About the Season 3 Ratings
At the moment, the MacGyver Reboot has an average of 6.137 millions live-viewers per episode with a demo-rating of 0.70. Compared to the 26 scripted shows on CBS at the moment, the Reboot is at rank 22 in demo and at rank 13 in audience numbers. Comparing to last season, Season 3 lost about 16% in demo and roughly 11% in live audience numbers.

BtS photo of Episode 3×22: Mason + Cable + Choices (via CBS)

All the other CBS crime-action shows with similar audience numbers as MacGyver have been renewed as well, so let’s compare them again: 

• Magnum PI closed their first season at 5.992 million live-viewers per episode with a 0.89 demo-rating.
• SEAL Team is at 5.056 million live-viewers and a demo of 0.76 on average. The show will have one more episode to go. Compared to last year, they lost about 24% in both demo ratings and audience numbers.
• SWAT is at 5.284 million live-viewers with a demo of 0.78 and has one more episode to go. It lost about 18% in demo ratings and about 10% in audience numbers compared to last season.
• Former CBS darling Bull is at 6.686 million live-viewers per episode with a 0.75 demo-rating. It lost about 37% in both demo ratings and audience numbers, which is one of the reasons why several outlets had speculated it might get cancelled, despite being only one season shy of syndication.

All you need to know about Episode 3×22
The Season Finale is titled “Mason + Cable + Choices”. The episode was written by Jim Adler and directed by Maja Vrvilo. There are guest appearances by Peter Weller and Emerson Brooks.

Episode 3×22: Mason + Cable + Choices (Official Still via SpoilerTV)

The Press Release with the first Official Still was posted on April 18, with more Stills added on May 6. For once, they also landed on SpoilerTV afterwards. Here’s the synopsis:

MacGyver faces off with a cunning new adversary whose carefully crafted plans put Mac at the epicenter of an impossible choice: save the life of a friend, or save the lives of hundreds of innocents. Also, Mac receives new information that will drive a wedge between him and his father.

In her interview with ET Online, Meredith Eaton said that the episode is one of the most exciting episodes they’ve ever shot, stating that guest-star Peter Weller’s character “wreaks havoc on all of us, putting Mac and all of us in danger.” She also revealed that Season 3 will end in a cliffhanger.

Episode 3×22: Mason + Cable + Choices (Official Still via SpoilerTV)

Yesterday, CBS released 3 Sneak Peeks. So far, they didn’t do much in additional Season Finale promo, which is a bit of a pity, but not that unusual for CBS this year. They did give us a few new BtS photos though, e.g. a snapshot with Levy Tran and Tristin Mays.

That’s a Wrap… or not.
Post-production continued for quite a while this season. Justin Hires finished his ADR for the last episode on April 24; Meredith Eaton on April 29.

The LA Wrap Party was held last on April 20, together with Hawaii Five-0 and Magnum PI. Sadly, none of the regular cast of MacGyver attended the event. Both David Dastmalchian and Michael Des Barres had posted a photo of themselves with Henry Winkler. Peter Lenkov had posted a handful of Instagram Stories with David, Michael, Levy Tran and the MacGyver Cake.

MacGyver Cake at the LA Wrap Party (via Hubert Rose Jr)

All you need to know about Season 4
Fans were getting impatient and worried, but yesterday CBS finally broke the news that MacGyver has been renewed for another Season. The info for both MacGyver and Hawaii Five-0 being renewed came right on Executive Producer Peter Lenkov’s birthday.

Interestingly, Terry Matalas (12 Monkeys) will replace Craig O’Neill as new Co-Showrunner. There’s no further information yet if that means the show will go a bit into a different creative direction. Levy Tran is expected to being promoted to Series Regular, but there hasn’t been any official news about the cast so far.

The schedule should be announced next Wednesday at the CBS Upfronts. With all 3 Friday shows being renewed, the Reboot will probably keep the same timeslot.

Season 4 announcement on social media (via CBS)

MacGyver in France
The ratings for the episodes aired in April and May so far were more or less stable, with Episode 3×14 getting the lowest and Episode 3×15 getting the best audience numbers of Season 3 so far.

• 3×07 and 3×08 (April 6): 1.69 and 1.54 million viewers
• 3×09 and 3×10 (April 13): 1.59 and 1.53 million viewers
• 3×11 and 3×12 (April 20): 1.65 and 1.61 million viewers
• 3×13 and 3×14 (April 27): 1.52 and 1.42 million viewers
• 3×15 (May 4): 1.95 million viewers

Interestingly, they stopped airing two episodes of the new season followed by one episode of Season 2; airing one episode of Season 3, followed by two episodes of Season 2 instead.

