Hawaii Five-O: Any Fans?

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

Hawaii Five -O  Season 10 Episode 8 "Deadly Doubles"
The regular cast seems disinterested in this warmed over Cold War love story  with it's trite plot.
Bored would be a better word.
Disney refugee Kurt Russell was  fatally miscast as a slimy murderous  Russian tennis player, with a accent so bad he should be sent to Siberia.
He is more Malibu beach boy than a Russky.
Meanwhile Tim Mathieson is beyond bland as the American Romeo romancing a Russian Juliet.

They cut corners on the budget, the tennis venue had maybe 30 extras in evidence, the director didn't even bother to compose the shots so you wouldn't notice the ocean of empty seats.
Skip this one the next time it's on or on your deathbed you will be lamenting the hour you blew watching it.

I love Hawaii Five -O, but an episode like this seems to be heralding in the decline that you guys say was so evident by seasons 11 and 12.
I'm still going to watch when MeTV Plus runs the last 2 seasons and hope for the best.

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"Twelve good horses and silver candlesticks won't stop the snow from falling in Bialystock."
...Banacek(George Peppard)

Yep, this is a sign of things to come for sure. It's funny you picked this episode though because it's not a particularly bad one. There's worse to choose from in season 10 alone. Just try "Tread the King's Shadow" which should be coming up shortly - one of the worst of the entire series! Or "A Short Walk on the Longshore" or "The Big Aloha". Or even "Descent of the Torches" which you must have already seen, guest starring Geraldine Page. That one is full of Hawaiian folklore but I always found it dull and without a resolution at the end.

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

Ivan wrote:
"Yep, this is a sign of things to come for sure. It's funny you picked this episode though because it's not a particularly bad one. There's worse to choose from in season 10 alone.
Just try "Tread the King's Shadow" which should be coming up shortly - one of the worst of the entire series! Or "A Short Walk on the Longshore" or "The Big Aloha".
Or even "Descent of the Torches" which you must have already seen, guest starring Geraldine Page.
That one is full of Hawaiian folklore but I always found it dull and without a resolution at the end."

Hi Ivan,
I just saw this tonight -
Season 10 Episode 22 "My Friend, the Enemy" 
 Sexy Italian journalist Liana Labella (Luciana Paluzzi) vexes McGarrett when she investigates the kidnapping of a Arab king's wife.
Her character was based on the then world famous Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci, who I recently saw being interviewed on a 1973 Dick Cavett show.
Without a doubt it was a nod to Fallaci. 

Liana Labella: Do you still deny you invaded me?
Steve McGarrett: I beg your pardon? 

Fun last scene where McGarrett puts the hard wood on Liana(Aussie for pressing for a date) for a romantic dinner. 

 I now see - as you warned of - that beginning with Season Ten MeTV Plus is skipping over episodes, very annoying and a cheat to we viewers.
 Perhaps because they have a much smaller amount of episodes such series as Hawaiian Eye or Harry O have all their episodes shown in order.
 
I am still hoping to see even the stinkers you mentioned, especially "Tread the King's Shadow" as when something is truly bad one can
appreciate a fully realized pile of crap and have fun picking it apart. Hmm, could have put that better.

And I did recently see "Descent of the Torches", I agree, PU.

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

Ivan wrote:
"Yep, this is a sign of things to come for sure. It's funny you picked this episode though because it's not a particularly bad one. There's worse to choose from in season 10 alone.
Just try "Tread the King's Shadow" which should be coming up shortly - one of the worst of the entire series! Or "A Short Walk on the Longshore" or "The Big Aloha".
Or even "Descent of the Torches" which you must have already seen, guest starring Geraldine Page.
That one is full of Hawaiian folklore but I always found it dull and without a resolution at the end."

Hi Ivan,
I just saw this tonight -
Season 10 Episode 22 "My Friend, the Enemy" 
 Sexy Italian journalist Liana Labella (Luciana Paluzzi) vexes McGarrett when she investigates the kidnapping of a Arab king's wife.
Her character was based on the then world famous Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci, who I recently saw being interviewed on a 1973 Dick Cavett show.
Without a doubt it was a nod to Fallaci. 

Liana Labella: Do you still deny you invaded me?
Steve McGarrett: I beg your pardon? 

Fun last scene where McGarrett puts the hard wood on Liana(Aussie for pressing for a date) for a romantic dinner. 

