AOLR Weekly Wrap-Up #53

August 1, 2010 By mizzoh 6 Comments

Hawaii Five-0 Articles & Buzz:
  • It’s great to see the TCA Summer Press Tour resulting in so many articles! To keep things tidy, I’ve added links to the better ones in my original TCA panel post and am highlighting two excerpts here:
    • From TV Guide’s Matt Roush:

      This one’s about as close to a slam-dunk as it gets.

    • From Chuck Barney at Contra Costa Times:

      Let me just say: Coolest TV theme song ever.

      Sounds good to us. Book it, Danno.

  • Hawaii media were treated to a sneak preview of the pilot in Honolulu on Wednesday. The Star-Advertiser wrote a short piece about the event and Hawaii Magazine sums it up quite nicely:

    Yesterday, in the posh Orchid Suite of Waikiki’s Halekulani hotel, a select group of Hawaii media were treated to French press coffee, popovers and a sneak preview of the pilot episode of the newly reborn Hawaii Five-0, debuting on CBS this fall.

    Our verdict: Oh Yeah!

    They also report that the cast will be present at the Sunset on the Beach advance screening on September 13th!

  • Broadcasting & Cable polled TV critics about the new season’s shows from all the networks. It makes for an interesting overall read and this is what they published about Hawaii Five-0:

    CBS’ Hawaii Five-O may not peak on the artistry meters. Some critics hated it. (Gray: “It cannot die too quickly.”) But the lush tropical setting, the pyrotechnics and the bikini-ready cast, plus little competition in its Monday 10 p.m. time slot from ABC’s Castle and NBC’s generic new Bruckheimer drama Chase, are probably a recipe for big commercial hit.Brian Lowry: “Based on the time period and name recognition, you’d think CBS has a pretty good shot with Hawaii Five-O. That said, I doubt they’re going to be able to spend as much blowing stuff up in future episodes.”

    ***Roush: “It’s a very agreeable, painless show with really appealing qualities to it. Alex O’Loughlin will finally have a show that will please his fan base and allow him to be in a hit. He’s got a really strong ensemble, with Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park and especially Scott Caan, and I think that’s going to carry the show a long way, that and explosions.”

    Bianco: “I did not particularly like [Hawaii Five-O] and I don’t share their faith in Alex O’Loughlin as a TV star, but you could look at it and think this show will probably work for [CBS].”

  • Zap2It writes that James Marsters may be returning to Hawaii Five-0:

    So does that mean Marsters will be returning? “That’s the plan,” Lenkov says. “But we have a huge twist with that character. So the idea is it’s possible that he could come back; we have a storyline for him, and it’s definitely something we’re entertaining right now.”

  • Tim Ryan also published a post with some tidbits. An interesting excerpt:

    In the pilot which was also shown to some Hawaii media yesterday, Caan and O’Loughlin have great chemistry and whose characters immediately clash when they meet. Asked how the off screen friendship is developing, O’Loughlin said ”It was an instant bromance”…

  • From an article in The Australian about channel Ten’s upcoming new US additions:

    “You don’t have to remember the original to like this,” Mott said of Hawaii Five-O, starring another Australian, Alex O’Loughlin.

    “It’s very broad, big on action, it really works and was clearly the best one-hour out of all the LA screenings (shown to Australian TV executives in May).”

