TV column

Mysterious Manifest, remade Magnum debut

Manifest, NBC’s highly anticipated new drama, stars Melissa Roxburgh as a passenger aboard a flight that lasted three hours for her, but five years for the rest of the world.
Manifest, NBC’s highly anticipated new drama, stars Melissa Roxburgh as a passenger aboard a flight that lasted three hours for her, but five years for the rest of the world.

The new fall season begins Monday. Be sure to check out my preview on the front of today's Style section. It'll give you a general overview about what's ahead for the next few weeks.

Meanwhile, two new series debut Monday -- the Magnum P.I. reboot on CBS and Manifest on NBC. The latter is getting a good deal of deserved preseason buzz, so let's begin there.

• Manifest, 9 p.m. Monday on NBC. The title refers to a list of names, such as a passenger manifest for an airplane. It also can mean something "that is clear or obvious to the senses," which is decidedly not what is happening here.

Manifest follows the experiences of those aboard Montego Air Flight 828 that disappeared without a trace with 191 souls on April 7, 2013. Now, miraculously, it has returned.

For the passengers, only three hours and 19 minutes have passed. To the rest of the world, they have been missing and presumed dead for 51/2 years.

Granted, it had been a briefly turbulent flight, but otherwise routine. There was nothing to indicate that for the passengers' friends, families and colleagues, years had gone by. They mourned their losses and moved on with their lives.

With the return of the plane, everyone is given a second chance at life, but reality holds something different. There is a deeper, almost spiritual, mystery afoot that causes some of the returned passengers to realize that they may be meant for something greater.

NBC describes the series as an "emotionally rich, unexpected journey into a world grounded in hope, heart and destiny." The first nine minutes will have you hooked. They did me.

The series comes from executive producers Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future, Forrest Gump) and Jack Rapke (Allied, Cast Away) and will remind some viewers of Lost.

The series features an ensemble headed by Josh Dallas (Once Upon a Time) and Melissa Roxburgh (Star Trek Beyond) as Ben and Michaela Stone, siblings and Flight 828 passengers who begin to hear voices.

• Magnum P.I., 8 p.m. Monday on CBS. Fans of the iconic Tom Selleck series (1980-1988) will be particularly interested to see if CBS can pull off this modern revival as it did with Hawaii 5-0 and MacGyver.

The series stars Jay Hernandez (Suicide Squad) as decorated former Navy SEAL Thomas Magnum. He returns home to Hawaii and puts his military skills to work as a private eye.

Magnum lives in the guest cottage of Robin's Nest, the sprawling estate of unseen author Robin Masters, where he also works as a security consultant. Managing the property is Juliet Higgins (Perdita Weeks, The Tudors), a former British MI6 agent who keeps Magnum in line with the help of her two frisky Dobermans.

As with the original, Magnum has sidekicks, both also former prisoners of war.

Stephen Hill (Boardwalk Empire) plays Theodore "TC" Calvin, a former Marine pilot who runs an island helicopter tour business, and Orville "Rick" Wright (Zachary Knighton, Happy Endings), a former Marine door gunner who now runs Oahu's hottest nightclub and is "the most connected man on the island."

You need it, Rick can get it for you.

Magnum's semi-nemesis on the police force, ambitious Detective Gordon Katsumoto (Tim Kang, The Mentalist), is suspicious of how Magnum always seems to turn up at his crime scenes.

Yes, there will be a vintage Ferrari. Yes, there will be cool aviator sunglasses. Yes, Magnum is still a Detroit Tigers fan. But will the series capture the ol' Magnum magic? We'll see.

• 9-1-1, Fox. The first episode of Season 2 of the drama about Los Angeles first-responders airs at 7 p.m. today with the regular time premiere at 8 p.m. Monday.

MONDAY RETURNEES

The Voice, 7 p.m., NBC. The Season 15 coaches will be Adam Levine, Blake Shelton, Kelly Clarkson and Jennifer Hudson. Kelsea Ballerini will mentor six rejected contestants in a new online "Comeback Stage." A second episode follows at the same time Tuesday.

Dancing With the Stars, 7 p.m., ABC. Season 27 includes native Arkansan Bobby Bones.

• The Resident, 7 p.m., Fox. Season 2 with Matt Czuchry as Dr. Conrad Hawkins.

• The Big Bang Theory, 7 p.m., CBS. The 12th and final season moves to the same time on Thursday.

• Young Sheldon, 7:30 p.m., CBS. Season 2 of The Big Bang Theory spinoff moves to the same time on Thursday.

• Bull, 9 p.m., CBS. It's Season 3 of the Michael Weatherly drama based on the early years of Dr. Phil McGraw's career.

• The Good Doctor, 9 p.m., ABC. Freddie Highmore returns for a second season as young savant autistic surgical resident Dr. Shaun Murphy.

The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Email:

mstorey@arkansasonline.com

Style on 09/23/2018

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