Magnum PI season 5: How is revival progress made behind the scenes?

If you’ve been attentive to the efforts to Magnum PI over the past couple of weeks, then something may feel a little bit strange today. It’s quiet! Or, it’s been quiet over the past several days. Ever since the news first came out that Universal TV was shopping the canceled show around, there was activity. Eventually, that led to the news that NBC and, potentially, USA were looking for a way to pick the show up and air new episodes.

So is the sudden lack of major headlines a bad thing? Not at all. In a way, you could look at it as a sign of progress. Negotiations playing out in the press can be a bit dicey, and it’s better that a lot of that is handled behind the scenes.

Here is one way to look at things: If NBC wasn’t interested in Magnum PI or the price tag was basically insurmountable, there would be reports out there about that already. The fact that there is still silence suggests legitimate interest, but also difficult conversations. Saving a show after cancellation is not easy. You need to have a network partner who is willing to not just buy in on your product, but handle the process of shifting over rights and getting a budget set. It’s even harder with a show like this, which has multiple studio partners in Universal and also CBS.

If news ever comes out that NBC has moved on from the prospect of picking up Magnum, that is where some concern could start to creep in — but we’re not there yet and hopefully, we will never be.

We’ve reported this in the past, but we believe the most critical part of these negotiations (aside from the new network home itself) is sorting out the streaming rights for the first four seasons. If you are NBC, you 100% want the show on Peacock to capitalize on one of your own properties. These deals can be complicated and take a lot of time. Luckily, there’s still more than two weeks until cast contracts expire and based on where we are now, a lack of major updates is still a good thing. It’s not as good as an actual revival being announced, but it signals that things are still moving.

Do you think we’ll get an announcement on Magnum PI season 5 this week?

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