[Makedde]

Ever wonder how the bad guys get knocked out so easily? Through all 7 seasons, the bad guys just need a tap on the head, or a small push and they fall over, out cold!

Yet Mac gets the kicked out of him and he's still alright to fight.

I just find that rather silly that you can knock out the bad guys with a push or a tap on the head.

[MacGyverGod]

Mac also got plenty blows to the head that knocked him out or at least almost.

Nightmares
The Ten Percent Solution
Two Times Troubles
The Lost Amadeus
Gunz 'N Boyz

Just to name a couple.

Vice-versa the same thing. Funny though how some bad guys got KO'd with just one single punch and others got a whole fight scene.

[Makedde]

Mac had a hard head. It took a lot to even daze him. The baddies must have had soft heads because one tap and they are out cold. Kinda lame, really.

[Dr Zito]

I think that was a standard back in the 70s and 80s, happened all the time in six million dollar man, the a-team and other famous series

nowadays audiences are more sophisticated and cynical they just dont buy it, but it was a good compromise between killing the baddies, something mac would never do, and letting them off too lightly so they could warn their fellow villains and catch mac before time

[Mac Jackson]

To me it seems that Mac doesn't "tap" the bad guy on the head but hits them hard enough to knock them out and potentionally kill them but what choice does he have? that or die right? There have been some guys who don't fall so easily while others don't need much. I have found that true in life too. Part of the deciding factor in many cases is the "sweet spot". The spot along the jaw line where a major artery runs. Boxers can speak to this. Hit that just right and the person is knocked out. Being a martial artist and someone who works in a job where you need to physically restrain people on a daily basis I can atest to the wide range in people and how fragile they can or can not be. Even MacGyver has had moments where he gets hit hard and drops while other times he can keep fighting. I know it comes down to what the writers want but I have always found the episodes to be oddly and sometimes comically true to life.