It is tempting to indulge fans with some old-fashioned nostalgia when an actor is granted the exceptional chance to star in two successful TV series. Philip Michael Thomas, a co-star of Don Johnson in “Miami Vice,” dropped by for a few episodes when “Nash Bridges” enjoyed a second popular season. Additionally, Heather Locklear made two guest appearances on “Boston Legal,” the show that provided William Shatner, the co-star of “T.J. Hooker,” the opportunity to write yet another noteworthy chapter in his storied career.
Tom Selleck is one of television’s most recognizable faces, having played private investigator Thomas Magnum on “Magnum P.I.” from 1980 to 1988 and landing another long-running role on “Blue Bloods” in 2010. Selleck plays Frank Reagan, the New York City police commissioner and patriarch of a family of cops and civil servants, in the latter series. The police procedural offers plenty of opportunities to bring back Selleck’s former “Magnum” co-stars, and Larry Manetti, who played bartender and Magnum ally Orville “Rick” Wright, did appear in the 18th episode of the 13th season of “Blue Bloods.”According to Manetti, the reason for the delay was Selleck himself.
“Tom did not want to put me on the show because he thought it would confuse the audience because of’Magnum,’” Manetti explained to TV Insider. However, a little more than a year before Manetti’s appearance on the show, Selleck instructed producers to find a way to incorporate his co-star. Manetti explained that executive producer Kevin Wade was recovering from a medical problem when he came across some of Manetti’s work and came up with the idea for the guest appearance. But there was one more condition.
In their Blue Bloods episode, Tom Selleck and Larry Manetti do not share any scenes.
Despite making their first joint appearance on “Blue Bloods” in decades, Tom Selleck and Larry Manetti did not appear in any scenes together. The character of Sam Velucci, played by Manetti, is a grandfather seeking retribution for the death of his granddaughter due to a fentanyl overdose. Although it’s a major plot point in the episode, Velucci is more focused on Eddie Janko-Reagan (Vanessa Ray), who stops him from doing something he might later regret.Selleck reportedly requested that their moments be separated in order to avoid confusing the audience with such a blatant allusion to “Magnum P.I.”, according to Manetti.
“He was concerned that our relationship on ‘Magnum P.I.’ would confuse the audience, but we’ve been friends for nearly 45 years, so we went out to dinner with my wife Nancy every night for the week I was in New York,” Manetti told TV Insider. They first collaborated a few years before “Magnum P.I.” on “The Rockford Files” in 1979, and they’ve been friends ever since.
“I first met Tom when we were cast in the same episode of James Garner’s ‘The Rockford Files’ in 1978.” At the end of the show, Tom’s character beat me up. “Tom and I are like brothers; we talk once a week,” said the actor.