Today, Nina Tassler kicked off the first day of the TCA Summer Press Tour for CBS after breakfast. If you’ve been following the flurry of tweets, you’ll know that food was on many a critic’s mind this morning, but they got down to business once they convened in the ballroom of the Beverly Hilton for the semi-annual executive Q&A.
Some critics were quick to tweet about several of their colleagues questioning the violence and dark tone of the new Hawaii Five-0; comments that puzzled more people present than just the network’s Entertainment president.
From TV Squad:
When peppered with questions about the grittier nature of the ‘Hawaii Five-O’ reboot compared to the ’60s and ’70s original (which I don’t remember being that light and airy, especially by the standards of the time), Tassler replied that “You have to look at the audience who’s going to remember the original show. you want to be respectful. But (Roberto Orici and Alex Kurtzman) really had a take on the tone and sensibility.” She does feel that as the show goes forward, many of the elements of the old show — like how everyone on the island knows each other and how they operate — will appear.
From Dale Roe:
She seemed perplexed by the characterization of “Hawaii Five-0” as dark. I’m with Nina. While the show does open with a violent middle-east war scene, the action soon moves to the familiar island where the relationships between the characters and the island takes center stage. There’s a lot of smirky good humor from that point on, typical of many of the fall’s acton/drama offerings.
The journalists who gathered for the Hawaii Five-0 panel at 12:15 pm were given a lei, which led to the inevitable “punny” tweets. The executive producers and Alex O’Loughlin and Scott Caan were present to interact with the critics. The H50 presentation began with a screening of the behind the scenes look at the recording session for the theme song, and the decision to stay true to the original music was met with much approval. EP Alex Kurtzman:
“I think that at the end of the day, why mess with something that’s perfect?”
Alex O’Loughlin’s comment that the show is a reboot rather than a remake sparked a discussion about what the difference is. Kurtzman explains:
“The word ‘remake’ suggests that we’re doing exactly the same thing, just doing it again. And I think what we felt like we really had to do was make sure that we were staying true to the spirit of the show, but bringing something new to the table that a modern audience would recognize. And for us, that’s why the word ‘reboot,’ I think, just feels more appropriate.
Upon being asked whether he was confident that his third show would be more successful for him, Alex responded,
“There’s something special about it. If this one doesn’t go, I’m completely bewildered. I have no idea how television works at all.”
Incidentally, on this topic Matt Roush tweeted, “This one’s a slam dunk.”
EP Peter Lenkov explains the vision behind the relationship between McGarrett and Danno:
“I think what we wanted to do was really go into these characters, but we felt that — we felt we needed McGarrett to play off somebody. And I think when we started to think about the Danno character, the Danno character really felt like it would be a good foil in some ways, a good – you get some good drama out of the relationship if you have someone who is a fish out of water. So really by design originally, it was that these two guys would be front and center in the show, McGarrett clearly leading the unit and Danno being his right-hand man, but really being an equal in terms of his experience and what he brings to the table. So really, yes, by design it was built that way.”
Alex on Jack Lord’s portrayal of McGarrett:
“I love Jack Lord’s McGarrett. I love Jack Lord’s hair. I love Jack Lord’s version. I think he started blue steel, the look that he does. He’s awesome. None of which I can get away with today in 2010 on television.”
And on his own portrayal:
“Our Steve McGarrett is a little different. Yeah, he’s stoic in a lot of ways, though. I mean, he’s a military guy. There are a lot of areas where he’s black and white, where he’s very clear. And, I mean, the differences between Danny and Steve are so apparent in every episode, and, you know, Steve goes in one direction and Danny freaks out and he’s like, “How can you possibly think that it’s okay to go in that direction?” And Steve is kind of bemused constantly by Danny’s reactions to this.”
Some more interesting facts and quotes from the panel:
- Scott Caan purposely avoided seeing too much of the old show so that he could start fresh.
- We will be learning much more about Steve McGarrett’s character than viewers were treated to in the original show.
