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MacGyver
MacGyver titlecard
Genre	Adventure Action
Created by	Lee David Zlotoff
Starring	Richard Dean Anderson Dana Elcar Bruce McGill
Narrated by	Richard Dean Anderson
Theme music composer	Randy Edelman
Country of origin	Canada  United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	7
No. of episodes	139 2 TV Movies (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Henry Winkler John Rich
Producer(s)	Henry Winkler/John Rich Productions Paramount Television
Location(s)	California British Columbia Alberta
Running time	60 minutes (with commercials)
Broadcast
Original channel	ABC
Audio format	Mono (Seasons 1-3), Stereo (Season 4-7)
Original run	September 29, 1985 – May 21, 1992
External links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

MacGyver is a American adventure television series, produced in the United States and Canada, about the laid-back, extremely resourceful secret agent, Angus MacGyver, played by Richard Dean Anderson. The series was created by Lee David Zlotoff and executive produced by Henry Winkler and John Rich. It ran for seven seasons from September 29, 1985 to May 21, 1992 on the ABC network. Film locations included Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and Southern California. There were 139 one-hour long episodes produced, including three with two parts. Additionally, two made-for-television movies were produced in 1994.

Contents 1 Premise 2 Cast and characters 2.1 Recurring cast 3 Influence on culture 3.1 MacGyverisms 3.2 In the media 4 DVD releases 4.1 Television movies 5 Book releases 6 International 7 References 8 External links

The series revolved around Angus MacGyver (known to his friends as MacGyver or "Mac") who favoured brain over brawn in order to solve desperate problems. MacGyver's main asset is his practical application of scientific knowledge and inventive use of common items—along with his ever-present Swiss Army knife and duct tape. The clever solutions MacGyver implemented to seemingly intractable problems—often in life-or-death situations requiring him to improvise complex devices in a matter of minutes—were a major attraction of the show, which was praised for generating interest in engineering^[1] as well as providing entertaining storylines. All of MacGyver's exploits on the show were ostensibly vetted to be based on real scientific principles (even though, the creators acknowledged, in real life one would have to be extraordinarily lucky for most of MacGyver's ideas to succeed). In the few cases where MacGyver used household chemicals to create poisons, explosives or other things deemed too dangerous to be accurately described for public consumption, details were intentionally altered or vague.

The use of ordinary household items to jury rig devices shows an influence from The A-Team (though MacGyver eschewed firearms). The idea has entered United States popular culture; such constructions are referred to as "MacGyverisms" (a term first used in episode 3 of season 2, "Twice Stung").

During seasons 4–7, the show revolved more around social issues such as guns and runaway teens than did the episodes in seasons 1–3, which were mostly about MacGyver's adventures working for the United States government, and then later the Phoenix Foundation.

In an August 2007 survey commissioned by the McCormick Tribune Foundation, Americans polled voted MacGyver as the favourite fictional hero they would want to have if they were ever caught in an emergency. ^[2]

In 2003, the WB had a pilot for a possible new "Young MacGyver" series starring Jared Padalecki, but opted to pick up a new Tarzan series instead.^{[citation needed]}

Angus MacGyver is a highly intelligent, optimistic action hero who prefers non-violent conflict resolution wherever possible. He refuses to carry or use a gun due to a childhood accident with a revolver that resulted in the death of a friend.^[3] The character is portrayed as an outspoken advocate of gun control, and is also politically liberal in other respects; environmental preservation, racial equality and assisting the poor. Even in cases where his improvised devices are used to attack hostile opponents, he is always doing so in self-defense and, if possible, subduing or disabling rather than killing. He is often suspicious of militaristic attitudes within the government; he sees his Phoenix Foundation employer as an alternative to the more conventional (and violent) means of law enforcement.