Comic-Con Updates:
  • Watch Bob Orci and Alex Kurtzman interview each other in this THR video.
  • MovieWeb interviewed Len Wiseman and Peter Lenkov at Comic-Con – watch the video.
  • Here’s an honest and fair take on Hawaii Five-0 by someone who is still on the fence about the show at Pop Culture Savant.
  • A must see: CBS has posted the full Hawaii Five-0 Comic-Con panel on YouTube in six parts and they can all be viewed by fans outside the US as well: Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4 – Part 5 – Part 6
  • You can find more Comic-Con article links in the SDCC panel post.
Hawaii Five-0 Updates:
  • From an update for its affiliates, it would appear that the CBS Fall Preview show will air on Monday, September 6th from 8:30-9:00PM / 7:30-8:00PM CT.
  • ET aired a very short segment on Hawaii Five-0 on July 23rd – thanks to Deb for putting it up on YouTube!
  • Here’s another great H50 countdown widget you can use, created by H50 Fans.
  • Discovery Channel’s entertainment channel Liv in Latin America has picked up Hawaii Five-0! Check out the reports at World Screen and C21.net.
  • CBS’s Watch magazine has nice big photo of Alex and Scott in their August issue! A scan will be posted in the gallery soon. Meanwhile, if you want to get your own subscription, check out the details here. They also ship internationally.
  • Read about the Eastern Michigan University’s marching band’s performance of the Hawaii Five-0 theme as part of CBS’s promotional efforts for the new series: “EMU Marching Band Makes TV Splash with ‘Hawaii Five-0′ Theme”. There’s also a video that you can view on the EMU website.
  • The TV Junkie posted a short interview with Scott Caan at the TCA Press Tour on YouTube.
Other Updates:
  • With Alex’s birthday coming up this month, please note that you should send your cards, letters and gifts to the Hawaii Five-0 production office in Honolulu and not to the Paramount Studios address. Thanks to AmyV for the update!
  • For a peek behind the scenes at the TCAs, read “Tales from a TCA Virgin” by Danielle T., who also shared some great pics (see gallery updates below).
  • If you’re still puzzled about what the TCA press tour is all about, read the TCA Press Tour Q&A posted by Movieline.
Gallery Updates:
  • Lots of newspaper scans of TCA articles have been added.
  • Those of you who create fan art will probably find the official H50 logos useful.
  • I’ve created a Comic-Con promo album with some HQ scans of H50 promo items uploaded – more will follow soon.
  • The TCA album now contains lots of HQs and crops. Danielle T. has also kindly shared some great pictures that she took herself – thanks Danielle!
Filed Under: Alex O'Loughlin, Events & Appearances, Hawaii Five-0, Interviews & Articles, Latest Headlines, TV Tagged With: Alex O'Lachlan, Alex O'Loughlin, CBS, Daniel Dae Kim, Events & Appearances, Grace Park, Hawaii 5-0, Hawaii Five-0, Hawaii Five-o, Interviews & Articles, Scott Caan, Steve McGarrett, Videos

Video: Alex O’Loughlin on the ‘Hawaii Five-0′ TCA Panel

July 29, 2010 By mizzoh 2 Comments


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Filed Under: Alex O'Loughlin, Events & Appearances, Hawaii Five-0, Interviews & Articles, TV, Videos Tagged With: Alex O'Lachlan, Alex O'Loughlin, CBS, Events & Appearances, Hawaii 5-0, Hawaii Five-0, Hawaii Five-o, Interviews & Articles, Steve McGarrett, Videos

TCA Panel: ‘Hawaii Five-0′ Reboot Stays True to the Spirit of the Original

July 28, 2010 By mizzoh 3 Comments

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:

Related Executive Q&A articles:

Filed Under: Alex O'Loughlin, Events & Appearances, Hawaii Five-0, Interviews & Articles, Latest Headlines, TV Tagged With: Alex O'Lachlan, Alex O'Loughlin, CBS, Events & Appearances, Hawaii 5-0, Hawaii Five-0, Hawaii Five-o, Interviews & Articles, Scott Caan, Steve McGarrett

AOLR Weekly Wrap-Up #52

July 25, 2010 By mizzoh 6 Comments

Hawaii Five-0 Updates:
  • Click here to view and download pictures of the Hawaii Five-0 team at the Comic-Con!
  • The ladies at H50 Fans created two countdown widgets for the Hawaii Five-0 premiere that you can place on your Blogger, MySpace, Facebook or Twitter page: version 1 and version 2. There’s also a smaller one available here.
  • CBS uploaded a video with clips and interviews from the Comic-Con floor, including soundbites from the H50 gang. Unfortunately, it’s only viewable for US IPs though… :(
  • US fans can now text H50 to 69937 to get the official Hawaii Five-0 ringtone! Please check the terms and conditions at Myxer.com.
  • With 31.6% of the votes, Hawaii Five-0 won the 2010 Tater Top Award in the category “New Fall Show You’re Most Excited About”. Daniel Dae Kim asked Kristin Dos Santos when he could expect to receive the Golden Tater at the Comic-Con, but apparently it isn’t ready yet :D . Check out all the poll results at E! Online.
  • If you still have the energy to vote, here’s another poll about the most anticipated fall TV show at The Chronic Rift!
Hawaii Five-0 Articles & Buzz:
  • All articles worth reading about the H50 panel at the Comic-Con have been added to the original panel write up. Just scroll down the page to see the links to related articles.
  • EW’s PopWatch published an article about Grace Park taking on a “man-made” role for Hawaii Five-0:

    Park attributes all the gender bending not to her special brand of gravitas, but to Hollywood’s zeal for remakes and the need to inject them with modern sensibilities. “Back in the day, we used to have much more male-centric shows,” she says. “You still have male-heavy shows, but having a woman in there adds a new dimension.” That said, she sees plenty of ways to exploit this trend: “My next goal is to do J.R. from Dallas. Then maybe Larry from Three’s Company.” Note to network executives: Please make this happen.

