Season One

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001 PILOT
Production No.: 40191-001
Airdate: 29 September 1985
Writer: Thackary Pallor
Director: Alan Smithee
Guest Cast: Michael Lerner as Gantner, Dana Elcar as Andy Colson, Paul Stewart as Dr. Steubens, Michael C. Gwynne as Dr. Burke, Olaf Pooley as Dr. Sidney Marlow, Shavar Ross as MacGyver’s “little brother,” Darlanne Fluegel as Barbara Spencer.

Opening Gambit:
MacGyver rescues a downed Air Force pilot from his Mongolian captors.

Main Episode:
MacGyver is called in as the last hope to stop a deadly acid leak and save scientists trapped in an underground lab by a mysterious explosion.

Nielsen Ratings: 10.9 rating / 17 share / 3rd (54th overall)

 


002 THE GOLDEN TRIANGLE
Production No.: 40191-003
Airdate: 06 October 1985
Opening Gambit Writer: Terry Nation
Opening Gambit Director: Donald Petrie
Writer: Dennis Foley
Director: Paul Stanley
Guest Cast: Joan Chen as Lin, George Lee Cheung as General Narai, Clyde Kusatsu as Anek, Keye Luke as Prasert, Benjamin Lum as Truang, Bryan Price as Chan, James Saito as Ming.

Opening Gambit: The Crusher
MacGyver tracks down stolen documents and captures the criminals as they exchange the documents in an old car-wrecking yard.

Main Episode:
While retrieving a poison-filled canister from a crash site in Burma, MacGyver is forced to take on a powerful drug lord when he is mistaken for a narcotics agent.

Nielsen Ratings: 12.2 rating / 19 share / 3rd (51st overall)

 


003 THIEF OF BUDAPEST
Production No.: 40191-004
Airdate: 13 October 1985
Opening Gambit Writers: Terry Nation & Stephen Downing
Opening Gambit Director: Lee H. Katzin
Writer: Joe Viola
Director: John Patterson
Guest Cast: Michael Constantine as Jan Messic, Bruce Abbott as Kossov, Kelly McClain as Yanna, Sue Kiel as Reena.

Opening Gambit: Pegasus
MacGyver retrieves a stolen horse and gets picked up, literally, by a helicopter.

Main Episode:
In Budapest, MacGyver races against KGB agents to find a young gypsy girl who has stolen a watch containing secret information from a Russian double agent.

Nielsen Ratings: 13.0 rating / 19 share / 3rd (47th overall)

 


004 THE GAUNTLET
Production No.: 40191-002
Airdate: 21 October 1985
Opening Gambit Writer: Judy Burns
Opening Gambit Director: Lee H. Katzin
Writer: Stephen Kandel
Director: Lee H. Katzin
Guest Cast: Robin Curtis as Kate Connelly, John Vernon as Ryerson, Gregory Sierra as General Antonio Vasquez.

Opening Gambit: Map
MacGyver is assigned to retrieve a map but ends up having to use the map as a tool of escape when he is chased by it’s owners.

Main Episode:
MacGyver goes up against an entire army when he helps an American journalist escape across the border of a South American dictatorship.

Nielsen Ratings: 14.3 rating / 22 share / 2nd (44th overall)

 


005 THE HEIST
Production No.: 40191-007
Airdate: 03 November 1985
Teleplay: James Schmerer
Writers: Larry Alexander & James Schmerer
Director: Alan Smithee
Guest Cast: Vernon Wells as Catlin, Victoria Bass as Tiffany, John Carter as Senator Rhodes, Doran Clark as Chris Rhodes.

In the Virgin Islands, MacGyver and a senator’s daughter must recover $60 million in stolen diamonds from the crooked casino owner’s impenetrable vault.

Nielsen Ratings: 14.3 rating / 20 share / 3rd (46th overall)

 


006 TRUMBO’S WORLD
Production No.: 40191-005
Airdate: 10 November 1985
Opening Gambit Writer: Stephen Kandel
Opening Gambit Director: Lee H. Katzin
Writer: Stephen Kandel
Director: Donald Petrie
Guest Cast: David Ackroyd as Trumbo, Peter Jurasik as Dr. Charles Alden.

Opening Gambit: White Water
MacGyver must rescue a captured scientist from her Basque captors.

Main Episode:
Deep in the Amazon jungle, MacGyver teams up with a local plantation owner to battle an invading horde of killer ants. (Includes clips from “The Naked Jungle,” a 1954 George Pal movie).

Nielsen Ratings: 15.6 rating / 22 share / 2nd (31st overall)

 


007 LAST STAND
Production No.: 40191-006
Airdate: 17 November 1985
Writer: Judy Burns
Director: John Florea
Guest Cast: Harry Caesar as Al Tennyson, Steve Franken, Jackie Earle Haley, Art Hindle as Dave Redding, Kay Lenz as Kelly Nelson, Michael McGuire as Andrews, Anthony Penya, Lewis Van Bergen as Buddy.

