Repost: Alex O’Loughlin on The Bonnie Hunt Show (2009)
Hawaii Five-0: Mike Gordon Interviews Ed Asner
A ‘Five-0′ hana hou
Ed Asner delights in reprising his role as a smuggler, 37 years later
By Mike Gordon | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
THE rap sheet on August March, the newest character to match wits with the “Hawaii Five-0″ squad, is a tale of schemes and murder.
When police captured him in 1975, the conniving Honolulu smuggler was about to shoot his henchman, who had murdered two men on March’s orders.
March went to prison, but now, 37 years later, he’s a free man. And who should come to him looking for help to solve a crime? The same lawman who brought him to justice: Steve McGarrett.
Impossible, of course. “Five-0″ then is not “Five-0″ now. But tonight’s episode of the rebooted crime drama will put a wrinkle in television time and merge plots, both generations of the series and the same actor who originally starred as the smuggler: Ed Asner.
The 82-year-old Emmy-winning actor spent several days last month reprising his sleazy smuggler on the set of the new “Five-0.” It was a blast, perhaps even more fun than the first time, he said. When Asner was on the set in 1975, Jack Lord — who starred as McGarrett — oversaw the show with “an imperial presence.”
The new crew, Asner said, is “more human.”
“I enjoyed the actors on the show very much,” he said. “We had a great time stirring soup together — the soup of film. And I don’t think you will find it thin gruel.”
But Asner thinks age might have something to do with the reception he received — and he says that with a laugh, too.
“I gotta face it, they have respect for an elder citizen, which I wasn’t with Jack Lord,” Asner said. “Lord was the elder citizen when I played with him. I got great respect from these guys and at the same time, live action.”
In tonight’s episode, which also marks the return of Taryn Manning as McGarrett’s sister Mary Ann, the “Five-0″ crew reach out to March to help arrange a sting after Mary Ann is arrested for trying to smuggle $20 million worth of diamonds.
Asner didn’t need to review the original episode — Season 8′s “Wooden Model of a Rat,” available on Netflix — but said he’s eager to see the completed version of the new one.
“I want to see that contrast,” he said of the episodes shot decades apart. “That will be very interesting.”
The idea to reprise a character from the original series came from Peter Lenkov, the executive producer of “Five-0,” who oversees all aspects of the rebooted version. He had been sitting on the idea for a year, thinking “maybe it is too unconventional to do,” when a CBS executive called to see whether there was a way to tie something to the “Five-0″ that aired from 1968 to 1980.
Lenkov thought Asner’s character was a perfect fit.
“I remember this episode fondly, and that’s part of the reason I was excited to revisit the world and the character of August March,” Lenkov said.
Some of the original episode is used as a flashback. References to the existence of a state police task force called “Five-0″ are left out. In the new series, the unit was created in 2010, and nothing about it existed in the Hawaii of 1975 — except McGarrett’s father as a young cop charged with driving March to prison.
Asner was immediately interested in the idea of coming back, largely because he has a working relationship with Lenkov stemming from a guest role on “CSI: New York” in 2009, when Lenkov was an executive producer on the show. Asner earned an Emmy nomination for his portrayal of Abraham Klein, a World War II Nazi who was hiding out as a Jew. (The episode, “Yahrzeit,” can be found on Netflix, too: Season 5, Episode 22.)
“I loved doing that,” Asner said. “I was nominated for an Emmy — didn’t get it. But I haven’t been getting such well-written characters, such interesting characters as Peter provided in that show.”
The two would talk about working together whenever they met for dinner, Lenkov telling Asner he wanted to give him something special.
“He was able to do some research, find the character I did before and was able to make the connection that they didn’t fry me for my crimes of that time, and put me in the pokey for 30 years,” Asner said. “And how convenient. Now I am coming out to continue to do my evil.”
Asner has been a steadily working actor since the late 1950s, amassing 389 titles on his résumé of film and television credits. He perhaps is best known as Lou Grant, a newsman who was a mainstay on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” for seven seasons before starring in the dramatic spinoff “Lou Grant,” which aired for five seasons. More recently he was the voice of Carl Frederickson, the cranky homeowner in Disney-Pixar’s animated hit “Up.”
Throughout his career Asner has been a character actor, embracing his quirks, foibles and hard-bitten exterior in an industry that more often valued leading men for their sheer beauty.
“The best acting always comes from character men anyway,” he said. “So I decided to go on eating my food and staying plump and being a character man and enjoying it.”
The industry rewarded Asner for the characters he delivered: He’s been nominated for Emmy Awards 17 times, going home the winner seven times — more than any other male actor — and has collected five Golden Globes.
All that bodes well for the encore of August March.
