-That's what I'm talking about.
Jay Hernandez. Welcome to the show, buddy.
-Thank you, thank you. -I appreciate you being here.
I love that "Magnum P.I." is now on NBC.
-Yeah. -It's a big deal.
-It's a big deal. -It's a big deal for us.
-It doesn't happen often. You know, it's a very rare thing.
-It is, but the fans spoke.
-The fans spoke, and NBC listened.
-They were loud. They were loud. They said, "Don't cancel.
We love 'Magnum P.I.'" -What are you talking about?
Cancel after season four? No, not gonna happen.
-But they actually put a billboard up in Times Square.
Look at this.
"Save 'Magnum P.I.'" With a QR code.
-Yeah. Yeah. Hey, that's love. That is love.
There was a petition online.
They raised -- I don't know how much that costs.
How much do you think it costs?
-I have no idea. That's insane.
-It's not cheap. I know that. -That's amazing
that they were vocal and loud, and you got heard!
"Magnum P.I." is saved.
[ Cheers and applause ]
This Sunday! -This Sunday.
-Two-episode premiere on NBC. It's got to feel good.
I mean, would you get nervous going into the Magnum P.I.
shoes at first when they're like,
"Hey, we want you to be Magnum P.I."?
-You know, what's funny is the first time they came to me
with the project, I think I said no twice
because I was convinced that nobody would accept
anybody else besides Tom Selleck as Magnum P.I.
-Of course.
-So it was a number of conversations.
Ultimately I agreed to it.
But it was somewhat intimidating, yes.
-You're like, "I can't step into those shoes."
I mean, come on. With the Detriot hat and all that stuff.
-And the fuzzy chest and, you know --
-Yes. -And the short shorts.
-He's a stud, man! Come on! -He had short shorts, too.
-I know, dude. -Not only short shorts.
It was short jeans. You know? Cutoff jeans.
-But he pull anything off.
-He could pull that off. That's hard to do.
Not too many people can do that.
-What finally just convinced you?
What put you over the edge?
-I mean, I was a huge fan of the show.
And ultimately, like, the creatives involved,
they pitched a show that I was like, "I can't say no to this."
Even, you know -- I don't know what's going to happen.
I don't know if the show --
Because at the end of the day, it's a pilot.
So you know it's a pilot.
-Pilot is a trial show. -Right.
-So you don't know if it's going to go.
-You don't know if the show is going to go on
for one, two, three, four, five, ten seasons.
You have no idea.
-But it's also -- You're working in Hawaii.
-Yeah, yeah. -I would take any job.
You're playing the worst guy. Go, "I don't care.
You said Hawaii. I'm there. I'll do whatever it is."
-I mean, it's funny coming here. You know, I was unprepared.
I was actually -- I thought I was going to need
a trench coat and a scarf.
-You brought the great weather.
-Yeah, I brought the warm weather.
-Yeah! Thank you! That's you! -You're welcome.
-That's Jay Hernandez.
-It's called the aloha vibes. You know what I mean? Yeah.
-What is it like to live in Hawaii?
Because now, you probably went, like you said for --
You go, "I'll shoot the show. It will be probably a couple weeks,
and then I'll come back home." -Yeah.
-But now you live in --
-Now I'm pretty much there eight months out of the year.
-And what's it like? What's the vibe?
-It's great. I mean, obviously, the weather is beautiful.
But, you know, there is, like, aloha spirit
that is everywhere you go.
I mean, it's sunny. It's warm.
Tourists get there, and they just want to have a good time.
-Very positive. -Yeah. It's a positive vibe.
It really sort of, like, seeps into you.
-Everyone seems very chill there.
-Very chill, very chill.
I mean, maybe too chill because sometimes
you jump on the freeway and you see
that there's speed minimums,
which I've never seen anywhere else.
-Wait. So not a speed limit.
-No, no, not a speed limit. A speed minimum.
-So you have to go at least -- -Otherwise people would be
going 20 miles per hour on the freeway.
-So they make you go a certain mile an hour?
-Yeah, the minimum I think was like 40 miles per hour.
-That's so funny, man. -Because, otherwise, yeah.
It's just -- It's a very mellow vibe out there. Yeah.
-Well, what can we say for anyone?
We're setting up "Magnum P.I."
What's the adventures that Magnum gets into?
-Well, you know, there's a ton of action.
There's always a bad guy.
There's always some crazy things going down --
cars, explosions, gun fights, all that kind of stuff.
But in this season that is unique
is Magnum and my partner, Higgins,
who is, you know, sort of my sidekick...
-What's that like? -It's great.
But now we're --
-Have a sidekick named Higgins.
-Yeah, yeah, yeah. -Sounds awful, yeah.
-No, it's great. It's great. But we're together.
We're dating essentially. -Yeah.
-It's been wonderful, and it's something
that we've been teasing for three seasons now.
So, season five is kind of the payoff for all that.
-I'm happy that you're back at NBC, by the way.
-Yes, we just talked about it.
It's a full-circle scenario because I started on NBC, like,
20 years ago on a show called "Hang Time."
-"Hang Time" was one of my all-time --
-Does anyone remember this show? -Yes! It's one of my favorite!
With Anthony Anderson. -Yes, Anthony Anderson.
And when we were talking backstage...
he knew the theme song.
-♪ Hang time, hanging together ♪
♪ Hang time ♪ [ Singing gibberish ]
♪ Hang time ♪
Dude, I watched you every Saturday morning.
-So good.
-I'm so happy you're back at NBC.
-I love it.
-Fans, let's bring back "Hang Time."
That's why we're here. [ Cheers and applause ]
Let's start with "Magnum P.I." This Sunday, "Magnum P.I."
I want to show everyone a clip.
Here's Jay Hernandez in the new season
of "Magnum P.I." Take a look.
-You mind helping me put on sunscreen?
-Um...
-Just on the parts I can't reach.
-[ Chuckles ]
Don't you have somebody do that for you?
-Well, I certainly don't have a boyfriend,
if that's what you're getting at.
-No, no, no. That's not what I'm saying.
It's just that technically I'm on safety patrol right now,
so I really --
-Oh, well, sunburn definitely falls under safety.
-Well, you're not wrong.
Yeah, it does.
Uh, okay.
So just, um...
And, uh, rub it in. Yeah?
-Hey, Robbie. -Hey. Hey!
-"Oh, hey! Hi!"
-"Oh!" -"Whoa!"
-Jay Hernandez.
"Magnum P.I." premieres with two episodes
this Sunday at 9:00 p.m. on NBC.
Streams the next day on Peacock. More "Tonight Show"
after the break. Stick around, everybody.