Original Hawaii Five-O Complete Series Package (1 Viewer)

[The Drifter]

What's especially interesting about S01's TB & SK (the last two episodes I discussed in the last post) is the way they're presented on the DVD sets. Like most people would, I'm watching these in the correct disk order. However, the episode SK actually comes after TB on the set, even though it's chronologically set beforehand. I.e., the criminal/thief Charlie Swanson (the late Gerald S. O'Loughlin) is one of the bad guys that McGarret interacts with in SK. And, when McGarret is held hostage by him in TB you can tell that they know each other - but you don't know in what capacity.

I.e., obviously in SK Swanson realized McGarrett was undercover (at the end of the episode), was arrested & then taken to prison. And, in TB he's in prison & then when McGarrett offers himself up as a hostage, he remembers him from the recent encounter. I.e., the line at the very end of TB after Swanson has given himself up & McGarrett tells him "don't be a thief" (after Swanson complains about being in prison) makes a lot more sense after seeing SK.

I suspect that, for whatever reason, SK may have been broadcast after TB when it originally aired (and that's why it's in that order on the DVD sets). Or, for whatever reason the episodes on the DVD sets are presented out of order. Not a big deal, just an interesting observation. I've definitely seen this type of thing in TV series on DVD in the past.

 

[ClassicTVMan1981X]

When CBS re-ran the 12th and last season of the series in the mid-'80s under the title McGarrett, as part of its Late Night movie block, weren't these two episodes -- "Good Help is Hard to Find" (11/1/79) and "School for Assassins" (1/1/80) -- ever re-ran during this brief time on CBS?

~Ben

 

[bmasters9]

When CBS re-ran the 12th and last season of the series in the mid-'80s under the title McGarrett, as part of its Late Night movie block, weren't these two episodes -- "Good Help is Hard to Find" (11/1/79) and "School for Assassins" (1/1/80) -- ever re-ran during this brief time on CBS?

Great question! Unfortunately, the opening is all I remember (with shortened versions of the title credits for Farrell, Smith, Wedemeyer and Keale), so I am not sure whether those episodes were shown.

 

[Jeff*H]

When CBS re-ran the 12th and last season of the series in the mid-'80s under the title McGarrett, as part of its Late Night movie block, weren't these two episodes -- "Good Help is Hard to Find" (11/1/79) and "School for Assassins" (1/1/80) -- ever re-ran during this brief time on CBS?

~Ben

As an avid new fan of the series back in the mid-80s, I watched every episode I could, including the McGARRETT late-night reruns on CBS. I clearly remember CBS airing both of those episodes at one point in 1984. They even reran a season 11 episode, “The Execution File”, in 1986, though not under the “McGARRETT” title.
However, I don’t remember them airing the season opener “A Lion in the Streets” at all.

You can also track down a complete list of all the CBS LATE MOVIE airings, including McGARRETT, here...

http://epguides.com/CBSLateMovie/

 

[bmasters9]

You can also track down a complete list of all the CBS LATE MOVIE airings, including McGARRETT, here...

http://epguides.com/CBSLateMovie/

And I discovered from that (at least per how this reads; I may be incorrect) that when Hart to Hart was seen on the Late Movie, it was on Mondays from 1982 to sometime in 1984-- they aired a mix of episodes from the first 3 gos of it (1979-82), and got as far as the beginning of the fourth go before the reruns ended.

 

[The Drifter]

Great memories, everyone. I never saw Hawaii Five 0 when it originally aired (it was somewhat before my time, especially the early seasons). I really started watching TV in the '80's - and I don't remember it it was ever re-run during that decade in my area. We only got a handful of stations at the time (no cable), so my viewing was very limited. In any case, it's interesting that HF0 was re-run under the name "McGarrett" at one time.

I just started on S02, and am really looking forward to making my way through the series. I remember hearing/reading that the latter seasons (seasons 10-12) weren't as good as the previous ones. However, as I've mentioned before in other posts - about other shows - if I'm going to commit to watching a TV series, I will watch every episode - at least once. I also want to judge for myself whether a season/episode is weak or not. For example, I was reading a review of S01's SK & based on a review I saw, some thought that this wasn't that great of an episode. However, I really enjoyed this - McGarrett going undercover was interesting; it was obvious it wasn't that much of a stretch for him to "portray" a criminal. Going along with this, I've always heard that the best detectives/LE officers have to think like criminals in order to be good at their jobs.

