Hawaii Five-0 Season 1: It’s a Wrap!

Thursday, April 14 marks the last day of filming for episode 1.23 of Hawaii Five-0 AND season 1!

It’s been a long – but satisfying – haul for the cast and crew, who have been shooting almost non-stop since July 15, 2010 to produce 23 new action-packed episodes, in addition to the pilot that was already in the can in March last year.

Daniel Dae Kim tweeted early Thursday morning: “About to start our final day on #H50. Thanks to cast, crew, writers, CBS, and all of you for making season one so special.”

This was later followed by Peter Lenkov’s short and sweet, “Last day! Mahalo”.

Writer Kyle Harimoto confirmed Thursday evening, “Thanks for all the support #H50 Fans. You are the best. Season 1 is wrapped. Hello hiatus!”

Daniel sent an update early Friday morning: “April 15, 2011 2:13 AM Hawaii Standard Time. I am now officially wrapped on Hawaii Five-0 Season One”, which prompted an immediate, if somewhat sardonic, response from Peter, “And some of us are still working.”

Then, one final tweet from Peter: “2:45am officially wrapped season one”

Milestones

With four remaining new episodes still to be aired before the show is off our screens this season, here’s a summary of the milestones this funny, sunny and sexy series has already achieved:

• In January 2011, Hawaii Five-0 won the People’s Choice Award for Favorite New TV Drama.
• It earned Scott Caan a well-deserved Golden Globe nomination for his outstanding portrayal of Det. Danny Williams.
• The pilot, that aired on September 20, 2010, drew 17.5 million viewers in the US. (Nielsen estimates that an audience of 19.3 million viewers watched episode 1.14, which was broadcast directly after the 2011 AFC championship game on January 23, 2011.)
• Five-0 is repeatedly the most playbacked TV show, averaging 3.27 million viewers who watch it on DVR. If this trend continues, then it may just be one of a select few shows to set the record by averaging over 3 million viewers per episode who view it on DVR, according to Media Life.
• The series was sold to 100 overseas markets for more than $2 million per episode and was already profitable before it even premiered, according to Les Moonves. Now, close to all of CBS’s 200 markets have purchased rights to broadcast the show.
• Hawaii’s state legislators honored the show on March 31, 2011 for “an excellent and successful first season.”

And if you’re still not impressed, various news outlets are now reporting that cable network TNT has purchased the rights to air repeats of the show for an estimated $2 million per episode, starting in the summer of 2014. Why so late? According to Cinema Blend, the show needs to build a sturdier base before repeats can be aired. The bidding began as early as it did, because there are now more players in the competitive cable market. Reruns are a popular means for cable networks to promote and market newer shows and apparently there’s a shortage of good shows, writes the LA Times and Broadcasting & Cable tells us that preemptive bids are forcing early sales at high prices.

New episodes will, of course, continue to be broadcast on CBS first.

So, does this mean that we can be certain of season 2?

According to Deadline, it’s “something that was never in doubt but is now guaranteed, following the big off-network sale.”

Thanks to the writers for giving us such colorful and endearing characters, to our talented cast for bringing them to life in big, beautiful HD and to the producers and crew who made it all come together. Mondays would not be the same without you!

Happy hiatus, everyone – rest assured that we will be here to welcome you all back in September!