He was born and raised in Mission City, Minnesota on March 23, 1951.^[4] His heritage explains why he speaks with a Minnesota accent. (Richard Dean Anderson himself was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on January 23, 1950). Like Anderson, MacGyver was an avid hockey player as a child, and competed in his local hockey league, continuing to play the game as an adult. Mac earned a Bachelor's degree in physics from the fictitious Western Tech where in 1973 a mustachioed MacGyver had studied under Julian Ryman, a man who also had an ability to fix things with everyday objects and was probably influential on MacGyver.^[5] MacGyver's interests include mountain climbing (despite suffering from vertigo) and ice hockey, and he is a supporter of the Calgary Flames.

The most appealing aspect is that MacGyver, when being challenged to protect himself or a person who needs protection (a persecuted man, woman, or child), is a man "who never gives up", and "when plan A doesn't succeed", then he will think about "plan B". There are only a few episodes in which he was forced to think about a "plan B". He was also unlike the stereotypical "macho" or stoic action hero; not only did he dislike violence, but he often exhibited open fear in perilous situations (though it did not hamper his efforts to escape or resolve such situations) and showed pain after a fight (he would routinely gasp in pain and shake out his hand after punching an opponent). These reactions helped humanize the character, giving him an accessible "everyman" quality.

Dana Elcar as Pete Thornton: MacGyver's boss and best friend, Pete is an operative at the Department of External Services (DXS) which is where he is impressed by Mac's ingenuity while tracking down Murdoc, an international assassin. When Pete takes the position of Director of Operations at the Phoenix Foundation several years later, he brings MacGyver into the program. The Pete Thornton character doesn't appear until episode 1.11, "Nightmares", but is then a regular appearing in most episodes. In addition to sending Mac out on various task for the Foundation, Pete is many times forced to bail MacGyver out of the trouble he gets into. Pete has a son named Michael.

Bruce McGill as Jack Dalton: An aviator and old friend of MacGyver's with a weakness for get-rich-quick schemes that invariably get both of them into trouble. He always wears a peaked cap and twitches his left eye when lying.

Michael Des Barres as Murdoc: MacGyver's most frequent opponent, a master assassin who never fails—except when MacGyver gets involved. Murdoc is a master of disguise, as well as highly skilled and creative in the use of booby traps. Murdoc's signature for each hit is to take photographs of his victims at the moment of their deaths. His first appearance in the series is presented as his second run-in with MacGyver. Murdoc returns for revenge for their first encounter—to the surprise of MacGyver, as Murdoc had apparently been killed. Murdoc's revenge scheme not only fails, but results in him apparently being killed again. This became a recurring theme: each of Murdoc's subsequent appearances ends in another "death", which he incredibly survives, to return in a later episode.

Teri Hatcher as Penny Parker: Penny Parker and MacGyver meet in line at an airport in Bulgaria ("Every Time She Smiles") when she tries to smuggle some jewels out of the country in his pocket. With little talent, but big dreams, her pursuit of a show business career gets her into trouble more than once; she was once used by Murdoc as an unwitting pawn in an attempt to eliminate MacGyver.

Della Reese, Cleavon Little, Richard Lawson, and Cuba Gooding Jr. as The Coltons: A family of bounty hunters (Mama Colton, Frank, Jesse and Billy), introduced one at a time—the only episode in which more than one appears is their collective final appearance in the final season, on which occasion they took over the episode entirely, relegating MacGyver to a cameo appearance. This episode, called "The Coltons", was actually intended as a pilot for a spin-off starring the Coltons, but nothing ever came of it.

John Anderson as Harry Jackson: Harry Jackson, MacGyver's grandfather, became MacGyver's "father" after his grandmother and real father were killed in a car accident. A few years later, he left MacGyver. After another eighteen years, Harry and MacGyver meet again in the season one episode, "Target MacGyver", in which MacGyver and his grandfather work together to defeat an assassin named Axminster (D'Mitch Davis). Harry dies of a heart attack in the fifth season episode "Passages".

Elyssa Davalos as Nikki Carpenter: Nikki Carpenter joins the Phoenix Foundation in the third season. She often has differences of opinion with MacGyver, although the two eventually come to respect each other as professionals.

Michele Chan as Mei Jan: Initially calling herself Sue Ling, the name of MacGyver's foster daughter, Mei Jan enlists MacGyver's help in completing her mission for the Chinese student movement.