 

[Jeff*H]

I just started on S02, and am really looking forward to making my way through the series. I remember hearing/reading that the latter seasons (seasons 10-12) weren't as good as the previous ones.

Seasons 10 and 11 had some hidden gems in my opinion, and even season 12 had a good season opener and a few other interesting ones. On balance, though, the seasons’ overall quality and ratio of great episodes were nowhere near the glory days of season 3, which was my favorite. Good or bad, I’ve watched every single one probably a half-dozen times at minimum over the last 34 years since I discovered it.

 

[ClassicTVMan1981X]

As an avid new fan of the series back in the mid-80s, I watched every episode I could, including the McGARRETT late-night reruns on CBS. I clearly remember CBS airing both of those episodes at one point in 1984. They even reran a season 11 episode, “The Execution File”, in 1986, though not under the “McGARRETT” title.
However, I don’t remember them airing the season opener “A Lion in the Streets” at all.

You can also track down a complete list of all the CBS LATE MOVIE airings, including McGARRETT, here...

http://epguides.com/CBSLateMovie/

That which was but two hours long... it would have occupied the entire two-hour slot.

~Ben

 

[bmasters9]

I just started on S02, and am really looking forward to making my way through the series. I remember hearing/reading that the latter seasons (seasons 10-12) weren't as good as the previous ones.

Every show has had its detractors of that fashion-- that was even said about The A-Team when that NBC adventure/action series was in that abortive fifth and final go in 1987, because according to some, it wasn't right that the Team was working for the government on that fifth and final go, whereas the first four gos (winter/spring 1983-1986) had them running from the government (of course, that's just how I've heard it; might be incorrect).

 

[The Drifter]

One of my favorite S02 episodes (so far) is "A B. for McGarrett". A college professor is a secret enemy agent, and is hypnotizing female students & coercing them to commit crimes. A female police officer goes undercover as a student at the college, under McGarrett's direction. Though, she is not strong enough to resist the hypnotic powers of the professor.

Spoiler: SPOILER

Disturbing episode, especially given that the undercover officer almost kills McGarrett.

Some general comments about HFO:

-Interesting & odd (at least by today's standards) that some of the Asian characters were played by non-asian actors. In S01, the most notable example was Ricardo Montalban playing a corrupt businessman. The make-up wasn't that convincing, however - LOL. And, there is no way this type of thing would fly today

-Each of the S01-S02 episodes (on the DVD sets) runs roughly 48-49 minutes (with all the commercials edited out). This just shows how fewer commercials there were during this era. These days, a regular network show will run around 40-41/42 minute without commercials.

 

[bmasters9]

One of my favorite S02 episodes (so far) is "A B. for McGarrett".

I have five favorites from that second (1969-70) go:

"The Singapore File"
"Which Way Did They Go?" (barring the prologue; didn't really care for that part)
"Run, Johnny, Run" (ditto)
"Cry, Lie"
"Most Likely to Murder"

 

[sjbradford]

-Interesting & odd (at least by today's standards) that some of the Asian characters were played by non-asian actors. In S01, the most notable example was Ricardo Montalban playing a corrupt businessman. The make-up wasn't that convincing, however - LOL. And, there is no way this type of thing would fly today

I remember Marlo Thomas a Chinese woman on “Bonanza”.

 

[Wiseguy]

What's especially interesting about S01's TB & SK (the last two episodes I discussed in the last post) is the way they're presented on the DVD sets. Like most people would, I'm watching these in the correct disk order. However, the episode SK actually comes after TB on the set, even though it's chronologically set beforehand. I.e., the criminal/thief Charlie Swanson (the late Gerald S. O'Loughlin) is one of the bad guys that McGarret interacts with in SK. And, when McGarret is held hostage by him in TB you can tell that they know each other - but you don't know in what capacity.

I.e., obviously in SK Swanson realized McGarrett was undercover (at the end of the episode), was arrested & then taken to prison. And, in TB he's in prison & then when McGarrett offers himself up as a hostage, he remembers him from the recent encounter. I.e., the line at the very end of TB after Swanson has given himself up & McGarrett tells him "don't be a thief" (after Swanson complains about being in prison) makes a lot more sense after seeing SK.

I suspect that, for whatever reason, SK may have been broadcast after TB when it originally aired (and that's why it's in that order on the DVD sets). Or, for whatever reason the episodes on the DVD sets are presented out of order. Not a big deal, just an interesting observation. I've definitely seen this type of thing in TV series on DVD in the past.

