MacGyver Reboot Update #92

With an order of only 13 episodes for now, filming for Season 4 is already halfway done. Meanwhile, CBS has started the Fall TV Season alongside the other networks.

BtS photo of Season 4 (via Levy Tran)

(Minor Spoiler Alert: You will get spoilered about characters and storylines in Season 4 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.)

 

Season 4 Overview
The Fall TV Season started on Monday – without MacGyver, sadly. Before we delve further into the shooting days during the last two weeks, here’s the usual overview of the upcoming episodes so far with the guest stars for the three newest episodes the production has been working on.

• 4×01: (title tba)
  Directed by Alexandra La Roche
• 4×02: Fire + Ashes + Legacy = Phoenix
  Written by Terry Matalas, directed by David Straiton
• 4×03: (title tba)
  Directed by Lily Mariye
• 4×04: (title tba)
  Directed by Eagle Egilsson
• 4×05: Soccer + Desi + Merchant + Titan
  Directed by Duane Clark
  Guest Appearances by Amanda Ayres as Soccer Coach and by James Callis.
• 4×06: (title tba)
  Directed by Roderick Davis
• 4×07: Mac + Desi + Riley + Aubrey
  Guest Appearances by Devon Sawa, by James Murray and by Tate Donovan (as James MacGyver).
• 4×08: (title tba)

To recap my last blog post about the ongoing production: Filming for Episode 4×06 had started around September 3; with the cast filming in the War Room, in the Phoenix Interrogation Room, on the Phoenix Jet and on a set dressed up as a hospital. Also, Executive Producer Peter Lenkov came to visit for a few days.

Working on Episode 4×07
Filming for Episode 4×07 started around September 13. They filmed an Upscale Restaurant Scene before the cast went almost “dark” for several days.

BtS photo of Season 4 (via Lucas Till)

We did get some photos and Instagram Stories, though. They filmed in the War Room, on a set dressed up as an upscale restaurant and in an appartement. As Lucas Till revealed, MacGyver will once again bring some fire into the kitchen. On September 20, Levy Tran posted a photo of Mac and Desi for Aloha Friday. Costumer Sarah Downer later added two more shots of Levy in the Hawaiian dress.

According to the blurry photo of the call sheet, the episode it titled “Mac + Desi + Riley + Aubrey”. So, who’s Aubrey? According to the call sheet, he’s played by Leonardo Nam. Leonardo is about the same age as the other three mentioned in the episode title, so he could be a love interest, a friend or a relative. The call sheet hints at Mac and Desi dating and Riley being involved with Aubrey, but I guess we have to wait and see. After all, blurry snippets can be deceiving. On Tuesday, Leonardo uploaded a nice BtS photo of him with Tristin Mays, Lucas and Levy; indicating that this day was a wrap for him.

BtS photo of Season 4 (via Leonardo Nam)

Working on Episode 4×08 and beyond
Filming for Episode 4×08 started on September 24 and included shooting at Chattahoochee Hills and in the cabin at the lake used for one of the Avengers movies. Starting Wednesday, they filmed scenes at the Yanmar Evo Center in Acworth.

Sadly, there were barely any BtS materials uploaded in the last few days. Justin Hires hasn’t been on set since Tuesday and it seems like Tristin Mays has a few days off, as well. It’s possible the episode is centered around the MacGyvers (both Junior and Senior).

Interestingly, Camille Mana stated on September 20 that she did finish her ADR (Automatic Dialogue Recording) for Episode 4×01 the week before; meaning they still have been in post-production two months after the Season premiere was filmed. Apparently, they’re not too much in a hurry.

Episode 3×01: Improvise (via Lucas Till)

Lucas Till uploaded a bunch of old photos onto Instagram Stories last week; e.g. of Episodes 3×01 (Improvise) or 3×07 (Scavengers + Hard Drive + Dragonfly). Justin Hires also must have felt nostalgic this week; uploading BtS photos from Episodes 3×03 (Bozer + Booze + Back to School) and 3×05 (Dia de Muertos + Sicarios + Family).

Costumer Sarah Downer and her costume department colleagues introduced the Halloween Dress Up Days schedule and invited the fans to join in on the fun.

Other Cast, Crew and Character News
Tate Donovan (who plays James MacGyver) will be back for Episode 4×07. There will also be a guest appearance by Devon Sawa. Interestingly, George Eads’ old Stunt Double from Seasons 1 and 2 (Reece Fleetwood) is listed on IMDb for stunt work in Episode 4×06.

In the last two weeks, Central Casting Georgia has been looking for Caucasian, Hispanic or Asian Tourists, for a Caucasian Female for a Make-Up Test, for a Passerby, for a Caucasian Female in her late 30s with brown hair for a photoshoot and for TAC Guards (on several occasions). They also had Casting Calls for Female Techs, for Agents, for Asian Guards, for Assistants, for Photo Doubles (e.g. for Henry Ian Cusick or for David E. Collier) and for Stand-Ins (e.g. for Tate Donovan or for Keith David).

Header for the “About” section on CBS All Access

ICYMI: CBS recently changed the header of the show website on CBS All Access to another promo photo made back in the Season 1 photoshoot. So far, no other official promo for Season 4 has been released.

MacGyver in Germany and Austria
In Germany, Episode 3×17 (Seeds + Permafrost + Feather) on September 17 had an audience of 1.63 million live-viewers with a demo of 8.3 in the target audience of 14-49-year-olds. This is the second-highest audience number this season so far; and for the first time this season, the following episode had a lower audience. Episode 3×18 (Murdoc + Helman + Hit) still managed 1.62 million live-viewers with a demo of 8.4.

BtS photo of Season 4 (via Sarah Downer)

Episode 3×19 (Friends + Enemies + Border) on September 24 had also 1.62 million live-viewers, but with a demo of 7.7 in the target audience of 14-49-year-olds. An hour later, Episode 3×20 (No-go + High-voltage + Rescue) got 1.55 million live-viewers with a demo of 7.5.

