Thursday, May 19, 2011

Hawaii 5-O Season Finale

 A L O H A!






What a jazzy Hawaii sky. 
Eighth notes?  NO, SIXTEENTHS!



"Shoulder the sky, my lad,
and drink your ale.

A. E. Housman






"The brain is wider than the sky. "

Emily Dickinson








“An inexhaustible good nature 

is one of the most precious gifts of heaven, 

spreading itself like oil 

over the troubled sea of thought, 

and keeping the mind smooth and equable

in the roughest weather.”

 

Washington Irving 



  ><}}(°>




Hawaii 5-O has been a clear success for CBS this season and WILL be returning in the Fall.

As A local I'm thrilled that the show is actually good. 
And what a season finale!

Spoiler Alert: If you haven't seen the show yet,
read no further.

First of all I gotta say that the camera-work makes our island and our town look GREAT.

The writers do make our relatively safe home seem dangerous - but that is the price you pay
for hosting such a show.  The original cast did, after all, save our islands from super evil 
criminals every week.

I was happy to see one of my favorite new hang outs featured in the NEXT to last show;
The Downbeat Diner was a great location to bust into and make an arrest.  The place has a bar, 
and All American food like breakfast and burgers, plus a front row seat on the urban circus
that IS Honolulu's famous Hotel Street

What I especially appreciate is that I can get my burger
made with Big Island (Hawaii) grass-fed beef, and my friends can get ANYTHING in the place
made full-on VEGAN!

Masi Oka will be coroner on the show next season as a regular cast member.  But just when we 
thought that lovely Kelly Hu had cinched a recurring role, she got BLOWN UP REAL GOOD
in the opening moments of the finale!  

Didn't see that coming.

And now that we are really getting fond of the characters and loving their team,
it looks like 5-O is coming apart at the seams.  

The normally boring, plot device
that is the trusted Governor 
(who formed the 5-O team)
turns out to be in bed with the super criminals
that Steve McGarrett relentlessly hunts! 


I had wondered if Jean Smart would be back in that previously placid role next season.
(Hawaii did replace our female gov
with a male in the last election.)
Well Steve answered that question definitively
with a gunshot to the gubernatorial chest! 

I know politicians are unpopular as a caste right now,
but what a shocker.

Shocking and (dare I say it?) satisfying.
"Take THAT you lying scum bag!"

So Steve ends the season charged with murder.  

Kono (played by Grace Park)
is picked out of a line-up. 

Danny (Scott Caan) seems headed back to the East Coast with his formerly estranged
wife and lil` daughter ( cute local Teilor Grubbs);


Yummy Daniel Dae Kim
finds himself back on the HPD police force
with a promotion
and the job of arresting his friends!

Not too shabby, writers.
  Threaten the thing we love,
and make us know how much we love it!

I can hardly wait for next season.

  We all know that this popular show
will be back next season,
and not just to send McGarrett to prison.

But HOW will this audacious show wrap up all this amazing tumult?!

Who will play Hawaii's new TV governor, 
Arnold Schwarzenegger?

How will Steve and Kono be cleared? 

Will Danny's X-wife really leave her
millionaire developer?

This show has shown a willingness
to dare amazing plot lines.  

What will they do next?!

Rumor has it that big time stars 
are lining up to play guest shots
just like on the original show.

Diddy may even be back.

So be there- ALOHA!

           Do stop by 'comments'  cloudia
BONUS POINTS:
 







Obscure show paved way for Hawaii police dramas

By Lee Cataluna 
POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Dec 21, 2010


That the reboot of "Hawaii Five-0" is doing so well at a time when scripted network dramas are desperate to come up with salable ideas says a lot about the durability of the cops-in-paradise genre.

But long before "Five-0" and "Magnum, P.I." showed up, a formulaic little drama called "Hawaiian Eye" plowed a path that all of the Hawaii-based TV shows would later follow.

Off the air for nearly 50 years and too obscure to be captured on some meticulously restored DVD set, "Hawaiian Eye" is hardly revered or even remembered by fans of Hawaii-based TV shows, probably because so little of it was actually shot in Hawaii.

But in four seasons on ABC, the show probably did more to plant the balmy idea of Hawaii in the minds of middle-class Midwesterners watching TV on wintry Wednesday nights than any glossy magazine spread.

From a tourism marketing standpoint, the timing of "Hawaiian Eye" couldn't have been more perfect. Premiering in October 1959, only months after statehood and simultaneous with the start of regular jet service, the show capitalized on the Hawaii craze that swept the nation.

The show, about a detective agency based at what was then the Hawaiian Village Hotel in Waikiki, followed the adventures of Anthony Eisley and future "Wild, Wild West" star Robert Conrad, punching out bad guys, rescuing beautiful guest stars and doing a lot of smoking.

To local audiences, there was an added treat. Comedic actor, singer and nightclub performer Poncie Ponce got co-star billing (along with Connie Stevens) as the resourceful cab driver Kim Quisado, whose far-flung collection of cousins, uncles and nephews could always be counted on to provide a crucial bit of information from the "street."

