Hawaii Five-O (1968–1980)

The investigations of Hawaii Five-0, an elite branch of the Hawaii State Police answerable only to the governor and headed by stalwart Steve McGarrett.

Creator:

Leonard Freeman

Stars:

Jack Lord, James MacArthur, Kam Fong

Won 2 Primetime Emmys. Another 2 wins & 21 nominations.

Cast

Complete series cast summary:
Jack Lord	...	Det. Steve McGarrett (281 episodes, 1968-1980)
James MacArthur	...	Dan Williams (259 episodes, 1968-1979)
Kam Fong	...	Chin Ho (241 episodes, 1968-1978)
Herman Wedemeyer	...	Duke (151 episodes, 1968-1980)
Harry Endo	...	Che Fong (115 episodes, 1969-1977)

Storyline

Five-O was a special state police unit answering only to the Governor of Hawaii. It worked with Honolulu police to fight the underworld in the island state. Sooner or later virtually all the badguys heard Steve McGarrett grunt "Book 'em, Danno!" though chief badguy Wo Fat was caught after MacArthur left the series.

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Plot Keywords:

hawaii | police | investigation | archenemy | teamwork | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 September 1968 (USA)

Also Known As:

McGarrett

Filming Locations:

The Twin Towers, 2085 Ala Wai Blvd, Waikiki, Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Leonard Freeman Production, CBS Television Network

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min 60 min (284 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

4:3

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the episode "The Singapore File" McGarrett flies to Singapore to retrieve a witness, and returns to Honolulu. Singapore was actually downtown Honolulu. At the end of the episode, they are at a temple in Manila; they were actually at the Valley of the Temples in Kaneohe, Hawaii.

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Goofs

In some earlier episodes, McGarrett can be seen leaving his headquarters in a 1967 Mercury 2 door sedan, when he reaches his destination, he's driving a 1968 Mercury 4 door sedan.

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Quotes

[repeated line]
Det. Steve McGarrett: Book him, Danno. Murder one.

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Connections

Spoofed in The Simpsons: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Guest Star (2005)

User Reviews

MacGarret still hasn't been outdone!

It was 25 years ago just this past March 5th (2005) that Hawaii Five-O came to an end. There were cop shows all throughout the 70's and plenty afterwards but (as far as action oriented cop shows go)MacGarret & crew still reign supreme. Shows like Hill Street Blues & NYPD Blue (which just missed being on as long as 5-0 by about 20 episodes or so)give us the ultra-real look at cops and their lives and all the dramas that goes with it.

Hawaii 5-O,however,is still the show to watch for well written story-lines and great police/bad guy action. Not all the bad guys are crooks,sometimes their people who have suffered some sort of mental breakdown or maybe they are misunderstood youth (of the 60's & 70's). MacGarret,while tough as can be,treats all cases and people involved with them with a humanity that before this was not usually part of a police drama. Unlike Jack Webb of Dragnet,Steve was allowed to make mistakes and be imperfect.

Sidekick,Danny (Danno) Williams,is no second banana! I recently watched a show where he himself has to take on a crazed suicide bomber who's exacting revenge on Dan for killing his brother. James MacAurther looks and acts tough in that episode and pulls it off marvelously. Chin and Kono are great go-between guys as well,doing a lot of the necessary footwork.

The rest of the cast is tops as well. Looking forward to the day that all the seasons are on DVD. Only 1 thing,the best ones would be seasons 1 to 10. Season 11 was Danno's last and season. Season 12 is hit & miss with story lines that could be from any cop show and the replacement actors William Smith & Co. just aren't as good. At least MacGarret catches nemesis Wo Fat in the grand finale (I wont say how!) 5-O forever! (END)