 I now see - as you warned of - that beginning with Season Ten MeTV Plus is skipping over episodes, very annoying and a cheat to we viewers.
 Perhaps because they have a much smaller amount of episodes such series as Hawaiian Eye or Harry O have all their episodes shown in order.
 
I am still hoping to see even the stinkers you mentioned, especially "Tread the King's Shadow" as when something is truly bad one can
appreciate a fully realized pile of crap and have fun picking it apart. Hmm, could have put that better.

And I did recently see "Descent of the Torches", I agree, PU.

Well, if you just saw "My Friend, the Enemy" (with bad Bond girl Luciana Paluzzi!) then they definitely skipped "Tread the King's Shadow" as that one was earlier in the season. As for "Descent of the Torches" for me it's one of the stinkers but for whatever reason there are others who appreciate that one, including Mike Quigley over on his Five-O page who has it as one of the best of the season.

[Pahonu]

I just checked my DVR recordings set for Hawaii Five-O on MeTV+. They go from the two-parter A Lion in the Streets today and tomorrow, to Woe to Wo Fat on Monday and the pilot Full Fathom Five on Tuesday. So season twelve is just the first and last episodes. Sorry Dobie and anyone else looking to see the whole series.

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

I just checked my DVR recordings set for Hawaii Five-O on MeTV+. They go from the two-parter A Lion in the Streets today and tomorrow, to Woe to Wo Fat on Monday and the pilot Full Fathom Five on Tuesday. So season twelve is just the first and last episodes. Sorry Dobie and anyone else looking to see the whole series.

This really stinks. I was so looking forward to seeing the William Smith episodes. MeTV Plus seemingly was run by TV aficionados, then they pull this garbage.
Wouldn't common sense dictate running all the episodes available so the viewer doesn't eventually become bored by too many repeat showings in a given time?

Yesterday they ran "The Skyline Killer" Season 11 Episode 20.
This series always had great character actors and this one features the always good Charles Cioffi as a sleazy author and a young Rita "Mrs. Tom Hanks" Wilson as his daughter
targeted by a serial killer.
I recall reading somewhere on this thread that the cast/crew assumed this was the last episode of the series, so with that in mind it seemed to me the cast seemed
downcast. The stunt work was terrific though, breathtaking even.
At the end a lone McGarrett waits for the killer in the next victims room.
The killer easily escapes thru a window and Steve has to call for backup from blocks away.
It made no sense tactically, no doubt in previous seasons real life retired cop Kam Fong (Chin Ho Kelly) would have pointed out how ludicrous it was not having more men on scene
in and around the apartment.

Steve: " Book him Danno, book him."
Danno's last word's on the series: "Sure will, Steve".
I paused it there and James McArthur is definitely teary eyed and sad.

In the end scene there's a lingering shot of Steve high up on the scaffolding of a building, gazing down over the city and on to the far mountains.
It nicely bookends the classic opening of every episode with Steve towering over the city on top of a high rise.
This was definitely composed as a classic farewell shot, with music soaring for the final closeup, nothing but mountains and blue sky behind Steve
as he gazes off into the distance, a one man Mount Rushmore.

But then the series got the unexpected renewal.
A little research revealed -
The two part misfire "Year of the Horse" was filmed before the first 20 episodes and was tacked on as episode 21, but for practical purposes episode 20
was the "last" episode, in the minds of the cast and crew at least before the surprise renewal.

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

I just checked my DVR recordings set for Hawaii Five-O on MeTV+. They go from the two-parter A Lion in the Streets today and tomorrow, to Woe to Wo Fat on Monday and the pilot Full Fathom Five on Tuesday. So season twelve is just the first and last episodes. Sorry Dobie and anyone else looking to see the whole series.

Just a slight correction, Pahonu. "Full Fathom Five" was not the pilot. The "Cocoon" 2-parter was the pilot. I guess they're not showing that one until the end of season 1 which never made any sense to me. But that's how they've done it for sometime. Probably because during the initial airing they showed the 2-hour pilot as a "Five-O movie", followed by the rest of season 1, and then the 2-part version of the pilot movie which they retitled as "Cocoon" (which is what we've always seen in syndication). The "real" pilot movie as it originally aired is only found on the season 1 DVD. The syndicated 2-parter is chopped and edited, as is always the case.

[Pahonu]

I just checked my DVR recordings set for Hawaii Five-O on MeTV+. They go from the two-parter A Lion in the Streets today and tomorrow, to Woe to Wo Fat on Monday and the pilot Full Fathom Five on Tuesday. So season twelve is just the first and last episodes. Sorry Dobie and anyone else looking to see the whole series.