Overall, the ratings are doing better in Germany than the recent ratings for Hawaii Five-0 or Magnum PI (and pretty much all the other CBS shows but NCIS). The last upcoming German Episode Titles for Season 3:

• 3×21: Hochverrat (literal translation: High Treason; original title: Treason + Heartbreak + Gum)
• 3×22: Auge um Auge (Eye for an Eye, Mason + Cable + Choices)

The week after, Sat.1 will replace the Reboot with new episodes of NCIS.

BtS photo of Season 4 (via Justin Hires)

In Austria, every episode of Season 1 had garnered about 82’000 live-viewers back in 2017. The ratings for Season 2 aren’t as good; probably due to both a more difficult timeslot (Saturdays around 4pm) and the long airing hiatus in between. Contrary to Germany, there doesn’t seem to be a predictability to the ratings.

To recap: Episode 2×03 (Roulette Wheel + Wire) got 88’000 live-viewers; probably profiting off the Formula 1 race that had aired before. Episode 2×04 (X-Ray + Penny) dropped down to 40’000 viewers.

On September 14, audience numbers dropped again, down to 24’000 live-viewers for Episode 2×05 (Skull + Electromagnet). Episode 2×06 (Jet Engine + Pickup Truck) had 28’000 live-viewers. A week later, the episodes aired after a Formula 1 race again: Episode 2×07 (Duct Tape + Jack) got 47’000 live-viewers and the second-highest audience number of the season so far. Episode 2×08 (Packing Peanuts + Fire) had 45’000 live-viewers.

BtS photo of Season 4 (via James Murray)

Timeslot prediction for Season 4 (encore)
Back in May and June, I listed the possibilities in what timeslot the Reboot could end up in. Here’s the recap:

• The Reboot takes over the 1-hour-timeslot of a rookie/crime show that didn’t get a full season order, so probably premiering in January 2020. Potential slots are Mondays 9pm (in place of All Rise), Thursdays 10pm (Evil) or Sundays 10pm (Madam Secretary). This is the most likely option, but CBS has 8 midseason replacement this year; 3 of them being crime-shows. Finding a slot might be difficult if none of the rookies fails.
• The Reboot takes over the timeslot of a show with a full season order of 22 episodes after the season finale, so probably premiering in April or May 2020. If they can’t find an open slot in Spring, it will be shoved to Summer. Both Spring shows this year were cancelled, so CBS is definitely in need of more material.
• The Reboot takes over the 1-hour-timeslot of a show that got pulled early. This seems rather unlikely at the moment, but anything can happen in TV-Land and this has happened before (e.g. for Justin Hires’ Rush Hour in 2015).

Now that Fall Season has started, lets revisit the schedule and take a look at the premiere ratings; especially the ratings of the hour-long rookie/crime shows.

Episode 3×07: Scavengers + Hard Drive + Dragonfly (via Lucas Till)

Of course, it’s still too early to make accurate predictions, but it’s still fun to speculate and compare to other prediction sites.

• All Rise (Monday 9pm): Premiered with a demo of 0.7 and a live-audience of 6.03 million viewers. That’s not as high as Magnum back in 2018 in the same timeslot (1.2/8.12), but people might start tuning in later into the season. On the other hand, it’s rather disappointing for a rookie show – the ratings are already lower than what MacGyver had on average per episode last season. If the show can’t get higher ratings (especially in demo), it’s probably done – and there’s a good chance they will put an established show into the slot instead of another rookie. Both MacGyver and Criminal Minds are good candidates for this slot.
• Bull (Monday 10pm): The new season started with a demo of 0.7 and a live-audience of 6.42 million viewers. That’s about as high as expected. If the ratings don’t drop too much, it will stay on this slot. They could switch it to 9pm, though instead of having to cancel All Rise.
• NCIS (Tuesday 8pm): The new season started very well with a demo of 1.3 and a live-audience of 12.57 million viewers.
• FBI (Tuesday 9pm): The second season premiere had a demo of 0.9 with an audience of 8.83 million live-viewers. Even if the ratings drop, it should be safe since there’s also a spin-off in the works for midseason.
• NCIS: New Orleans (Tuesday 10pm) did lower than expected; managing a demo of 0.7 and a live-audience of 6.66 million viewers. Its reruns could get replaced with the FBI spin-off in Spring.
• The Season Premieres of SEAL Team (Wednesday 9pm) and SWAT (Wednesday 10pm) are next week, so there’s no ratings available yet. Both shows had a lower audience than MacGyver last season, and SEAL Team just lost its second Executive Producer while being in the middle of filming Season 3. It will be interesting to see where this goes. It seems they still might want to hold onto it.
• Evil (Thursday 10pm) has a preliminary demo-rating of 0.7 and 4.62 million live-viewers. That is a lot less then I expected since this show had a lot of buzz and got good promo. If the show doesn’t get higher ratings (especially in demo) within the next few episodes, it’s probably done. Nevertheless, MacGyver isn’t a good candidate for this slot since it should be an 8pm show. (Even with a 9pm slot, it will be difficult to get decent ratings.) It’s more suitable for Criminal Minds or the rookie shows FBI: Most Wanted or Tommy. Since the entire Thursday didn’t as well now that The Big Bang Theory as lead-in is gone, they might even completely change the entire line-up if all the ratings keep dropping.

Other MacGyver Promo
ICYMI: “The Official MacGyver Survival Manual: 155 Ways to Save the Day” was released on September 17. Make sure to get a copy and tell all your friends about it!

MacGyver Survival Manual title page (via Amazon)

Sadly, neither the publisher nor CBS is doing any promo for it, so I guess it’s on us fans again. At least Peter Lenkov posted about it this week; also uploading screenshots of his foreword onto Instagram Stories.

MacGyver Reboot Update #91

Filming for Season 4 continues. Meanwhile, CBS keeps promoting the upcoming Fall shows with Trailers and Featurettes.

Header for CBS All Access

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

 

Season 4 Overview
Only 2 weeks left until the premiere of the CBS Fall Friday Shows. They’re all getting the enhanced promo treatment now; with Trailers and Featurettes. Sadly, there’s still no release date for MacGyver; neither for the new season nor for the last season on DVD.

