‘Hawaii Five-0′: If it Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It

Jack Lord may have left behind some pretty big shoes for Alex O’Loughlin’s versatile feet to fill, but the brand name “Hawaii Five-0″ is certainly pulling its weight on what will hopefully be a smoothly paved road to a hit show. Even if we were deaf and dumb to the internet buzz, the results of recent surveys clearly speak for themselves: there is a lot of viewer interest for the 2010 reboot.

The new Hawaii Five-0 shares the top spot with another drama, Law & Order: LA, when it comes to enjoying the highest awareness level among a sample group of 600 respondents aged 13-54 who were polled about new fall shows.

Back in May, The Live Feed noted that the H50 opening credits video was the second most viewed of the new clips and trailers and of course, pilot guest star James Marsters mentioned that the pilot tested at 90%, the highest score ever in the history of CBS.

Again top marks go to our Honolulu-based series in a recent study by NewMediaMetrics involving over 3,000 viewers aged 18-54 as the show that is expected to pull in the biggest emotionally engaged audience. An added bonus is that H50′s lead-in, Mike & Molly, ranks fifth.

This is not just great news for CBS’s clients (the advertisers), but also for us (the fans). It would seem like a no-brainer, but NewMediaMetrics reportedly has found a definite correlation between shows that attract an emotionally engaged audience and that all important deity of television: the Nielsen ratings. This of course increases the series’ chances of surviving in the highly competitive world of network TV where a fail rate of 75-80% is the norm for new shows and audience attention span is fleeting.

CBS and the executive producers clearly understand the advantages of building on the existing Hawaii Five-0 brand. Although the theme song has been given a new lick of paint, it sports the same shade as the original, albeit a little glossier. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Or as Peter Lenkov puts it, “You don’t want to mess with something that’s great, something that works, something that people are looking forward to. So we’re staying close to the original, but it’s a bit more aggressive, it’s a little bigger.”

Related articles:

• “Tracking: Sitcoms join ‘Hawaii’ in Lead for Fall”
• “Awareness Tracking: ‘Hawaii’, ‘LOLA’ Lead Fall”
• “Fall TV Twitter Buzz: ‘The Event’, ‘My Dad Says’ Tops”
• “Book ‘Em Danno: Why Nostalgia May Win Over Novelty This Fall”
• “Reviving a Brand: Eight Tips from Hawaii Five-0″