http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/21/arts/television/review-lethal-weapon-and-macgyver-2-80s-reboots-1-with-chemistry.html 2016-09-21 00:13:37 Review: ‘Lethal Weapon’ and ‘MacGyver,’ 2 ’80s Reboots, 1 With Chemistry Fox’s “Lethal Weapon” TV series may develop some intrigue with Damon Wayans and Clayne Crawford; and CBS’s “MacGyver,” with Lucas Till, is to debut. === It’s chemistry versus cleverness in this week’s battle of the 1980s reboots. And the winner is — well, neither of them is mandatory viewing, but if you have to watch one, go with chemistry. That would be It’s a conceit that requires the two actors to click in a particular way, humorously but leaving room for high action and occasionally somber moments. Mr. Gibson and Mr. Glover managed it pretty well, though they ultimately fell victim to too-many-sequels-itis. In the TV show this falls to Damon Wayans as Murtaugh and Clayne Crawford as Riggs. Their chemistry isn’t instantaneous, but by the end of the premiere you can at least see potential. Mr. Wayans, a familiar face from “In Living Color” and other shows, brings a built-in likability to Murtaugh, who as the series opens is just returning to duty in the Los Angeles Police Department after heart surgery and is understandably averse to high-adrenaline assignments. Mr. Crawford ( The chemistry may develop, but whether the writing will keep pace is unclear from the premiere, which involves an apparent suicide that may not be a suicide at all. A good gauge of how quickly a crime show will run out of ideas is how early it resorts to the tired old “but he was left-handed!” eureka moment to crack a case. Here, that coin is spent in the first half-hour of the first episode. Hmmm. If “Lethal Weapon” at least has potential, it’s hard to say the same for Richard Dean Anderson carried the original series with charm and moxie. Lucas Till, as the 2016 version of the title character, doesn’t make much of an impression in the premiere, which involves a bioweapon that has fallen into bad hands. It’s nice to see George Eads of “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” back on TV as Jack Dalton, one of MacGyver’s partners in disaster prevention, but the show is bogged down by its premise. Somehow battling baddies with “little more than bubble gum and a paper clip,” as the show’s website says, seems out of phase in the digital age. The 1980s were still within shouting distance of the era when people were expected to change their own oil and fix their own lawn mowers. Today far fewer can or would want to. Watching MacGyver try to gadget his way out of a predicament just makes you think, “Isn’t there an app for that?”