MacGyver is an American television series that ran from the late 1980s to the early 1990s.
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MacGyver employs his resourcefulness and his knowledge of chemistry, physics,[1] technology, and outdoorsmanship to resolve what are often life-or-death crises. He creates inventions from simple items to solve these problems. These inventions became synonymous with the character and were called MacGyverisms by fans.[2] MacGyver was unlike secret agents in other television series and films because, instead of relying on high-tech weapons and tools, he carried only a Swiss Army knife and duct tape.[1] This also led to the verb 'to MacGyver' or 'to MacGyver-ize' (the latter being introduced by Gregory Shockley in his training manuscripts published for the Boy Scouts of America). 'MacGyverism' was first used by Joanne Remmings (played by Pamela Bowen) in the third episode of Season 2. When MacGyver introduces himself to her, she uses the term in a manner that suggests other people had used it before:[3]
"Oh I've heard about you! You're the guy who does the whatchamacallits, you know, MacGyverisms; turns one thing into another?"
Parodies on the MacGyver character and references to the MacGyver name appear frequently in mainstream media, and in some instances, references or direct attempts at MacGyvering is done. A few of these references and appearances include:
In 2007, the NBC sketch show Saturday Night Live featured a parody of MacGyver called "MacGruber" with Will Forte as the title character. The intros for these skits featured scenes from the MacGyver series. MacGruber and cohorts are always locked in a control room of some type with a bomb set to go off in 15-20 seconds. MacGruber has his costars hand him components to defuse the device, but something inevitably gets in the way (either situational, because MacGruber himself interferes, or because no one wants to touch what he has asked for) and the bomb detonates.
In February 2008, the popular science show Mythbusters featured a MacGyver special which tested several of MacGyver's tactics. The first test examined MacGyver's famous cold capsule bomb, which utilized the explosive reaction of alkali metals with water. Supposedly, dropping 1 gram of sodium metal into water will cause an explosive reaction powerful enough to blow a hole through a cinderblock wall. However, despite using 100 grams of sodium metal, the wall remained completely intact.
However, some of MacGyver's tactics were confirmed. The Mythbusters were able to pick a lock using the filament of an incandescent lightbulb, although it took the Mythbusters considerably longer to do than it took MacGyver (50 minutes as opposed to 56 seconds). Another "confirmed" MacGyver tactic was building an electromagnet using ordinary household batteries, tape and insulated wire (the insulated rubber surrounding the wire was removed with a cheese grater.)
It was also implied, although it was not successfully tested, that it is possible to develop a roll of film using orange juice as an acid and ammonia as an alkaline fixer while holding a garbage bag over the setup to create a darkroom. Another implied, but not tested, tactic was creating a potato cannon using hairspray as a fuel, a camp stove as the ignition, and PVC pipe as the mortar.
Also, in Episode 15, in July 2004, a portion of the episode titled "Car Capers" featured the Mythbusters testing if an egg placed into a radiator of a car would subsequently cook and plug holes in said radiator. This was featured in an episode of MacGyver titled "Bushmaster", and was originally an idea sent in by a fan. The myth was deemed plausible by MacGyver and Mythbusters alike.
Grant Imahara humorously referred to MacGyver as 'the second greatest TV series of all time' in the 2006 season MythBusters episode 'Crimes and Myth-Demeanors 1'.
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