- Scott: “I think that I was able to do better work on this than I had done in the last ten years in movies.”
- All footage of Hawaii used in the show is original and the production is building its own library of stock footage.
- The producers intend to cast half of the guest stars locally and will be involved in acting workshops to train local actors.
- Alex on Daniel Dae Kim: “He showed me where all the good sushi was.”
- Peter Lenkov on Daniel Dae Kim: “There’s 800,000 — I think it’s under a million, about 860,000 people in Honolulu, and I think he knows literally every one.”
There is a rumor that Alex may not be present at tonight’s CBS party, but we’ll know soon enough as it started at 7 pm. Meanwhile, enjoy the pictures that I’ve posted in the gallery. I hope to be adding more HQs in the next few days, so please check back!
Related H50 panel articles:
- Hawaii Five-0 Panel Transcript
- “TCA: Hawaii Five-0″
- “Live from TCAs: Alex O’Loughlin and Scott Caan on Hawaii Five-0″
- “Alex O’Loughlin: ‘If Five-0 Doesn’t Work, What Will?”
- “Hawaii Five-0 Creators: Don’t Call Our Show a Remake”
- “Hawaii Five-0 Brings Lots of Theme Song Talk, Leis to the TCA”
- “Press Tour 411: Highlights from the Hawaii Five-0 Panel”
- “Hawaii Five-0 Rides Back to TV After 30 Years”
- “Hawaii Five-0 Producers Swear Their ‘Reboot’ Will Honor Original”
- “New Details on the New ‘Hawaii Five-0′”
- “TCA Press Tour: Don’t Dare Call ‘Hawaii Five-0′ a Remake”
- “TCA Tidbits: ‘Hawaii Five-’, ‘Defenders’ and Bleepin’ ‘Blue Bloods’”
- “CBS Unveils a Darker New ‘Hawaii Five-0′”
- “New ‘Hawaii Five-0′ is in Tune With the Original”
- “TV Execs, Stars Show off Fall Lineups at Event”
- “Critic’s Notebook: CBS at TCA”
- “Today’s TV Addict Top 5: Alex O’Loughlin Talks Hawaii Five-0″
- “‘Hawaii Five-0′ is Ready to Book ‘Em”
Related Executive Q&A articles:
- “CBS’ Tassler Discusses Fall Lineup, ‘Hip’ New Hawaii Five-0″
- “CBS Talks ‘Hawaii Five-0′, ‘CSI’ Moves: Live from the TCA Press Tour”
- “The Future of Big Bang, The Good Wife, Charlie Sheen and More”
- “TCA Press Tour: ‘S#*! My Dad Says’? CBS Advertisers Are OK With the Old Man and the ‘Bleep’”
- “TCA Report: CBS Executive Session with Nina Tassler”
- “CBS Stays the Course, of Course”
Thank you Mizz. I love reading this fantastic and most relevant summaries. I’ve printed out the five-page TCA transcript and still haven’t finished reading it. I am so anxiously waiting to watch the talented young cast on the new Hawaii Five-0 beginning Sept. 20th on CBS. I am certain H50 will be exciting, amazing, fast paced, humorous, a fascinating and interesting portrayal of the intriguing characters and modern day crime stories on the beautiful island of Hawaii. Above all, the H50 theme song is so memorable and awesome that will grab the viewers’ attention for the hour-long story line week after week.
Thanks Mizz for summarizing all the pertinent info of the session and for all the gallery pictures. It sure is great to see a tanned Alex!
Now if only the critics would focus on the present, for both the show and Alex, rather than being stuck in discussing the past ad nauseum. 
With a show that good, I guess it’s tough to find something to harp on and it’s not just the paid critics who do that endlessly. At least they can’t say, “The book’s better.”
Comparisons with the original are something we’ll have to live with for a while yet until the show is established with its own audience. I doubt that it will take all that long, but September can’t come around soon enough for me! 