MacGyver must use his extraordinary skills to free hostages and thwart the armored-car robbers who are holding them at a desert airstrip.

Nielsen Ratings: 15.8 rating / 22 share / 3rd (36th overall)

 


008 HELLFIRE
Production No.: 40191-008
Airdate: 27 November 1985
Teleplay: Stephen Kandel, James Schmerer, & Douglas Brooks West
Story: Douglas Brooks West
Director: Richard Colla
Guest Cast: Cooper Huckabee as Bill Farren, Nana Visitor as Laura Farren, Rudy Ramos as Pete Torgut.

MacGyvers friends strike oil, but an out-of-control fire threatens to destroy all they own. They turn to MacGyver as the only one who can extinguish the inferno and save the oil.

Nielsen Ratings: 13.1 rating / 21 share / 2nd (48th overall)

 


009 THE PRODIGAL
Production No.: 40191-009
Airdate: 08 December 1985
Teleplay: David Abramowitz
Story: Paul Savage & David Abramowitz
Director: Alexander Singer
Guest Cast: Robert Romanus as Frank Bennett, Richard Romanus as Joey Bennett, Carl Franklin as Wiley, Angela Clarke as Caterina Bennett.

A protected Federal witness wants to come out of hiding to visit his dying mother. Can MacGyver protect him from the mob and the feds?

Nielsen Ratings: 11.6 rating / 17 share / 3rd (60th overall)

 


010 TARGET MacGYVER
Production No.: 40191-010
Airdate: 22 December 1985
Opening Gambit Writer: Terry Nation
Opening Gambit Director: Lee H. Katzin
Teleplay: Mike Marvin, Stephen Kandel, & James Schmerer
Story: Mike Marvin
Director: Ernest Pintoff
Guest Cast: John Anderson as Harry Jackson, D’Mitch Davis as Axminster.

Opening Gambit: Kitchen Magic
MacGyver must rescue a lady general held captive at a local beach house.

Main Episode:
A team of assassins targets MacGyver while on a fishing trip with his long-estranged grandfather, forcing them to put aside their differences to defend themselves against the gang of highly-trained killers.

Nielsen Ratings: 13.2 rating / 21 share / 3rd (49th overall)

 


011 NIGHTMARES
Production No.: 40191-012
Airdate: 15 January 1986
Writer: James Schmerer
Director: Cliff Bole
Guest Cast: Tammy Lauren as Lisa Allen, Dana Elcar as Pete Thornton, Robert O’Reilly as Curt Neilson, J.P. Bumstead as Barrett, Mike Mancini as Crisp.

Returning from East Germany with information, MacGyver is captured by German agents and given a hallucinogenic poison giving him 6 hours to either hand over the information or die from the drug.

Nielsen Ratings: 15.9 rating / 23 share / 2nd (34th overall)

 


012 DEATHLOCK
Production No.: 40191-011
Airdate: 22 January 1986
Opening Gambit Writer: Jerry Ludwig
Opening Gambit Director: Cliff Bole
Writer: Stephen Kandel
Director: Alexander Singer
Guest Cast: Wendy Schaal as Karen Blake, Christopher Neame as Quayle, Dana Elcar as Pete Thornton.

Opening Gambit: Funeral in Berlin
Posing as a corpse, Mac escapes East Berlin by turning his coffin into a jet-ski. (Includes clips from the 1966 film “Funeral in Berlin” starring Michael Caine)

Main Episode:
A safe-house turns out to be anything but when MacGyver discovers it is jam-packed with deadly booby traps set by a vengeful enemy.

Nielsen Ratings: 15.9 rating / 23 share / 2nd (34th overall)

 


013 FLAME’S END
Production No.: 40191-014
Airdate: 29 January 1986
Teleplay: Stephen Kandel
Story: Hannah Louise Shearer
Director: Bruce Seth Green
Guest Cast: Tannis Montgomery as Amy Austin, Conlan Carter as Ed Train, Robert Englund as Tim Wexler.

The theft of uranium from a nuclear power plant reunites MacGyver with an old girlfriend… and the hunt for the thief threatens to set off a nuclear reaction.

Nielsen Ratings: 16.0 rating / 23 share / 2nd (40th overall)

 


014 COUNTDOWN
Production No.: 40191-013
Airdate: 05 February 1986
Writers: David Ketchum & Tony DiMarco
Director: Stan Jolley
Guest Cast: Ellen Bry as Carole Tanner, Steven Williams as Charlie Robinson, Dana Elcar as Pete Thornton, Michael Cavanaugh as Donahue, Robin Pearson Rose as Suzanne.

