[KiwiTek]

What do you think MacGyver's parents did for jobs?

OK, back in the 60's I think it would have been uncommon for a women to be working if she had kids so the question is probably more what did MacGyver's father do?

Could he have been a scientist? That would go some way to explaining why Mac was the way he was.

The Blood Brothers episode tells us they lived in town so probably not a farmer.

It also seems that Harry had quite a lot of involvement with MacGyver before he left - he seems to have been the one who taught him all the important life lessons that you would normally expect a father to be passing down to his son, so I wonder if James (Mac's father) had a job which involved travel or maybe just long hours?

[Jediferret]

I'm not sure why... but something tells me his mother was a school teacher. I'm not sure where I got that from though... if anywhere. I could be very wrong about that.

Good Knight MacGyver showed that the genius came through the MacGyver line. This can skip a generation, so MacGyver could get that genius even if his father didn't have it.

I always just assumed that the Jackson's were farmers, as they all seemed to live together. Maybe his Dad was military? I have NO clue.

I always just figured his intelligence came from his father's side, and his compassion came from his mother's side.

[Joe SAKic]

He was a marketing VP for 3M, a company with their noses into the full spectrum of technology & industry.
The products, ideas, and company protocol that Mac subliminally absorbed through dinner table chat,
eavesdropping on telephone conversation, and other sensory vocationally intake left a lasting impression
on him and one that would eventually lead him towards his undeniable & true calling.

[MacGyverGod]

I remember reading a fanfic years ago, just a little something I remembered about it was that according to the writer of the fanfic, Ellen might have been a teacher and maybe suffered a depression after James and Celia died. It's vague, real vague. But on the other hand, you might be right, Ellen could've been a housewife.

I think what James is concerned, we're going to have to keep on guessing. Maybe he was a scientist in some way, maybe he also worked for the government in a sort of the same type of agency like Phoenix or DXS. Or maybe he had his own business, like Chuck.

When I look at their picture, I actually just see very normal and caring peoples. Like very locally known peoples. They probably did a lot of volunteering work in their town, might explain why Mac is so involved in that.

Because of Phoenix Under Siege I always liked to believe they all lived together on Harry's farm. But maybe they were just visiting. And don't forget Kiwi, James died when Mac was ten, so it seemed quite obvious that Harry raised him for the most part.

[denizen]

Well according to the reboot, his father was someone significant. But according to the original, Mac just fell into his profession.

With so little being focused on his folks and the way Harry went on about them, I doubt they did anything of major importance other than being respectable people with common careers.

Knowing the reboot, his mom will be an assassin.

[Jediferret]

You also have to take in the time frame and location into account. They lived in rural Minnesota in 1960. Unless his father was traveling to a major city every day, which is unlikely, he probably didn't have a high paying job. He may have been a school teacher or a librarian, which are respectable and smart careers. It's obvious that Harry was a farmer and not afraid of labor intensive jobs... so I doubt they were afraid to get their hands dirty. It's possible the Jacksons were farmers, or at least had a small farm (enough to sustain a family), and his father had a community related job. Or even an industrial/factory job... which can pay very well.


And that's a good point, denizen... Even MacGyver's attitude towards having a career can say a lot about how he was raised. Having a "career" wasn't all that important to him, and he knew how to survive on very little. His family probably wasn't very rich... maybe lower middle class at that time. He knew enough about finding food off the land via There But For the Grace, which was probably something Harry taught him.

[Barry Rowland]

Mac's love of learning and his intuitive sense always gave me the impression he came from a family of teachers/professors.