Yes, the DVDs are in the aired order, not production order. "Six Kilos" has a production number of 0217 while "The Box" is 0220. Perhaps because of this, the character's name appears to have been changed. In "The Box" he's Charlie Swanson but in "Six Kilos" he's Carl Swanson (according to IMDb). I haven't checked the DVDs so I don't know if his name is mentioned in "Six Kilos" and if it was, whether it was dubbed over in post-production. Incidentally, "Six Kilos" was one of the episodes not included in the original syndication run of 200 episodes.

In the seventh season after Al Harrington (Ben) was fired Doug Mossman played the character of Frank. If the episodes are viewed in production order all of Ben's episodes are seen first followed by all of Frank's episodes (with a few with neither character mixed in).*
But in the aired order Ben and Frank switch places throughout the season with an episode with Ben held over to the final episode.

*With a curious exception, episode #509 featured Frank not Ben. Perhaps the production number indicates when an episode is accepted to be filmed but for some reason the filming was delayed until Frank was a recurring character

This issue affects other CBS/Paramount shows. In the final seasons of both The Wild Wild West and Mission: Impossible an actor went on medical leave and was replaced by other actor(s) [Ross Martin, heart attack; Lynda Day George, pregnancy]. Coincidentally, in both cases, the agent was sent on assignment to Washington, DC. Also, in both cases the aired order (also the DVD order) shows the agent and their replacement(s) bouncing back in forth as if the agents returned and left again for Washington several times during the season.

 

[Wiseguy]

Some general comments about HFO:

-Interesting & odd (at least by today's standards) that some of the Asian characters were played by non-asian actors. In S01, the most notable example was Ricardo Montalban playing a corrupt businessman. The make-up wasn't that convincing, however - LOL. And, there is no way this type of thing would fly today

Try Mark Lenard in season two's "To Hell with Babe Ruth," another episode that wasn't in the original syndication run.

 

[Harry-N]

Yes, the DVDs are in the aired order, not production order. "Six Kilos" has a production number of 0217 while "The Box" is 0220. Perhaps because of this, the character's name appears to have been changed. In "The Box" he's Charlie Swanson but in "Six Kilos" he's Carl Swanson (according to IMDb). I haven't checked the DVDs so I don't know if his name is mentioned in "Six Kilos" and if it was, whether it was dubbed over in post-production. Incidentally, "Six Kilos" was one of the episodes not included in the original syndication run of 200 episodes.

In the seventh season after Al Harrington (Ben) was fired Doug Mossman played the character of Frank. If the episodes are viewed in production order all of Ben's episodes are seen first followed by all of Frank's episodes (with a few with neither character mixed in).*
But in the aired order Ben and Frank switch places throughout the season with an episode with Ben held over to the final episode.

*With a curious exception, episode #509 featured Frank not Ben. Perhaps the production number indicates when an episode is accepted to be filmed but for some reason the filming was delayed until Frank was a recurring character

This issue affects other CBS/Paramount shows. In the final seasons of both The Wild Wild West and Mission: Impossible an actor went on medical leave and was replaced by other actor(s) [Ross Martin, heart attack; Lynda Day George, pregnancy]. Coincidentally, in both cases, the agent was sent on assignment to Washington, DC. Also, in both cases the aired order (also the DVD order) shows the agent and their replacement(s) bouncing back in forth as if the agents returned and left again for Washington several times during the season.

I'm sure that with such deep knowledge of the comings and goings of actors, not to mention production numbers and airing order, that you're probably aware of why these situations occur. TV shows, particularly back then, were simply hour-long entertainment chunks. Each episode was thought of as a complete thing and completely disposable, to be seen once, twice, or maybe three times and then forgotten. Each season was just a bunch of these made over a period of time, not generally related to each other. They weren't serialized. So when an actor became unavailable, they replaced them, or explained their absence if they had to.

Also, certain scripts were thought to be stronger than others, so they were moved around in aired order to take advantage of ratings "sweeps periods" in November, February, and May. That's one of the major reasons that episodes were moved around in order. Another is that any special effects that had to be taken care of might have pushed things back in terms of when they were ready.

