Magnum P.I. reboot is an action-packed Ferrari festival

Time to get the Ferrari detailed, pull out those old Hawaiian shirts and short shorts, and gather your military buddies for a little sleuthing. And a beer or two. Yes, Thomas Magnum is back, baby, along with plenty of prancing-horse friends.

But before you fall off your surfboard trying to figure out how in the world Frank Reagan is going to hold down his job as commissioner of the NYPD while also chasing bad guys in Hawaii (you have to be a Blue Bloods fan to get that one), we clarify: Thomas Magnum is back. Not Tom Selleck.

Technically speaking, Magnum, P.I. isn’t returning either, since the CBS reboot—scheduled for fall—is called Magnum P.I. (no comma). Thirty years after the original television show’s eight-season run ended in 1988, the actors have changed, but the characters haven’t. According to CBS, “Magnum P.I. returns with all-new sun-drenched adventures as our hero [a former Navy SEAL] takes jobs no one else will, with the help of fellow vets T.C. Calvin and Rick Wright and the former MI6 agent with a familiar last name (but now a female)—Higgins.” And, just in case you’ve never known life without the internet, cell phones, or Tesla, CBS felt the need to add: “Based on the 1980s series.”

We have to warn you that you’ll have to do without those Hawaiian shirts and short shorts (they’re oh-so 1988), but Detroit Tigers fans can take heart knowing that Magnum still wears a navy blue baseball cap emblazoned with the Olde English D. And yes, there are lots of Ferraris to ogle over, although judging from the trailer none of them stick around around for long.

Among the Maranello-built sports cars (or plausible lookalikes) that are gunned down, run over, or forced off a cliff (or all of the above) are a red Ferrari 488 Spider and a red 308 GTB like the one Magnum drove in the original show. We also spied a black California convertible (the vertical quad tailpipes gave it away) that we can only assume will meet the same fate as its abused brethren. With all those sweet rides, we were surprised to see a Lada (or perhaps a Fiat) enter the fray, and in a hero’s role to boot. The boxy compact not only eluded the bad guys (confirming that this is indeed a work of fiction), but it crashed through the side of a building… and kept going.

Moving beyond the cars for a bit, the slick trailer makes Magnum P.I. look more like a movie than a TV show. The plot centers on the murder of one of Magnum’s friends, which leads to a revenge-inspired pursuit of the perpetrators—and the subsequent car crashes and close calls. There’s even a cinema-like “you’ve got to be kidding me” leap from a truck to a helicopter. It should come as no surprise that Justin Lin of Fast and Furious fame is the show’s director and executive producer.

For those of you who can’t imagine anyone but dimpled-and-mustachioed Selleck playing the role of Thomas Magnum, it may be difficult to get used to Jay Hernandez, who among his movie gigs played nice-guy Jessie Harkness in two Bad Moms comedies as well as. On the bright side, fans will instantly recognize the theme music, and the show’s original creator Donald P. Bellisario is on board for a second go-around.

But for his own safety, Bellisario might want to consider driving the Lada to work and leave the Ferraris in the garage.