MacGyver episodes: First season
FIRST SEASON
001 {untitled}
Airdate: 29 September 1985
Writer: Thackary Pallor
Director: Alan Smithee
Guest Cast: Michael Lerner as Gantner, Dana Elcar as Andy Colson,
Paul Stewart as Dr. Steubens, Michael C. Gwynne as Dr. Burke,
Olaf Pooley as Dr. Sidney Marlow, Shavar Ross as MacGyver's
"little brother," Darlanne Fluegel as Barbara Spencer.
Nielsen ratings: 10.9 rating, 17 share, 3rd (54th overall).
Opening Gambit: MacGyver rescues a downed Air Force pilot from his
Mongolian captors.
When the Government has an impossible mission, it calls on MacGyver,
a laid-back former special-forces agent. In the opener, MacGyver
is tasked to rescue scientists trapped in an underground lab protected
by a deadly security system.
002 Golden Triangle
Airdate: 06 October 1985
Opening Gambit Writer: Terry Nation
Opening Gambit Director: Donald Petrie
Writer: Dennis Foley
Director: Paul Stanley
Guest Cast: Joan Chen as Lin, George Lee Cheung as General Narai,
Clyde Kusatsu as Anek, Keye Luke as Prasert, Benjamin Lum as
Truang, Bryan Price as Chan, James Saito as Ming.
Nielsen ratings: 12.2 rating, 19 share, 3rd (51st overall).
Opening Gambit: In a junkyard, MacGyver uses a magnet to retrieve
stolen documents, then escapes a car about to be flattened.
MacGyver is mistaken for a narc when he tries to retrieve a canister
filled with a deadly chemical from the site of a plane crash in the
heart of Asia's opium trade, the "Golden Triangle."
003 Thief of Budapest
Airdate: 13 October 1985
Opening Gambit Writers: Terry Nation & Stephen Downing
Opening Gambit Director: Lee H. Katzin
Writer: Joe Viola
Director: John Patterson
Guest Cast: Michael Constantine as Jan Messic, Bruce Abbott as
Kossov, Kelly McClain as Yanna, Sue Kiel as Reena.
Nielsen ratings: 13.0 rating, 19 share, 3rd (47th overall).
OPENING GAMBIT: MacGyver retrieves a stolen horse and gets picked up
- literally - by a helicopter.
In Budapest, a young gypsy steals a watch containing microfilm that
MacGyver was supposed to receive from a Russian double agent.
004 The Gauntlet
Airdate: 21 October 1985
Opening Gambit Writer: Judy Burns
Opening Gambit Director: Lee H. Katzin
Writer: Stephen Kandel
Director: Lee H. Katzin
Guest Cast: Robin Curtis as Kate Connelly, John Vernon as Ryerson,
Gregory Sierra as General Antonio Vasquez.
Nielsen ratings: 14.3 rating, 22 share, 2nd (44th overall).
OPENING GAMBIT: MacGyver retrieves a top-secret map, then uses it to
escape his pursuers in the desert.
MacGyver must help an investigative reporter get out of a Latin
American country with incriminating evidence which links a general
to an illegal arms dealer.
005 The Heist
Airdate: 03 November 1985>
Teleplay: James Schmerer
Writers: Larry Alexander & James Schmerer
Director: Alan Smithee
Guest Cast: Vernon Wells as Catlin, Victoria Bass as Tiffany,
John Carter as Senator Rhodes, Doran Clark as Chris Rhodes.
Nielsen ratings: 14.3 rating, 20 share, 3rd (46th overall).
In the Virgin Islands, MacGyver and a senator's daughter must
recover $60 million in stolen diamonds earmarked for an
African relief fund.
006 Trumbo's World
Airdate: 10 November 1985
Opening Gambit Writer: Stephen Kandel
Opening Gambit Director: Lee H. Katzin
Writer: Stephen Kandel
Director: Donald Petrie
Guest Cast: David Ackroyd as Trumbo, Peter Jurasik as Dr.
Charles Alden.
Nielsen ratings: 15.6 rating, 22 share, 2nd (31st overall).
OPENING GAMBIT: In the Pyrenees, MacGyver rescues a prisoner, then
makes a daring escape with her by raft.
In Brazil, MacGyver helps a plantation owner defend his land
from an army of ants that threatens to destroy the jungle
(in clips from "The Naked Jungle," a 1954 George Pal movie).
