Yeah dude.

macgyver cs

(********8/10)

Starring: Richard Dean Anderson, Dana Elcar

Guest stars: Bruce McGill, Michael Des Barres

Cool guest stars (by my reckoning): Teri Hatcher, Cuba Gooding Jr, Mayim Bialik, Della Reese, Abe Vigoda, Tia Carrere, Wendy O. Williams, James Doohan, Robert Englund, Joan Chen, Lena Headey, Jason Priestley, Shawn Wayans, Adam Arkin, Ben Stein, Colm Meaney, Christopher Judge, George Takei, Henry Winkler, Traci Lords, Randall ‘Tex’ Cobb

I’m finding it hard to contain my excitement. When I got the MacGyver Complete Collection (April 7th from Paramount Home Entertainment) I figured I’d be missing all of life for the next three months, as I made my way through all seven seasons AND the TV movies. So far, it’s only one lost week. Here’s hoping I get finished before golf season.

When I was a kid, MacGyver was the coolest TV show ever. MacGyver himself was my hero. I was so excited when I found out his real first name was Angus! More excited than he was, I should say. All those cool guest stars! Teri ‘they’re real and they’re spectacular’ Hatcher! Cuba ‘I used to be really cool’ Gooding Jr! Mayim ‘I have a PHD’ Bialik! And those recurring battles with the evil Murdoc (Michael ‘has anyone seen the body’ Des Barres)!

The thing is, as soon as I experienced MacGyver as an adult, I had a whole different reaction. Which can pretty much be summed up as ‘oh my god this was awful‘. I then questioned my own 9-year-old intellect, came to the conclusion that as a child I was vastly more dimwitted than I have been led to believe.

But then I discovered that MacGyver is the perfect show for me, now. As an adult. I can appreciate it in the nostalgic way one appreciates things they loved when they were 9 years old. Like MC Hammer, or FunDip. But I can also watch it ironically, to have a good laugh at the abject silliness of one of the most ludicrous TV shows ever made. How do we escape from this sealed up bank vault? Hmm…do you have a can of hairspray, a tampon, a super soaker full of gasoline and a six-foot orange pylon? You do!?! Oh my jesus WHY!?! Never mind, we’re good, we’ll be out of here in 80 seconds.

The more I watch, the more I become engrossed in the MacGyver formula. Although the episodes where he builds a rocket launcher out of a beer keg or a hot air balloon to escape the Swiss Alps are the most memorable, the majority of MacGyver episodes are about him helping inner-city kids rebuild a community centre or helping some woman escape an abusive stalker. You know, regular good-guy stuff. With some hilariously bad writing and the occasional horrendous acting performance to keep them just bad enough to be awesome. Thoroughly, aggressively and idiotically awesome.

And that’s why I am celebrating the MacGyver Complete Collection with a self-imposed marathon. That will stretch all the way through 4/20 and hopefully end before Richard Dean Anderson arrives in Ottawa for ComiCon – (May 8, 9, 10).

See you in May!