MacGyver - Production

Production

While creating the series MacGyver, John Rich was working on the sitcom Mr. Sunshine for ABC, which was short-lived and cancelled quickly. Henry Winkler had just finished off his eleven-year run on Happy Days and was looking for another project. Lee David Zlotoff was working as a producer for Remington Steele, which was airing on NBC. The three got together to form the basis for MacGyver and sold the idea to Paramount, and ABC became interested in the series.

The series was filmed in Southern California for its first two seasons and again in its final season. From seasons 3–6, it was filmed in various locations around Vancouver in Canada. The estimated budget for each episode was around US$ 1 million. Los Angeles remained as the setting of the show for the entire duration. In seasons 1 and 2, MacGyver was portrayed living in a waterfront apartment in Venice Beach. In season 3, he moved onto a houseboat at an unspecified location, though implied still to be in Los Angeles (the actual shooting took place at Coal Harbor near downtown Vancouver).

When the series was in pre-production, Winkler and Rich were looking for a suitable actor for the lead. After Richard Dean Anderson's appearance in the American television series The Love Boat, Winkler got Anderson to audition for the part. According to Rich, every auditioning actor "hulked" his way through his audition. When Anderson eventually auditioned for the role, Winkler and Rich felt that he gave the character a human touch which the other actors could not. Both believed that Anderson would become one of the new "breakout" stars on American television.

Anderson is known for having done many of the stunts in the series, though in later seasons he reduced his participation because of accumulating injuries. He injured his back and required foot surgery because of accidents working as a stuntman.

The producers of MacGyver had a tendency to use the same actor in multiple roles throughout a series run. Kai Wulff played Stepan Frolov in season one's "Every Time She Smiles", Hans Visser in season four's "Collision Course", Ladysmith in season five's Black Rhino, and Nicolas Von Leer in season six's episode "Eye of Osiris". Gregory Sierra appeared in the season one episode "The Gauntlet", playing General Antonio Vasquez, the season two episode "Jack of Lies", playing Colonel Antunnez, and the season five episode "The Treasure of Manco", playing Captain Diaz. Nana Visitor appeared in the season one episode "Hellfire" as Laura Farren, and in the season two episode "DOA: MacGyver" she appears again as Carol Varnay. David Ackroyd appears in the season one episode "Trumbo's World" as Mr. Trumbo, and in the season three episode "The Negotiator" as Mr. Knapp. Walter Gotell appears in season three episode "GX-1" as a Russian psychic named Starkoss and in season four episode "Gold Rush" as General Barenov. Elyssa Davalos played Lisa Kohler/Kosov in "Lost Love: Part 1 & 2" in season 3, then just a few episodes later (in the same season) she re-appeared as Nikki Carpenter, a role which she reprised in several more episodes. Dana Elcar first appeared in the pilot episode as the chief of operations for KIVA laboratories under a different character name, Andy Colson. Elcar returns later in the first season to play the main character, Pete Thornton.

Two episodes of MacGyver's first season were co-written by Terry Nation, a British writer best known as the creator of the Daleks in Doctor Who.