HAWAII FIVE-O LOSSES CONTINUE TO MOUNT

[gregg75]

This thread has taken a life of it's own.........with some regret about even putting it up. I'm expecting the producers of H 5-0 to be knocking at my door any day now. Lol

It looks like half of the people on here hate it and half love it. They have been given a full season and I doubt they will be axed in January or moved to another time slot. CBS will monitor how it's doing and decide to renew or not for 2012.....probably renew. CBS has a history of ridding their shows, far too long, into the ground, before letting them go.

 

[landtuna]

I don't disagree, but if you put it in historical perspective, most TV programming has been mass-market "brain bombs."

I don't know about "most" but certainly a lot of them, yes. But along with the flotsam we got winners as well even though few in number. I don't see that mix OTA today.

50s and early 60s - Lots of westerns, sitcoms, and Warner Bros detective shows (77 Sunset Strip, etc.) that seem laughably dated and naive today, not to mention cheaply produced.

But even among westerns there were some gems. Maverick, for instance. And don't forget the number of variety shows - most with entertainers that cannot be matched by anyone today. And dramas like "The Defenders". Of course they look dated (although some, like "Beaver" don't seem to age much) and cheap by comparison. Technology today makes an enormous difference as does the American culture - very different than what it was back then. But good writing and good producing haven't changed.

Late 60s, early 70s- mindless comedies (Bewitched, Jeannie, etc.), and more silly detective shows.

I wouldn't dismiss all comedies back then as mindless. Comedies are supposed to be light fare, fantasy and escapist and that's what most of them were. There were others that were much more serious like "Laugh-In" and "Smothers Brothers" and even "All In The Family". And I've never been a big fan of detective shows but remember shows like "Streets of S.F." as pretty good even if a Q-M clone.

Mid Late 70s - every kind of silly detective - blind detective, fat detective, Starsky & Hutch, Baretta, etc. The era of Quinn Martin and Aaron Spelling.

We agree here....with a very few exceptions.

80s - more of the same with some different producers, though Aaron Spelling still ruled. Hunter, TJ Hooker, A Team, Charlie's Angels, etc. Ridiculous prime-time soaps (Dallas, Dynasty, etc.)

My ex-wife wouldn't agree with you but I obviously was not a fan of evening soaps or the fantasy cop shows.

I could go on, but the fact is - every decade dominated by network TV has provided mostly mass-appeal mindless shows, with a few high quality exceptions in every decade.

That is exactly the point I was trying to make. Where are the "Millionaire's", "Mission Impossible's", "My World's", and writers like Rod Serling and his genre?

Its the same today, but most of the better dramas can be found on basic cable, not the big 3 networks.

I disagree here. I don't subscribe to cable but have sampled the "better" drama's and haven't yet found anything up to network standards. What I have found is an excess of foul language and slash-and-burn storytelling. I'm no prude but that stuff doesn't interest me in the least.

If, as I do, you liked some of the mindless crap from past decades, but don't like the current crap - it just means your tastes have evolved, not that TV is any worse.

I don't know if the ratio of "crap" to "outstanding" has changed over the years, probably not significantly. But for C(BS) to take an icon like Hawaii 5-0 and trash it so thoroughly is blatant bottom-feeding. They have the ability to air far better entertainment.

 

[imhomerjay]

CBS will monitor how it's doing and decide to renew or not for 2012.....probably renew.

They may worry about the 2011 season first.

CBS has a history of ridding their shows, far too long, into the ground, before letting them go.

And other networks haven't taken shows for a nice long ride?

 

[dhett]

CBS has a history of ridding their shows, far too long, into the ground, before letting them go.

And other networks haven't taken shows for a nice long ride?

Point for imhomerjay there - after all, we got the term "jump the shark" from a certain beloved ABC show that overstayed its welcome. ;D

 

[ixnay]

Point for imhomerjay there - after all, we got the term "jump the shark" from a certain beloved ABC show that overstayed its welcome. ;D

Which beloved ABC show? I found the term by perusing mb's like this one.

ixnay

 

[dhett]

Point for imhomerjay there - after all, we got the term "jump the shark" from a certain beloved ABC show that overstayed its welcome. ;D

Which beloved ABC show? I found the term by perusing mb's like this one.

ixnay

Assuming ixnay is not being facetious:

My apologies to anyone not familiar with this term - I thought everyone here understood "jump the shark".