“I regard myself as a Stradivarius,” Asner said. “When I am given the lines written by a good writer, the lines are notes, and when those notes are played upon my Stradivarius, they sound better than on any other violin.”
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For more articles about Ed Asner’s guest appearance on tonight’s episode of Hawaii Five-0, see:
AOLR Weekly Wrap-up #133
Hawaii Five-0 Updates
- We are so extremely lucky that we don’t have to wait until the upfronts to receive confirmation about Hawaii Five-0′s renewal for a third season! This year’s CBS upfront event takes place on Wednesday, May 16 in New York City and it’s unlikely that we’ll hear in advance if any of our cast members will be present. Let’s keep our fingers crossed!
- Check out the Aussie edition of Cleo magazine’s gallery of Hot Aussie Celebrity Bachelors!
- The group card for Alex was delivered today — thanks to @terrysagirl for the update!
- Hawaii Five-0 now has an official account on photo-sharing social media site Pinterest. You don’t need to sign up to access it; just bookmark https://pinterest.com/hawaiifive0cbs/. The photos currently available there have also been posted at CBS.com.
- Peter Lenkov recently tweeted the link to the 2012 Home Media Magazine Awards Ballot — you can vote for Hawaii Five-0, Season 1 in the category Best Current TV Show on Disc, Best Extras/Bonus Materials and Favorite DVD or Blu-ray Release of 2011. Note that you will be required to provide your email address to be able to vote, but please don’t let that stop you!
- Photographer Gayla Elizabeth has another surfboard available that was signed recently by the four Hawaii Five-0 leads that you can win as part of a fundraising effort for the charity Life Rolls on. For details — and a great photo of Scott, Daniel and Grace with the surfboard — go to Gayla’s blog!
- Episode updates:
- The episode that centers around Max Bergman (2.20) airs on April 9 according to information tweeted by Masi himself.
- Episode 2.21 is entitled “Pa Make Loa” and is the start of the crossover event with NCIS: LA in which we see Sam and Callen paying a visit to our friends on Oahu. The story continues the Tuesday after 2.21 airs on an episode of NCIS: LA, scenes for which Scott and Daniel have been filming in LA this past week with the cast of NCIS: LA. “Pa Make Loa” starts shooting in Hawaii in the course of this coming week.
- Episode 2.22 will be directed by Larry Teng and according to his tweets, filming begins late March.
- Peter Lenkov confirmed in November that there would be 24 episodes in Season 2, but it appears they’ve now dropped what was originally episode 2.23, which was to be directed by Jeffrey Hunt. Jeffrey tweeted on March 13, “I will not be directing ep 23 of H5O the ep I was directing has gone away due to the show shutting down for Alex.” On March 6 (a few days after it was announced that Alex would be taking time off from the show), Larry Teng mentioned on Twitter that there would be “only 23 eps this season” and confirmed that he would be directing the penultimate episode, i.e. 2.22. The season finale, originally episode 2.24, is now episode 2.23. This also explains why trustworthy sources such as Deadline and Mike Gordon have recently been referring to a Season 2 order of 23 episodes.
Hawaii Five-0 Articles
- Lots of fans are excited about tomorrow’s new episode featuring yet another TV legend, Ed Asner. Mike Gordon blogged about the attraction Hawaii holds for many actors in his Outtakes Online and Mr. Asner is no exception:
The episode is a return trip to Hawaii as well as the show because Asner appeared in a 1975 “Five-0” episode called “Wooden Model of a Rat.” That earlier gig — an episode that also featured Cannon — brought Asner and his family to Hawaii for the first time. Asner told me he loved it then and he loved it now.
Peter Lenkov, the executive producer in charge of the rebooted “Five-0,” didn’t have much trouble convincing Asner to appear in the new episode. The two are friends and Lenkov joked that he promised to get a massage for the veteran actor and take him to his favorite restaurants.
Asner wanted to spend a lot of time here, but that’s not uncommon, Lenkov said. Hawaii is just a powerful magnet and this season is definitely proof: Tom Sizemore (who appears in Monday’s episode), Jimmy Buffett, William Baldwin, Peter Fonda, Patty Duke, Greg Grunberg and Robert Englund have all been a part of the second season.
“Who doesn’t want to come here?” Lenkov said. “I would like to believe it’s the writing (that brings them) but I have to believe somewhere deep down inside Hawaii has something to do with it.”
Be on the lookout for Mike’s interview with Ed Asner in the Star-Advertiser on Monday; I will post a scan in the gallery!
- In another Outtakes Online post, Mike Gordon writes about the Season 3 pickup, and also adds some shooting information:
“Five-0” only has a few more episodes to shoot for its 23-episode second season and production is expected to be complete sometime in April.
