Hawaii Radio & Television Guide

It was announced yesterday that a new version of “Hawaii Five-0″ will be shot in Hawaii around 2009 - 2010. The Hollywood Reporter website article stated:

” CBS is saying aloha to a new installment of the “Hawaii Five-O” franchise from “Criminal Minds” exec producer/show runner Ed Bernero.”

“Like the original series, it is a procedural chronicling the workings of the fictional Hawaiian state police department. In the original, the unit was headed by Steve McGarrett, played by Jack Lord. In the new series, McGarrett’s son Chris will be the top cop.”

The article further states that the program will use a re-imaging of the original “Hawaii Five-0″ theme song music created by Mort Stevens and popularized in 1969 by the rock group, The Ventures.

Since the original series ended in 1980 after a 12-season run, several attempts to revive the franchise as a television series and a movie have been attempted over the years. In the mid 1990s a pilot was shot by CBS in Honolulu but was abandoned before it could be aired.

The original “Hawaii Five-0″ has retained its popularity through the years in worldwide syndication on many TV stations and cable networks. It is shown locally in Hawaii on KWHE TV Channel 14 on most weeknights at 7:00 p.m. Last year DVD releases of “Hawaii Five-0″ episodes hit the market to great success.

Additional Links:

• Hawaii Five-0 2.0 set up by CBS, The Hollywood Reporter
• CBS Ready for “Five-0″ Hana Ho, Honolulu StarBulletin.com
• Hawaii Five-0, The Wikipedia
• Discussion Topic @ the Hawaii Media Forum, HawaiiThreads.com

Commentary: I think CBS is going in the right direction with the new version of the show. Having the series set in the present day with new characters that echo and acknowledge the past of the original series will be much like when Paramount revived the Star Trek TV franchise creating a new show with new characters. A new “Hawaii Five-0″ will never work if the same characters from the original series are played by new actors and set in the present day. Did not work for the movie version of Miami Vice, and won’t work with this.