007 Last Stand
Airdate: 17 November 1985
Writer: Judy Burns
Director: John Florea
Guest Cast: Harry Caesar as Al Tennyson, Steve Franken, Jackie
Earle Haley, Art Hindle as Dave Redding, Kay Lenz as
Kelly Nelson, Michael McGuire as Andrews, Anthony Penya,
Lewis Van Bergen as Buddy.
Nielsen ratings: 15.8 rating, 22 share, 3rd (36th overall).
MacGyver stumbles into a hostage crisis at a desert airstrip that
armored-car robbers have taken over.
008 Hellfire
Airdate: 27 November 1985
Teleplay: Stephen Kandel, James Schmerer, & Douglas Brooks West
Story: Douglas Brooks West
Director: Richard Colla
Guest Cast: Cooper Huckabee as Bill Farren, Nana Visitor as
Laura Farren, Rudy Ramos as Pete Torgut.
Nielsen ratings: 13.1 rating, 21 share, 2nd (48th overall).
In Wyoming, MacGyver visits a couple of old friends from his
hellcatting days, and turns "hellfighter" to cap an oil-well
fire that's burning out of control.
009 The Prodigal
Airdate: 08 December 1985
Teleplay: David Abramowitz
Story: Paul Savage & David Abramowitz
Director: Alexander Singer
Guest Cast: Robert Romanus as Frank Bennett, Richard Romanus
as Joey Bennett, Carl Franklin as Wiley, Angela Clarke
as Caterina Bennett.
Nielsen ratings: 11.6 rating, 17 share, 3rd (60th overall).
MacGyver is hired to arrange a new life for a protected Federal
witness, who's testifying against his mobster brother, and to
help him visit his sick mother before she dies.
010 Target MacGyver
Airdate: 22 December 1985
Opening Gambit Writer: Terry Nation
Opening Gambit Director: Lee H. Katzin
Teleplay: Mike Marvin, Stephen Kandel, & James Schmerer
Story: Mike Marvin
Director: Ernest Pintoff
Guest Cast: John Anderson as Harry Jackson, D'Mitch Davis as Axminster.
Nielsen ratings: 13.2 rating, 21 share, 3rd (49th overall).
OPENING GAMBIT: Mac rescues a lady general at a beachhouse, then nabs
her kidnappers using common kitchen equipment.
While visiting his estranged grandfather in Colorado, MacGyver is
tracked and hunted down by a contract killer.
011 Nightmares
Airdate: 15 January 1986
Writer: James Schmerer
Director: Cliff Bole
Guest Cast: Tammy Lauren as Lisa Allen, Dana Elcar as Pete
Thornton, Robert O'Reilly as Curt Neilson, J.P. Bumstead
as Barrett, Mike Mancini as Crisp.
Nielsen ratings: 15.9 rating, 23 share, 2nd (34th overall).
Returning from East Germany with information, MacGyver is captured
by German agents and given a mind-disorienting drug. He has 6 hours
to give up the information or die.
012 Deathlock
Airdate: 22 January 1986
Opening Gambit Writer: Jerry Ludwig
Opening Gambit Director: Cliff Bole
Writer: Stephen Kandel
Director: Alexander Singer
Guest Cast: Wendy Schaal as Karen Blake, Christopher Neame
as Quayle, Dana Elcar as Pete Thornton.
Nielsen ratings: 17.7 rating, 26 share, 1st (27th overall).
OPENING GAMBIT: Posing as a corpse, Mac escapes Berlin by
coffin-turned-jet-ski.
MacGyver is caught in a mansion that's been booby-trapped
electronically by an old nemesis.
013 Flame's End
Airdate: 29 January 1986
Teleplay: Stephen Kandel
Story: Hannah Louise Shearer
Director: Bruce Seth Green
Guest Cast: Tannis Montgomery as Any Austin, Conlan Carter as
Ed Train, Robert Englund as Tim Wexler.
Nielsen ratings: 16.0 rating, 23 share, 2nd (40th overall).
MacGyver's ex-college girlfriend discovers the theft of uranium at
a nuclear plant and thinks someone is trying to kill her.
014 Countdown
Airdate: 05 February 1986
Writers: David Ketchum & Tony DiMarco
Director: Stan Jolley
Guest Cast: Ellen Bry as Carole Tanner, Steven Williams as
Charlie Robinson, Dana Elcar as Pete Thornton, Michael
Cavanaugh as Donahue.
Nielsen ratings: 15.2 rating, 23 share, 2nd (36th overall).
MacGyver and an ex-Army buddy have just hours to defuse two
sophisticated bombs aboard a cruise ship.
