ton, D.C.: Magnet Schools of America, 1999. The
senior author has been executive director of Mag-
net Schools of America, so he has a positive view
of the magnet school movement; however, this
study is one of the most comprehensive looks at
magnet schools throughout the United States.
Henig, Jeffrey R.Rethinking School Choice: The Limits
of the Market Metaphor. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton
University Press, 1994. Carefully researched book
looking at the historical background of many
school choice plans, including magnet schools.
Includes criticisms of choice plans, as well as in-
formation to support them.
Metz, Mary H.Different by Design: The Context and Char-
acter of Three Magnet Schools. New York: Teacher’s
College Press, 2003. This historical study analyzes
the organizational and political pressures that
helped make three magnet schools distinctive so-
cial environments. Discusses school choice, curric-
ular reform, and school equity and looks at the ef-
fects of the programs over two decades.
Mar y C. Ware
See also Education in Canada; Education in the
United States; Multiculturalism in education; Na-
tional Education Summit of 1989; Standards and ac-
countability in education.
Magnum, P.I.
Identification Television series
Creators Donald P. Bellisario (1935- ) and
Glen A. Larson (1937- )
Date Aired from December 11, 1980, to May 1,
1988
Magnum, P.I.helped revise the detective show genre, as
well as Americans’ perceptions of Vietnam veterans. The
show made Tom Selleck a major television star, although his
efforts to parlay his fame into a film career met with only
modest success.
One of the initial reasons for settingMagnum, P.I.in
Hawaii was so that the Columbia Broadcasting Sys-
tem (CBS) could continue using the sets created for
Hawaii Five-O. As the series evolved over the next
eight years and 157 episodes, the executive pro-
ducers, Donald P. Bellisario and Glen A. Larson,
achieved something unique in the detective genre,
creating a series that transcended the detective story
and that became a cultural metaphor for Americans’
attempt to understand the Vietnam War. In some
respects, the narrative construction of the series, a
detective drama featuring significant comedic ele-
ments, continuity between episodes, and recurrent
characters, was similar to other detective shows of
the 1980’s, such asSimon and Simon,Murder, She
Wrote, andMatlock.
The show’s title character, Thomas Sullivan Mag-
num IV, played by Tom Selleck, is a former U.S. Navy
SEAL, Naval Intelligence officer, and prisoner of
war. Magnum’s military background, combined with
his apparent lack of direction in life and his ambiva-
lence toward the service, enables him easily to transi-
tion into the role of private investigator. He also
works as a security expert for a very successful mys-
tery writer, Robin Masters. In return for his security
advice, Magnum is allowed to live in the guest house
of Masters’s Hawaiian estate, Robin’s Nest—a luxuri-
ous, beachfront complex on Oahu—and to drive the
estate’s Ferrari 308 GTS.
Most episodes revolve around Magnum’s efforts
to resolve clients’ problems by conducting investiga-
tions in which he is often aided by his friends, T. C.
(Roger E. Mosley) and Rick (Larry Manetti). Both
are former U.S. Marines who served with Magnum
in an elite unit in Vietnam. Magnum is also both
aided and thwarted by the majordomo of Robin’s
Nest, Jonathan Quayle Higgins III (John Hillerman),
an Englishman and retired sergeant major in the
British army. Humorous conflicts often erupt be-
tween Magnum and Higgins, sometimes involving
Higgins’s Doberman pinschers, Zeus and Apollo, or
stemming from superficial disputes about Magnum’s
privileges on the estate. Despite the nearly episodic
conflicts between the two, Magnum and Higgins
develop a deep friendship over the course of the se-
ries.Magnum, P.I.surpassed viewers’ expectations,
distinguishing itself from other detective shows of
the 1980’s, not only because it was both more dra-
matic and more humorous than the average such
show, but also because it featured complex charac-
ters whose present lives were haunted by their pasts.
Many episodes featured flashbacks to Magnum’s
past, particularly to his Vietnam War experiences.
These flashbacks, triggered by relevant events in the
present, both expanded the scope of the narrative
and reconstructed the characters’ past, fleshing out
their motivations and psyches. According to critic
Rodney Buxton, although612 Magnum, P.I. The Eighties in America