BtS photo of Season 4 (via Levy Tran)

Before we delve further into the shooting days during the last two weeks, here’s an overview of the upcoming episodes so far. As you can see, they’re still rather reluctant to reveal information. We probably have to wait for the first official press releases, and that might take a while.

• 4×01: (title tba)
  Directed by Alexandra La Roche
  Guest Appearances by Camille Mana (as Hannah), Braxton Alexander (as General Acosta’s Grandson) and  Emmanuelle Vaugier (as Major Frost).
• 4×02: Fire + Ashes + Legacy = Phoenix
  Written by Terry Matalas, directed by David Straiton
  Guest Appearances by Michael Wayne Foster (as “The Russian Bear”) and Fernando Martinez (as Lazlo Carver).
• 4×03: (title tba)
  Directed by Lily Mariye
  Guest Appearences by Christopher Convery (as Asher), by Sawyer D. Jones (as Little Mac) and by Colbert Minga (as Otto).
• 4×04: (title tba)
  Directed by Eagle Egilsson
  Guest Appearances by Hauke Bahr (as German Police Chief) and Emil Beheshti (as Dr. Zachary Tutelman).
• 4×05: Soccer + Desi + Merchant + Titan
  Directed by Duane Clark
  Guest Appearances by Amanda Ayres as Soccer Coach and by James Callis.
• 4×06: (title tba)
  Directed by Roderick Davis

To recap my last blog post about the ongoing production: Filming for Episode 4×05 had started around August 21; with the cast doing a Casino sequence and several days of filming in Boulevard Crossing Park, at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Training Ground and on Turner Field.

BtS photo of Episode 4×05: Soccer + Desi + Merchant + Titan (via Jade Albany)

According to IMDb, the title for the episode directed by Duane Clark is “Soccer + Desi + Merchant + Titan”. On Tuesday, Jade Albany uploaded a new BtS photo of her with Levy Tran and dog Carlos.

Working on Episode 4×06
Filming for Episode 4×05 was wrapped up on August 31; cast and crew ready for Labor Day Weekend and DragonCon in Atlanta.

Some of the cast started filming for Episode 4×06 on September 3. Justin Hires had the day off; doing an Instagram Live Story with Lucas Till popping in for a few minutes. As they revealed, this episode provides some background story for Henry Ian Cusicks character and is directed by Roderick Davis (who already directed Episode 3×18: Murdoc + Helman + Hit).

BtS photo of Season 4 (via Justin Hires)

The next few days, the fans were treated to lots of BtS photos and Instagram Stories by the cast, the crew and by Executive Producer Peter Lenkov, who had flown to Atlanta and visited the production on set. They filmed in the War Room, in a car on stage, on the Phoenix Jet (which champagne being served) and in the woods.

Lucas had to work on Saturday, September 7 as well; doing stunt work with the Hargrave brothers. Both Justin Hires and Meredith Eaton weren’t on set much for this episode, but they kept posting older BtS photos and videos nonetheless, e.g. of Bozer all dressed up, handling (or rather not-handling) potentially explosive things or working on Sparky. Meredith uploaded an old BtS photo of Episode 2×19 (Benjamin Franklin + Grey Duffle) of her with the make-up applied after Matty got into a car “accident”.

BtS photo of Episode 2×19: Benjamin Franklin + Grey Duffle (via Meredith Eaton)

This week, they filmed both on stage and on location, e.g. in the Phoenix Interrogation Room or on sets dressed up as hospitals or as upscale restaurants.

Other Cast, Crew and Character News
ICYMI: Levy Tran has been added to the MacGyver bio page for the regular cast members on CBS Press Express. Reign Edwards as Leanna on the other hand might be out for good. Reign filmed a pilot for a new TV show in Auckland last year and revealed on September 3 that she is back in New Zealand. There’s no information yet about how many episodes “The Wilds” will have, but I reckon she will be busy until at least the rest of the year while MacGyver will wrap up at the end of November.

The cast lists on IMDb for the single episodes are still rather empty. The most interesting guest apparence might the the one by a young actor listed in the role of “Little Mac” for Episode 4×03. Also, a lot of the upcoming guest stars have worked with Co-Executive Producer Terry Matalas before. Tate Donovan (who plays James MacGyver) still hasn’t been seen back on set so far; raising suspsicion that the unexptected fall-out between Mac and MacSenior in the Season 3 Finale was a last-minute addition because Tate was not available this season.

BtS photo of Season 4 (via Tristin Mays)

In the last two weeks, Central Casting Georgia has been looking for Family Members and Hostages, for Rebels, Workers, for Nurses and Townspeople, for Servers and Upscale Restaurant Patrons and for a Kitchen Staff. They also had Casting Calls for Guards, Photo Doubles (e.g. for Brian Quinn) and for Stand-Ins (e.g. for Rob Giumarra and David Shae).

In other news, they changed the header of the show website on CBS All Access with another promo photo made back in the Season 1 photoshoot.

MacGyver in Germany and Austria
In Germany, the show had lost a bit of steam after the episodes are now followed by a new episode of Hawaii Five-0 instead of by Celebrity Big Brother, but then the ratings started rising again. Like in Season 2, the second episode tends to have a bigger audience than the first.

BtS photo of Season 4 (via Levy Tran)

Episode 3×13 (Wilderness + Training + Survival) on September 3 had an audience of 1.53 million live-viewers with a demo of 7.5 in the target audience of 14-49-year-olds. The following Episode 3×14 (Father + Bride + Betrayal) managed 1.65 million live-viewers. Despite “only” an average demo of 7.4, this episode had the highest audience number of the current season so far.

Episode 3×15 (K9 + Smugglers + New Recruit) on September 10 had 1.52 million live-viewers with a demo of 8.1 in the target audience of 14-49-year-olds. An hour later, Episode 3×16 (Lidar + Rogues + Duty) got 1.58 million live-viewers; also with a demo of 8.1.

