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Hawaii Five-O TV Show Overview
 Hawaii Five-O
(Hawaii 5-0) is
an American television series that starred Jack Lord as Lead
Detective for a fictional Hawaii state police department. The Hawaii Five-O
television show ran for 12 seasons, from 1968 to 1980. The twelfth
season was repackaged into syndication under the title McGarrett. The CBS television network produced the
program from September 20, 1968 to April 5, 1980. Currently,
the program is broadcast in syndication throughout the world
and on-demand streaming media via CBS Interactive.
Created by Leonard Freeman, Hawaii Five-O was shot on
location in Honolulu, Hawaii, and throughout the island of
Oahu, with occasional filming in other locations such as Los
Angeles, Singapore and Hong Kong as well as other Hawaiian
islands.
The
Hawaii Five-O TV show centers on a fictional state police force
(named in honor of Hawaii's status as the 50th State) led by
former Navy officer Steve McGarrett (Jack Lord), who was
appointed by the Governor Paul Jameson (Richard Denning).
McGarrett was assisted regularly by State Police officers —
a young officer, Danny Williams (played by Tim O'Kelley in
the show's pilot, but replaced in the regular series by
James MacArthur), Chin Ho Kelly (Kam Fong) and Kono Kalakaua
(Zulu). Later, Honolulu Police Department Officer Duke
Lukela (Herman Wedemeyer) joined the team as a regular, as
did Ben Kokua (Al Harrington) who replaced Kono.
Occasionally, they were assisted by other officers on an
"as-needed" basis. During the course of the show, the team
was also assisted regularly by: medical examiner Doc Bergman
(Al Eben), forensic specialist Che Fong (Harry Endo) and a
secretary. The first secretary was May (Maggi Parker), then
Jenny (Peggy Ryan) and later Luana (Laura Sode-Matteson).
For twelve seasons, McGarrett and his team hounded
international secret agents, criminals, and Mafia syndicates
plaguing the Hawaiian Islands. With the aid of District
Attorney and later Hawaii's Attorney General John Manicote
(Glenn Cannon), McGarrett was successful in sending most of
his enemies to prison. Most episodes of Hawaii
Five-O ended with the arrest of criminals with McGarrett's
catch phrase to Williams, "Book 'em, Danno!", with the
offense occasionally added after this phrase, such as
"-Murder one!".
The
Hawaii Five-O TV series survived long enough to see reruns of early
episodes enter syndication while new episodes were still
being produced. The 12th season was repackaged into
syndication under the title McGarrett.
Hawaii 5-0 Television Series Season Episodes on DVD
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Hawaii Five-O - The Complete First Season
on DVD
Amazon.com DVD Review -
There's plenty to like about Hawaii Five-0, the late
'60s cop show debuting on DVD by way of this
seven-disc set including all episodes from the first
season, along with the two-hour pilot that preceded
it. Like the music, featuring Morton Stevens'
popular theme song. Or the lovely Hawaiian scenery.
And let's not forget "Book 'em, Danno," the
signature line delivered (although not nearly as
frequently as one might expect) by star Jack Lord's
Steve McGarrett, not to mention Lord's perfect hair
and wrinkle-free slacks. As for everything else,
let's just say that Hawaii Five-0 has not aged well.