Robin Mossley and Robert Donner as Wilt and Milt Bozer: Wilt Bozer is MacGyver's neighbor at the marina. (Note: Wilt Bozer also appears in MacGyver's two Western dreams in "Serenity" and "MacGyver's Women", where he has a brother named Milt. Milt only appears in the Western dream sequences and is not mentioned in the show's regular continuity.)

Dalton James as Sean Angus Malloy: Sean, known as Sam, is introduced in the series finale as MacGyver's son with a past love named Kate Malloy. Sean's middle name is a dedication by his mother to his father.

Roxanne Reese as Cynthia Wilson: Introduced with her husband Booker (Michael D. Roberts) in "The Challenge" (which also had Cuba Gooding, Jr. as a guest star), Cynthia runs the Challenger's Club, a program for troubled inner-city teens. In episodes where Mac tries to help runaways or other youths, he invariably sends them to the Challenger's Club as a safe haven.

Mayim Bialik as Lisa Woodman: She is a young girl who MacGyver originally meets at a Swiss boarding school, where she accidentally loses his trusty Swiss Army knife. She later returns and Mac helps her overcome a substance abuse problem.

Kimberly Scott as Mama Lorraine: She appears in only the final season of MacGyver. Mama Lorraine is a voodoo priestess. She appears in episodes "The 'Hood", "The Prometheus Syndrome" and "Walking Dead".

MacGyver's producers had a tendency to use the same actor in multiple roles through the series. Some examples:

• Kai Wulff played "Stepan Frolov" in season one's "Every Time She Smiles", "Hans Visser" in season four's "Collision Course", "Ladysmith" in season five's "Black Rhino", and "Nicolas Von Leer" in season six's episode "Eye of Osiris".
• Gregory Sierra appeared in the season one episode "The Gauntlet", playing "General Antonio Vasquez", the season two episode "Jack of Lies", playing "Colonel Antunnez", and the season five episode "The Treasure of Manco", playing "Captain Diaz".
• Nana Visitor of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine fame appeared in the season one episode "Hellfire" as "Laura Farren", and in the season two episode "DOA: MacGyver" she appears again as "Carol Varnay".
• David Ackroyd appears in the season one episode "Trumbo's World" as "Mr. Trumbo", and in the season three episode "The Negotiator" as "Mr. Knapp".
• Elyssa Davalos played "Lisa Kohler/Kosov" in "Lost Love: Part 1 & 2" (Season 3), then just a few episodes later (in the same season) reappeared as Nikki Carpenter, a role which she reprised in several more episodes.
• Gary Chalk aka Garry Chalk and Gary Chaulk, appears in season 3 episode "Thin Ice" as Tony Ellis, season 4 episode "Deadly Dreams" as Detective Sweeney, season 5 "The Ten Percent Solution" as Sgt. Harold Gray, and again as an uncredited season 6 "Lesson In Evil" again as Det. Sweeney.

For a list of MacGyverisms, see List of problems solved by MacGyver

The spontaneous inventions have come to be nicknamed MacGyverisms and even led to the verb, 'to MacGyver' or 'to MacGyver-ize'. This word was used in Richard Dean Anderson's project Stargate SG-1, in a breaking of the 4th wall moment in the first episode, when the character Samantha Carter (portrayed by Amanda Tapping) comments on the time and effort that had been required "to MacGyver" a replacement for the Stargate's long-lost control system. Anderson's character, Colonel O'Neill, is seen to inwardly groan and roll his eyes, in the manner of one who is not being allowed to forget something.

MacGyverism is a derivative of the "robinsonade" genre, named after Robinson Crusoe (1719). In this genre, the protagonist is suddenly isolated from the comforts of civilization and must improvise the means of his survival from the limited resources at hand. MacGyverism is also an example of bricolage, and MacGyver himself is the paradigm of a bricoleur ("a person who creates things from existing materials, is creative and resourceful"). It was first used by Joanne Remmings (played by Pamela Bowen) in the second-season episode #3 "Twice Stung", in which MacGyver must con a con man. (The episode title is a reference to The Sting, with Paul Newman, Robert Redford, and Dana Elcar.)

