Hawaii Five-O

Th e1970's was often called the age of tv cop shows. You had shows like, Police Story, Cannon, Columbo, Toma, Baretta, The Streets Of San Francisco and Joe Forrester. However, Hawaii Five O was the grandaddy of them all. This show ran longer then any other police show in tv history, from 1968 to 1980, we all watched Steve McGarret unmask the villian and solve the mystery (oh and also to bark "Book 'em Danno" at the end of every episode. I am going to tell you something about Jack Lord that is not generally well known, I learned this from one of Paul Harvey's "The Rest Of The Stories". Although his role as the hard hitting cop would suggest he was anything but sensitive, Jack Lord was really a very different man in real life. He was an artist and a very sucessful one as well and it wasn't because he was a tv star. Five of his paintings are in the famous Metropolitan Musuem of Art in New York City. People have paid fortunes for them! As a student Lord won numerous awards for his art and people have paid fortunes for even his simplist watercolors. Lord often quoted Sean O'Casey and said "Let us find a way to spin joy into every moment of tomorrow's day". As Steve McGarret Lord was almost like a modern day knight. All the tv cop shows since in a way owe their sucess to him. He set a standard that will never be equalled.

This show lasted for many seasons because of the talents of Jack Lord and great writing, but I think it helped that it was on CBS as well. CBS always seemed to stand behind it's shows longer, even after ratings begin to drop. Perhaps my memory is wrong, but didn't the show end because Jack Lord wanted it to instead of it being cancelled? There are many memorable episodes of course, but the one that always stands out in my mind was the episode with singer Nancy Wilson as the heroin addicted performer. I thought she did a great job! Hopefully the show will come out in a DVD set. I hope the show will always be in reruns somewhere at least!

Outside of Jack Webb I don't think you could make a better case for a cop being totally professional than with Jack Lord as Steve McGarrett. Even with Webb you got hints of a private life usually in the squad car as he and Ben Alexander or later Harry Morgan rode around between locations on an episode. In fact usually TV series last because of various personal dimensions gradually introduced into a series for the characters.

But in Hawaii 5-0, never. Lord was appointed by the Governor of Hawaii to head a special state police force to really go after the high level crooks. His jurisdiction was pretty well anywhere he wanted it. I never saw any complaints from Honolulu PD or any other local police entity about it in the 12 years Hawaii Five-0 ran.

Lord had a picked team with James MacArthur, Kam Fong and several other local players from Hawaii as other police assigned to him. Richard Denning made some appearances every so often as the governor. In fact MacArthur as Danny Williams was the guy that McGarrett ordered almost every week to 'book 'em Danno' in the show's most celebrated catchphrase.

Hawaii Five-0 had three great things going for it. The first was Hawaii itself. I for one can't get enough of the scenery. It's the most beautiful place on the planet and that's on several different levels. I don't the show would have lasted twelve seasons if it was done in East St. Louis.

Secondly the writing was extraordinarily good matched by the editing. I don't recall a frame of extraneous film in any given episode. Like McGarrett and his team, every show got right down to business and moved.

Lastly it was Jack Lord who created a character that solely and totally focused on his job. Normally those are not warm and fuzzy people, but the absolutely incorruptible Steve McGarrett was a guy that any citizen would want to know is serving and protecting. Even if he didn't seem to have a personal life.

To live and work in Hawaii, it doesn't get better.

This series was so popular that "Bookem Danno!" became a common phrase teenagers uttered around schools while this show ran. Once you see an episode, you understand why. CBS really went to great lengths to make this series run so well.

Leonard Freeman's top notch production shows & holds up well after all these years. Jack Lord is the ultimate Hawaii Supercop in charge of FIVE-O. James Macarthur is great as Dan-o, McGarrett subordinate. The use of Hawaian actors int he cast was UN precedented. The choice of shooting locations in Hawaii seems perfect.

The theme song blows you away & the sequence shown during the theme is priceless as well. The more I think about it, the only way it is not perfect is that with rare exceptions the show became a little too much predictable & formula at times. With the Hawaii locations & always something nice in a bikini around, the formula isn't so bad is it?

The longest-running cop show on American TV until "Law & Order"'s thirteenth season, "Hawaii Five-O" still has a long life in reruns and probably will continue in that vein long into the future.

Admittedly it did go downhill towards the end (the last season's episodes, ironically, seem even more dated than those from the '68 run) and no one can really claim that the acting was on a par with your Bochcos or your Levinsons, but it worked - yes, the scenery was a plus, along with Reza S. Badiyi's title sequence (still one of the all-time greats), but ultimately the glue that held it together was the late Jack Lord. He clearly thought the show revolved around him, and he was right - stiff, yes, but the man WAS Steve McGarrett; you never doubted for a second that he was in charge.

The show also had more than a few decent stories to go with the Hawaiian setting; that's the main reason this show was popular enough to run for more than 10 years (and more than twice that length in reruns). That and Morton Stevens's theme music, of course - all these years and that still hasn't worn thin yet either. I doubt "Miami Vice" will hold up so well.

The Stephen J. Cannell-backed pilot shot in '97 (and which brought back Chin Ho, killed off in "A Death In The Family") was judged so bad by CBS that to this day it hasn't aired, and probably never will. Like I'm weeping...