BtS photo of Season 4 (via Levy Tran)

The upcoming German Episode Titles:

• 3×17: Tod im Tresor (literal translation: Death in the Safe, original title: Seeds + Permafrost + Feather)
• 3×18: Der Psychopath und sein Lehrer (The Psychopath and his Teacher, Murdoc + Helman + Hit)
• 3×19: Grenzerfahrungen (Borderline Experiences, Friends + Enemies + Border)
• 3×20: Die No-Go-Challenge (The No-Go-Challenge, No-go + High-voltage + Rescue)
• 3×21: Hochverrat (High Treason, Treason + Heartbreak + Gum)
• 3×22: Auge um Auge (Eye for an Eye, Mason + Cable + Choices)

Austrian Channel ORF1 started airing Season 2 on August 31. They air two episodes on Saturdays; starting around 4pm. As expected, the ratings weren’t as good as when they aired Season 1 on Saturdays 7pm back in 2017.

BtS photo of Season 4 (via Peter Lenkov)

On average, every episode of Season 1 had garnered about 82’000 live-viewers. Episode 2×01 (DYI or DIE) managed 33’000 viewers, Episode 2×02 (Muscle Car + Paper Clips) only 22’000. Apparently, people have now caught on about the show being on air again after a break of almost two years. Episode 2×03 (Roulette Wheel + Wire) got 88’000 live-viewers; probably profiting off the Formula 1 race that had aired before. Episode 2×04 (X-Ray + Penny) dropped down to 40’000 viewers.

Award Shows and other MacGyver Promo
ICYMI: The official voting window for the People’s Choice Awards opened on September 4. Sadly, neither the show nor the actors got any nominations.

The release date for “The Official MacGyver Survival Manual: 155 Ways to Save the Day” is still for September 17. So even if we don’t get new episodes next month, the fans still get a new goodie that even fans of the Original Show can enjoy. Make sure to get a copy and tell all your friends about it! Maybe the book will be published in another language for international fans as well if it gets a large number of sales in English.

Henry Ian Cusick is set for several convention appearances this winter. If we’re lucky, he will talk a bit about his upcoming role in the reboot.

MacGyver Reboot Update #90

Filming for Season 4 continues. Meanwhile, CBS is promoting the upcoming Fall shows with Press Releases and Official Stills.

BtS photo of Episode 4×05 (via Lucas Till)

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

 

Season 4 Overview
Only 4 weeks until the premiere of the CBS Fall Shows. They’re all getting the promo treatment now; with Press Releases and Official Stills and a release of the last season on DVD. Sadly, there’s still no release date for MacGyver; neither for the new season nor for the last season on DVD.

Before we delve further into the shooting days during the last two weeks, here’s an overview of the upcoming episodes so far. As you can see, they’re still rather reluctant to reveal information.

• 4×01: (title tba)
  Directed by Alexandra La Roche
  Guest Appearances by Camille Mana (as Hannah), Braxton Alexander (as General Acosta’s Grandson) and  Emmanuelle Vaugier (as Major Frost).
• 4×02: Fire + Ashes + Legacy = Phoenix
  Written by Terry Matalas
  Directed by David Straiton
  Guest Appearance by Michael Wayne Foster (as “The Russian Bear”).
• 4×03: (title tba)
  Directed by Lily Mariye
  Guest Appearences by Christopher Convery and Joe Williamson (as son and father) and by Colbert Minga (as Otto).
• 4×04: (title tba)
  Directed by Eagle Egilsson
• 4×05: (title tba)
  Directed by Duane Clark
  Guest Appearance by James Callis.

To recap my last blog post about the ongoing production: Filming for Episode 4×03 had started around July 31. The cast filmed most of the episode at Fulton County Airport.

BtS photo of Season 4 (via Justin Hires)

Working on Episode 4×04
Episode 4×04 is presumably set in Germany. Filming had started around August 8; with the cast hiking up to Stone Mountain and filming additional scenes “underground” and in Downtown Atlanta. Cast and crew suffered through the infamous HOTlanta weather with temperatures reaching up to 40°C. Lucas Till was lucky this year to not having to work on his birthday, but the production still offered him a pre-birthday cake.

The cast filmed War Room scenes for several days and kept a bit more quiet than before. For one, Levy Tran stated in her Instagram bio that she’s taking a break from social media (which she finished after almost a month on August 24). Nevertheless, they still had some fun. They also wrapped earlier on several occasions than we’re used to; e.g. already at lunchtime on August 20.

BtS photo of Episode 4×05 (via Levy Tran)

Working on Episode 4×05
Filming for Episode 4×05 had started around August 21. It’s directed by Duane Clark (who already directed Episodes 2×03 and 3×02). The cast filmed a day in the War Room before they continued with a Casino sequence on August 23. Lucas Till got dressed up as “James Blonde” again; sporting a rope and a wedding ring. Cornell Willis had dressed up as well, sporting a bow tie instead of a normal tie on Tie Friday. Levy Tran and Henry Ian Cusick posed for a photo in their Casino guest attire; indicating that they might pose as a couple undercover. Both Meredith Eaton and Justin Hires each uploaded a nice Team Phoenix photo.

On August 26, filming continued in Boulevard Crossing Park standing in for a soccer field. Instagram stories indicated that one of the female soccer teams plays for Milano. The next days, filming moved to the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Training Ground and to Turner Field.

BtS photo of Episode 4×04 (via Cornell Willis)

Lucas filmed a scene in front of several green screens with what looks like a self-made glider. They had a lot of extras on set; at least two teams of female soccer players in blue and yellow shirts, reporters, soccer fans and a VIP area with the soccer trophy.

Last week, Justin Hires had uploaded a photo of a Team Phoenix member holding up a soccer ball to Bozer. Maybe there’s a camera hidden inside? Justin has been on set wearing sportsy and elegant clothes while Levy Tran has been spotted wearing a Milano soccer uniform. It’s very likely that Desi and Riley might go undercover; infiltrating the female soccer teams?

Season 4 BtS Instagram Live Story Screenshot Compilation: Day 37 (via Lucas Till)

Technical Consultant Rhett Allain added a blog post for the MacHacks for Episode 2×23 (MacGyver + MacGyver); finishing up his notes for Season 2. He already stated that he will do posts for the upcoming season as well.