Wikipedia can explain it a whole lot better than I can: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumping_the_shark
Jumping the shark - at this point, many understood that the series had just become silly: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72nPf4UaemU

 

[searadiofreak]

Let's cut to the chase. Half the audience hates the new Hawaii 5-0 because it is too different from the original. Half the audience likes it because it IS different from the original. (or perhaps, doesn't remember the original)...either way, a tough situation for a re-make.

 

[landtuna]

Let's cut to the chase. Half the audience hates the new Hawaii 5-0 because it is too different from the original. Half the audience likes it because it IS different from the original. (or perhaps, doesn't remember the original)...either way, a tough situation for a re-make.

You forgot the half of us who don't like it because it is junk.

 

[ixnay]

Point for imhomerjay there - after all, we got the term "jump the shark" from a certain beloved ABC show that overstayed its welcome. ;D

Which beloved ABC show? I found the term by perusing mb's like this one.

ixnay

Assuming ixnay is not being facetious:

My apologies to anyone not familiar with this term - I thought everyone here understood "jump the shark".

Wikipedia can explain it a whole lot better than I can: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumping_the_shark
Jumping the shark - at this point, many understood that the series had just become silly: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72nPf4UaemU

Ah, I see now, dhett. It originated from Happy Days. I watched a lot of HD eps (particularly in while in HS [I graduated HS in 1979]) but can't remember if I saw the Fonz jump the shark or not (in first run or in reruns). Anyway, it's a cool term. Thanks for the links, dhett.

ixnay

 

[Carmine5]

Let's cut to the chase. Half the audience hates the new Hawaii 5-0 because it is too different from the original. Half the audience likes it because it IS different from the original. (or perhaps, doesn't remember the original)...either way, a tough situation for a re-make.

Well, I'm probably the lone fence-sitter if that's truly the case. It isn't that I mind the show being different from the original it is that the writing is so childish that it becomes painful to watch at times.

The exaggerated antagonism Williams exhibits towards his unwilling partner, McGarrett, is needless and cheap. It's the usual boys acting badly thing we've seen countless times in today's movies and TV series. The new Chin Ho agonizing over some past sin that he will inevitably have to confront is a formula lifted directly from Hong Kong action flicks. There simply isn't one character in this whole show that is interesting or that we haven't seen before.

Like I said, I'll probably keep watching just to catch the scenery, the theme song and the exquisite Ms. Park.

BTW, according to this article the Five-0 crew has been creating quite a traffic mess on Honolulu streets:

http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/20101019_Traffic_snarled_by_Five-0_work.html

 

[FreddyE1977]

I was at a social gathering over the weekend, where the topic of television hardly ever comes up,
and where nobody I can recall has ever offered an opinion on a TV program in the past.

Nearly everyone attending seemed to be going out of their way to bash the new Five-0.
It certainly does seem to arouse people's opinions.

 

[mescutia]

Let's cut to the chase. Half the audience hates the new Hawaii 5-0 because it is too different from the original. Half the audience likes it because it IS different from the original. (or perhaps, doesn't remember the original)...either way, a tough situation for a re-make.

You forgot about those of us who would rather watch Castle. ;D

 

[Carmine5]

Nearly everyone attending seemed to be going out of their way to bash the new Five-0.
It certainly does seem to arouse people's opinions.

And this is one reason why I don't see the remade series going anywhere near the 12 year run of the original--even though CBS ordered an entire season of the new Five-0. Among the majority of 5-0 faithful it isn't liked and the Gen Y crowd will soon get bored of it.

For one thing, the actors seem to lack charisma. Jack Lord had it in spades and, to a lesser degree, so did James MacArthur. But the new cast is really bland, and Scott Caan is downright obnoxious. Daniel Dae Kim is probably the most interesting to watch. In fact, if I were producing the new Five-0 series I would be tempted to cancel it and spin a Chin Ho Kelly cop series with Kim in the lead and, of course, based in Hawaii.

 

[imhomerjay]

And this is one reason why I don't see the remade series going anywhere near the 12 year run of the original--even though CBS ordered an entire season of the new Five-0.

Most shows--be they remakes or not--don't approach that benchmark. Just the nature of the business.

Among the majority of 5-0 faithful it isn't liked and the Gen Y crowd will soon get bored of it.

Of the former, if they watched the original as adults when it was in first run, they're past or approaching irrelevance from a demo point of view. Of the latter, the show being a remake is largely irrelevant to what level of “boredom” sets in and when.

