MovieChat Forums > Hawaii Five-O (1968) Discussion > Am I nostalgic or delusional?

Am I nostalgic or delusional?

posted 10 years ago by bartcartman
15 replies | jump to latest

As a Netflix subscriber since '08, it took me two years to see every Jack Lord episode of this show. I just started to watch it again from 1968.

As a fan of artistic modern TV (Wire, Sopranos, Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Dexter...), do I watch this show because fashion, and cars remind me when I was a child, or was this a great police drama show? I watched The Six Million Dollar Man/Bionic Woman/Incredible Hulk when HF-O was on TV during the 1970's.

Along with "The Rockford Files", I think this show was that good to watch today. However you could tell when HF-O slipped was when Leonard Freeman died in 1974.

Thoughts?

[–] mactach 10 years ago

I don't see why you're questioning how you feel.

[–] bartcartman 10 years ago

I don't see why you're questioning how you feel.

It's very simple. Why do I still enjoy watching TV before cable, yet find it entertaining? Is it nostalgia, or great writing, and acting? After "The Sopranos", TV began to be the focus of great writing, and production. In 1968, John Wayne, or Peter O'Toole would scoff to be asked to appear in a cop drama TV show.

[–] p309-1 10 years ago

bartcartman, I know exactly where you're coming from, man. I was super glad to find the series on Netflix, and now I find myself watching the episodes more than twice, three times even. I used to tell myself and my adult kids that this was because of nolstalgia, that the period cars and crime fighting technology made me feel comfortable, along with the memories of watching the show with my father on Sunday nights. My dad loved this television series, and tried to never miss it. After all, in 1968, if you missed it, that was it, you missed it! Your next chance did not come until the summer reruns began.
But I've come to realize that, all of the other aside, this entertainment has held up, it has withstood the test of time, and is as fun to watch now as it was back in the day, in my opinion.

[–] Little Caesar 10 years ago

There's a lot of great classic shows out there. I may enjoy them because of the acting, the premise, the locations, or simply the era they evoke. I enjoy modern tv but sometimes I like watching a contained episode, something common in older shows. Older programs strove to have a certain amount of realism but nothing like modern shows. I kind of like that. It's a bit more escapist.

[–] piergammieri76 10 years ago

You are not nostalgic,my friend this cop tv show was simply the best now and then.I se it now late night on free national channel in ITALY:RAI2.

[–] indy_go_blue44 10 years ago

I was on Oahu (Pearl Harbor) in '69-'70 and we wouldn't miss the show, mostly laughing at how campy it was and many wondering why a haole (white man) was the star of the show when the real head of the Hawaiian criminal investigation service was a half-native/half-Samoan (I forgot his name.)

My mom loved the show, and after I got home it was always fun to recognize a particular site and say, ah that's Makaha or Bellow's Beach, etc.

I haven't seen the show in about 3 years, I guess, but I still enjoy watching it now and again (not to the point of ordering the disk sets though.)

Do you hate me because I have no avatar? Do you even give a damn?

[–] mactach 10 years ago

And what the hell does it matter if he was white or not?

[–] vrinda81 10 years ago

Campy? I didn't see anything that was overacted or exaggerated. Hawaii is not the paradise people make it out to be. The one thing that was far-fetched, but is true for every show, is the amount of crime committed, but that is creative license. Hawaii did not have a state police unit at all. The idea of a four-man unit policing the islands was based on something Governor John Burns told Leonard Freeman in 1967. Burns was part of a four-man unit policing the islands to look for espionage activities during World War II. Burns was white. Hawaii never had a state police unit, at that time or now.

This show wasn't geared towards Hawaiian only. It was geared towards the mainland, who would identify better with a white actor. Putting a white actor in the lead role hardly diminished the quality of a show set in Hawaii. Jack Lord was the best of them. There was very little in terms of an acting industry in Hawaii, so they did have their pick of experiences Hawaiian actors who could play the part.

[–] tub51461 9 years ago

Only you can answer that one. I watch shows online more for background noise because any longer than a hour on my computer is nerve racking when I'm job searching. The noise keeps me from blowing my head off. Why this show? I seen Hawaii Five-O 2010 at least 6 times and everything else the same, so I needed something new.

[–] Zanza8 9 years ago

I don't think you're nostalgic or delusional. I watch the new Hawaii Five-0, but I think the original is much better. There's a real sense of decency and integrity and respect for law and order that you just don't get on the new shows. And this show in particular really shows the committment to Hawaii that Jack Lord had, with the many natives cast, the news footage here and there of parades and festivals, the shots of real people's houses, and I also like that they leaned more heavily on plot and dialogue, not like today when shows are more into flashy special effects. Sure, the show suffered when they lost Kono and Chin, and it didn't recover when Danny left, but it still went on for twelve seasons because it was that good.

http://thinkingoutloud-descartes.blogspot.com/

[–] vrinda81 9 years ago

Very well-said, Zanza. I should also add that modern shows rely too much on background stories of main characters and emphasis on their personal lives, rather than the main storyline related to the show's premise. The new H5O devoted too much time to the personal lives of the characters.

[–] Zanza8 9 years ago

I think you're quite right, Vrinda. Some backstory is good, I like to have the characters fleshed out a bit, but when the backstory takes precedence as it does today, it robs the stories of their meaning. You just can't get the deep appreciation for the Hawaiian people today from the endless angst of the new Five-0. Jack Lord took front and center with the cast, but even he took a back seat to the story.

http://thinkingoutloud-descartes.blogspot.com/

[–] mactach 9 years ago

I don't get why they wanted to even revive the show?

To me it's just a spit in the face to those who worked on it and they're just trying to make a quick buck remaking these classic TV shows and movies.

[–] vrinda81 9 years ago

They get carried away with the backstory, which shows they have nothing to offer in terms of the main story. Jack had more screentime than the other cast members, but that was how shows were done back then, and even then, the storylines weren't about him.

[–] Zanza8 9 years ago

Sometimes the story was about Steve but even then they didn't wallow in it. Like when Steve's nephew died and he went after the "doctor" that scammed his sister. We got a bit of backstory on Steve then, but they didn't wallow in it. The main story was about how people can pretend to be doctors and trick people. Or remember when Danny was shot by that Vietnam vet? The newscaster told some things about Danny, but it wasn't a big part of the episode. The big part of the episode was saving Danny, not his background.

http://thinkingoutloud-descartes.blogspot.com/