Some of that is inevitably due to the infinitely
more sophisticated production values of the series
that have followed in its wake; Five-0's technology,
sets, and other practical elements are laughably
primitive by current standards. Problem is, the
cheese factor extends to pretty much every other
aspect of the show as well. Most of the action
sequences are utterly tension-free, and the pace is
frequently glacial, with interminable scenes bogged
down by talky exposition. The dialogue is risible:
McGarrett refers to one adversary as "a dirty,
double-dealing fink," while the so-called hippies
who populate the islands utter the kind of idiocies
that could only have been written by cubes whose
closest contact with the counterculture came from TV
commercials for Hai Karate men's cologne ("Looks
like splittin' the scene was real cool, baby" is but
one egregious example). Lord does a decent job as
the stiff-but-heroic McGarrett, variously described
as "a hardhead," "an organizational misfit," "a
brilliant operator," and "a rebel," but by and large
the acting (including guest shots by Sal Mineo,
Ricardo Montalban, Gavin MacLeod, and Yaphet Kotto)
is wooden. Story-wise, "Cocoon," the pilot, features
an intriguing premise wherein U.S. intelligence
agents undergo sensory-deprivation torture before
spilling their secrets; elsewhere, the elite Five-0
team deals with jewel thieves, gold smugglers,
kidnappers, gamblers, murderers, mobsters,
all-purpose "criminal masterminds," and even "Red
agents" spreading the bubonic plague. In sum: with
its light (if not quite frothy) tone, Hawaii Five-0
will offer harmless escapism to some viewers,
especially those with a nostalgic bent. Others,
however, will long for more substantial fare--you
know, like Deal or No Deal. The DVD set includes a
single bonus feature: "Emme's Island Moments:
Memories of Hawaii Five-O," a retrospective with
James "Danno" MacArthur and other cast and crew
members. --Sam Graham |
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Hawaii Five-O - The Second Season
on DVD (1968)
Amazon.com DVD Review -
Solving crimes and putting the perps behind bars is
Steve McGarrett's bag. Why, he says so himself, and
in so many words, in the very first of the 24
episodes collected in this five-disc set comprising
the complete second season (1969-70) of Hawaii
Five-0. Portrayed by Jack Lord, and described by no
less an authority than the New York Times as "a
model of steadfast decency" and "beyond cool but
still so square he could have been Lawrence Welk’s
cop brother-in-law," McGarrett is the leader of the
islands' crack, four-man police unit, and as usual,
he has his hands full. Perhaps that's why the man
has no discernible sense of humor and only the
merest suggestion of a social life. Between keeping
his famous hair in order, delivering stern lectures
about right and wrong to clueless lowlifes, and, as
he puts it in another Second Season episode,
constantly worrying "about a world without law and
justice… where no one gives a damn about anything,"
who has time for such trivialities? This season
finds McGarrett and cohorts Danno (James McArthur),
Kono (Zulu), and Chin Ho (Kam Fong) dealing with the
usual complement of sleaze: murderers, gamblers,
druggies, prostitutes, insurance scammers, low-rent
terrorists, and so on. But Hawaii Five-0 offers its
share of weirdness as well. In "Forty Feet High and
It Kills!", Red Chinese uber-criminal Wo Fat (Khigh
Dhiegh) and his crew orchestrate a fake tsunami
warning so they can kidnap a brilliant scientist (an
amusing performance by Will Geer) and force him to
conduct genetic-tampering experiments designed to
create a master race. In the fairly ridiculous "King
Kamehameha Blues," a group of young folks steal the
legendary king's robe from a museum, just to show
they can; it's a measure of McGarrett's ultra-hardline
attitude that the governor's offer of amnesty to the
thieves if they'll return the precious garment
really sticks in his righteous craw. And in "The
Singapore File," McGarrett travels overseas in order
to accompany a comely murder witness back to
Honolulu; though tempted by her charms, he's far too
scrupulous to indulge in any extra-curriculars while
on the job (and Steve McGarrett is always on the
job). Hawaii Five-0's other elements are a mixed
bag. As always, the Hawaiian scenery is gorgeous.
Morton Stevens' theme song remains one of the best
ever, and much of the other music, especially the
jazzy stuff, is also terrific. However, the show
isn't big on either action or tension; too many
scenes are slow and talky. And in the final year of
the '60s, when men walked on the moon and Woodstock
and Altamont marked the respective high and low
points of the hippie movement, its depiction of the
counterculture is laughably square; it's as if the
entire decade barely happened. The box set includes
brief, previous-week promos for each episode, but no
other bonus material. --Sam Graham |
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Hawaii Five-0: The Third Season
on DVD (1968)
Amazon.com DVD Review -
The sky is blue, the sea is a brilliant turquoise,
the surf is up, the scenery is lush and gorgeous,
and Steve McGarrett's hair is as stiff as the breeze
blowing in off the Pacific. In other words, all is
right with the world as Hawaii Five-O: The Third
Season arrives in a six-disc, 24-episode (including
a pair of two-parters) box set. McGarrett, of
course, is the main man in the islands' crack,
four-man police unit; played by Jack Lord, he's the
guy memorably described by the New York Times as
"beyond cool but still so square he could have been
Lawrence Welk’s cop brother-in-law." Not much has
changed in his universe as the series moves into a
new decade (these episodes aired in 1970 and '71).
McGarrett is still the humorless embodiment of moral
rectitude; imperious, often sarcastic (especially
when dealing with the fools from other law
enforcement agencies who dare challenge his
authority), he's one of those guys whose moral
superiority is unquestioned, especially by him.