MacGyver's Swiss Army Knife went through a few changes over the early episodes. His first and most often used knife was a "Tinker-Small" model from Victorinox. In "Thief of Budapest" he gives it away; in the next episode he is using a "Traveler" model from Wenger. He is soon back to his "Tinker-Small." At one point he uses an Orange Peeler blade; probably from a Victorinox "Executive." He may have used an older model "Explorer" from Victorinox later in the series. He also used the Sportsman "Lost Love pt. 1 and 2", the Recruit "GX-1", and the Climber "Three for the Road." In "Tough Boys" he uses a Tinker (with the key ring removed) to unlock a large padlock. He also had a couple of non-production models that were obviously modified for the series. In "Serenity," he has a knife with wood handles on it, to flow with the time setting of the episode. In "Strictly Business" he used a knife with the Victorinox shield on the back handle of the knife instead of the front. He seems to have used all of the slimmer models available at that time. The Tinker was (and still is) available in a slightly smaller model, which he may have used. The Sportsman, Tourist, and Spartan are virtually indistinguishable with the blades closed, so he may have used any one of these three, or only one. The knife seen in the opening of each episode was a Wenger, as noted by its long keychain.

A Swiss Army knife is commonly called Macgybar Chakku in Bangladesh, Maekgaibeo Kal in South Korea, and Pisau MacGyver/Pisau Lipat MacGyver' in Indonesia and Malaysia. (Chakku, Kal and Pisau mean knife in Bengali, Korean and Malay, respectively.) In Malaysia, the term "MacGyver knife" (English) is also commonly used. In Norway and in certain areas of Finland, duct tape is commonly known, to some degree, as "MacGyver-tape", though it is more used in a joking manner. In Mozambique, fixing something by adapting locally-available parts is sometimes referred to as doing a "Macgyver". In Taiwan, a person who is knowledgable or skilled at a technical subject X is termed an "X magaixian" ("X MacGyver").

MacGyver is referenced in the first episode of the show Stargate SG-1 in which Capt. Carter explains the difference between the DHD on Abydos and the DHD on Earth. This was likely intended as an amusing irony by the scriptwriters since Richard Dean Anderson, the actor who plays MacGyver, also plays the lead role in Stargate SG-1, Colonel Jack O'Neill.

In 2006, Anderson appeared in a MasterCard television commercial for Super Bowl XL. The spot poked fun at the character's inherent ability of using everyday objects to perform extraordinary feats: In it, he manages to cut the ropes binding him to a chair using a pine tree air freshener, uses an ordinary tube sock as the pulley for a zipline, and somehow repairs and hotwires a nonfunctional truck using a paper clip, ballpoint pen, rubber band, tweezers, nasal spray and a turkey baster. In contrast to previous MasterCard commercials showing people making somewhat extravagant purchases to accomplish some mundane task, MacGyver is here portrayed as escaping from some sort of deathtrap using less than $20 worth of common household items. The commercial ends by showing him purposefully buying an assortment of such things at a department store with his credit card (as a tongue-in-cheek explanation for how Mac seems to always have items he needs on hand no matter where he goes). Although the commercial clearly indicates Anderson is portraying the role of MacGyver, he is never explicitly identified as such, possibly due to licensing issues related to the character.

The series is referenced in many episodes of The Simpsons, primarily detailing Marge Simpson's sisters Patty and Selma's obsession with the show and their crush on the MacGyver character. The sisters' regular viewing of the show is an unalterable element of their daily schedule to the point of death as demonstrated in the episode "Black Widower". Anderson himself is an avid fan of The Simpsons, and even provided his voice for an episode of the show titled "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore", which first aired April 6, 2006.

In the season one episode titled "Brian: Portrait of a Dog" from Family Guy, Peter writes a letter to Richard Dean Anderson asking him to save his dog using the enclosed items from the envelope: a rubber band, a paper clip and a straw. Anderson puts these together and hits himself in the eye with the rubber band.