 

[Rick Thompson]

I'm sure that with such deep knowledge of the comings and goings of actors, not to mention production numbers and airing order, that you're probably aware of why these situations occur. TV shows, particularly back then, were simply hour-long entertainment chunks. Each episode was thought of as a complete thing and completely disposable, to be seen once, twice, or maybe three times and then forgotten. Each season was just a bunch of these made over a period of time, not generally related to each other. They weren't serialized. So when an actor became unavailable, they replaced them, or explained their absence if they had to.

Also, certain scripts were thought to be stronger than others, so they were moved around in aired order to take advantage of ratings "sweeps periods" in November, February, and May. That's one of the major reasons that episodes were moved around in order. Another is that any special effects that had to be taken care of might have pushed things back in terms of when they were ready.

There are always episodes that are not their best work. When The Fugitive was in production, doing 30 episodes a season meant, according to one of the producers, that out of the 30 they would have 10 they were really proud of, another 10 that were solid, and then 10 of "well, we had to shoot SOMETHING!"

 

[Harry-N]

Exactly. And most producers wanted to showcase the good episodes in those sweeps months whenever possible.

 

[Wiseguy]

I'm sure that with such deep knowledge of the comings and goings of actors, not to mention production numbers and airing order, that you're probably aware of why these situations occur. TV shows, particularly back then, were simply hour-long entertainment chunks. Each episode was thought of as a complete thing and completely disposable, to be seen once, twice, or maybe three times and then forgotten. Each season was just a bunch of these made over a period of time, not generally related to each other. They weren't serialized. So when an actor became unavailable, they replaced them, or explained their absence if they had to.

Also, certain scripts were thought to be stronger than others, so they were moved around in aired order to take advantage of ratings "sweeps periods" in November, February, and May. That's one of the major reasons that episodes were moved around in order. Another is that any special effects that had to be taken care of might have pushed things back in terms of when they were ready.

And the opposite is true too. At a time when episodes were shown almost every week, even around holidays, when an episode was not considered all that great came around it would be scheduled near a holiday when viewers were supposedly busy doing other things. There's a report of an episode of Get Smart that the producers thought wasn't that great, so they scheduled it on New Year's Eve so people they knew in Hollywood wouldn't see it. Turns out people who were waiting to go to a party saw it anyway.
There's an episode in the second season of Hogan's Heroes that not only was held over to the third season but was broadcast two days before Christmas 1967. Somebody must not have liked that one.

 

[Wiseguy]

I'm sure that with such deep knowledge of the comings and goings of actors, not to mention production numbers and airing order, that you're probably aware of why these situations occur. TV shows, particularly back then, were simply hour-long entertainment chunks. Each episode was thought of as a complete thing and completely disposable, to be seen once, twice, or maybe three times and then forgotten. Each season was just a bunch of these made over a period of time, not generally related to each other. They weren't serialized. So when an actor became unavailable, they replaced them, or explained their absence if they had to.

Also, certain scripts were thought to be stronger than others, so they were moved around in aired order to take advantage of ratings "sweeps periods" in November, February, and May. That's one of the major reasons that episodes were moved around in order. Another is that any special effects that had to be taken care of might have pushed things back in terms of when they were ready.

Of course. I wasn't commenting on why episodes are shown out of order but the continuity problems that resulted from the practice.

 

[Nelson Au]

Hey guys, thought I’d wake this thread up.

I just started to revisit Hawaii Five-O. I have the older DVD individual season sets that I started collecting when these first came out. Though I still need to buy the last 5 seasons, so it was too late for me to get the complete series set.

I wanted to bring up something since Mission Impossible is out now as a complete series Blu ray set. I was curious if H5O will be next or is even in the pipeline for blu ray release. Since I have a Paramount+ Subscription, a friend suggested I see how H5O looks on Paramount+. If it looks better then the DVD sets, maybe they remastered the series already in 1080.

I have begun ripping the H5O DVDs for playback from my HTPC to Apple TV. So it was easy to stream an episode from Paramount+ and play the same episode from the DVD. The difference in image quality wasn’t that different. The colors looked a bit brighter on the Paramount+ stream and it was hard to tell if the image quality was better or not. It was close, but the stream might be a bit better.

I had done a similar test a while ago with The Twilight Zone. Early on, the CBS All Access (before Paramount+ rebranding) stream of the Twilight Zone was very low quality, the TZ Blu Rays were definitely better. But now, the TZ streamed episode have all been upgraded to 1080.

So it’s hard to tell if H5O has been remastered at 1080. Maybe you guys might know? Would love to see this series get the same upgrade that Mission Impossible got.