I think you can do it without doing it too serious or dark. McGyver (so far) has nothing to with the original, but it's pretty fluff entertainment...not to be taken serious. I don't recall the original Hawaii 5-O but remake seems to have gone into more serious, but they do light at times.

So I can think you can do Magnum PI in a more escapism way, and not go too deep and dark except for the odd one because the original Magnum did get serious... Especially about Magnum's baggage with the war or his love affair with Michelle.

So I curious about it. Tom Selleck was such a magnet for the show. It lives with the star, and you can't recapture the power Tom gave it.