McGyver
 

As a nerd, I initially liked this show. The idea of a hero who used brain rather than firepower/violence to save the day appealed. Some of the tricks were creative and cool (although impossible to make work, but c'mon, it was TV).
But why, why, why did they have to make him such a goddamn pussywimp? Never mind the aversion to guns, he could at least have had a black belt in Sum Ting Dedli. And I seem to recall him looking like he was wearing lipstick.
And this is the real thing - why did all of the plots have to be so nauseatingly schmaltzy, so post-Disney, so trite and childish. Every single ophanage was saved, every native village defended, every kidnapped child rescued, every bomb defused and every disaster averted. Was even a nuanced victory, or partial defeat, beneath him?

In case you're curious, here's a list of problems McGyver solved.

I never really liked MacGyver, not sure why it never caught on for me, although I did watch it from time to time. I did like Dana Elcar, and thought that his episodes focusing on the negative consequences of poor management of diabetes were very good.

Maybe ABC/Disney owns a lot of stock in the paper clip business.

um . . . because it's TV? And anyway, RDA obviously got caught in some kind of karmic rebound, because his next character (Jack O'Neill) is a real hardass.