MacGyver races against the clock and certain death as he tries to disarm two sophisticated bombs on a cruise ship in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Nielsen Ratings: 15.2 rating / 23 share / 2nd (36th overall)

 


015 THE ENEMY WITHIN
Production No.: 40191-015
Airdate: 12 February 1986
Writer: David Abramowitz
Director: Cliff Bole
Guest Cast: Dana Elcar as Peter Thornton, Victoria Fyodorova as Viktoria Tomanova, Lynn-Holly Johnson as Ingrid Bannister, Michael W. Goodwin as Craig Bannister,  Beau Starr as Anton Lem, Douglas Dirkson as Reverend Mather, Arthur Malet as Ed (Pathologist), Richard Balin as Fritz, Adam Gregor as Jaeger, Gene Bori as German Captain

A mole inside the DXS has betrayed four agents to their deaths. Will MacGyver be next? The traitor is closer than he ever imagined.

Nielsen Ratings: 14.9 rating / 22 share / 2nd (46th overall)

 


016 EVERY TIME SHE SMILES
Production No.: 40191-016
Airdate: 19 February 1986
Writer: James Schmerer
Director: Charles Correll
Guest Cast: Teri Hatcher as Penny Parker, Kai Wulff as Stephan Frolov, Michael Fox as Burak, Milos Kirek as Petrovich.

MacGyver’s quick getaway from Bulgaria with stolen microfilm is stymied by an American who involves him in her lovers’ quarrel with a Bulgarian security officer.

Nielsen Ratings: 15.2 rating / 23 share / 2nd (42th overall)

 


017 TO BE A MAN
Production No.: 40191-017
Airdate: 05 March 1986
Writer: Don Mankiewicz
Director: Cliff Bole
Guest Cast: Persis Khambatta as Zia, Dana Elcar as Pete Thornton, Sid Haig as Khalil, Allan Kolman as the Captain, Ajay Naidu as Ahmed.

Shot down and wounded by the Soviets in Afghanistan, MacGyver is given refuge by an Afghan woman and her son.

Nielsen Ratings: 12.6 rating / 19 share / 2nd (47th overall)

 


018 UGLY DUCKLING
Production No.: 40191-018
Airdate: 12 March 1986
Writer: Larry Gross
Director: Charles Correll
Guest Cast: Darcy Marta as Kate Lafferty, Lee deBroux as Hatcher, Dana Elcar as Pete Thornton, Richard McKenzie as Willis, Ned Bellamy as Larkin.

MacGyver must rescue a teenage computer whiz who’s been kidnapped by weapons dealers to help arm their stolen missile.

Nielsen Ratings: 15.3 rating / 23 share / 2nd (35th overall)

 


019 SLOW DEATH
Production No.: 40191-019
Airdate: 02 April 1986
Writer: Stephen Kandel
Director: Don Weis
Guest Cast: Frances Bergen as Eleanor Kingman, Kenneth Danziger as Peter Kramer, Anthony DeFonte as Hassan, Alan Fudge as Paul Webster, Carrell Myers, Tracey Reed, Pamela Roylance as Diana Kingman, Warwick Sims as James Grant, Mark Tymchyshyn as Andy Ellis.

MacGyver’s train trip through India is derailed by hijackers seeking revenge on two unidentified Westerners who sold poisonous medicine to their village.

Nielsen Ratings: 17.4 rating / 27 share / 2nd (23rd overall)

 


020 THE ESCAPE
Production No.: 40191-020
Airdate: 16 April 1986
Writers: Fred McKnight & Stephen Kandel
Director: Don Chaffey
Guest Cast: Kristina Wayborn as Sara Ashford, Paul Verdier as Francois, John De Lancie as Brian Ashford, Miguel Fernandes as Khan, Vic Polizos as the Commandant.

MacGyver’s elaborate plot to spring a missionary from a North African jail works perfectly… until MacGyver discovers that nothing is as it seems.

Nielsen Ratings: 15.7 rating / 25 share / 1st (21st overall)

 


021 A PRISONER OF CONSCIENCE
Production No.: 40191-021
Airdate: 30 April 1986
Writer: Stephen Kandel
Director: Cliff Bole
Guest Cast: Elya Baskin as Demetri, Larry Dobkin as Alexander Karsoff, Dana Elcar as Pete Thornton, Marvin Kaplan as the Chess Master, Paul Koslo as Dr. Suvarin, Sharon Maughan, Jane Merrow, Tim Rossovich as the Political Prisoner.

MacGyver and Thornton infiltrate a Soviet mental hospital to rescue a friend who’s being held as a political prisoner. But they find getting out isn’t as easy as getting in.

Nielsen Ratings: 13.3 rating / 22 share / 2nd (34th overall)

 


022 THE ASSASSIN
Production No.: 40191-022
Airdate: 07 May 1986
Writer: James Schmerer
Director: Charles Correll.
Guest Cast: Corrine Bohrer as Terry Ross, Anthony DeLongis as Piedra, Richard Yniguez as Emilio, Dana Elcar as Pete Thornton.

MacGyver tries to prevent the assassination of an archbishop by a master of disguise.

Nielsen Ratings: 13.6 rating / 24 share / 2nd (30th overall)

 

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