The New Zealand sporting skit show Pulp Sport had a running gag called "McIvor" in which the MacGyver theme is played, and a prank involving Sky TV sports presenter Steven McIvor is played out. This gag, instead, now targets TV3 sports news presenter Hamish McKay (dubbed "McKay-ver"). The pranks usually involve the office area (a mobile phone taped to the under side of a desk) or something happening to the car of the victim (placing a goat in the back seat).

In the MMORPG World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, a Grand Master Engineer named "Mack Diver" can be found in Zabra'Jin, a Horde outpost in Zangarmarsh. Mack Diver wears a diving helmet and wields a utility knife, a homage to MacGyver.

In 2007, the NBC sketch show Saturday Night Live featured a parody of MacGyver called "MacGruber" with Will Forte as the title character. There were three installments of the pretaped, three-part sketch; one set in January ([1] [2] [3]) in an episode hosted by Jeremy Piven and another in May[4], hosted by former castmember Molly Shannon. The sketch returned [5] for the October 7, 2007 show, with host Seth Rogen.

G4, also known as tech TV aired a small series of MacGyver parodies about a young corporate cubicle worker known as MacGunner. He would construct ridiculous items out of cubicle materials, such as several dozen markers hooked end to end in order to reach over to his arch-enemy's cubicle and type a scathing email to the boss.

A future episode of Mythbusters is to be dedicated entirely to MacGyver myths.

CBS Home Entertainment has released all 7 Seasons of MacGyver on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time. They have also released Seasons 1 to 4 in Region 2. On October 16, 2007, Paramount released MacGyver: The Complete Series, a special collectors' edition boxset that features all 139 episodes of the series as well as the 2 TV movies that followed. It is not known if the TV movies will be released in a separate set on their own.

DVD Name	Release Date	Ep #	Tagline
MacGyver: Season 1	January 25, 2005	22	Always prepared for adventure
MacGyver: Season 2	June 7, 2005	22	His mind is the ultimate weapon
MacGyver: Season 3	September 6, 2005	20	Saving the day is all in a day's work
MacGyver: Season 4	December 6, 2005	19	He acts fast and thinks faster
MacGyver: Season 5	March 14, 2006	21	The right man when things go wrong (originally He has a mind for adventure)
MacGyver: Season 6	June 13, 2006	21	Braver than most—smarter than the rest
MacGyver: Season 7	October 24, 2006	14	Back in action—ready for danger

DVD Name	Release Date	Ep #	Status
MacGyver: Lost Treasure of Atlantis	October 16, 2007	1	Included in complete series set
MacGyver: Trail to Doomsday	October 16, 2007	1	Included in complete series set

#	U.S. Book publication date	Title and Author
1	July 9, 1987	MacGyver on Ice by Mark Daniel

This section does not cite any references or sources. Please improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (December 2007)

