Magnum PI season 5: The CBS renewal decision still awaits…

At this point, the vast majority of scripted dramas at CBS have been formally renewed. The NCIS shows were some time ago, CSI: Vegas was months ago, and just this week we’ve heard good news on the FBI franchise. Meanwhile, Blue Bloods got itself a formal season 13 order, SWAT will return for season 6, and The Equalizer is back for two more years.

Now, this brings us to Magnum PI — what in the world is going on here? Why hasn’t the network figured things out with this show?

It may be strange to say, but we consider the Jay Hernandez series to be the only hour-long “bubble show” left for the network. Good Sam is likely to be canceled, after all, and Bull is ending later this month.

So what is CBS waiting for? There must be some reason why they are bringing this one down to the wire, and it could be many things. Take, for example, them taking a hard look at their fall schedule and seeing what fits. Or, it could be protracted negotiations. There are so many players involved in a show like this, one that is a co-production that is also based on an original property. This isn’t something that is worked out overnight and yet, this is the first year that we’ve been stuck waiting this long.

It’s hard to get inside the head of network executives and figure out the reasons behind such a delay, but we have to take everything we’ve heard so far as optimism. Hernandez has expressed confidence in the show’s future in past interviews, and while this is not CBS’ top-rated show, they’ve also renewed some with smaller numbers. We also think it needs to be taken into consideration that the show airs on Friday nights, which is hardly the sort of place where there are a ton of available viewers. This is a situation where if Magnum PI were to be canceled, there’d probably be a lot of questions and confused entertainment reporters after the fact — us included.

Fingers crossed a decision comes this week, and before Friday, which is when a lot of shows tend to get the metaphorical axe.

Do you think Magnum PI will be renewed for a season 5?

Be sure to share right now in the attached comments! Once you do just that, be sure to keep coming back for some other updates. (Photo: CBS.)