Hawaii Five-O... Now Even Whiter

[Gregg]

According to the U.S. Census website, Hawaii's white population is just under 30%. Asian is just under 40% and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Island is just under 10%.

This makes it pretty odd to cast a new show about cops in Hawaii with two white leads. Hey, not only is Alex O'Loughlin NOT Hawaiian or Asian, he's not even American. He has to affect an American accent to cover his real Australian accent.

Maybe I should start another thread about actors and actresses in popular TV series who come from other countries and have to affect an American accent for their characters.



Gregg
[email protected]

 

[DToTheJ]

Yesterday, CBS issued a press release regarding their new fall series "Hawaii Five-O":
http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/07/06/the-shortest-press-release-in-cbs-history/56200

via press release:

EDITORS NOTE: The “0″ in HAWAII FIVE-0 is a zero, not a capital O.

That's it! That was the entire text of the press release! It's not the letter O, it's a number.

Looks like Gregg has to go back and somehow edit his original post... :

 

[oldiesfan6479]

I'm surprised CBS hasn't gotten grief from the p.c. police over the "missing apostrophe."

Since we have to be oh so correct these days, shouldn't the visual spellings of the title be
Hawai'i Five-0?

 

[DToTheJ]

Did Rankin-Bass ever have to put out a press release saying the title of the animated Jacksons show is "The Jackson 5ive"?

 

[FreddyE1977]

it sounds silly but I'm sure Corporate Legal told them they have to be precise if they
expect later to invoke their copyright protection. (the same reason the Band-Aid song
now says "I am stuck on Band-Aid Brand)

 

[DToTheJ]

You mean to tell me that the 80's charity band known as "Band-Aid" has the upper hand in that situation?

 

[LKellerIII]

it sounds silly but I'm sure Corporate Legal told them they have to be precise if they
expect later to invoke their copyright protection. (the same reason the Band-Aid song
now says "I am stuck on Band-Aid Brand)

Just to clarify, the brand "Band Aid" is not subject to copyright, it is subject to Trademark registration. It's easy to confuse the two, because the concept is basically the same. If you register a copyright on your print, or film/video work-product, other people cannot reproduce or otherwise use it without your permission. Same thing if you trademark your company name, brand, or logo.

But the reason Band-Aid has taken to advertising "Band Aid brand" has nothing to do with invoking trademark protection. Their problem is that "Band-Aid" has been generic for 'small adhesive bandage' for about half a century. My mother called them "Band Aids" when she put them on my boo-boos in the 1950s, and she usually bought Curad (cheaper).

I'm sure Johnson & Johnson" sticks the "brand" in there because they don't want to spend all that money advertising their product just so you'll go out and buy Curad or the store-brand at Wal Mart.

 

[FreddyE1977]

You are correct. The court case that established this involved either Kleenex or Jello, both of which had
essentially become generic. This also prompted sports organizations to get very aggressive in defending
terms such as Olympics or Super Bowl (hence "the big game at the end of the season") If CBS allowed
either "Five-O" or "Five-0" to become generic it would be to their financial detriment.

 

[landtuna]

I could envision a show like "Happy Days" becoming generic to describe a form of comedy but "Hawaii Five-0" to define cop shows? Nah. No way. Not that the general public even remembers that show anyway. Aside from being shot in "exotic" Hawaii it was a pretty mundane show with forgettable characters. It even took a beating when Jack Lord died.

Not that C(BS) would not want to protect one of their properties but.....I would think the free publicity would outweigh any "loss" of value by trademark/copyright infringement.

 

[BRNout]

I could envision a show like "Happy Days" becoming generic to describe a form of comedy but "Hawaii Five-0" to define cop shows? Nah. No way. Not that the general public even remembers that show anyway. Aside from being shot in "exotic" Hawaii it was a pretty mundane show with forgettable characters. It even took a beating when Jack Lord died.

Whoa Nellie!