As stated on the website of CeDe Switzerland, the French DVD for Season 2 will be released on July 17.

MacGyver in Germany and other MacGyver News
The German DVD for Season 2 has a relase date of July 11 on Amazon. Interestingly, the preview cover has the same “old” promo poster like the French version. They changed it for the US and UK DVD release, so it’s not sure yet what definitive cover German-speaking and other European countries will get.

Cover-Preview for the Season 2 German DVD (via Amazon Germany)

It was safe to assume the Free-TV-Premiere for Season 3 will be July as well like last year (since the Season 1 DVD had been released just a week before the Premiere of the 2nd season). It’s not official yet, but German TV magazine Hörzu states that the Premiere of the “new season” will be on July 9 this year. (It’s stated after the Season 2 airdate in the US and doesn’t specifically mention Season 3. It could be a typo for the year since Season 2 premiered on July 9 last year.)

Contrary to the other two seasons, the 3rd season will air on Tuesdays anyway since German TV channel Sat.1 recently switched their Crime-Mondays to Crime-Tuesdays. It’s difficult to predict if this will have any influence on the ratings.

Lucas Till, Alex O’Loughlin and Jay Hernandez at Paley Fest LA (via TV Guide)

Tech Consultant Rhett Allain did a short video interview with WGNO; talking about the Reboot and why it’s so fun.

ICYMI: In the newest issue of TV Guide, you can find an interview done at Paley Fest LA with the three lead actors of Peter Lenkov’s Reboots; talking about their characters and the shows.

The MacGyver Manual recently added new photos to the release date of September 17, 2019. The book has 208 pages, focusing on the reboot series with “shout outs” to the original. It’s written and edited by Ian Cannon with the help of Tech Consultant Rhett Allain and contains illustrations and images by Juan Calle.

MacGyver Reboot Update #81

We still have 3 more episodes to enjoy on TV for this season. Interestingly, the order of the last two episodes has been switched.

Episode 3×20: No Go + High Voltage + Rescue (Official Still via CBS)

(Spoiler Alert: You will get spoilered about characters and storylines in Season 3 by reading this post and its comments or by clicking on the links provided!)

 

About Episode 3×19
CBS didn’t bother with additional promo to the 10-second-teaser until Friday. To make up for it, they posted two Sneak Peeks and a few BtS photos. Noor Anna Maher posted many BtS photos the days after; e.g. with Lucas Till, with Levy Tran, with the director or with the stunt coordinators. Director Andi Armaganian uploaded a BtS photo with Lucas.

Episode 3×19: Friends + Enemies + Border (via Andi Armaganian)

Let’s take a look at the recent ratings. To recap: Episode 3×18 had an audience of 5.570 million live-viewers with a demo of 0.6; marking it as the episode with the lowest ratings of Season 3 so far. In the +7 Days Ratings, it added 1.736 million viewers (+31%), reaching a total of 7.309 million viewers with a demo of 0.96 (+63%).

Episode 3×19 caught the attention of 6.075 million live-viewers with a demo of 0.7. All three CBS shows had a demo of 0.7, winning both the demo and the audience numbers timeslot for Friday. In the +7 Ratings, the episode added 1.444 million viewers (+24%), reaching a total of 7.523 million viewers with a demo of 1.02 (+45%)

On April 15, Technical Consultant Rhett Allain uploaded his usual blog post with science notes about the MacHacks in this episode.

Episode 3×19: Friends + Enemies + Border (via Noor Anna Maher)

About the Season 3 Ratings
At the moment, the MacGyver Reboot has an average of 6.207 millions live-viewers per episode with a demo-rating of 0.71. Compared to the 25 scripted shows on CBS at the moment, the Reboot is at rank 22 in demo and at rank 13 in audience numbers. Comparing to last season, Season 3 lost about 14% in demo and roughly 10% in live audience numbers.

As every week, let’s take a look at some other CBS crime-action shows with similar audience numbers. Magnum PI closed their first season at 5.992 million live-viewers per episode with a 0.89 demo-rating.

BtS photo of Season 3 (via Meredith Eaton)

SEAL Team is at 5.134 million live-viewers and a demo of 0.78 on average. Compared to last year, they lost about 23% in both demo ratings and audience numbers. SWAT is at 5.324 million live-viewers with a demo of 0.79. It lost about 16% in demo ratings and about 10% in audience numbers compared to last year.

There still hasn’t been any official news yet about MacGyver, SEAL Team or SWAT being renewed, leading to the fans asking the CBS studios and producers daily about any renewal news.