Just a slight correction, Pahonu. "Full Fathom Five" was not the pilot. The "Cocoon" 2-parter was the pilot. I guess they're not showing that one until the end of season 1 which never made any sense to me. But that's how they've done it for sometime. Probably because during the initial airing they showed the 2-hour pilot as a "Five-O movie", followed by the rest of season 1, and then the 2-part version of the pilot movie which they retitled as "Cocoon" (which is what we've always seen in syndication). The "real" pilot movie as it originally aired is only found on the season 1 DVD. The syndicated 2-parter is chopped and edited, as is always the case.

Correct, and that is very odd that they show the movie pilot at the end of season 1. It would be so strange to see Don’t Eat the Snow in Hawaii at the end of the season. Imagine, Rick leaves the KKC after Beauty Knows No Pain and starts his own club then goes back to the KKC at the start of season two in Billy Joe Bob. Mac from Missing in Action and Thicker Than Blood becomes Ski and then back to Mac in Dead Man’s Channel. I wonder what other confusing things there would be if MPI was aired in that order?

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

In the end scene there's a lingering shot of Steve high up on the scaffolding of a building, gazing down over the city and on to the far mountains.
It nicely bookends the classic opening of every episode with Steve towering over the city on top of a high rise.
This was definitely composed as a classic farewell shot, with music soaring for the final closeup, nothing but mountains and blue sky behind Steve
as he gazes off into the distance, a one man Mount Rushmore.

That's exactly how it always felt to me. That final shot of McG on top of the scaffolding as the camera pans around him and the Five-O music swells just has such an air of finality about it. It really SHOULD have been the final episode! On top of that "The Skyline Killer" really was the last truly great Five-O episode! Looks like they really pulled out all the stops on that one, especially with those hair-raising crane stunts on the end. Chuck Couch (stuntman) must have really earned his pay that day. That moment where he drops upside down on that crane and is hanging upside down between heaven and earth is such a hair-raising scene! Always got to me! If you look close enough you can actually see the leg brace or loop that was welded or attached to the crane where Couch could slip his leg into and then do his upside-down hanging bit. Still, you couldn't pay me enough to try something like that. I imagine it's something that Tom Cruise would get a kick out of doing since he loves doing bonkers stuff like this for his movies. He doesn't need a stuntman apparently.

But yeah, the episode really feels like the end and what a great end it would have been. Instead we got "The Year of the Horse" which is basically unwatchable to me. Don't even know why but I just really dislike that episode. That whole drug smuggling angle and POW thing and a General seeking revenge for his OD'd daughter. And James Bond (Lazenby) is thrown into the mix as some gay associate of Barry Bostwick's character. Victoria Principal is a stunner and she's the only bright spot in that whole affair. They shot on location in Singapore and it should be impressive but I'm always just so bored by the whole thing. Even the fight on the cable car (MOONRAKER had a similar one that same year) fails to excite me. Just something about the episode that fails to draw me in. I just don't get a Five-O vibe from it at all. It's like some international adventure for McGarrett which lacks the Five-O magic. And then season 12 was of course completely unnecessary. With a few exceptions, the episodes just were not good at all. And those few exceptions that are there I certainly wouldn't cry tears over if I never saw them again.

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

In the end scene there's a lingering shot of Steve high up on the scaffolding of a building, gazing down over the city and on to the far mountains.
It nicely bookends the classic opening of every episode with Steve towering over the city on top of a high rise.
This was definitely composed as a classic farewell shot, with music soaring for the final closeup, nothing but mountains and blue sky behind Steve
as he gazes off into the distance, a one man Mount Rushmore.

That's exactly how it always felt to me. That final shot of McG on top of the scaffolding as the camera pans around him and the Five-O music swells just has such an air of finality about it. It really SHOULD have been the final episode! On top of that "The Skyline Killer" really was the last truly great Five-O episode! Looks like they really pulled out all the stops on that one, especially with those hair-raising crane stunts on the end. Chuck Couch (stuntman) must have really earned his pay that day. That moment where he drops upside down on that crane and is hanging upside down between heaven and earth is such a hair-raising scene! Always got to me! If you look close enough you can actually see the leg brace or loop that was welded or attached to the crane where Couch could slip his leg into and then do his upside-down hanging bit. Still, you couldn't pay me enough to try something like that. I imagine it's something that Tom Cruise would get a kick out of doing since he loves doing bonkers stuff like this for his movies. He doesn't need a stuntman apparently.

