‘Magnum P.I.’: Insane Tom Selleck Scene With Attacking Parrot Resurfaces

The original Magnum, P.I. was filled with countless moments that made it a beloved hit in the 1980s, but one particular scene found new life on Twitter last summer. In a preposterous scene from the Season 3 episode “Birdman of Budapest,” Magnum (Tom Selleck) is attacked by a KGB-trained parrot, which is then hilariously killed by the rotors of T.C.’s (Roger E. Mosley) helicopter! When one Twitter user shared the scene on June 30, 2020, others could not stop laughing.

In the episode, Magnum agreed to help an elderly woman, Elizabeth Barrett (guest star Sylvia Sidney), search for a reclusive bird expert. Unbeknownst to Magnum, Barrett is really a KGB assassin who wants to kill the bird expert because he had a role in the 1956 Hungarian revolt! After Mangum and Higgins (John Hillerman) discover Barrett’s true identity, she sends her killer Macaw Merlin to stop Magnum, who fires at the bird. Magnum missed, and the bird slashed Magnum’s arms. Higgins tried to draw the bird away with his weird-sounding Peregrine Falcon birdcall. This actually worked, but Merlin went right up to T.C.’s helicopter! “Whoops,” T.C. said as he murdered the bird.

After the scene went viral, screenwriter Jeffrey Leiber (Lost) shared an inside look at how much work it would take to bring this one scene to life. He pointed out that an animal wrangler would be needed for the bird, and some of the shots with the bird would have to be completed separately. Tom Selleck‘s stunt double would be needed just for that single shot of Magnum’s bloody arms. Leiber noted there would be other departments involved, including a team working on weapons and safety. They would also have to figure out how much blood to show on broadcast television.

“So, in conclusion, that’s like 13 separate meetings with 5 different departments, involving 50 different to produce 36 seconds of INSANITY,” Leiber wrote. “And now try and do the math on how we’re going to pull something like this off in masks with social distance. Onward!”

The original Magnum, P.I. series is unfortunately not available to stream on Netflix or Hulu with a subscription, although you can buy each season to stream on Amazon Prime Video. The remake series is available to watch on CBS All Access. The new Magnum P.I. (without the comma) stars Jay Hernandez as Thomas Magnum and Perdita Weeks as Juliet Higgins. The series is part of the same fictional universe as CBS’ other hit reboots of Hawaii Five-0 and MacGyver.