A lot of the posts here have been pretty silly, but I can't let you get away with saying that the original Hawaii-Five-0 was mundane! It was an excellent show - especially for its time. Yes, the writing was not always consistent. However, a solid percentage of the episodes were very well written and the acting was top notch considering it was a TV series that shot some 24 or 25 episodes a year. Spectacular locations (no small feat back then), good acting, the development of great characters, and even an excellent recurring villain (Wo Fat) accentuated the popularity of this show.

Jack Lord as McGarrett and James MacArthur as Danny Williams? They became TV legends in these roles.

When is the last time you've actually watched an episode or two of Five-0? Well, I have to tell you that I catch them once in a while as they're shown locally (in Chicago) on MeToo. Every time I watch, I wonder how many of today's shows can hold a candle to it. It was a pretty high quality show - significantly better than the Quinn Martin shows with which it competed (and, mind you, I liked those too as a kid).

 

[desertv]

In these days shouldn't it be called Hawaii 5.0

 

[landtuna]

A lot of the posts here have been pretty silly, but I can't let you get away with saying that the original Hawaii-Five-0 was mundane! It was an excellent show - especially for its time. Yes, the writing was not always consistent. However, a solid percentage of the episodes were very well written and the acting was top notch considering it was a TV series that shot some 24 or 25 episodes a year.

I guess if your idea of watching 40 or so minutes of each hour watching Jack Lord prance around "interesting" then I may be wrong to call it mundane. To me Lord is only slightly less wooden an actor than Robert Stack. None of the other actors had enough camera time to embellish their roles.

Spectacular locations (no small feat back then), good acting, the development of great characters, and even an excellent recurring villain (Wo Fat) accentuated the popularity of this show.

You apparently agree on the inconsistent writing. We agree on the location although I would not call them "spectacular". We will disagree on the acting. The only character that could have had any depth was Lord and he didn't take advantage of it. Dan-o, Chin Ho and Kono might as well have been butlers for all the depth they provided.

Spectacular locations (no small feat back then), good acting, the development of great characters, and even an excellent recurring villain (Wo Fat) accentuated the popularity of this show.

Wo Fat was a commonly-used series trick to provide a continuing theme in a series otherwise without one. It has rarely been done well and, like Superman's various villains, wasn't done well in H-5-0 either.

Jack Lord as McGarrett and James MacArthur as Danny Williams? They became TV legends in these roles.

Really? Ask anyone these names and the only show that comes to mind is Hawaii-5-0. Both did have other parts (Lord was a stage actor at one time) but neither are known for anything else.

When is the last time you've actually watched an episode or two of Five-0? Well, I have to tell you that I catch them once in a while as they're shown locally (in Chicago) on MeToo. Every time I watch, I wonder how many of today's shows can hold a candle to it. It was a pretty high quality show - significantly better than the Quinn Martin shows with which it competed (and, mind you, I liked those too as a kid).

I was considerably older than "a kid" when I watched Hawaii-5-0. Whether it was better or worse than shows today is moot. It should be compared with shows of its period. Q-M shows tended to be very formulaic but otherwise much more varied and interesting than Hawaii-5-0 (think "Streets of San Francisco" and "The FBI" among others). It pales by comparison to like shows of its genre today. It had a great intro. Pretty much a yawner after that.

 

[oldiesfan6479]

Both did have other parts (Lord was a stage actor at one time) but neither are known for anything else.

Senor Tuna, you won't cut "Danno" a little slack for being the son of Helen Hayes?

And Jack Lord also starred in Stoney Burke (ABC, '62-'63, Monday 9/8).

 

[e-dawg]

I don't mind having Asian characters on the show......but I do have a problem if they start stereotyping Asians as villains, buck-teeth, speaks broken English, wimpy, nerdy, and knows karate/kung-fu. William Hung is a bad example for Asians in the media.