Other Cast, Crew and Character News
Levy Tran has been added to the MacGyver bio page for the regular cast members on CBS Press Express. For her profile photo, they cropped an Official Still from her first episode (3×15: K9 + Smugglers + New Recruit).

The cast lists on IMDb for the single episodes are still rather empty. As Co-Executive Producer Terry Matalas had revealed on August 22 (in a tweet he later deleted again), we will get guest appareances by Amanda Schull and James Callis, who both had worked on Matalas’ show 12 Monkeys. Interestingly, we might get to see another flashback episode since there is an actor listed in the role of “Little Mac” for Episode 4×03. As Justin Hires revealed, we will also see Sparky again.

BtS photo of Season 4 (via Justin Hires)

Tate Donovan (who plays James MacGyver) still hasn’t been seen back on set so far which has been leading to speculations that Henry Ian Cusick or Matty will be the new Oversight or temporarily step in for James.

In the last two weeks, Central Casting Georgia has been looking for Formal Casino People and for Poker, Black Jack or Roulette Dealers, for Real Referees and a Real Female Soccer Player, a Soccer Coach, for Stadium Patrons, for Soccer Fans, for Bodyguards, Phoenix Security, Police, a Waitress, for a a Female DJ and for Photographers. Additionally, they also needed Dignitaries, Rich Donors (with Upscale Cars), Catering and Medical Staff plus Photographers in a VIP Area. They also had Casting Calls for Lab Techs, for Photo Doubles (e.g. for Fernando Chien) and for Stand-Ins (e.g. for Levy Tran).

BtS photo of Episode 4×05 (via Levy Tran)

MacGyver in Germany and Austria
The show does still pretty good in Germany, despite not getting much promo.

Episode 3×09 (Specimen 234 + PAPR+ Outbreak) on August 20 had an audience of 1.4 million live-viewers with a demo of 7.4 in the target audience of 14-49-year-olds. Episode 3×10 (Matty + Ethan + Fidelity) managed 1.57 million live-viewers and a demo of 8.5; reaching the second-highest audience number in total and the highest audience number in the target group this season. The episode was followed by an hour of Celebrity Big Brother, then reruns of Episodes 1×19 (Compass) and 1×21 (Cigar Cutter).

The ratings for the next week weren’t as good: Episode 3×11 (Mac + Fallout + Jack) on August 27 had 1.37 million live-viewers with a demo of 7.6 in the target audience of 14-49-year-olds. An hour later, Episode 3×12 (Fence + Suitcase + Americium-241) got 1.4 million live-viewers and a demo of 7.3. The episode was followed by a new episode of Hawaii Five-0.

BtS photo of Season 4 (via Meredith Eaton)

The upcoming German Episode Titles:

• 3×13: Überleben in der Wildnis (literal translation: Surviving in the Wilderness; original title: Wilderness + Training + Survival)
• 3×14: Die Hochzeitsfeier (The Wedding Party, Father + Bride + Betrayal)
• 3×15: Cody gegen die Schmuggler (Cody against the Smugglers, K9 + Smugglers + New Recruit)
• 3×16: Systemausfall (System Failure, Lidar + Rogues + Duty)
• 3×17: Tod im Tresor (Death in the Safe, Seeds + Permafrost + Feather)
• 3×18: Der Psychopath und sein Lehrer (The Psychopath and his Teacher, Murdoc + Helman + Hit)
• 3×19: Grenzerfahrungen (Borderline Experiences, Friends + Enemies + Border)
• 3×20: Die No-Go-Challenge (The No-Go-Challenge, No-go + High-voltage + Rescue)
• 3×21: Hochverrat (High Treason, Treason + Heartbreak + Gum)
• 3×22: Auge um Auge (Eye for an Eye, Mason + Cable + Choices)

Austrian Channel ORF1 will air Season 2 for the first time starting tomorrow, August 31. They will air two episodes on Saturdays; starting around 4pm. Since the show is rated FSK16 (16 years and older) in German-speaking countries, it’s possible they will have to cut out certain scenes like they did for Season 1 back in 2017. There’s no information yet if they will continue with airing Season 3 as well.

BtS photo of Episode 4×05 (via Steven Serna)

Also, channel Rai4 will air Season 3 in Italy, starting September 19. This is a bit of a step down to a lesser known channel since the previous seasons had aired on Rai2.

Award Shows and other MacGyver Promo
ICYMI: The Reboot won a Teen Choice Award in the category Teen Choice Action TV Show. Sadly, the cast hadn’t been invited to the event; missing the opportunity for a blue carpet appearance and promotion. Nominations for the People’s Choice Awards ended on August 16. The official voting window will open on September 4.

There’s no news yet about the DVD release of Season 3, but the release date for “The Official MacGyver Survival Manual: 155 Ways to Save the Day” is still September 17. So even if we don’t get new episodes next month, the fans still get a new goodie that even fans of the Original Show can enjoy.

MacGyver Reboot Update #86

Filming for Season 4 will start in 4 days. Let’s hope we get some good BtS material to tie us over until we finally get to see the episodes.

Season 4 Logo (via MacGyver Writers)

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

 

What are Cast and Crew up to?
The main cast was pretty busy in recent weeks; finishing up old projects and preparing for another 5 months of filming:

• Lucas Till enjoyed a well-deserved holiday with friends and celebrated July 4 with family
• Justin Hires finished his Stand-Up comedy show tour. A photo of him during one of his shows even made it into an article by The Hollywood Reporter.
• Tristin Mays attended several fundraising events and did some talk show appearances for the RuJohn Foundation in Jamaica
• Besides working out, Levy Tran has been taking shooting lessons to prepare for Season 4. She just finished her road trip across the States.
• Like last year, David Dastmalchian auctioned off a visit to the MacGyver set for a good cause. It was sold for 17’000 USD. The set-visit last year was auctioned off for 12’000 USD, so that’s pretty cool.
• George Eads’ Korean War movie “The Battle of Jangsari” has been picked up for international distribution and is supposed to be released in Korea this month.
• Amazon Studios has picked up “The Wilds”, the series that Reign Edwards filmed the pilot for in New Zealand last year. There’s no filming dates yet.

