Last week, I visited my parents in Tennessee. While there, I got a chance to watch the new, re-imagined Hawaii Five-0 for the first time. As I expected, this new series is a police procedural drama along the lines of NCIS, CSI: and their respective spin-offs.
While many fans of the original Hawaii Five-O series have not warmed up to the new Five-0, CBS has picked up the reboot for a full season.
As a matter of semantics, the original show’s title ended in the letter O while the current version expresses the last character as the number 0, but still pronounced “oh”. Regardless of how you express it, “Five-O” is a nod to the fact Hawaii is the 50th state in the union.
While in Tennessee, I was trying to figure out who’s the new McGarrett and the new Danno. I also asked Mom if there’s a new Wo Fat in this version.
Then, as you might expect, discussion turned to the original Five-O and the Jack Lord days. We were trying to figure out who played the original Danno (only “Helen Hayes’ son” came to Mom’s mind) and a quick internet search revealed the answer — James MacArthur.
Today, word came of MacArthur’s passing — reportedly of “natural causes”. Unless you’re a devoted fan of the original show, you’re probably not aware there were plans for a “sequel” version of Five-O in the mid-’90s.
Had CBS given the sequel its blessing, MacArthur would have reprised his role as “Danno”. Only this time, Danno moved up in the land of aloha as the state’s governor. For the record, Jack Lord was still with us the time the 1996 pilot was shot — but he was in declining health and believed to be battling Alzheimer’s. Lord died just weeks into 1998.
I think it’s safe to say the next episode of Five-0 is almost ready to air. I would hope they can take 10 or 15 seconds to display something to this effect on screen…
In Memoriam
James MacArthur
The original “Danno”
1937-2010