Just wondering if anyone knew why MacGyver ended was there any reason. I know RDA had some back problems. Just wondering if there were any other reasons. Or he just was tired of doing show.

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That doesn't really answers the question though. Probably nobody but the powers that were on the show know the real answer but I'm guessing it was the low ratings and the change over to the 90's style shows/competition.

oh you just reminded me of something I heard in an ET news spot about MacGyver winding down for the series finale.

They mentioned one of the reasons for ending was the raising costs of production. MacGyver was already the most expensive show on TV at the time, and one of the main reasons for moving production back to LA from Vancouver was trying to cut the costs.. oddly enough thats also the main reason they moved up to Vancouver in the first place

Anyway money was certainly a contributing factor. and probably not helped, as MacNymph said, by the changing TV climate of the time.

Oh, I daydream about what they could have done with 'MacGyver' with a better budget and today's computer-generated special effects, if they had 'em back then...

*sigh*

How true, though the epsidoes still have a great look and feel about them after all this time

Imagine what they could do with a film with todays special FXs and a good budget!

Its amazing how far special effects have come... so easy to do (says my oh-so-smart child) and the cost is negligible.

But that show was mostly drama based. How could it have cost more?

Production costs likely increased because the caliber and quality of the guest actors increased exponentially. Think about the number of actors and actresses who used MacGyver as a launch pad for their own successful careers.

As the quality of the acting improved, the salaries would likewise increase.

Television also underwent a pretty radical shift from the hour long serial drama with ensemble casts to the half hour sitcom. These shorter shows were cheaper to produce, were popular with a younger audience and generated a lot more advertising income.

Friends and Seinfeld are two that come to mind. They were both quite successful, and networks rushed to try to reproduce that formula. The result was an abandonment of older shows for the shows that catered to the younger, hipper audience.

I think MacGyver was a victim of this change in the way networks did business and in the type of shows produced. Some of the best writing in MacGyver occured Season 3-6. Season 7 had maybe two really strong well written episodes, but hte majority of that season seems tired, as if the writers are going through the motions. RDA is a damn fine actor, but when you get handed junk to work with.......there's only so much you can do with it.

That said, I'll enjoy my DVDs, contemplate buying the box set with movies, which amazingly enough, I have never seen, hang out here discussing weighty matters of importance regarding MacGyver, reading fanfic, and imagining the "what ifs" as I write a story of my own.

Actually that's true. There isn't practically any show like the ones of the 80's in the 90's. Or at least not with the same popularity. There's still Xena en Hercules but besides those...
Now there's the third formula. Series in 24-style: 24, Lost and Prison Break.

So true... and I can think of quite a few. (Teri Hatcher for one, though it took her quite a while... unless you count "Lois and Clark" and the occasional Radio Shack commercial.)

Funny... I never watched those shows. I stuck to drama-based televion, and really good shows were hard to come by. I subsisted mainly on Law and Order, ER, and X-Files. But then I was never one to 'go with the flow'. I can see how these shows were popular; I just couldn't watch them on a weekly basis. *shrug*

Well said! ...and I haven't seen the movies yet either. I have them... they were just made available on the newsgroups and torr*mumble*ents, but I haven't found the time to watch them.

Cuba Gooding jr being another who became a big name star, and the girl who played "Lisa" the troubled teen in some episodes, went on to star in Blossom

Ooo, yeah. Forgot about Cuba Gooding Jr.

Is there a list of who made their start on MacGyver? Or went on to stardom after the show? Rocky?

Mayim Bialik- and yeah, her main claim to fame is "Blossom", though she's also guest starred in various other shows and voiced cartoon characters. Perhaps her biggest movie so far is "Beaches"

And I think it would be safe to say that Cuba Gooding, Jr. got his start on MacGyver.

I can't think of too many other breakout stars, other than maybe Jason Priestley, whose MacGyver role was one of his first acting jobs- and later on he became widely known on Beverly Hills, 90210

There was really on a very few actors who appeared in MacGyver regularly enough to say it started/boosted their careers.

Ooo, yeah. Forgot about Cuba Gooding Jr.

Is there a list of who made their start on MacGyver? Or went on to stardom after the show? Rocky?

I used to have a list like that and I mentioned a few before. Real stardom is a... uh big word but various actors sure had their pop-ups in big productions.

Christopher Neame also plays in a film, don't know it though but I remember him smoking a pipe and was also playing a very rich person like Von Leer.

Kimberly Scott (Mama Lorraine) played a major role in James Cameron's The Abyss as One Night, and a cameo Joel Shumacher's Flatliners as a girl that was bullied by Kevin Bacon's younger counterpart. Flatliners by the way was written by Peter Felardi (or something), who wrote The Endangered episode.

Bruce McGill shows up alongside Dick Butkiss in The Last Boy Scout and Cliffhanger. He also has a bigger role in Black Sheep and played a judge in I think it was Runaway Jury with John Cusack and Rachel Weisz.

Don S. Davis and W. Morgan Sheppard played a reverent and a priest in the movie based on Stephen Kings novel Needful Things. They have a cool fight scene together near the end. The blood on Sheppard's face is so well done and his eyes wide open. Adding a Zito touch to the scene. Don S. Davis by the way shows up as Kirstie Alley's doctor in Look Who's Talking and Look Who's Talking Too.

W. Morgan Sheppard plays also in I don't know the title but it seemed like a family oriented adventure film, involving gold and treasure. He also shows up in David Lynch's film Wild at Heart and most recent in Chris Nolan's The Prestige. Seemingly not aged much since Lesson in Evil.

Talking about Lynch films in Mulholland Drive it's like it's infested with MacGyver actors: Geno Silva (also plays in Wild at Heart, I think), Michael Fairbanks (Thinks that it's his name. He played Pappillon in Fraternity of Thieves) and Michael Des Barres all shows up in that film. Michael Des Barres plays a villain coming out of a diner eating a hotdog or chilli dog and smoking a cigarette at the same time.

Than like I mentioned in another topic: Jenette Goldstein plays in Lethal Weapon 2, Terminator 2, Aliens, Fair Game and Titanic.

Michael Ensign AKA Wycliff also shows up in Titanic as Guggenheim.

Than there's of course Cuba Gooding Jr playing in Judgment Night, Instinct, Rat Race and Pearl Harbor.

your right MG.. I wouldn't call any of those appearances "stardom".

To me Stardom is being the main actor of a movie or TV show.

Terry Hatcher would be considered a star now with Desperate housewives. She gets the late show interviews and magazine shoots, etc. Thats stardom.

Bruce McGill certainly has made a lot of appearances in movies of late.. but he hasn't had the top billing in any of them, and he was appearing in movies well before his MacGyver roles so I don't think MacGyver helped or hindered his career, it was just another step along the way for him.

I wouldn't call having a major role in one movie stardom either.

Whoops forgot someone to mention.