Ponce was one of the first Filipino-American actors to get star billing on a network drama.

A few clips of "Hawaiian Eye" are posted on YouTube, including the amazing opening credits that captured Conrad and Eisley surfing off Waikiki. (While Conrad was a natural athlete, Eisley looks a bit shaky on the board, making you wonder how many takes were required to get the shot.) Connie sits safely in a canoe. The scenes are long and slow and sometimes go on for minutes without lines of dialogue while the soundtrack plays.

Besides Ponce, the best part of the show is the most contradictory. While the old "Five-0" is beloved because it's shot on location, "Hawaiian Eye" is hilarious because it was shot on the Warner Bros. lot in Hollywood. Most scenes take place indoors. The set for downtown Honolulu, the scene of an armored truck robbery, looks suspiciously like Gotham City from "Batman."

The show may not have been faithful to Hawaii's scenery, but it got the genre started.




38 comments:

  1. I need to start watching this! I've only seen it once or twice.

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  2. What a cool run down on the show, Cloudia. I'm not sure Hawaii will want Schwarzenegger within 1000 miles of it after this week's revelations about his character or lack thereof. He really does not seem to have much "Aloha-spirit," which to me is the antithesis of "Hasta la vista, baby." Latest news here is that he has put his acting career on hold for awhile.

    PS I love the picture of oil on water.

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  3. I loved Hawaii Five-O as a kid.

    What gorgeous shots and quotations. Have a magical weekend!

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  4. You outta work for the Chamber of Commerce.
    You are Paradises Best Ambassador!
    Thanks for always stopping by Cloudia, you are a wonderful and loyal friend...G

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  5. peace always
    /\ namaste from mumbai
    aloha!

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  6. Good summary, Cloudia. Glad you like the show.

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  7. Thanks for a soothing and beautiful post. Your photos are just wonderful. Ditto the quotes. Not a Hawaii 5-0 fan (yet).

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  8. Hi Cloudia! Wonderful and informative post! So right Dickinson's words "The brain is wider than the sky."
    Happy Friday!

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  9. I've watched every episode screened of Hawaii Five-O here in Oz and i'm looking forward to the second season. The first photo is my favourite this time round, looks like tyre treads in the sky :-).

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  10. "tyre treads in the sky :-). "

    I like that! And of course Alex O'Laughlin is from OZ

    Thanks everyONE for gifting me these comments!

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  11. The new Hawaii Five-O is great! Grace Park is my favorite going back to her Battlestar Galactica days.

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  12. I love Daniel Dae Kim! I have not watched this show, but I do love him as an actor!

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  13. Haven't seen the resurrected version yet, but I do remember the original. And I'm going to have to look up a few clips of Hawaiian Eye too !

    btw - gorgeous sky in your first shot !

    Aloha !

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  14. Ooh, I love the Washington Irving quote - I would love to have an ineckshaustible good nature!

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  15. it is a good show...and just makes me wish to visit you shores all the more...aloha from va

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  16. I'll have to watch, now that I *know* someone local! :)

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  17. Hawaii. Dreamland. Must be very nice to live there :)´ LG Tina

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  18. I enjoyed H5O very much - and that finale - I'm still thinking about it. Your island does look so lovely in it and I read that the crime really isn't like as pictured. It looks like a peaceful and lovely place.

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  19. Fun post, darling!

    Happy Weekend!

    xoxox,
    CC

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  20. Have to see the seasons end yet, we watched The Mentalist last night with Simon Baker....great photos and I really like that Emily D. quote....The brain is wider than the sky! Great stuff always when I stop by your blog! Thanks!

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  21. I was totally tuned in to 5/0, Hawaiian Eye and I LOVED Magnum. Now I will have to hook myself to this one....just for you!

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  22. I watched two finales last night, the season finale of "The Office," and the series finale of "Smallville." That's a lot of TV for one evening.

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  23. I love that Emily Dickinson quote, Cloudia! A friend of mine loves the show and says I should watch and now I think I'm going to have to :)

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  24. I love that jazzy sky. I have watched Hawaii five 0 some and it's one of the few new versions of an old show where I like the new one.

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  25. LOVE the Jazzy Sky! I'm not sure about the kids on the beach with the electronic device...the view is BEHIND them...(with alternate week night work schedules, I don't follow series very well on TV.) DrumMajor

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  26. Hadnt seen the show but it sounds like it was a good season finale... a little like the season finale of Castle...

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  27. I hasn't come here yet, so i can't comment on it.

    I wish the Irving quote could apply to me, but, alas, my nature is only good in patches, like most people's.

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  28. had to skip, cause I haven't seen it yet. Happy weekend.

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  29. Thanks for the insight and the history. Great stuff. These shows sure do take us places.

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  30. Interesting! Have a wonderful weekend. We finally saw the sun this afternoon, after six solid days of rain.

    My daughter graduates from college this weekend!

    sending a hug,
    Gina

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  31. Excellent quotes.

    Great round-up.

    And Arnold Schwarzenegger?...probably pulling good odds.

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  32. You make me so HAPPY by sharing!

    Thank YOU :-)

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