Take a look at the history of Asians in the media and how are they portrayed.....
-Sixteen Candles - Long Duck Dong
-Fu Manchu
-Charlie Chan
-Joy Luck Club
-Breakfast at Tiffany's - Mr. Yunioshi
-Bonanza -Hop Sing

 

[landtuna]

Senor Tuna, you won't cut "Danno" a little slack for being the son of Helen Hayes?

And Jack Lord also starred in Stoney Burke (ABC, '62-'63, Monday 9/8).
[/quote]

I have nothing against either actor, although they don't rank anywhere near the top of my favs list. My point was simply that the other poster described them as 'legends' and neither are anywhere near that category.

I was aware that "dan-o" was Helen Hayes' son. Not sure how that would change anything.

 

[landtuna]

I don't mind having Asian characters on the show......but I do have a problem if they start stereotyping Asians as villains, buck-teeth, speaks broken English, wimpy, nerdy, and knows karate/kung-fu. William Hung is a bad example for Asians in the media.

Take a look at the history of Asians in the media and how are they portrayed.....
-Sixteen Candles - Long Duck Dong
-Fu Manchu
-Charlie Chan
-Joy Luck Club
-Breakfast at Tiffany's - Mr. Yunioshi
-Bonanza -Hop Sing

I don't know how you can consider Charlie Chan in that category. Although he did dress and talk with a distinct Asian flavor he was sort of a Chinese Columbo. Polite, deep thinker, non-assuming etc. He was the star of his movies and lives on in legend equal to Sherlock Holmes and others of that genre.

 

[DToTheJ]

Take a look at the history of Asians in the media and how are they portrayed.....
-Sixteen Candles - Long Duck Dong
-Fu Manchu
-Charlie Chan
-Joy Luck Club
-Breakfast at Tiffany's - Mr. Yunioshi
-Bonanza -Hop Sing

Don't forget Wong Foo from that movie "To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar."

 

[FreddyE1977]

I could envision a show like "Happy Days" becoming generic to describe a form of comedy but "Hawaii Five-0" to define cop shows?

"Five-0" is already commonly used street slang in many areas to refer to the police (like fuzz, etc.)

 

[landtuna]

I could envision a show like "Happy Days" becoming generic to describe a form of comedy but "Hawaii Five-0" to define cop shows?

"Five-0" is already commonly used street slang in many areas to refer to the police (like fuzz, etc.)

That's cute but not really what we were talking about. The subject was the popularity of "Hawaii 5-0" and whether it served as a definition of cop shows on TV.

But even if we stretched the conversation to include the use of "5-0" to define LEO's it still doesn't work. The fictitious "5-0" organization had but 5 employees and depended upon "HPD" (Honolulu Police Department? Hawaii Police Department?) to do their dirty work.

 

[BRNout]

It's just a show and there really wasn't (and isn't) a Five-0. Just as cities like New York, LA and Miami/Dade don't have the resources to have those beautiful, high tech, best-of-everything facilities that you see in various iterations of CSI.

I have nothing against either actor, although they don't rank anywhere near the top of my favs list. My point was simply that the other poster described them as 'legends' and neither are anywhere near that category.

I was aware that "dan-o" was Helen Hayes' son. Not sure how that would change anything.

Those actors were excellent in those parts. Jack Lord as McGarrett? Come on, that's a legendary character. What's your idea of a legendary character? Chachi?

The show was popular for so many years with so many excellent episodes (even if there was the occasional clunker thrown in) that - yes - Five-0 is a classic. We'll just have to agree to disagree on this because, to me, the original Hawaii-Five-0 is a better show than most of the dreck that's offered up now.

On a different note, did you see what the top shows were during the past week? All reality garbage. And it was the lowest week of network viewership in decades. Fox and Univision walloped ABC, CBS, and NBC in 18-49s. The CW had something like 10 viewers per market. So whatever so-called "bright" ideas are coming out of network boardrooms, they aren't sticking to the wall for as long the excrement that they're based on.