However, “Five-0” is taking a short break this week while regulars Scott Caan and Daniel Dae Kim are in California to shoot a special crossover episode of “NCIS: Los Angeles.” Preparation for the Hawaii shooting of that crossover is expected to start next week.
- A nice shout-out to Scott in Starpulse’s 10 Favorite Small Screen Scene Stealers:
If Alex O’Loughlin is Five-0’s hero, then Scott Caan is its heart. Caan plays Detective Danny Williams, dedicated partner and sidekick to O’Loughlin’s Navy SEAL Steve McGarrett, with sarcastic abandon. But Williams’ hilarious cynicism is merely flimsy armor for his palpable sensitivity. McGarrett might leap off buildings to save a suicidal suspect and embark on unauthorized rescue mission in North Korea as a favor to a friend, but Danny selflessly coached his ex-wife through the birth of a son he thought was his. If that’s not worthy of a Medal of Honor, nothing is.
Caan will get his turn as leading man as O’Loughlin has taken a brief break from shooting for treatment for dependency to prescription drugs due to a shoulder injury, according to TVLine.com. I hope Danny blows a few things up in honor of his partner, dotes on his daughter and borrows McGarrett’s uniform.
- Mark Deklin, currently starring in ABC’s comedy GBC, shares his thoughts on his future as Five-0′s Stan Edwards with Jim Halterman for AfterElton:
AE: What else are you doing, Mark? Any more Hawaii Five-0?
MD: That’s all up in the air. The last episode I was in, my character Stan got shot and he got shot more than once, but he did not die. So, as of now, I suspect that they might be writing Stan out and primarily because of GCB. I’m under contract with ABC and I know it’s a pain and a hassle for another network to say ‘hey, can we get clearance to use Mark for an episode?’ and I understand that. I don’t know any of that for a fact, but I suspect that they’ll put Stan on the shelf until we see what’s up with GCB. And if things don’t take off with GCB they’ve left the door open for me to come back. But if GCB takes off, as we hope, then I’ll probably be unavailable to do Hawaii Five-0. All that is up in the air right now and completely out of my hands. - E!’s Spoiler Chat confirms what we’ve already noticed this past week:
GregoryBen: Just curious about Hawaii Five-O and if Alex O’Loughlin’s time off for rehab affects the crossover with NCIS: LA?
Yep. Originally, Alex was going to star in both parts of the crossover (in Los Angeles and Hawaii), and now it is Daniel Dae Kim (Jin and tonic, anyone?) and Scott Caan who will be coming to L.A. to shoot with Chris O’Donnell and LL Cool J on the NCIS: Los Angeles set. - Ed Asner mentions his guest appearance on Hawaii Five-0 briefly in an interview with 411mania:
Al Norton: You’ve got a very cool Hawaii 5-0 appearance coming up next week (Asner guests on an episode playing a character he did on the original series, with footage from that first appearance used in flashbacks); when they came to you did they already have that concept in place?
Ed Asner: Oh yes, that I knew. It was a very intriguing idea; of course if the role written for me in the present hadn’t been appetizing then it wouldn’t have meant a damn thing. I found the marriage to be quite salacious.
- Great news for Jimmy Buffett fans! In an interview with the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, he says Frank Bama will be returning to Five-0:
Looking ahead, Buffett says fans can anticipate a new album and another appearance on “Hawaii Five-0″ as veteran military helicopter pilot Frank Bama.
- Last but certainly not least, enjoy looking back at the ups and downs of Season 2 so far with Wendie Burbridge in her post Five-0 Redux: Beating the sophomore slump!
Gallery, Picture and Video Updates
Thank you to everyone who shared links and photos!
- Some great photos were tweeted from LA that give us a great behind-the-scenes glimpse of the NCIS: LA crossover!
- Two photos of Alex were posted on Tumblr that were taken on the H50 set during what I expect will have been the first season: 01 – 02.
- The majority of pictures from a 2010 photoshoot with Alex have now been replaced with larger versions in the gallery.
- Some great pics were posted by itsnotfiftyitsfive0 on Tumblr of Alex and Scott from last year’s Watch magazine photoshoot; I’ve added lots more in the gallery!
- A scan of Chuck Barney’s TV Crush article is now in the gallery.
- Graeme Blundell once again penned a nice Pick of the Day write-up about Hawaii Five-0 for The Australian!
- And a group shot from 2.17 that I forgot to include last week — thanks to the Russian Fan Club for posting it on Facebook!
Enjoy tomorrow’s new episode — with Steve 
— and have a wonderful week!
Cleo Interview: Alex O’Loughlin Misses His Mum and His Mates
Cleo magazine (New Zealand edition, March issue) posted this short interview with our favorite Aussie about life in Hawaii and being toughie Steve McGarrett.
