Hawaii Five-O

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...

I have been watching this show since I was 8 years old. I remember watching its final episode in 1980(when I was 14 years old). And its still on in syndication some 20 years later after it went off the air. For the astounding 13 seasons that it ran on CBS-TV(from 1968-1980),and again as a very short lived series called "McGarrett"(when Jack Lord's character leaves 5-O to become a private investigator),its no wonder why in point the shows still leaves viewers on the edge of their seats,and at the end its McGarrett telling his partner after he catches the bad guy or super villain to "book'em,Danno...murder one". This show set the standards today for all cop shows that were to follow it,and it still holds up. Kudos to the legendary Jack Lord(who died two years ago on his resort in Hawaii),and series creator Leonard Freeman who were the first to put Asian-Americans and other minorities in non-stereotypical roles(which followed the same format that producer Sheldon Leonard used when he put Bill Cosby as the first African-American in a starring role in "I Spy" four years earlier in 65). One of classic TV cop shows of the late 1960's and throughout the remainder of the 1970's,and it shows. Catch the reruns.

To me this is still one of the all time great cop shows. The thing I think made it so special was its irony. The fact that you it was set in probably the most beautiful of settings, yet it had all the crime of cities like Los Angeles and New York made it Honolulu seem just like any other major American city which is just what Honolulu is. Also, the fact that the native Hawaiians in the cast were not stereotyped made it a great show.

Jack Lord was perfectly cast as McGarrett and pretty much was the embodiment of the character with his tough and almost unemotional demeanor and James McCarthur was great as Danny. Of course, who could ever forget what Kam Fong brought to the show as Chin Ho. This definitely was a classic.

Although the plots and stories trailed off a little in quality near the end of the series, 'Hawaii Five O' in its prime was a remarkable example of how to do a television show right. It had a lot a factors going for it : Spectacular opening and closing credit sequences, a grabber of a theme song, exotic locations, a charismatic lead actor who had great hair and knew how to work it, and a racially diverse and intriguing supporting cast.

The series creator took a chance and had Jack Lord play McGarrett as a hard-nosed, hard-driving tough guy instead of a "Teddy bear" type, but this worked because McGarrett was so obviously committed to his job and to "Law And Order" that his brilliance and energy won the audience over, and in fact made them like him even more than if he had been played as a "Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes" character.

But the thing that sets Five O apart in my mind, is that whoever was in charge of story and script quality really knew their stuff and were allowed to do their job. H50 episodes had remarkably tight and internally consistent plots and screenplays. The screenplays always played fair with the audience, and almost always featured extremely clever plot devices, gimmicks or MacGuffins that made you admire the deviousness and ingenuity of the characters who were trying to do bad things under Five-O's watchful eye. And McGarett and his staff would scramble against a deadline to understand the gimmick and solve the mystery or the heist or the caper before the 'bad guys' could get away with whatever they were planning. And each episode was directed and edited with crispness and energy that kept everything moving and wasted no screen time.

Many times things were so interesting that the hour long show seemed to be over almost as soon as it started. You can't give a police detective show a much higher compliment than that. To manage to pull this off for so many years was a remarkable achievement.

Three cheers for "Hawaii Five O" and the people behind it. It holds up as one of the high water achievements of television drama.

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?