Hawaii Five-O Reboot Premiered on CBS Last Night

Last night, CBS premiered their highly anticipated re-envisioned remake of Hawaii Five-O. CBS is hoping to leverage both the continued popularity of the original Hawaii Five-O, a spectacular location, and a clever casting consisting of alumni from other hit series, including Daniel Day Kim from Lost, another drama set in the islands.

Much of the expectation surrounding this fall season offering comes from the history of the original Hawaii Five-O. The original series ran for 12 years from 1968 to 1980 and was, until the original in the CSI franchise eclipsed it, the longest running detective series in primetime. Even though the original series hasn't aired in over 30 years (except on cable in re-runs) the series is famous for its catchy theme song and the catch phase uttered somewhere in each episode: "Book 'em Danno".

But is this history enough to make Hawaii Five-O, the remake, a hit as well? Certainly plenty of remakes have failed over the last few years, failing to garner the eyeballs that their originals did. Two of those failures include Knight Rider and The Bionic Woman.

Of course, plenty of remakes have also done well-extremely well. Last season ABC presented V, a reworked version of an 80's miniseries and later television series of the same name. The success of V comes from the writer's ability to take a pre-used premise and modernize it, blurring the lines of good and bad that the original series' tended to polarize, introducing new characters and themes, and not leaning too heavily on what made the original successful in its time.

Another example of a remake that worked is Battlestar Galactica, where Grace Park played an embedded Cylon amongst a human crew. Grace Park, of course has been cast as Kono Kalakaua in the reboot of Hawaii Five-O, and in case Park's casting isn't enough to keep former Battlestar Galactica fans tuning in, showcasing Grace Park first in a wet bikini and then in her underwear probably will.

While scenes such as this are a blatant grab for male eyeballs, the bikini scene particularly, was well executed and gave viewers an insight into Park's character in thirty seconds, as she punched out a tourist surfer for dropping in on her wave. Of course, Hawaii Five-O is set in the islands, and if tanned beach babes in string bikinis offend, don't tune in.

Daniel Day Kim, too, will bring viewers to Hawaii Five-O as Lost devotees tune in to see "Jin". Kim is cast as Chin Ho Kelly, a former police officer mistakenly accused of being on the take and on the outer with the Hawaii police department. He brings his niece, Kono, who is about to graduate from the police academy into the Five-O team because "the bad guys know who the good guys are". Kono is a new face. He also fears that being family means she won't get a fair go in the police department.

In fact, a strong family theme runs through the entire first episode of Hawaii Five-O. Alex O'Loughlin's, Steve McGarrett is introduced in the opening seconds in a rather confusing Navy Seal operation that has viewers wondering if Hawaii Five-O is still set in Hawaii. The scene however, sets the stage for an action packed opening sequence resulting in the revenge killing of McGarrett's father by Marsters (played by Spike of Buffy fame), and leaving viewers breathless as the opening credits and familiar theme song plays.

When McGarrett returns to the islands where he grew up to investigate his father's death, he chooses to work alone rather than accept the Governors offer of heading a task force. When Danny "Danno" Williams hampers his investigation McGarrett, not only accepts the Governors job offer, but ropes Williams in as his partner.

Williams, a recent transfer to the islands, is also in Hawaii for family reasons-to be close to his young daughter, Grace, as yet unseen on screen.

McGarrett and Williams bicker and argue their way through a crime plot that's a little worn, but sets up the core Hawaii Five-O team as likeable, if imperfect. Let's face it, that's what the opening episode is all about, but next week's episode will need to capture viewer's attention with clever plots and continued character development.

What did you think of Hawaii Five-O's reboot? Will you tune in next week?

Source:

CBS Premiere episode of Hawaii Five-O (September 20, 2010)