In fact, if I were producing the new Five-0 series I would be tempted to cancel it and spin a Chin Ho Kelly cop series with Kim in the lead and, of course, based in Hawaii.

Not exactly the best business strategy, though.

 

[Carmine5]

Most shows--be they remakes or not--don't approach that benchmark. Just the nature of the business.

It also has to do with changing nature of how pop media is perceived and consumed. The point being that the remake doesn't, in my opinion, have "legs", however long the cycle of a successful show is supposed to be in this day and age. The casting and writing being part of the problem, as I see it.

However, for a modern example, consider CSI:Miami. That show has been having a successful eight year run and doesn't seem to be losing much momentum. It could very easily go twelve years. In fact, it's being spun off in more directions then any show I've seen.

Of the former, if they watched the original as adults when it was in first run, they're past or approaching irrelevance from a demo point of view. Of the latter, the show being a remake is largely irrelevant to what level of “boredom” sets in and when.

I was speaking strictly about fans of Hawaii Five-0, not advertising demographics. Fans of the original, regardless of age, would surely tune in and either love it or hate it. From what I'm hearing most don't like the remake. The producers are obviously targeting the remake for the Gen Y/X set and they are a fickle bunch, particularly Gen Y. If they're watching the new 5-0 at all, they won't be for long.

Not exactly the best business strategy, though.

Hey, it's no worse an idea than trying to resurrect the original.

 

[imhomerjay]

Yeah, getting your show picked up for a full season and making boatlods of money. Sure is a bad idea. :

 

[LKellerIII]

And this is one reason why I don't see the remade series going anywhere near the 12 year run of the original--even though CBS ordered an entire season of the new Five-0. Among the majority of 5-0 faithful it isn't liked and the Gen Y crowd will soon get bored of it.

For one thing, the actors seem to lack charisma. Jack Lord had it in spades and, to a lesser degree, so did James MacArthur. But the new cast is really bland, and Scott Caan is downright obnoxious.

Different eras - a more innocent and naive time for movies and TV. Actually, the original Danno was pretty bland - that's what he was meant to be - a second banana and sounding board for Jack Lord.

Yes - Lord's McGarrett had charisma, but it was pretty one dimensional - the flinty "tough" guy, with the one lock of hair hanging over his gravity defying cement pompadour. By today's standards, it was pretty comic book - we'd laugh at the new McGarrett if they patterned him after Jack Lord.

 

[Carmine5]

And this is one reason why I don't see the remade series going anywhere near the 12 year run of the original--even though CBS ordered an entire season of the new Five-0. Among the majority of 5-0 faithful it isn't liked and the Gen Y crowd will soon get bored of it.

For one thing, the actors seem to lack charisma. Jack Lord had it in spades and, to a lesser degree, so did James MacArthur. But the new cast is really bland, and Scott Caan is downright obnoxious.

Different eras - a more innocent and naive time for movies and TV. Actually, the original Danno was pretty bland - that's what he was meant to be - a second banana and sounding board for Jack Lord.

Yes - Lord's McGarrett had charisma, but it was pretty one dimensional - the flinty "tough" guy, with the one lock of hair hanging over his gravity defying cement pompadour. By today's standards, it was pretty comic book - we'd laugh at the new McGarrett if they patterned him after Jack Lord.

I'm not so sure about those times being more innocent and naive, after all the US was embroiled in the Vietnam War, the escalated bombing of Cambodia and Watergate during the first few seasons of Hawaii Five-0. We are, however, dealing with a new set of issues and problems and along with it new "bad guys."

And if Jack Lord's McGarrett was a comic book hero, today's McGarrett is little more than a video game hero, albeit a rather bland one in the person of Alex O'Loughlin. And to have an abrasive, annoying "second banana" like Scott Cain's Danno actually overshadow the McGarrett character is to neutralize the chemistry that made the original so much better.

 

[Nate Wesley]

For all of you so-called purists who INSIST the original was best and the refresh is oh-so-horrible:

[James] MacArthur quit the role of McGarret's sidekick a year before the programme's final season.
"Quite frankly, I grew bored," he explained on his website. "The stories became more bland and predictable and presented less and less challenge to me as an actor."

James McArthur dead at the age of 72

 

[imhomerjay]

Come now...we dare not challenge the invented memories those rose-colored glasses create.