"Magnum P.I." debuted on this day in 1980 featuring Tom Selleck as a bumbling, but always successful, private eye. In return for his lavish living quarters in Hawaii on the estate of Robin Masters, Magnum traded his services in sleuthing and such. One day Higgins noted the phone was dead. Was the line cut or had the phone gone bad? Suspecting neither one was the case, Magnum went to work. First he unplugged all hooked-in electronics (answering machine, fax, and computer modem), and tried it again. Still dead -- so they were not the culprits. He then went to a phone jack he knew was working. Still dead. Next he changed the cord between the wall outlet and the base. Still dead. Then he changed the cord between the base and the handset, and bingo this cord was the problem. By the process of elimination Magnum solved another household mystery (which made Higgins happy as he could now make dinner reservations for his big date that night with the beautiful Velda). And that's the On The House tip for today.