Tom Selleck almost passed up one of his most iconic roles.During a recent conversation with Ted Danson on his podcast, "Where Everybody Knows Your Name," Selleck explained that a conversation with fellow actor James Garner about his issues with the original script of "Magnum, P.I." ultimately convinced him to take the job."I'm sitting there, and I'm pretty preoccupied 'cause something had happened," Selleck told Danson."And he says, ‘What's wrong?’ And I said, ‘Well, look, I had a contract at the studio for a series, but I fulfilled that contract.
Now the studio is assigning this show to me, saying the contract is still valid and that I have to do it.’ The show, incidentally, was called ‘Magnum’ and I hated it.It was terrible."TOM SELLECK SAYS ‘BLUE BLOODS’ CAST MADE MAJOR SACRIFICE TO SAVE THE SHOW BEFORE CANCELLATIONTom Selleck is seen as Thomas Magnum on "Magnum, P.I." (Sunset Boulevard)In the original script, written by Glen A.
Larson of "Battlestar Galactica" and "Fall Guy," Thomas Magnum had "no flaws, and he had two beautiful women on his arm and a Ferrari."Garner advised Selleck, "‘You don't have much power, but if they want you, you'll never have more power than you do right now.That's all I'm gonna say.’ And I said no to the studio.
And Jim Garner, in a way, just kind of saved my life.I would've been long gone from that version of ‘Magnum.’"Selleck has made similar comments in the past – in 2015, he told AARP that the original version of the character was "very James Bond-like."He referenced Garner then, too, saying that he told the people behind the show that he'd prefer it if the character was more similar to Garner's Jim Rockford on "The Rockford Files."James Garner of "The Rockford Files" advised Selleck on "Magnum, P.I." (NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images)"I said, 'I don't want to be Rockford, but I want to do something like that, where the guy is fallible,'" he said at the time.Selleck admitted to Danson that...