• In Algeria, the show was shown on Algerian TV.
• In Argentina, the show was shown on Canal 13 (Argentina).
• In Australia, the show was shown on the Seven Network.
• In Austria, the show was shown on ORF1.
• In Bangladesh, the show was shown on Bangladesh Television and Ekushey Television.
• In Belgium, the show was shown on VTM (Dutch-subtitled), Kanaal2 (Dutch-subtitled) and RTL TVI (French-dubbed).
• In Barbados, the show was shown on CBC.
• In Bulgaria , the show was shown on BNT , and now is being re-aired on Evrokom TV
• In Brazil, the show was shown on TV Globo with the title "Profissão: Perigo!" (in English, "Occupation: Danger!"). The original opening and closing themes was replaced by Rush's song "Tom Sawyer". It later aired on Rede Bandeirantes, this time with the original name.
• In Colombia, the show originally premiered in 1986 on RCN when they were a licenser of the Public Television system. After many repetitions over the years, it was one of the flagship shows of RCN when they became a TV network in 1998. Then, the show was shown on Telecaribe and currently is shown on the Bogotá local network CityTV.
• In Costa Rica, the show was shown on channel 6 and now appears on channel 11. The show is so popular that a very technically-skilled person is called "MacGyver".
• In the Czech Republic, the show was shown on TV Nova and TV Prima.
• In Denmark, the show was shown on TV Danmark.
• In Dominican Republic, the show was shown on Canal 11 (Telesistema) then on Canal 7 (Rahintel, now Antena Latina).
• In Egypt, the show was shown several times on the program "Ekhtarna Lek" (What we chose for you) on Egyptian Channel 1 as the show received a huge fanbase in Egypt. The show also aired on Channel 2.
• In El Salvador, the show was shown in TV2. On the final season presentation (a year later than in the USA, due to Spanish dubbing), erroneously the operators showed the last episode almost at the start. This caused lack of interest from the public in the remaining episodes and seriously affected the rating from a series that was, to that date, very popular. The programming director was fired.
• In Estonia, the show was shown on Kanal 2.
• In Finland, the show was shown on MTV3 with the title "Ihmemies MacGyver" (in English, "The Miracle Man MacGyver"). It is currently being rerun on SubTV.
• In France, the show was first shown on Antenne 2, then on TF1 and later on TV Breizh.
• In Germany, the show was shown on Pro7, Sat.1, Kabel1 and Premiere Series.
• In Greece, the show was shown on ERT and ANT1 and ALTER.
• In Hungary, the show was shown in MTV2 and TV2 in the late 90s.
• In India, the show was shown on Star World.
• In Indonesia, the show was shown on RCTI and SCTV.
• In Ireland, the show was shown on RTE Network 2.
• In Israel the show was shown on Channel 1 of the Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA).
• In Italy, the show was shown on Italia 1 and Rete 4.
• In Japan, the show was shown on JCTV.
• In Latvia, the show was shown on LNT (Latvijas Neatkarīgā Televīzija).
• In Malaysia, the show was shown on TV3.
• In Malta, the show was shown on TVM.
• In Mexico, the show was aired on Canal 5, Televisa.
• In Mozambique, the show was shown on TVM.
• In Namibia, the show was shown on NBC.
• In New Zealand, the show was shown on TV2, and is now repeated on Prime.
• In Norway, the show has been shown in several reruns on TV 2, the latest being aired in 2007.
• In Pakistan, the show has been shown in several reruns on PTV.
• In the Philippines, the show was shown on RPN 9.
• In Poland, the show was shown on TVP 1, Polonia 1 and Polsat and is shown on TV Puls.
• In Portugal, the show was shown on RTP 1 and SIC Radical.
• In Romania, the show was shown on Antena 1.
• In Russia, the show was shown on TNT.
• In Saudi Arabia, the show was shown on Saudi TV Channel 2.
• In Singapore, the show was shown on then TCS' Channel 5.
• In Slovakia, the show was shown on STV, Markiza, JOJ. Currently it is running on JOJ.
• In Slovenia, the show was shown on Kanal A.
• In South Africa, the show was shown on SABC
• In South Korea, the show was shown on MBC.
• In Spain, the show was shown on TVE, Telecinco, Calle 13 and Antena 3.
• In Sri Lanka, the show was shown on Rupavahini.
• In Sweden, the show was shown first run on SVT and is currently syndicated on Kanal 5.
• In Switzerland, the show was shown on TSR, in French.
• In Taiwan, the show was shown on TTV and FTV.
• In Thailand, the show was shown on Channel 3.
• In Trinidad & Tobago, the show was shown on TTT.
• In Turkey, the show was shown on TRT 2, Star TV, Kanal 6 and ATV.
• In Uganda, the show was aired on TV Africa.
• In United Kingdom, ITV1 only showed 22 episodes from certains series between the 1980's to 90's and some were on BBC1. ITV1 also never aired the pilot series 2,6 & 7, with repeats sometimes on Bravo. It has just started a run of repeats on the FX channel.
• In Uruguay, the show was shown on Canal 12 (La Tele).
• In Venezuela, the show was shown on RCTV.
• In Zambia, the show was shown on ZNBC.
• In Zimbabwe, the show was shown on ZBC TV 1.

• MacGyver at the Internet Movie Database
• TV.com MacGyver page