Costume Designer Sarah Downer had revealed on June 18 that she had started on costume prepping. After that, it stayed quiet on social media for a while, despite the production office already being open since June 3rd.

Justin Hires at The Comedy Store (via The Hollywood Reporter)

Of course, there’s still been a lot of preparation going on behind the scenes. As Steven Serna stated, the grips are already in full preparation mode. On Tuesday, both Justin and Levy had been on the studio lot for fittings.

On June 25, Peter Lenkov revealed part of the production logo for Season 4. He also uploaded a few throwback photos (e.g. of him and Lucas at the Monte Carlo Television Festival back in 2017). Every now and then, a new/old BtS photo (e.g. of Episode 3×08) or BtS video (e.g. of Episode 3×19) pops up. Meredith Eaton shared a photo of her with Lucas.

Technical Consultant Rhett Allain continued writing science notes about the MacHacks; adding a blog post for Episode 2×12 (Mac + Jack) and for Episode 2×13 (CO2 sensor + Tree Branch).

Meeting up with friends (via Meredith Eaton)

Ratings prediction for Season 4 (encore)
TV show ratings tend to drop each year. On average, every non-rookie CBS Fall show lost about 17.61% in demo ratings and 12.94% in audience numbers in the 2018/19 TV season. When looking at the renewed action and crime shows only, the loss was even higher (about 18.77% in demo ratings and 15.29% in audience numbers).

The ratings loss for MacGyver was actually a bit lower than the average (with a loss of 15.79% in demo and 11.01% in audience numbers compared to Season 2). If the Reboot would have been allowed to air in the same timeslot this Fall, Season 4 could have ended up with an average demo-rating of 0.59 and a live-audience of 5.43 million viewers. That’s… not really great. But how will the ratings for the other CBS shows look like; especially the Friday shows?

Lucas Till enjoying a vacation in Alaska (via Jason Trost)

In case you’re interested in some CBS Friday predictions:

• If Hawaii Five-0 has the same ratings drop as it did this season, it will end up with an average demo of 0.62 (-18.9%) and 6.27 million live-viewers (-13.05%) per episode.
• If Blue Bloods has the same ratings drop as it did this season, it will end up with an average demo of 0.69 (-13.09%) and 7.83 million live-viewers (-7.15%) per episode.

Both shows still have good DVR ratings and do very well internationally, so they will probably get renewed for another season. They could still go on for more seasons if one the lead actors quits.

Tristin Mays doing interviews (via RuJohn Foujndation)

There’s no losses for Magnum PI yet. Because of the timeslot move, it’s a bit difficult to predict how the ratings will do. Let’s say it will drop the same amount as all the other renewed action- and crime-shows did this year. It would end up with an average demo of 0.72 (-18.77%) and 5.08 million live-viewers (-15.29%) per episode. Let’s be generous and say the timeslot actually helps the show and the loss will only be 10%. That way, it would end up with an average demo of 0.80 and 5.40 million live-viewers per episode.

While a demo of 0.8 for Magnum would be acceptable, the audience numbers aren’t good enough for a show in its 2nd season. It’s even lower than what MacGyver could have gotten this season if it stayed a Fall show. It will be interesting to see how much the time slot switch will influence the Friday ratings. It’s very likely that while the move will help to keep the ratings-loss marginal for Magnum PI, it’s going to accelerate the ratings drop for both H50 and BB.

BtS photo of Episode 3×08: Revenge + Catacombs + Le Fantome (via Justin Hires)

As mentioned before, midseason shows aren’t very famous for their ratings in general. This is how the CBS rookie Spring and Summer shows have been doing this year:

• The Red Line ended its run of 8 episodes with 3.85 million live-viewers and a demo of 0.36 per episode and was cancelled.
• After 9 episodes, The Code (Mondays 9pm) is at 4.98 million live-viewers with a demo of 0.55 on average. The show has been pulled off schedule temporarily; replacing it with reruns of Magnum PI. The break didn’t do it any good; dropping half a million live-viewers when it came back this week. There’s 3 more episodes to go, but since the show has already been cancelled, the ratings might drop even lower.

Summer Show Blood & Treasure (Tuesdays 10pm) aired 8 episodes so far. The average at the moment is 4.24 million live-viewers with a demo of 0.48 per episode. Interestingly, it’s been renewed for a 2nd season. That gives us hope for MacGyver since it should be able to beat these ratings and is already a well-known franchise internationally.

Season 4 Logo (via Peter Lenkov)

All you need to know about Season 4
There’s still no midseason premiere date yet, but here’s an overview of what we know so far:

• Terry Matalas (12 Monkeys) replaced Craig O’Neill as Co-Showrunner
• Season 4 will have 13 episodes for now
• filming starts July 8 in Georgia and is expected to wrap in November (unless they add more episodes to film)
• as expected, Levy Tran has been promoted to Series Regular
• According to TV Line, there was a new regular role to be cast; specifically the character “of a former Army guy, trained in psy-ops, who has parlayed his particular set of skills into a successful career as the owner of an elite military contractor”. As Deadline revealed on June 28, the role has been appointed to LOST alum Henry Ian Cusick.

Henry Ian Cusick will play Russ, a lead opposite Lucas Till’s MacGyver. Russ is handsome and quick-witted Oxford-educated ex-military who is a master manipulator and salesman — skilled in propaganda and lie detection with an extremely high emotional intelligence. A very wealthy man, he’s used to getting his way and not beyond enjoying the spoils of war: expensive suits, fast cars, private jets, house in Monte Carlo.

Henry Ian Cusick (via IMDb)

There’s no further information if he’s friend or foe. The news flooded social media very fast; even ending up as one of the top posts on SpoilerTV last week. Judging by the info of all the news sites, he sounds like a mixture of the characters of Jack Dalton and Samantha Cage. Some fans are worried that him being another regular might push both Riley and Desi a bit into the background.

The first Casting Calls came out on Tuesday. Central Casting Georgia has been looking for Bar and Coffee Patrons and for a Featured Bartender.