Steadfast cohorts Danno (James McArthur), Kono
(Zulu), and Chin Ho (Kam Fong) are still on hand, as
is the usual assortment of bad guys, most of them
risibly stereotypical--including arch-nemesis Wo Fat
(Khigh Dhiegh), a kind of cut-rate Bond villain who
speaks elaborately formal English as he plots to
help Red China overthrow all that is good and
righteous in the free world. And as in the first two
seasons, Hawaii Five-O's style is notable primarily
for the lack of it, especially in the stiff acting
(with the exception of a few guest stars--notably
Hume Cronyn, who's terrific in the season's most
amusing and clever episode, "Over 50? Steal"),
lukewarm action sequences, and appalling hair (if
bad cuts and silly sideburns were a crime, the
streets would be empty and the prisons full). But
then, that is precisely the show's charm.
Also as in past seasons, the Five-O crew takes on
crimes both common (murder, robbery, extortion,
kidnapping) and not so much; in "Reunion," some
World War II vets are convinced they've come across
the Japanese officer who tortured them during the
war, while "The Last Eden" features with
eco-terrorism and "And Time to Die" deals with
China's nuclear secrets. In the end, regardless of
the problem, it's McGarrett and company's dogged
police work that solves it. Meanwhile, the music
remains the series' hippest element by far; while
Nancy Wilson might not be a particularly convincing
junkie in "Trouble in Mind," her renditions of the
title song, "Stormy Monday," and other tunes are
absolutely first-rate. Bonus features are again
limited to brief, previous-week promos for each
episode. --Sam Graham |
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Hawaii Five-O - The Fourth Season
on DVD
Amazon.com DVD Review -
Could it be that with Hawaii Five-O’s fourth season,
a third of the way into its remarkable '60s-'70s
run, the show has gotten... well, cool? Actually,
there are signs throughout this six-disc set of 24
digitally-remastered episodes that point to yes.
Let’s not get carried away here; Five-O is still
basically as square as Tiananmen and Trafalgar, and
as long as Steve McGarrett (portrayed, as ever, by
Jack Lord) is in charge, its groove factor will
never rival that of, say, CSI: Miami, or any other
glossy new millennium cop drama. Indeed, the show’s
corniness and utter lack of irony remain integral to
its charm. But there are a few interesting
developments in this ’71-’72 season. There’s a good
complement of snappy dialogue (one particularly
large perp is "so big he could go bear-hunting with
chopsticks"). And although the pacing can be pretty
stodgy, the editing is a bit more deft; many scenes
flow more naturally, and in at least one instance
("I Want Some Candy, and a Gun that Shoots," wherein
a sniper is picking off cops on a coastal highway),
the entire episode is more exciting than the Five-0
norm. The direction and lighting are also more
stylish, while the music (not just Morton Stevens'
classic theme song but the incidental sounds as
well) and location scenery, two elements that have
always been among the series’ strong suits, are as
good as ever; in fact, the islands look so lush and
inviting that one wonders why the bad guys can even
get motivated to commit their dirty deeds.
But they do, of course, and McGarrett and his
faithful team (James MacArthur as Danno, Kam Fong as
Chin Ho, and, in what remains one of the great TV
credits ever, "Zulu as Kono") are there to stop 'em.
This time around they’re dealing with everything
from a big money travelers check scam ("3,000
Crooked Miles to Honolulu," with Jed Clampett... er,
Buddy Ebsen as a guest villain), eco-terrorism ("Is
This Any Way to Run a Paradise"), political
assassination ("Rest in Peace, Somebody"), and
racism-rape ("Skinhead"), along with the usual
murders and encounters with Red Chinese nemesis Wo
Fat (Khigh Dhiegh). McGarrett is for the most part
still as stiff as his hair, but Lord occasionally
displays considerable passion, as when he breaks
down in tears upon being informed that a nasty car
accident did not leave him paralyzed (in "The
90-Second War," a two-parter). As always, bonus
material is limited to brief, previous-week promos
for each episode. --Sam Graham |
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Hawaii Five-O - The Fifth Season
on DVD
The fifth season of the Hawaii Five O tv show on
DVD.
Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date:
11/18/2008 |
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Hawaii Five-O: Sixth Season
on DVD
Filmed entirely on location in Hawaii, the show
followed Jack Lord as he played Steve McGarrett,
head of an elite state police unit investigating
"organized crime, murder, assassination attempts,
foreign agents, felonies of every type." James
MacArthur played his second-in-command Danny ("Danno")
Williams, with local actors playing members of the
Five-O team. |
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