YMMV / MacGyver (2016)

• Growing the Beard: There is a marked increase in writing quality after Season 1, Episode 12. After this point, Bozer and Matty have joined the team and the Nikki story arc has been wrapped up, so there are more substantive character development scenes without Mac/Bozer filler (while Bozer was being kept in the dark) or Mac persistently angsting over Nikki.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • For fans of the X-Men Film Series, it's funny to see Havok and the Juggernaut (Vinnie Jones) face off in a non-superpowered scenario in the premiere episode.
    • Alternately, with Jones & George Eads, you have Brick going up against The Flash.
    • With a bit of black comedy, Murdoc grabs a sharpened pencil by the end of "Murdoc + Handcuffs".
  • Phineas and Ferb (who are also very capable of MacGyvering) had a Show Within a Show called "Katt Karr" featured in the episode "Ferb TV" parodying Knight Rider, a series which is about a car with an advanced AI. One of the main characters there is played by Ashley Tisdale, who played Allie Winthrop in "CO₂ Sensor + Tree Branch" and dealt with a vehicle with an advanced AI that went out of control.
• Idiot Ball: Murdoc in "Murdoc + Helman + Hit". In the past, he made two successful escapes from prison. This time, his plan after getting out of the building is to just drive away in an easily visible car. He's recaptured rather easily. It seems like the writers became aware of his Invincible Villain status, and thus needed to give the team a legitimate victory over him.
• Special Effects Failure: The show makes extensive use of CGI for gunfire, explosions, and smoke. It varies considerably in quality based on the episode, sometimes looking very fake. One particularly bad moment appears in "Soccer + Desi + Merchant + Titan", where Desi juggles a comically fake-looking soccer ball.
• Squick: In "Awl", Mac operates on someone without any professional medical education/experience. For that, he had to improvise via parts of a SUV. And he even admits in a monologue that he has doubts on doing this in the field.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!:
  • Most fans of the original MacGyver are decrying the changes made for the new TV series, complaining how they gave MacGyver a team and made his show just another generic NCIS procedural (to the point of giving him a boss suspiciously similar to Hetty Lange).
  • Also, there's no ear worm opening theme from the original, sadly, going with only the first few notes of the classic intro before seguing into a more generic action theme. Particularly egregious considering CBS's other TV revivals — Magnum, P.I. (2018), Hawaii Five-0, and S.W.A.T. (2017) — all have updated but faithful versions of their original iconic themes.
• Too Dumb to Live: The kidnapper in "Red Cell + Quantum + Cold + Committed". Not only does the hostage photo he takes have a reflection of his face in it, but he doesn't remove the metadata on it before sending it to the General. This allows Riley to easily track him down, and he commits suicide rather than getting caught.

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