Awww, he misses his mum!
Latest Lust: Alex O’Loughlin
Hottie Alex O’Loughlin knows all about being third-time lucky. After starring in two television series, Moonlight and Three Rivers (as a vampire and a doctor, respectively), they were canned after the very first season, Alex now has a bona fide hit on his hands as Commander Steve McGarrett in the action-packed revisit of Hawaii Five-O.
We chatted to Alex about why this is his toughest role yet, how he deals with being recognised and having his dream crushed as a kid!
Everyone in Hawaii seems to love the show…
“…It’s kind of a big deal. The locals know how important this show is to the economy and to tourism. They’re just so full of love and we fight really hard to maintain the integrity and the truth of the Hawaiian people and culture. It’s genuinely respected by them.”It’s the toughest role I’ve ever had…
“…The thing with playing McGarrett is that in every episode there’s a huge stunt sequence: he’s going to dive out of this plane or he’s going to wrangle this horse or he’s going to shoot all these people so, for me, as the actor who’s nowhere near as tough, capable or smart as McGarrett, I need a vigilant and balanced life around work. This means a good diet, enough sleep, and some kind of relaxation to keep the mind clear so you don’t get too stressed.”I also seem to take my shirt off — a lot…
“…Because that’s so fascinating, right?” [he laughs].I get recognised a lot here in Hawaii…
“…Some days, it’s great, But some days you just get dickhead after dickhead filming you and getting right up in your face. It becomes your day-to-day life and you develop a mechanism to deal with it.”I don’t get back home much…
“…I bought a house here [in Hawaii] that’s just beautiful and it’s always full because my friends and family visit. But I miss my mum. And I miss my mates.”As a kid, I wanted to be a fighter pilot…
“…When I was in first grade, I had a teacher who was a real piece of work. She said, ‘Okay, class, let’s talk about what you want to be when you grow up.’ I answered with ‘I’m going to be a fighter pilot!’. She looked at me and said, ‘Don’t you have asthma?’. I said ‘Yes…’ and she goes, ‘You’ll never be a fight pilot’, and moved on to the next kid. She crushed my dreams!I’m still not a fighter pilot, but I love my job…
“…I go to work and ride horses, scuba dive, jump out of planes and fly stuff. It’s insane.”Catch more of Alex in season one of Hawaii Five-O, out now on DVD.
Source: cleo.msn.co.nz
CBS Announces 18 Primetime Renewals, Including Hawaii Five-0!
CBS today announced the return of Hawaii Five-0 for a third season as well as the renewals of 17 other primetime shows for the 2012-13 television season!
CBS ANNOUNCES RENEWALS FOR 18 PRIMETIME SHOWS FOR THE 2012-2013 SEASON
Renewals Showcase the Strength, Stability and Success of Television’s #1 Network
In a move that renews a large portion of television’s #1 primetime lineup, CBS announced today it has picked up 18 returning series for the 2012-2013 broadcast season.
The renewals include four comedies, nine dramas, three reality series and two newsmagazines. The returning shows encompass every night of the week and every hour, many of which are #1 in their time period and some #1 on the entire night.
The renewed comedies include the previously announced multi-year pickups of HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER and THE BIG BANG THEORY, the season’s #1 comedy and the first scripted program to top “American Idol” in viewers and adults 18-49; 2 BROKE GIRLS, the season’s #1 new comedy in viewers and key demographics; and sophomore hit MIKE & MOLLY.
Also in comedy, CBS and Warner Bros. Television are in preliminary discussions regarding future seasons for TWO AND A HALF MEN.
Renewed dramas are NCIS, television’s #1 drama/scripted program for the third consecutive year; NCIS: LOS ANGELES, the #2 drama for the second straight year; HAWAII FIVE-0, CRIMINAL MINDS, CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION, PERSON OF INTEREST, the #1 new series of the season, THE MENTALIST, BLUE BLOODS and the award-winning and critically acclaimed THE GOOD WIFE.
Among the Network’s returning reality series are THE AMAZING RACE, UNDERCOVER BOSS and the previously renewed SURVIVOR.
Television’s top newsmagazines, 60 MINUTES and 48 HOURS MYSTERY, will also return in the fall.
“This large-scale renewal is testimony to the strength, stability and success of a deep and diverse roster of top-rated programming,” said Nina Tassler, President, CBS Entertainment. “It positions us for continued success next season and certainly creates an environment that will give our new shows the best possible chance to succeed.”
Season-to-date, CBS is first in viewers (12.13m) and adults 25-54 (4.1/10) and a strong second in adults 18-49 (3.1/08). The Network is posting across-the-board year-to-year growth, up +1% in viewers, +2% in adults 25-54 and +3% in adults 18-49.
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