Episode 3×20: No Go + High Voltage + Rescue (Official Still via Justin Hires)

All you need to know about Episode 3×20
Episode 3×20 is titled “No Go + High Voltage + Rescue”, written by Rob Pearlstein and Andrew Karlsruher, directed by Eagle Egilsson. The Press Release was posted on April 8 with more Official Stills added on April 15. Here’s the synopsis:

When two American tourists go missing while doing a “No-Go Scavenger Hunt” through some of the world’s most dangerous countries, the Phoenix team goes undercover as backpackers to find them and bring them home alive.

Again, the teaser is only 10 seconds long. Sadly, SpoilerTV never bothered to upload the Official Stills. Thankfully, Showbizjunkie posted 4 of the additional Stills on their website – not in the usual HD quality, but without any watermarks.

Episode 3×20: No Go + High Voltage + Rescue (Official Still via CBS)

As always, MacGyver fans had to wait longer for their Sneak Peeks than fans of Hawaii Five-0 or Blue Bloods. To make up for it, CBS released 4 Sneak Peeks yesterday. For once, they didn’t spoil too much of the storyline.

Season 3 Overview: Episodes 3×21 and 3×22
Including today, we have 3 more episodes to enjoy before the Season 3 finale on May 10. Let’s do a short recap of all the information for the two last episodes:

• 3×21 (filmed as 3×22): Treason + Heartbreak + Gum (May 3)
  Written by Nancy Kiu and Lindsey Allen, directed by Stephen Herek. Guest appearances by Lance Gross and Brendan Hines.
• 3×22 (filmed as 3×21): Mason + Cable + Choices (May 10)
  Written by Jim Adler, directed by Maja Vrvilo. Guest appearances by Peter Weller and Emerson Brooks.

The Press Release and a first Official Still for each episode was posted on April 18. As you can see, they switched the episodes around. Either, they adjusted to the availability of some of the guest stars, or they decided that Episode 21 would make a better Season Finale.

Episode 3×21: Treason + Heartbreak + Gum (Official Still via CBS)

That’s a Wrap… or not.
Post-production continued in the last few weeks. They filmed some inserts and additional footage; followed by editing and doing ADR (e.g. for Tristin Mays and Lance Gross). Justin Hires finished his ADR for the last episode on April 24.

The Wrap Party for the Atlanta Crew was celebrated on March 24. Apparently, the LA Wrap Party was held last Saturday, together with Hawaii Five-0 and Magnum PI. Sadly, none of the regular cast of MacGyver attended the event. Both David Dastmalchian and Michael Des Barres posted a photo of themselves with Henry Winkler. Peter Lenkov posted a handful of Instagram Stories with David, Michael, Levy Tran and the MacGyver Cake.

Every now and then, the cast posts a few new photos of upcoming episodes; e.g. Meredith Eaton (with Tate Donovan).

Episode 3×22: Mason + Cable + Choices (Official Still via CBS)

Other Cast and Character News
As Lucas Till revealed in a radio interview with the Canadian Todd Shapiro Show a while back, Peter Weller will have a guest spot in an upcoming episode. On April 16, TV Line posted an exclusive article about Peter Weller playing MacGyver’s “evil twin” in the season finale. His character will be a villain named Mason. As Executive Producer Peter Lenkov told TV Line:

Ultimately, all roads are going to lead to Peter Weller being this Big Bad who — and I think it was [series lead] Lucas [Till] who came up with this — is basically a bad MacGyver. He’s someone who has the same head as MacGyver, the same skills, but he uses it for nefarious purposes.

ICYMI: Lucas Till recently started filming a new movie in Montgomery, Alabama. A few BtS photos have been posted by the official Instagram account or by cast and crew members.

Brian Dennehy and Lucas Till on set of Son of the South (via Son of the South Movie)

 

Back in March, Lucas had attended the Paley Fest LA alongside Peter Lenkov and the two lead actors of Hawaii Five-0 and Magnum PI. In the newest issue of TV Guide, you can find an interview with the three leads; talking about their characters and the shows.

MacGyver in France
The ratings are more or less stable now. Episodes 3×05 and 3×06 on March 30 got 1.62 million and 1.34 million viewers. Episodes 3×07 and 3×08 a week later had 1.69 and 1.54 million viewers. Episodes 3×09 and 3×10 on April 13 made 1.59 and 1.53 million viewers; followed by Episodes 3×11 and 3×12 on April 20 with 1.65 and 1.61 million viewers.

MacGyver Manual
The MacGyver Manual/Handbook, the book project that has been in the works for the last couple of years, has now added new photos to the release date of September 17, 2019.

MacGyver Manual title page (via Amazon)

The updated version still has 208 pages, but appears to focus on the reboot series now, with “shout outs” to the original. It’s written by Tech Consultant Rhett Allain and contains high quality illustrations and images along with the explanations of the science behind the MacGyverisms.