  • Daniel Dae Kim was featured in the August issue of Men’s Fitness – you can check out the scan at One Asian World.
  • More great articles about Daniel working on Hawaii Five-0 was published by Airlock Alpha and in the Edmonton Journal.
  • Wheels.ca posted an article with their Top Ten TV Detectives’ Cars and the 1974 Mercury Grand Marquis from the original show is featured in the 9th spot.
  • The Live Feed | THR quotes a poll by Program Pulse Premiere Tracking that Hawaii Five-0 and NBC’s Law & Order spinoff have the highest awareness rate of all the new fall shows. And we didn’t even get to vote! :giggle:
  • AfterElton.com has some praise for the pilot:

    • Last night I watched CBS’ reboot of Hawaii 5-0. After the first ten minutes, I dubbed it 24‘s Hawaiian Love Child because the only thing missing from Fox’s “up against the clock thriller” was Jack Bauer getting emotionally and physically pummeled.

    Hawaii Five-0 has a pretty terrific cast with Alex O’Loughlin, Scott Caan, Daniel Dae Kim, Jean Smart and Grace Park. It was also quite a bit better than I expected and after the first ten minutes of “bang, bang, you’re dead and I’m the hot hero” it actually got around to developing the characters.

    The show also looks set to give us the best new bromance of the season as O’Loughlin and Caan not only bicker like a married couple, but have some real chemistry going on between them.

  • From the TV Fanatic article “When Should a Network Revive a Show?”:

    For example, Hawaii Five-O is starting with a lot of potential. From what I have seen in the trailer, it seems to remember at least one iconic thing about the original show, as the preview has Alex O’Loughlin saying “book’em, Dano.”

    With Alex O’Loughlin as Detective Garrett (sic) and Scott Cann (sic) as Detective Danny Williams, it has some strong talent, which gives it a greater chance to succeed.

    After all, O’Loughlin is “drool worthy” according to my wife and given how long the original series ran, mixed with the upswing in cop show popularity, I think CBS may have a hit on its hands if it doesn’t over think the entire thing.

  • Ology thinks that the “New ‘Hawaii Five-0′ looks bad*ss”:

    Whoa. The remake of Hawaii Five-0 – debuting on CBS this Fall – just went from 0 to 100 on my anticipation meter.

    The pilot boasts a script by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (Star Trek, Transformers) and is directed by Len Wiseman (Underworld, Die Hard 4). Among the leads: Grace Park (swoon!) and Scott Caan (Scott Caan!). And best of all, it’s filmed on location in most-awesomest-state and future residence of me (once I make my millions), Hawaii.

    Check out the music video for a taste of what could be this Fall’s hottest new series.

  • From the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s Mike Gordon, who has been writing a lot of Hawaii Five-0 related articles recently, comes a very informative article about the theme song and its composer, Morton Stevens: Timeless Theme – A difficult to please wife Influenced the most recognized sound in TV. He also wrote an article about the new show premiering on the same day – September 20 – as the original in 1968 as well as a piece on the University of Hawaii’s band’s possible musical involvement with the new show.
  • From ringtones, to H50 branded music marathons and a contest for college marching bands, “CBS Will Make Sure You Hum the Hawaii 5-0 Theme Song Whether You Want to or Not”:

    Over the next six weeks, the Eye network will put the iconic, 42-year-old theme song to Hawaii 5-0 at the center of a massive marketing campaign for its fall reboot, starting today with the debut of a new orchestration of the song at Comic-Con (and right here on Vulture; see below). CBS has big plans to make sure the familiar chords are heard everywhere you go this summer: cell phones, oldies radio stations, college football games — even your mailbox. But while retro TV junkies will be pleased by all this musical nostalgia, can a theme song first recorded long before coveted young viewers were even born convince them to check out CBS’s latest crime procedural?
    [...]

