The world was a different place in 1985 when Richard Dean Anderson first brought Angus “Mac” MacGyver to TV audiences. The life hacker was a master of using unconventional problem solving and a wealth of scientific knowledge to think his way out of complex problems – and, of course, save the lives of everyone around him. According to executive producer James Wan (The Conjuring 2), television needs a hero like MacGyver who uses brain over brawn.
CBS is resurrecting the ‘80s hit on Friday Sept. 23 with actor Lucas Till (X-Men: Apocalypse) playing MacGyver and George Eads (CSI) playing a version of the character Jack Dalton. This reimagining of the series won’t focus on MacGyver as a lone wolf, according to executive producer Peter Lenkov. Instead, he’ll have help on his missions from Dalton, his boss Patricia Thornton (Sandrine Holt) and blackhat hacker Riley Davis (Tristin Mays). He also has a roommate, Wilt Bozer (Justin Hires).
Under the oversight of the Department of External Services, MacGyver takes on the responsibility of saving the world each week, armed with his resourcefulness and sometimes with little more than bubble gum and a paper clip to hack his way out of a conundrum. Lenkov revealed one such hack for the new show involves MacGyver cheating a hand-scanner to open a vault.
The producers and two central stars (Eads and Till) were at Comic Con recently to reveal a 90-second trailer for the show. In the clip, MacGyver is featured in a James Bond-style tuxedo at a cocktail party, only he’s more interested in the supply room and the gadgets he can concoct there. There’s also a clip of MacGyver taking off on a jet – a la Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation – hanging to the wheel.
Lenkov has revealed he is game to bring back some of the original cast members to this latest iteration, including Richard Dean Anderson and Bruce McGill, who played MacGyver and Jack Dalton, respectively. In the video interview above, we spoke with Eads and Till about taking on everybody’s favorite DIY hero.
Some of the best shots in Grok Imagine’s AI-made Odyssey don’t contain actors. Ancient landscapes stretch into the distance. Close-ups of grimy hands suggest people who have touched something rougher than a keyboard. For a few seconds, the illusion holds.
https://twitter.com/imagine/status/2113712964419063911
YouTube videos could soon look better without eating quite so much data, right? Thankfully, the platform plans to introduce a new video format called AV2 on its web player in early 2027, promising more efficient streaming and potentially fewer playback hiccups on slower internet connections. The big headline is a roughly 30% improvement in compression efficiency over AV1, YouTube's existing video format. That doesn't guarantee every video will use 30% less data, but it could make streaming a little easier on both internet connections and data allowances.
What is AV2, and why should viewers care?
YouTube is changing how its Home page works, giving viewers more control over what shows up there and making some of the app’s most-used sections easier to reach. Custom Feeds are now replacing the existing topic chips for eligible users, while YouTube is also testing a redesigned top bar on mobile that moves Subscriptions closer to the Home feed.
YouTube first started experimenting with Custom Feeds earlier this year, letting you type out what you wanted to watch and turning that request into its own stream of recommendations. Now, the feature is starting to look less like a side experiment and more like something YouTube actually wants people to use as part of their everyday Home page.