Magnum, P.I.
China Doll
TV Flash files “China Doll” as hour 3 of 162 in the TV Flash guide — Magnum, P.I. (1980–1988) on CBS, season 1, episode 3, aired 1980-12-18, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E03: listed hour 3 of 162 in the Magnum, P.I. guide, hour 3 of 18 in season 1. It aired 1980-12-18 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Don't Eat the Snow in Hawaii” (S01E02). Next is “Thank Heaven for Little Girls, and Big Ones Too” (S01E04).
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Magnum is hired by a beautiful Chinese antiques dealer to protect an ancient vase known as The Soul of Soong until its buyer arrives in Hawaii to collect it. What he doesn't know is that the vase is also wanted by a Tong gang and a deadly martial arts assasin who will stop at nothing to get it for them.
Viewer FAQ
Where does China Doll sit in the Magnum, P.I. guide?
S01E03 is listed hour 3 of 162 — hour 3 of 18 in season 1, season 1 episode 3.
When did Magnum, P.I. S01E03 air?
China Doll aired 1980-12-18 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Where should I start?
The two-hour premiere is the fantasy contract: estate, Ferrari, grin. Then jump to the hours that let Vietnam and the ensemble carry the argument. You will know within two episodes whether you want the cases or the bruised heart.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Watch it for the double exposure: Hawaiian PI pleasure on the surface, veteran friendship and unfinished war underneath. Selleck sells the grin; the hours that last are the ones that let the grin fail without sinking the show.
The Ferrari is a punchline that photographs like a wish. Tom Selleck slides into frame with a mustache the network could have trademarked, a guest house on someone else’s estate, and a private-investigator premise built to sell Hawaii to the mainland. That is the surface contract of Magnum, P.I., and it is not a small one. Donald P. Bellisario and Glen A. Larson knew how to package adventure. The cut, when it is honest, keeps introducing a second show: three veterans whose jokes are a coping system, a butler who…
Filed against
- Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum
Tom Selleck’s Magnum made Ferrari daydreams and Vietnam ghosts into 1980s appointment TV on Magnum, P.I. — mustache-as-brand, Hawaiian sun as plot armor, eight seasons of charm with a bruised structure underneath. Reboots chase the…
- John Hillerman as Jonathan Quayle Higgins III
John Hillerman’s Jonathan Quayle Higgins III is Magnum, P.I.’s foil as class structure: British rectitude versus the man living in the guest house. Hawaiian daydream on the surface, estate rules underneath. On TV Flash he is the butler…
- Roger E. Mosley as Theodore "T.C." Calvin
Roger E. Mosley’s Theodore “T.C.” Calvin is Magnum, P.I.’s war under the Hawaiian sun — chopper, friendship, the argument that Vietnam did not end at the airport. Tom Selleck sold the grin; T.C. and Rick made the grin a unit. TV Flash…
- Larry Manetti as Orville "Rick" Wright
Larry Manetti’s Orville “Rick” Wright is Magnum, P.I.’s club-and-friendship argument — Hawaiian daydream on the surface, Vietnam unfinished underneath. Not a disposable sidekick; one-third of the veteran joke that is also a coping system.…