015 The Enemy Within
Airdate: 12 February 1986
Writer: David Abramowitz
Director: Cliff Bole
Guest Cast: Victoria Fyodorova as Viktoria Tomanova, Lynn-Holly
Johnson as Ingrid Bannister, Michael W. Goodwin as Craig
Bannister, Dana Elcar as Pete Thornton, Beau Starr as Lem.
Nielsen ratings: 14.9 rating, 22 share, 2nd (46th overall).
MacGyver must protect a defector who can identify the killer of
three DXS agents.
016 Every Time She Smiles
Airdate: 19 February 1986
Writer: James Schmerer
Director: Charles Correll
Guest Cast: Teri Hatcher as Penny Parker, Kai Wulff as Stephan
Frolov, Michael Fox as Burak, Milos Kirek as Petrovich.
Nielsen ratings: 15.2 rating, 23 share, 2nd (42nd overall).
MacGyver is in Bulgaria to obtain microfilm, but his plans for a
quick getaway are stymied by an American who involves him in her
lovers' quarrel with a Bulgarian security officer.
017 To Be A Man
Airdate: 05 March 1986
Writer: Don Mankiewicz
Director: Cliff Bole
Guest Cast: Persis Khambatta as Zia, Dana Elcar as Pete Thornton,
Sid Haig as Khalil, Allan Kolman as the Captain, Ajay Naidu as
Ahmed.
Nielsen ratings: 12.6 rating, 19 share, 2nd (47th overall).
Shot down and wounded by Soviets in Afghanistan while
recovering satellite, MacGyver is rescued, healed, and guided
out by Afghan woman and her son.
018 Ugly Duckling
Airdate: 12 March 1986
Writer: Larry Gross
Director: Charles Correll
Guest Cast: Darcy Marta as Kate Lafferty, Lee deBroux as Hatcher,
Dana Elcar as Pete Thornton, Richard McKenzie as Willis, Ned
Bellamy as Larkin.
Nielsen ratings: 15.3 rating, 23 share, 2nd (35th overall).
Black marketeers are after a 15-year-old genius who's the only one
capable of fixing their stolen missile's guidance system.
019 Slow Death
Airdate: 02 April 1986
Writer: Stephen Kandel
Director: Don Weis
Guest Cast: Frances Bergen as Eleanor Kingman, Kenneth Danziger
as Peter Kramer, Anthony DeFonte as Hassan, Alan Fudge as
Paul Webster, Carrell Myers, Tracey Reed, Pamela Roylance
as Diana Kingman, Warwick Sims as James Grant, Mark
Tymchyshyn as Andy Ellis.
Nielsen ratings: 17.4 rating, 27 share, 2nd (23rd overall).
MacGyver's train trip through India is derailed by a hijacker seeking
revenge on two unidentified Westerners who sold his son, a
doctor, poisonous medicine.
020 The Escape
Airdate: 16 April 1986
Writers: Fred McKnight & Stephen Kandel
Director: Don Chaffey
Guest Cast: Kristina Wayborn as Sara Ashford, Paul Verdier
as Francois, John De Lancie as Brian Ashford, Miguel
Fernandes as Khan, Vic Polizos as the Commandant.
Nielsen ratings: 15.7 rating, 25 share, 1st (21st overall).
In North Africa MacGyver is hired by woman to spring her brother,
a missionary, from prison. But the scheme turns out different than
MacGyver expected.
021 A Prisoner of Conscience
Airdate: 30 April 1986
Writer: Stephen Kandel
Director: Cliff Bole
Guest Cast: Elya Baskin as Demetri, Larry Dobkin as Alexander
Karsoff, Dana Elcar as Pete Thornton, Marvin Kaplan as
the Chess Master, Paul Koslo as Dr. Suvarin, Sharon Maughan,
Jane Merrow, Tim Rossovich as the Political Prisoner.
Nielsen ratings: 13.3 rating, 22 share, 2nd (34th overall).
MacGyver and Thornton infiltrate a Soviet mental hospital to rescue
a friend who's being held as a political prisoner.
022 The Assassin
Airdate: 07 May 1986
Writer: James Schmerer
Director: Charles Correll.
Guest Cast: Corrine Bohrer as Terry Ross, Anthony DeLongis as
Piedra, Richard Yniguez as Emilio, Dana Elcar as Pete Thornton.
Nielsen ratings: 13.6 rating, 24 share, 2nd (30th overall).
MacGyver tries to prevent the assassination of an archbishop
by a killer who's a master of disguise.