A favorite scene from my favorite show

Happy Friday, y'all.

To get the weekend started, I'd like to share with you a favorite scene from my favorite TV show, "Magnum, p.i."

Here's hoping it brightens your evening, makes you laugh, or confirms your suspicion that I am nuts.

"Higgins! I'm going to kill you..."

'Ellery Queen' is lost classic, lots of fun

Thanks to the greatness that is Netflix, I can rent some of these awesome TV series sets without breaking the bank.

Found out that an old favorite, the underappreciated “Ellery Queen” from the mid-1970s, has rolled out onto DVD. Culled it into my queue and watched the first disc over the weekend. Perfect fodder for a foggy night.

The gist of it is that Queen is a famous mystery writer (real books exist under that name, which is a nom de plume for two people) who helps his police detective father figure out fuzzy whodunits. Near the end of each episode, Ellery even breaks the fourth wall to ask the audience, “Do you know who the killer is?”

Jim Hutton (likeable later sidekick to John Wayne in several flicks) plays our hero. Veteran actor David Wayne plays his dad and even John “Jonathan Quayle Higgins” Hillerman shows up as a popular radio host. It’s a period piece set during 1947 and is a lot of fun. Well-known guest stars populate each episode.

It feels a lot like “Murder, She Wrote” sans Angela Lansbury and that’s so for good reason. “Ellery Queen” was developed by Richard Levinson and William Link, who later helped Peter S. Fischer create that classic. (They also created “Columbo” and “Mannix.”)

Don’t know why this one didn’t make it. It’s fun to try to outwit the detective and you’ve got to be awfully observant to do it.

Whatever the case, it’s worth a look, if you’re into this kind of thing.

Happy birthday, Higgins!

I've gotten more enjoyment out of "Magnum, p.i." than a human being should be allowed to have over the years.

The show has not only provided a hundred laughs, but it's also been the organizing factor behind countless get togethers and indirectly led to a couple of great friendships. In short, it's a fun old program.

I first watched "Magnum" on Thursday nights (and, later, Wednesdays) during its original 1980-88 run on CBS. My dad loved the show and I guess I picked it up from him. When USA added the show to its lineup in the mid-1990s, several high school buddies and I would gather around the tube at 4 p.m. to watch our favorite Vietnam vet in action.

Whenever I visit pal David Romas, the ultimate "Magnum" guru, and his wife Jennifer Bondy in Michigan, a screening of several "Magnum" episodes, usually accompanied by several of Magnum's favorite beverage, is always a must. Buddy Drew Weaver and I have spent many a baseball rainout laughing at some of our favorite moments.

Most of such moments somehow involve co-star John Hillerman as the stuffy but loveable Sgt. Major Jonathan Quayle Higgins. I remember being flabbergasted when I discovered a few years after "Magnum" was canceled that Hillerman really wasn't British. I've often said that his characterization of Higgins owed as much to "Magnum p.i."'s success as Tom Selleck, Hawaii, the Ferrari, Robin Masters or those dobermans ever did.

David e-mailed last night to say that today is John Hillerman's 75th birthday. I wish him well. I doubt I could ever repay that guy for all the joy he's brought me over the years. I don't know if Hillerman ever won an Emmy for his portrayal of our favorite majordomo, but if he didn't, it's a darn shame.

I guess I'll have to watch a favorite "Magnum" moment or two before bed in honor of Higgie's big day.

Here's to you, John. Thanks for the laughs.

"Higgins, I can explain!"