'Magnum PI' Showrunner Says CBS Reboot Does Have a Latinx Writer

Karen Neal/CBS

“Magnum PI” showrunner Peter Lenkov issued a clarification on Monday, following comments he made a day earlier when he stated the CBS reboot had no Latinx writers.

“I want to clarify a comment I made yesterday. I made a mistake. We do have a Latinx writer on the #MagnumPI staff, and she is an alumnus of the CBS Writers Mentoring Program @NHMC,” Lenkov wrote on his Twitter account.

I want to clarify a comment I made yesterday. I made a mistake. We do have a Latinx writer on the #MagnumPI staff, and she is an alumnus of the CBS Writers Mentoring Program @NHMC

— Peter M. Lenkov (@PLenkov) August 6, 2018

Also Read: CBS' New 'Magnum PI' Is 'Doing an Homage' to Tom Selleck's Mustache in Episode 2

On Sunday, Lenkov and fellow executive producer Eric Guggenheim said they didn’t have any Latinx in the writers room for the reboot of the popular CBS series, which stars the Mexican-American Jay Hernandez in the title role.

Here is what Lenkov said.

“When you’re staffing the show, it’s incredibly hard to find writers,” he replied to a question from a critic during the show’s TCA panel on Sunday. “We have a very diverse writers room, it just so happens that we don’t have any [Latinax].”

Guggenheim added that it’s not like they’re going to pretend that Hernandez’s version of Magnum isn’t a different nationality compared to Tom Selleck. “We’re certainly not blind to the fact that he’s Latino,” Guggenheim said. “It is something that is acknowledged.”

The gender-neutral term “Latinx” has become more commonplace in recent years as a replacement for “Latino” or “Latina,” but it still is used as a reference to Latin-American cultural or racial identity. The plural is “Latinxs.”

9 Stars Who Couldn't Cut It as Murphy Brown's Secretary, From Hillary Clinton to JFK Jr (Photos)

"Murphy Brown" has returned to television on CBS for 13 episodes, with the new season premiere airing to modest ratings on Thursday. While a lot has changed in media since Candice Bergen's Brown hosted the fictional news broadcast "FYI," one thing that hasn't changed is how hard it is to find good help. One of the show's longest recurring gags was how nearly every week Brown had a wacky and incompetent new secretary, everyone from a man with a Hitler mustache to a pleasant looking woman who worshiped Satan. More than 90 people sat in that assistant's chair over the show's 10 seasons, including some celebrity cameos, but not one of them lasted.
Paul Reubens

Pee-Wee Herman himself helped out Murphy Brown, appearing in six episodes of the show as Stan Lansing's nephew.
CBS
Marcia Wallace

Before Marcia Wallace was Edna Krabappel on "The Simpsons," Wallace had a part on "The Bob Newhart Show" as Bob Hartley's dynamo of a receptionist Carol Bondurant. During a special crossover episode of "Murphy Brown," Carol proved to be Brown's best secretary ever, a real keeper. But at the end of the episode, Bob rushes into the office and begs for Carol to come back and work for him, despite Brown's pleading.
Getty Images
John Kennedy Jr.

You can hear the women in the live audience swooning when it's revealed that John John is Brown's latest secretary. "I guess the lawyer thing didn't work out," Brown jokes. He wasn't there to work, but to drop off a "wedding present" that was just a fake cover of the magazine he edited, "George."
CBS
Kramer

When Kramer (Michael Richards) heads out to Los Angeles on an episode of "Seinfeld," Jerry and Elaine spot him on an episode of "Murphy Brown" as another new secretary. His rapid-fire typing is hysterical, and the show even teases that she has "a good feeling" about him.
NBC
Sally Field

Murphy Brown would've been lucky to have fellow single-mother Norma Rae as her secretary, or better yet her "Absence of Malice" journalist Megan Carter, but instead she got Kathleen Dubek, secretary 91.
Getty Images
Rosie O'Donnell

The final season of "Murphy Brown" featured a cavalcade of celebrity cameos, including Rosie O'Donnell as a particularly annoying singing secretary.
Getty Images
Don Rickles

Rickles would've been in his 70s by the time he stepped into the secretary job during the show's final season.
Getty Images
Bette Midler

In the show's stellar finale, Bette Midler took charge as secretary Caprice Feldman. "Caprice! With two Cs, interlocking like Chanel!" Her wealthy socialite type was always told by her (dead) husband that she could never hold down a job. Well, she picked one with quite the track record.
CBS
Hillary Clinton

At least the former First Lady has some experience as a "secretary," telling Murphy Brown in the revival's season premiere that she worked as one for four years in a "very large organization." Not only that, she boasted that she's "qualified, and I'm ready on day one." She even joked she has "some experience with emails."
CBS

1 of 10

No matter how famous, no secretary lasted long on the CBS sitcom

"Murphy Brown" has returned to television on CBS for 13 episodes, with the new season premiere airing to modest ratings on Thursday. While a lot has changed in media since Candice Bergen's Brown hosted the fictional news broadcast "FYI," one thing that hasn't changed is how hard it is to find good help. One of the show's longest recurring gags was how nearly every week Brown had a wacky and incompetent new secretary, everyone from a man with a Hitler mustache to a pleasant looking woman who worshiped Satan. More than 90 people sat in that assistant's chair over the show's 10 seasons, including some celebrity cameos, but not one of them lasted.

View In Gallery