But yeah, the episode really feels like the end and what a great end it would have been. Instead we got "The Year of the Horse" which is basically unwatchable to me. Don't even know why but I just really dislike that episode. That whole drug smuggling angle and POW thing and a General seeking revenge for his OD'd daughter. And James Bond (Lazenby) is thrown into the mix as some gay associate of Barry Bostwick's character. Victoria Principal is a stunner and she's the only bright spot in that whole affair. They shot on location in Singapore and it should be impressive but I'm always just so bored by the whole thing. Even the fight on the cable car (MOONRAKER had a similar one that same year) fails to excite me. Just something about the episode that fails to draw me in. I just don't get a Five-O vibe from it at all. It's like some international adventure for McGarrett which lacks the Five-O magic. And then season 12 was of course completely unnecessary. With a few exceptions, the episodes just were not good at all. And those few exceptions that are there I certainly wouldn't cry tears over if I never saw them again.

I had the same reaction to "Year of the Horse", but I couldn't put my finger on why either. There was nothing there to react to, not even - as you noted - the then stunt casting of former Bond Lazenby
as a homosexual which would have been seen as shocking back then and drawn viewers.

Part two of "A Lion in the Streets" is on now and I like the story of the big hulking Hawaiian Andy who beats up on the mob. Plus Barbara Luna is on hand as his wife, I always liked her.
I assume it's one of the few decent 12th season episodes.
I hear you about season 12, but I think I will wind up having to buy seasons 11 and 12 because Hawaii Five - 0 is in my top 5 favorite series ever and I just gotta see these episodes.
By the way, after season 11, do they ever explain or mention Danno's absence?

[Pahonu]

In the end scene there's a lingering shot of Steve high up on the scaffolding of a building, gazing down over the city and on to the far mountains.
It nicely bookends the classic opening of every episode with Steve towering over the city on top of a high rise.
This was definitely composed as a classic farewell shot, with music soaring for the final closeup, nothing but mountains and blue sky behind Steve
as he gazes off into the distance, a one man Mount Rushmore.

That's exactly how it always felt to me. That final shot of McG on top of the scaffolding as the camera pans around him and the Five-O music swells just has such an air of finality about it. It really SHOULD have been the final episode! On top of that "The Skyline Killer" really was the last truly great Five-O episode! Looks like they really pulled out all the stops on that one, especially with those hair-raising crane stunts on the end. Chuck Couch (stuntman) must have really earned his pay that day. That moment where he drops upside down on that crane and is hanging upside down between heaven and earth is such a hair-raising scene! Always got to me! If you look close enough you can actually see the leg brace or loop that was welded or attached to the crane where Couch could slip his leg into and then do his upside-down hanging bit. Still, you couldn't pay me enough to try something like that. I imagine it's something that Tom Cruise would get a kick out of doing since he loves doing bonkers stuff like this for his movies. He doesn't need a stuntman apparently.

But yeah, the episode really feels like the end and what a great end it would have been. Instead we got "The Year of the Horse" which is basically unwatchable to me. Don't even know why but I just really dislike that episode. That whole drug smuggling angle and POW thing and a General seeking revenge for his OD'd daughter. And James Bond (Lazenby) is thrown into the mix as some gay associate of Barry Bostwick's character. Victoria Principal is a stunner and she's the only bright spot in that whole affair. They shot on location in Singapore and it should be impressive but I'm always just so bored by the whole thing. Even the fight on the cable car (MOONRAKER had a similar one that same year) fails to excite me. Just something about the episode that fails to draw me in. I just don't get a Five-O vibe from it at all. It's like some international adventure for McGarrett which lacks the Five-O magic. And then season 12 was of course completely unnecessary. With a few exceptions, the episodes just were not good at all. And those few exceptions that are there I certainly wouldn't cry tears over if I never saw them again.

I had the same reaction to "Year of the Horse", but I couldn't put my finger on why either. There was nothing there to react to, not even - as you noted - the then stunt casting of former Bond Lazenby
as a homosexual which would have been seen as shocking back then and drawn viewers.

Part two of "A Lion in the Streets" is on now and I like the story of the big hulking Hawaiian Andy who beats up on the mob. Plus Barbara Luna is on hand as his wife, I always liked her.
I assume it's one of the few decent 12th season episodes.
I hear you about season 12, but I think I will wind up having to buy seasons 11 and 12 because Hawaii Five - 0 is in my top 5 favorite series ever and I just gotta see these episodes.
By the way, after season 11, do they ever explain or mention Danno's absence?

