AOLR Weekly Wrap-Up #49

Hawaii Five-0 Updates:

• Tim Ryan posted that the Hawaii Five-0 production offices will open around July 6th.
• It’s inevitable that the 2010 show will be continue to be compared with the original show until the new series finds its audience, which I hope will happen quite soon once the new Hawaii Five-0 debuts. In the unlikely event that you don’t know what some of the differences are between the two, check out TV Guide’s photo gallery Hawaii Five-0: Then and Now.
• In addition to Canada, Australia and Germany, audiences in the UK can now also look forward to watching Hawaii Five-0 as Virgin Media Television’s Bravo channel has acquired exclusive UK pay TV, Freeview and digital rights. Bravo attracts a largely male audience and is distributed to 20 million households. WorldScreen reports that the channel will air the show in the fall as part of its prime-time schedule.
• According to a recent Advertising Age survey, ad buyers are expecting only modest commercial ratings from the upcoming fall shows despite a 7%-10% increase in ad time. For Hawaii Five-0, a C3 rating is being projected.
  

  C3, the shorthand term for commercial ratings, measures the number of viewers who actually watch commercials during a selected program rather than changing channels or fast-forwarding past them with a digital video recorder. Viewers who watch ads live as they run or as many as three days after they air are included in the ratings.
  

  A household rating is an estimate of the size of a TV audience relative to the total universe of homes with TVs. Nielsen estimates there are 114.9 million U.S. TV households, so a single national household ratings point is equal to 1%, or 1,150,000 households.

  Based on this formula, roughly 8.33 million households are expected to stick with the commercials during an episode of Hawaii Five-0.

Hawaii Five-0 Articles & Buzz:

• Movieline’s What to Watch Guide for the Rest of the Year includes Hawaii Five-0:
  

  If you remotely enjoyed any of Alex O’Loughlin’s previous stabs at CBS series, you will love the network’s Hawaii Five-O reboot.
  Yes, Alex O’Loughlin is headlining a fall series that actually has potential to last more than one season. In the high-profile, big-budget reimagining, the CBS golden boy fights crime in the 50th state alongside his wry partner, played by Scott Caan.

• Virgin Media lists Hawaii Five-0 among their Ten Hot US Pilot Prospects:
  

  CBS’ 2010 take on the 70s classic is bang up-to-date. The cast includes Lost’s Daniel Dae Kim and The Shield’s Alex O’Loughlin, and promises to balance cutting-edge gadgetry and special effects with a nod to the past – many characters are related to, or share names with, those from original.

• The Honolulu Star-Advertiser recently interviewed Walea Constantinau, who heads the Honolulu Film Office. One question pertaining to the new Hawaii Five-0 was raised:

Q: About the “Five-O” remake: I’ve heard a rumor that not very much of it will be shot here. Is that correct?

A: To my knowledge, they are going to shoot the show here. I’m not sure how that got started, but I heard it, too.

• An excerpt from Haute Living Magazine:
  

  As filming of George Clooney’s The Descendants wrapped and the popular television series Lost has ended, there is a new project underway on the island of Oahu. CBS has committed to twelve episodes of a new and improved Hawaii Five-O television series. Filming will begin July 15th on Honolulu and is scheduled to air in CBS’s fall line-up. Word on the street is that Five-O will be hiring some of the same crew and using the same facility that recently housed Clooney’s The Descendants movie production.

  As we know, the H50 production chose instead to make use of the former Honolulu Advertiser warehouse. From an article by The Honolulu Star-Advertiser:

  Whether the interior or exterior of the historic Advertiser building will be used for any scenes was not confirmed, said Erika Kauffman, local unit publicist.

  Before booking the warehouse, the network had its eye on the old CompUSA site where South Street meets Ala Moana Boulevard. The facility recently housed “The Descendants” movie production starring George Clooney, based on a book by isle writer Kaui Hemmings. Kauffman confirmed the site had been on the network’s short list.

  Erika Kauffman also shared that, “There was no local primary sound stage used for shooting the pilot.” The warehouse location that the production has selected will house a mini sound stage as well as Danny Williams’s apartment. Cue: a picture of the schematic of Danno’s place – posted by J.R. Orci.

• In a different approach to the reviews-that-shall-not-be-called-reviews we’ve been reading lately, The Kansas City Star paired the best summer shows with upcoming fall pilots. Read how Hawaii Five-0 does in comparison with Burn Notice (a scan of this article has also been added to the gallery):
  

  For its remake of the popular 1970s series, CBS decided to add some “NCIS” spice to “Hawaii Five-O.” Steve McGarrett (Alex O’Loughlin) is still an ex-Navy officer running a state police unit at the governor’s behest, but now the bad guys are human traffickers and narco-terrorists rather than Chinese commies and garden-variety thugs.

  The show has an explosive opening scene, leading into the quick-cut opening credits, which make the original 1968 “Five-O” sequence seem timid by comparison (but the remake of Morton Stevens’ theme song isn’t as good as the original). The pacing of the pilot is intense and full of shoot-’em-ups.

  An action show with an international flavor, filmed in a gorgeous ocean-side locale — hey, that sounds a lot like “Burn Notice,” now in its fourth season on USA. Like the “Five-O” pilot, its first episode opened with a thrilling chase scene, as Michael (Jeffrey Donovan) eluded gun-toting criminals on motorcycles.

  But “Burn Notice” is full of light touches missing from the “Five-O” pilot. There are humorous exchanges between Michael and his co-conspirators, as well as Michael’s trademark voiceovers about spy work (“In a fight, you have to be careful not to break the little bones in your hand on someone’s face — that’s why I like bathrooms”). Also, McGarrett and his cohorts are true white hats, practically beyond reproach. Network audiences may like that, but “Burn Notice” fans like morally messy characters.

Other Updates:

• The amusing Chicago Sun-Times article “Vampire Empire has Died, But Who Can Replace?” takes a look at what creatures can take the place of vampires, who apparently are on the way out.
• In the LA Times article “The Unreal World: ‘Three Rivers’ Firefighter Suffers Lung Damage associate professor of Medicine Marc Siegel takes a closer look at the medical reality of Three Rivers episode Every Breath You Take.
• With Moonlight enjoying a rerun on the CW, Ed Gross has reposted Alex O’Loughlin’s personal take on the show’s episodes at Vampires and Slayers. The same article was also featured in last year’s SFX Vampire Special, scans of which you’ll find in the gallery.
• Locate TV posted the blog  Star Trek: Can Alex O’Loughlin make his latest big TV role stick? It’s not my kind of  article as I simply don’t like the writer’s approach. Even though some may consider it pro Alex, I think any perceived compliments are backhanded and the tone patronizing. Overall, I find it quite grating, but of course everyone should decide for themselves.

Gallery Updates:

• The July 1st German edition of OK! celebrates HRH’s… well… hotness with a two-page spread and thanks to Silke and Fever, there are some excellent HQ scans to share! Ladies, you rock!
• I added some rare stills from Oyster Farmer and replaced pic #8 with an HQ version.
• Donate Life recently uploaded a set of pictures from the Film Festival and six of Alex have been added to the gallery. You can view the entire set on Flickr.

Happy 4th of July to my friends in the US! And I hope everyone has a safe and productive week ahead of them!