Costume Fitting Break (via Sarah Downer)

Timeslot prediction for Season 4 (encore)
Although they start filming in just 4 days, it could take another half a year until we get official news about the premiere date and the timeslot. Many have speculated about a start in January 2020. But the only potential one-hour-timeslots for MacGyver to start in January are Mondays 9pm (in place of All Rise), Thursdays 10pm (Evil) or Sundays 10pm (Madam Secretary). Additionally, there are also 3 other crime shows needing a one-hour-slot during midseason: Tommy, FBI: Most Wanted and the last season of Criminal Minds. So it’s going to be a tight schedule if they still insist on all the mini-breaks and reruns during the season.

CBS might have already planned on where and when to fit which show into the ongoing schedule, but it all hinges on how well the rookie shows will do. As you can guess, a 10pm slot for the show would be pretty bad. And if both All Rise and Evil get a back-up order for a full season, there’s only Sundays 10pm left in January; meaning the show might have to wait until Spring for a free 8pm or 9pm slot.

Lucas and Nick Till celebrating July 4th with Family (via Erin Quinn)

MacGyver in Germany
German-speaking fans finally got a premiere date for Season 3 on German channel Sat.1 (July 23rd). As expected, they will air two episodes every Tuesday. Pity that the Season 2 DVD isn’t out before mid-August *sigh*.

The upcoming German Episode Titles:

• 3×01: 50 Millionen Diamanten (50 Million Diamonds, Improvise)
• 3×02: Daltons Helden (Dalton’s Heroes, Bravo Lead + Loyalty + Friendship)
• 3×03: Zurück aufs College (Back to School, Bozer + Booze + Back To School)
• 3×04: Atemnot (Respiratory Distress, Guts + Fuel + Hope)

Additionally, Germany had another MacGyver-related event last week: Original MacGyver Richard Dean Anderson visited Comic Con Germany in Stuttgart; attending two panels, posing for photos and writing countless of autographs.

Other MacGyver Promo
ICYMI: Both the Reboot and Lucas Till have been nominated in the 1st wave of nominees for the Teen Choice Awards. Voting for the 1st wave was open until June 25; voting for the 2nd wave of nominees starts on July 8. The Awards will take place on August 11.

Also, Greenlight Hollywood has just released a second MacGyver collectible: Jack Dalton’s 67 Pontiac GTO convertible. Check out the photos and description here.

MacGyver Collectible (via Greenlight Hollywood)

It’s still months until we get to see new episodes, so here’s what we know so far about other upcoming MacGyver-related promo stuff:

• The French DVD for Season 2 will be released on July 24
• The German DVD for Season 2 will be released on August 15
• The “Official MacGyver Survival Manual: 155 Ways to Save the Day” will be released on September 17

According to an article from June 3, CBS has announced new licensees for its TV properties. MacGyver is one of them, doing collaborations with “Just Funky” and “Skybrand”. I’m assuming it will be similar items that CBS usually has in their shop for other shows (e.g. mugs, mousepads or beanies), so most likely nothing too exciting unless they add standees like for H50. It’s worth noting that almost all crime shows shops for CBS are down at the moment. They’re probably already in the process of updating the shop pages, so new articles might be available soon.

MacGyver Reboot Update #85

It might take a while until we get to see the episodes on TV, but we don’t have to wait too long for new BtS material: Filming for Season 4 will start on July 8.

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

(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 main cast was pretty busy in recent weeks:

• Lucas Till wrapped his movie “Son of the South” and promoted the upcoming Season of MacGyver at the Corus Upfronts in Toronto. It looks like he’s enjoying a well-deserved holiday at the moment.
• Justin Hires dropped the first music video “Fire Flame” for his upcoming album. He did more comedy shows and visited several radio and TV stations (e.g. WJZ in Baltimore) for interviews.
• Tristin Mays’ short movie “Breathe” is temporarily available on Amazon Prime in the US/UK. She also attended some red carpet premieres and travelled to Jamaica this week to attend some fundraising events for the RuJohn Foundation.
• Besides working out, Levy Tran has been taking shooting lessons to prepare for Season 4. She recently did a short interview with the Chi Creative Agency.
• Like last year, David Dastmalchian auctioned off a visit to the MacGyver set for a good cause. It was sold for 17’000 USD. The set-visit last year was auctioned off for 12’000 USD, so that’s pretty cool.
• George Eads’ Korean War movie “The Battle of Jangsari” has been picked up for international distribution
• Amazon Studios has picked up “The Wilds”, the series that Reign Edwards filmed the pilot for in New Zealand last year

Reboot-related, it was still pretty quiet on social media. Costume Designer Sarah Downer revealed on Tuesday via Instagram stories that she has started on costume prepping.

BtS photo of Episode 3×21: Treason + Heartbreak + Gum (via Robert Maxfield)

Every now and then, a new/old BtS photo (e.g. of Tristin Mays in costume fitting for Episode 3×11) pops up. Boom Operator Robert Maxfield uploaded several photos recently as well; e.g. of Lucas, Levy and Justin on set of Episode 3×21. CBS shared a new photo of Lucas and Tate Donovan on set of Episode 3×22 for father’s day.

Technical Consultant Rhett Allain continued writing science notes about the MacHacks; adding a blog post each for Episode 2×09 (CD-Rom + Hoagie Foil), for Episode 2×10 (War Room + Ship) and for Episode 2×11 (Bullet + Pen).

Ratings prediction for Season 4 (encore)
Season 3 had an average of 6.107 millions live-viewers per episode with a demo-rating of 0.70. Usually, a new season of an ongoing Fall show continues in ratings the way it ended its last season; rising up a bit towards midseason before dropping again.

BtS photo of Episode 3×11: Mac + Fallout + Jack (via Sarah Downer)

On average, every non-rookie CBS Fall show lost about 17.61% in demo ratings and 12.94% in audience numbers this year. MacGyver was in the same range (with a loss of 15.79% in demo and 11.01% in audience numbers compared to Season 2). So if MacGyver would have continued in the same timeslot this Fall, Season 4 could have ended up with an average demo-rating of 0.59 and a live-audience of 5.43 million viewers. That’s… not great. The Reboot is the lowest-rated show that had premiered last Fall and got renewed. So the expected demo-rating is probably one of the main reasons why the show lost its Fall slot.