A Lion in the Streets is the best episode of season 12, I think, even though Woe to Wo Fat shows more of Pahonu than any other episode in the series, so is a favorite of mine.

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

I just checked my DVR recordings set for Hawaii Five-O on MeTV+. They go from the two-parter A Lion in the Streets today and tomorrow, to Woe to Wo Fat on Monday and the pilot Full Fathom Five on Tuesday. So season twelve is just the first and last episodes. Sorry Dobie and anyone else looking to see the whole series.

Just a slight correction, Pahonu. "Full Fathom Five" was not the pilot. The "Cocoon" 2-parter was the pilot. I guess they're not showing that one until the end of season 1 which never made any sense to me. But that's how they've done it for sometime. Probably because during the initial airing they showed the 2-hour pilot as a "Five-O movie", followed by the rest of season 1, and then the 2-part version of the pilot movie which they retitled as "Cocoon" (which is what we've always seen in syndication). The "real" pilot movie as it originally aired is only found on the season 1 DVD. The syndicated 2-parter is chopped and edited, as is always the case.

Correct, and that is very odd that they show the movie pilot at the end of season 1. It would be so strange to see Don’t Eat the Snow in Hawaii at the end of the season. Imagine, Rick leaves the KKC after Beauty Knows No Pain and starts his own club then goes back to the KKC at the start of season two in Billy Joe Bob. Mac from Missing in Action and Thicker Than Blood becomes Ski and then back to Mac in Dead Man’s Channel. I wonder what other confusing things there would be if MPI was aired in that order?

Showing the "Cocoon" 2-parter pilot at the end of season 1 during its initial run made sense, since they already showed the 2-hour pilot "movie" at the start of season 1. So in case anyone missed it they got a chance to see it again at the end of the season, albeit in a slightly altered 2-part version. But in syndication it makes no sense not to show the "Cocoon" 2-parter at the start of season 1, before "Full Fathom Five".

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

They're showing several season 11 episodes today on H&I. I checked next Friday's schedule and they are showing "A Lion in the Streets (part 1)" at noon, followed by part 2 at 1pm, followed by "Woe to Wo Fat" at 2pm. And that's it for season 12. Then it's "Cocoon (part 1)" at 3pm and then "Cocoon (part 2)" at 4pm.

So much (or little) for season 12.

[Pahonu]

They're showing several season 11 episodes today on H&I. I checked next Friday's schedule and they are showing "A Lion in the Streets (part 1)" at noon, followed by part 2 at 1pm, followed by "Woe to Wo Fat" at 2pm. And that's it for season 12. Then it's "Cocoon (part 1)" at 3pm and then "Cocoon (part 2)" at 4pm.

So much (or little) for season 12.

Sadly, that seems to be the most common syndication package on multiple channels.

[Luther's nephew Dobie]

They're showing several season 11 episodes today on H&I. I checked next Friday's schedule and they are showing "A Lion in the Streets (part 1)" at noon, followed by part 2 at 1pm, followed by "Woe to Wo Fat" at 2pm. And that's it for season 12. Then it's "Cocoon (part 1)" at 3pm and then "Cocoon (part 2)" at 4pm.

So much (or little) for season 12.

Sadly, that seems to be the most common syndication package on multiple channels.

You ain't just whistling Dixie, Pahonu. It looks like MeTV-Plus laid out the moolah for all the Hawaii Five - O episodes until the cherry picked few shown from the last two seasons.
They are showing season one currently but are now skipping many episodes.
So I assume for the 2nd go around they too bought these cheaper syndication packages after luring the viewers in with the whole magilla the first time.

Even worse, though The Streets of San Francisco ran 5 years, the last with out Michael Douglas, the syndication package they bought only covers the first 3 years.
Good deal MeTV-Plus honchos, drive away viewers by burning off the same episodes over and over when you could be showing 2 more years worth.

I don't get these guys, they have terrific taste in selecting series to run, then bungle it with cost saving measures that likely amount to a pittance in relation to their
bottom line. These series are 50 years old, how much could they cost to run, nobody involved has any overhead in relation to the shows themselves, I can't imagine
that any of the talent before and behind the cameras are still getting paid.

[ZelenskyTheValiant (Ivan)]

Bizarre. They are showing "The Skyline Killer" right now from season 11 on H&I. This is after they already showed the 3 season 12 episodes last week (including the finale "Woe to Wo Fat"), followed by the 2-part pilot "Cocoon". And then in the next hour they will resume with season 1's "Full Fathom Five".