UPDATE (11/15/19): The two shirts mentioned in this blog post did indeed make an appearance in this episode.
In a previous post, we talked about how someone from the Magnum PI crew bought several shirts that were worn by Tom Selleck in the original Magnum PI back in the 80s. Those two shirts were the original red Jungle Bird shirt (aka Magnum PI shirt) and the Midnight Bamboo black shirt. We saw Jay Hernandez wearing the Midnight Bamboo shirt in a couple of Instagram posts by @magnumpicbs but had not seen any pictures of him wearing the red shirt.
It now appears that Jay Hernandez will wear both shirts in the same episode. Based on the pictures posted at SpoilerTV.com, we see him wearing not only Midnight Bamboo, but the iconic original red Magnum PI shirt. This episode is scheduled to air on Friday, November 15, 2019.
Click here to see the pictures of the shirts in an upcoming episode.
We're looking forward to seeing how the red Magnum PI shirt is worked into the plot. Will he just casually wear it like any other shirt? Will it be given to him as a gift or somehow marking a special occasion? Will there be any plot device used to pay homage to the shirt or will its mere appearance on the show be enough of a callback to Tom Selleck's character? We don't know but we sure are excited to find out!
On a side note, the Midnight Bamboo shirt was scheduled to be discontinued after the manufacturer, Pacific Clothing, ran out of fabric in late summer. But after they learned that the shirt was purchased for the show from a 3rd party retailer, Pacific Clothing decided to place a limited order for more fabric in order to satisfy customers looking for the shirt after seeing it on the show. We expect the black Midnight Bamboo shirts to be fully stocked in all sizes by the first week of December.
The red Magnum PI shirt is always popular and Pacific Clothing works hard to manage their supply chain to ensure a steady supply of fabric and shirts. In our conversations with Tim Smith, owner of Pacific Clothing, we pondered the whether or not Jay Hernandez would wear that red shirt since it is so synonymous with Tom Selleck. We figured that it would be almost impossible for any single shirt on the new Magnum PI to become as famous and iconic as the original shirt. And thus we hoped that Hernandez would just wear the red shirt at some point in the season to solidify the red Jungle Bird shirt as THE Magnum PI shirt, period. Sure, there would be other awesome shirts worn on Magnum PI, but there would forever only be one true Magnum PI shirt if both Selleck and Hernandez wore the red Jungle Bird shirt and looked awesome in it.
So all we can do now is wait until the November 15 episode airs and see how and why he wears both shirts. In the meantime, we'll continue to get ready for the holiday shopping season and other things. Aloha!