Predicting the Season 4 ratings is pretty much impossible at this moment, though – since we don’t know yet when and in what timeslot the show will come back. I will try to make another prediction once the Fall shows have already aired the first few episodes.

In case you’re interested: If Hawaii Five-0 has the same ratings drop as it did this season, it will end up with an average demo of 0.62 (-18.9%) and 6.27 million viewers (-13.05%) per episode. It will be interesting to see how much the move to MacGyver‘s old time slot will influence the ratings loss. It is very likely that CBS trying to help Magnum PI doesn’t just hurt the ratings for MacGyver, but for H50 as well.

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

CBS has several mediocre-rated shows on TV this Fall, but it’s difficult to say what they expect for MacGyver and what they will be willing to tolerate before cancelling it. In general, midseason shows aren’t very famous for their ratings; so CBS probably doesn’t expect too much anyway. As mentioned in my last Reboot Update blog post, both CBS rookie Spring shows this year failed ratings-wise:

• The Red Line ended its run of 8 episodes with 3.85 million live-viewers and a demo of 0.36 per episode and won’t come back for another season.
• After 8 episodes, The Code (Mondays 9pm) is at 5.10 million live-viewers with a demo of 0.57 on average. Apparently, that isn’t good enough for CBS since they even pulled it off schedule temporarily; replacing it with reruns of Magnum PI. The show has 4 more episodes to go, but is already cancelled.

Summer Show Blood & Treasure (Tuesdays 10pm) aired 6 episodes so far. The average at the moment is 4.55 million live-viewers with a demo of 0.50 per episode.

All you need to know about Season 4
As we all know by now, the show has been shoved to midseason. Its Friday Fall timeslot at 8pm will be taken over by Hawaii Five-0, followed by Magnum PI at 9pm. They just announced the premiere Fall dates for CBS, but there’s no information yet about any of the premiere dates for midseason shows.

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

Here’s what we know so far:

• Terry Matalas (12 Monkeys) replaced Craig O’Neill as Co-Showrunner
• Season 4 will have 13 episodes for now
• Filming starts July 8 in Georgia and is expected to wrap in November
• Levy Tran has been promoted to Series Regular

There’s no Casting Calls out yet, but it shouldn’t be long for the first postings.

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

Timeslot prediction for Season 4 (encore)
Although they start filming on July 8, it could take another half a year until we get official news about the premiere date and the timeslot. And while many have speculated about a start in January 2020, remember this: With probably only getting 13 episodes, Season 4 wouldn’t need to start airing before June to be done in time for the new Fall shows to start in September.

Cover Art for debut single “Fire Flame” (via Justin Hires)

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.
• 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, so probably premiering in April or May 2020.
• The Reboot could take over the 1-hour-timeslot of a crime show that got pulled early. This seems rather unlikely, but could happen anytime.

Lets revisit the CBS Fall schedule again. Potential one-hour-timeslots for MacGyver to start in January could be Mondays 9pm (in place of All Rise), Thursdays 10pm (Evil) or Sundays 10pm (Madam Secretary). But besides Amazing Race (that has a history of airing on whatever day being available), there are also 3 other crime shows needing a one-hour-slot during midseason: Tommy (most likely Mondays or Sundays), FBI: Most Wanted (most likely Tuesdays or Sundays) and Criminal Minds (most likely Wednesdays).

CBS Fall 2019 Schedule (via World Screen)

So… what’s the speculation? Well, mine goes like this:

• If All Rise doesn’t get a back-order, Monday 9pm in January seems the most likely option. That would make MacGyver the lead-in for Bull; taking over Magnum PI‘s old timeslot. This is an option that other prediction sites already had in mind for last year when Magnum was announced being one of the new Fall shows for 2018.
• But what if All Rise DOES get a back-order? Then, it seems more likely they’ll wait for another timeslot in April or May since Sunday 10pm is better fitted for Tommy or the FBI Spinoff. Also, Evil created the most buzz so far; probably getting a full season.

Yes, that would be quite a long wait. But all the other crime shows got a full-season order, so there’s no chance for another early timeslot unless they either pull or pause a show due to bad ratings. (They paused SEAL Team for almost 3 months in the middle of the season for another show, and that didn’t turn out too well) And MacGyver probably can’t hold the ratings in a 10pm timeslot anyway, so we should be happy if it doesn’t land there. (The bigger the ratings drop, the smaller the chances for a 5th season.)

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

Note that rookie shows usually DO get reruns if they get a full season order. Which leaves… Friday as another likely option; depending on what day they’ve planned for Undercover Boss to air (Celebrity Undercover Boss aired Fridays 8pm in Summer 2018). So the MacGyver Reboot could actually end up in its old timeslot again, followed by reruns of either Magnum or H50 and reruns of Blue Bloods. Which isn’t great, but isn’t the worst that could happen. Not to forget that on TV, anything can happen… I will try to make another prediction once the Fall shows have already aired a few episodes.

The Corus Upfronts and other MacGyver Promo
Lucas Till promoted the upcoming season at the Corus Upfronts in Toronto. 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 since they probably hold onto the promo material for the upcoming season.

Nominations for the Teen Choice Awards (via CBS)

Both the Reboot and Lucas Till have been nominated in the 1st wave of nominees for the Teen Choice Awards. You can cast your vote (up to 10 votes per category per day per entry method) on the official website or via Twitter. Lucas had already been nominated last year, but lost out to Flash‘s lead hero. Voting for the 1st wave is open until June 25, so you still have time to get Lucas to win one of those TCA surfboards! And retweets count as well, so you don’t even have to write your own tweets to support the show!

It’s still a long way until we get new episodes to enjoy and there’s no news about the Season 3 DVD yet. But here’s what we know so far about other upcoming promo stuff:

• The French DVD for Season 2 will be released on July 24 (instead of July 17)
• The German DVD for Season 2 will be released on August 15 (instead of July 11)
• “The Official MacGyver Survival Manual: 155 Ways to Save the Day” will be released on September 17 as planned

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.