When you encounter someone who has never seen MacGyver before, which episode do you show them?

I try and select ones that have a lot of macgyverisms and action.

This usually leads me to the first season - but this has its drawbacks, such as hoakey 80's B actors in the smaller roles.

Which episode(s) would you describe as the "quintissential" episode?

This is an interesting question, though, because of how much the texture of the show changes over time - a season 1 episode will generally not be representative of a season 7 episode. I guess I just try to pick the ones I like best

One of the more suspenseful episodes. I don't know. Lesson in Evil, Stricktly Business, Humanity, Cease Fire for instance. Showing what MacGyver does best and hop in the third season like Kill Zone or The Negotiator.

I have no idea, but I can say that Strictly Business lights my fire these days...Mac knows how to use a gun while he has amnesia, you say? Really....

Interesting...

And where, pray tell, would he have learned that little skill...?

I've never believed Mac has never used a gun, and never will...

Thanks to this ep for helping feed my particular delusion...

I always start with the pilot, then a few of my favorites (like Widowmaker and The Challenge...) that show the scope and range of the dramatic side of RDA as an actor.

But I've loaned entire sets because I want a person to see why I've liked MacGyver for so long, and recommend to parents as a "must see" for pre-teens and up.

...and sometime I have to chase folks to get the set back.

Good question

Depends on the person, because I'd really like to make him/her addicted to the series

If this person liked James Bond, I would choose a season 1 episode like the pilot, Golden Triangle or The Gauntlet.

If this person was interested/engaged in social things I would suggest an episode like Runners.

If this person liked laughing when watching tv I'd choose an episode with Jack or Penny in it, maybe Brainwashed, Every Time She Smiles or Jack of Spies.
Or Dexter: Jenny's Chance.

Episodes with Murdoc are always good, in my point of view.

I would agree to MacGyverGod concerning Strictly Business, Humanity or Cease fire.

Good Knight MacGyver is not a good one to start with because it reveals his first name and therefore steals a lot of suspense

As you can see in my very "short" answer above, it is very hard for me to decide. What would your choices be? Which episodes from season 1?

And I agree, Season 1 and 7 really are different.
So I think it is not possible to come up with 1 single episode which is representative for the whole series.

What a difficult question

*gives up for now but will be kept busy the whole night thinking about it*

good choice

How did you make them interested in MacGyver? I sometimes tried to "introduce" MacGyver to my friends but they either don't like action series at all or laugh at me because I love this "old-fashioned" series and RDA's look
Is there any trick you use ?

I think the Human Factor is a good introduction episode to MacGyver.

I wish I knew how to get my friends to like MacGyver. One of them loved it when it was on the TV when she was younger but the only thing she likes about it now is the theme tune. She will quite happily spend the day humming the tune but I can't get her to sit down to watch any episodes. She'd rather watch reality TV shows. I have no idea what happened between childhood to adulthood that brought about that change! I am on a mission to reverse that but so far I’m getting nowhere. I feel such a failure!

I agree it depends on the person, and as most of the people I show it too would be considered "action-adventure" lovers, I usually start with one of the episodes on the first disk of season 1 - usually the gauntlet, golden triangle, or the theif of budapest. Sometimes, though, I just let them look through the first three or four season boxes and pick whatever episodes strike their fancy, although the small paragraphs seldom do justice to what the episodes are really like. It's so hard for me personally to choose, they all really are good! Sometimes they pick an unexpected one that I don't normally think to watch, and I am reminded of another great episode (although most people are drawn to names like "The Assasin" or "The Gauntlet" just because they sound exciting).

I guess it might not be possible to choose a quintissential episode in that earlier discussed sense. I think a good compromise is just to pick an episode that shows what mac is all about - and that could arguably be almost any episode!

I wish I knew how to get my friends to like MacGyver. One of them loved it when it was on the TV when she was younger but the only thing she likes about it now is the theme tune. She will quite happily spend the day humming the tune but I can't get her to sit down to watch any episodes. She'd rather watch reality TV shows. I have no idea what happened between childhood to adulthood that brought about that change! I am on a mission to reverse that but so far I’m getting nowhere. I feel such a failure!

Good idea on the human factor - "Sports page."

Kinda funny, I took my DVD's to college one year, and tried to get some of my friends into it - they were kind of hippy-types, so they were open to anything - anyway, I wound up getting everyone hooked on it, sometime a couple people would wind up watching a whole 4-episode disk in a night!

Well probably while he was in the special forces?

Anyway I think the Gauntlet gives a pretty good indication of what the first few years of the show where about.. special agent, the go to guy, type stuff.

Hmmm... usually it's the actor that a draw. Most of my friends heard of MacGyver, but never watched it until after a few episodes of Stargate. And then it like, "Oh! THAT'S MacGyver!" And they'd ask to borrow my DVD's. Which I have prominently displayed in my office area.

And I found out that my son was watching TVLand and watching MacGyver with his friends. That there is a resounding recommendation for the over-the-teenage-years crowd.

And if all else fails, grab your DVD's and sing-song "You don't know what you're missing..."

Hmm, I asked pretty much the same question in this thread back in early September, and got some really good suggestions. In my case, I had to pick two episodes with a third as a possible extra.

I went with "The Human Factor" (it's effectively a second pilot -- it re-introduced the considerably reworked series for its second season, it has a more coherent storyline than the original pilot, and it doesn't have the overblown folksy accent) and "The Gauntlet", which won a coin toss over "Nightmares".

Although this suggestion of Nymphy's was a particularly entertaining idea, and I might use that another time . . .

Well, last time I did it it went like this: I was visiting a friend in Bavaria and together with a third friend we did long hikings in the mountains. Don't know how it happened, but we started to talk about MacGyver (we got to know each other at a Stargate-board). So she asked me, what exactly Mac was, if he had been some kind of agent or what?

And I started to speak and didn't stop for a while I just summarized by heart some episodes that came to mind first, tried to show the range, the different things he had done, and I was very emotional and excited about it and in the end she said, well, it sounds as if I really should watch it one day (oh, I have to add, that she is much more into Daniel than Jack in "Stargate", so ist isn't only about the actor).

And she kept her promise and started right at the beginning and from time to time we talk about the episodes she has seen and which she liked and which she didn't and just recently I asked her whether she still watches it just for the sake of having seen it once or if in the meantime Mac caught her heart (I mean, who can resist for long?) and if she now watches it since she wants to and is interested in what happens next.

Don't have an answer yet, but I'll let you know, if you want to.

It happened though that when my friend came over after we went out in the youth house he asked if we could watch an episode. And he always asks for one with many MacGyverisms. So this resulted in one night The Pilot and another night in Nightmares.