Listen, we’re all for gender equality and everything but this is just plain wrong.
Innovation is a great thing and especially in the world of film and TV, where the done thing these days appears to be rebooting old franchises and calling it ‘original’.
But that said, some things should remain untouched and sacred and the masculinity of MacGyver is one of them.
Children of the 80s grew up worshipping a mulleted Richard Dean Anderson as secret agent Angus MacGyver, a man whose acts of escapism using his trusty Swiss army knife and any other household implements he could get his hands on defied belief and, most of the time, actual logic.
Now, according to The Independent, US National Academy of Engineering, the University of Southern California’s Viterbi School of engineering and the MacGyver Foundation are running a competition to create a new MacGyver-inspired show with one pretty huge stipulation.
The main character has to be a woman. Yer, wha?
In fairness to those organising the competition, their motives are sound.
They are hoping to create “the first great TV show starring an iconic female engineer character” and hoping to inspire young women to take up science and engineering careers.
Just 14 per cent of the engineering workforce in the US, according to figures, are female.
Potential entrants are invited to submit a synopsis of a pilot episode to thenextmacgyver.com before 17 April. Five winners will receive $5,000 and get the chance to develop their script with a Hollywood producer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwXD_rQJvZk
“I literally could not tell you how many times people have come up to me and said, ‘I became an engineer’ or ‘I went into the sciences’ because of MacGyver,” said show creator Lee Zlotoff as he unveiled the competition.
Great idea lads and your motives are noble, but we’re still saying no.
All that talk of MacGyver, meanwhile, has put us in the mood for the theme song.
We offer absolutely no apologies for putting this into your head for the rest of the day.
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