  • Hawaii Magazine is pleased with the new and final version of the theme song. You can compare the May 2010 to the final as well as the original 1968 version on their site.
Other Updates:
  • If you haven’t voted for our hottie yet as the Hunkie of the Month, please do so before August 1st. He is in 2nd place at the moment, so every vote counts.   :wink2:   Just make sure that you click on the red heart to log your vote!
  • Check out this excellent article that looks at the growing number of foreign actors playing American characters on US TV: “Are Brits and Aussies just better than American actors?”
  • It won’t have escaped your attention that we’ve had to do without news of Alex this past week as the main focus has been on the Comic-Con, which he and Scott Caan did not attend. However, next week the Television Critics Association’s Summer Tour begins in Beverly Hills and we should expect to see him there (as well as  Scott and Daniel). Surprisingly, there has been very little preliminary information about this summer’s event. I believe the Press Tour will last 12 days, and going by the schedule published by stltoday.com (which I assume is given in the order the networks will actually be presenting their panels), I’m guessing that CBS will present Hawaii Five-0 on Tuesday. As usual, they will also have a party on the same day, so it’s safe to expect a few panel pictures to surface and hopefully lots of pictures of Alex at the party. Keep your fingers crossed! UPDATE: The Hawaii Five-0 presentation takes place on Wednesday, July 28!
Filed Under: Alex O'Loughlin, Events & Appearances, Hawaii Five-0, Interviews & Articles, Latest Headlines, TV Tagged With: Alex O'Lachlan, Alex O'Loughlin, CBS, Daniel Dae Kim, Events & Appearances, Grace Park, Hawaii 5-0, Hawaii Five-0, Hawaii Five-o, Interviews & Articles, Scott Caan, Steve McGarrett

‘Hawaii Five-0′: “Everyone came together and it felt like a family”

July 23, 2010 By mizzoh 5 Comments

The Hawaii Five-0 panel kicked off today at the San Diego Comic-Con at 10:14 am with a reminder for tweeps to tweet about ‘Hawaii Five-0′ and not ‘Hawaii Five-O’.

After the trailer was shown, director Len Wiseman and executive producers Peter Lenkov, Alex Kurtzman and Bob Orci were introduced to a full and appreciative house.

The first clip screened from the pilot set the tone for the relationship between Danny Williams and Steve McGarrett, who a blogger recently likened to a bickering married couple, but definitely one with real chemistry.

Alex O’Loughlin and Scott Caan are back on Oahu presumably hard at work, but both stars are expected to make an appearance at the TCA press tour in Beverly Hills next week.

We’ve learned that Danno’s role was not cast until the eleventh hour because the producers had mistakenly thought that Scott was unavailable, Kurtzman revealed. “I’ve never had the experience of seeing a cast come together on day one and having it feel like it was the fifth year of the show. Everyone came together and it felt like a family,” he marveled.

Daniel Dae Kim then came onstage to loud applause, followed shortly afterwards by Grace Park, whose character’s gender change as Kono elicited the comment, “”I think we got used to watching a lot of men on television growing up. Women were either the mom or the girlfriend or the prostitute. So when you remake an old show it’s nice to make a change.”

For feature film director Len Wiseman, Hawaii Five-0 was the first foray into television, but the decision to make the switch came easily to him. “Alex [Kurtzman] had sent me the script, I’m 20 pages into it texting him saying ‘you bastard, I’ve got a lot of things going on but I’m going to drop everything and do it straight away,’” he shared.

Although a rock musician did attempt to retool the show’s signature tune for the new series, the producers changed their minds and recorded the theme song exactly as it was in the original show. You can watch the video with composer Brian Tyler in the recording studio in June 2010 with the original musicians here.

From the start, the producers’ vision for the new Hawaii Five-0 has always been that of an epic story that unfolds over many episodes. “We keep adding to the mythology of the show, but for the most part it’s consistent with our original vision,” said Lenkov, who went on to reveal that although he loved the original, the current series is a reboot rather than a continuation of the first. “But what I missed from the original show is how this great team got together. So there was never a thought of a continuation of the show, but how this family was born.”

Kurtzman also shared his pleasure about the level of CBS’s enthusiasm for Hawaii Five-0. “When they love something, they love something. When we started seeing the ad campaigns, our minds exploded. They’re going to put H5-0 on every bus in New York City. Every bus!”

The upbeat panel wrapped with the promise of recurring villains, lots of scenes involving Kono in a bikini and enough Chin Ho and Kono centric episodes to keep Grace and Daniel fans engaged.

Being the equal opportunities executive producer that he is, Peter Lenkov also teased Alex O’Loughlin’s fans with the revelation that Steve McGarrett will be seen coming out of the water in his swimsuit in the second episode. Hooyah, Commander!

Read the Digital Spy live blog for a full account of today’s panel, check out the slideshow below, CBS’s pictures on Twitpic and CBS.com, as well as the following related articles:

Filed Under: Events & Appearances, Hawaii Five-0, Latest Headlines, TV Tagged With: Alex O'Lachlan, Alex O'Loughlin, CBS, Daniel Dae Kim, Events & Appearances, Grace Park, Hawaii 5-0, Hawaii Five-0, Hawaii Five-o, Interviews & Articles, Scott Caan, Steve McGarrett
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