hawaii five-o

Even a guy speeding away on a bicycle is no match for Steve on foot. The officer on 'Hawaii Five-0' (Mon., 10PM ET on CBS) catches up and hurls his body straight into the cyclist. The two go careening over a boardwalk barrier and onto the beach.

Not pausing to check for injuries (or just to take a breath), the cyclist throws off his helmet and lunges toward Steve. But Steve gets in the first successful punch -- and kick -- and he breaks out several more bad-ass moves against his assailant. One includes jumping up and kicking the man in the chest with both feet.

When you're playing the game of "chicken," you have to fully commit. Two people are headed together on a collision course -- the first one to flinch loses the game. On the other hand, if no one flinches -- then everyone loses. And on 'Hawaii Five-0' (Mon., 10PM ET on CBS), that could lead to death.

[Warning: Spoiler alert.]

On the new episode, Navy SEAL Graham Wilson (Adam Beach) is accused of a crime he didn't commit. Wilson is blamed for the death of his wife -- as a result, he goes berserk. The solider grabs a bunch of hostages. He demands that the cops find the real killer -- or else.

Graham is playing chicken, but so are policemen Danno and McGarrett (Scott Caan and Alex O'Loughlin). As a former SEAL, Steve McGarrett sympathizes with Graham. But his partner Danny "Danno" Williams just thinks the guy is a murderer.

Hanging out in a bar can lead to trouble, and not just a hangover. On 'Hawaii Five-O' (Mon., 10PM ET on CBS), a young woman is murdered and her sister is abducted. Now, Danno and McGarrett (Scott Caan and Alex O'Loughlin) must follow the trail, and track down the missing sister before it is too late.

[Warning: Spoiler alert.]

The missing girl is the teenage daughter of a U.S. Ambassador, and the cops' first clue leads them to a trendy nightclub/bar, where the cops discover that a young man has being drugging young women.

['Hawaii Five-0' - 'Lanakila']

Even scripted shows sometimes get an unwanted dose of reality. For 'Hawaii Five-0,' that came in the form of an on-set injury to Scott Caan. This accident forced the writers to invent a similar injury within the show, which in turn wrote Danno out of a lot of scenes tonight. Did tonight's episode suffer without the usual heaping helping of Caan?

The short answer: Yes, although not terribly much. Not only did the plot device allow Chin Ho a little more screen time, but also allowed more room for this week's guest star as well as the addition of a new character to the roster. Many might have preferred that McGarrett use his limitless resources to equip Danno with a rocket-powered wheelchair rather than a simple cane, but at least the man's mouth still worked as well as ever.

Hawaii Five-O - Monday October 11, 10 p.m. ET/PT Global/CBS

Balthazar Getty's reputation as a not-terribly-nice guy must be catching up to him, as he plays a violent convict who escapes from prison and kidnaps a young couple on vacation (and dresses really badly while he does it). Meanwhile, McGarrett's estranged sister comes to town.

The producers of the new 'Hawaii Five-0' reboot obviously still have a soft spot for the old Danno: They want to sign him up for a cameo role.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, executive producer Peter Lenkov said that he's been trying to persuade actor James McArthur to appear on the show. "We've been talking to James ... but he just doesn't know because he's busy with a business he's launching. But we'd love to have him."

And according to WENN.com, McArthur's consdering Lenkov's offer. He said "It's got a good cast and good plots. ... I'll do it when the time is right."

Why has 'Hawaii Five-0' been a ratings success so far? It's not hard to figure out the formula. It's in a good timeslot that served 'CSI: Miami' well for a number of years. There isn't a heck of a lot of competition (maybe 'Castle,' but that's about it). And having Grace Park in a bikini or otherwise sexy outfit every week doesn't hurt.

But after three episodes, the show still has yet to break out from the procedural shell it's in. There have been signs that the show can become more than just a "case of the week" kind of program, but they're minor at best. So far, the show's been carried by some good action, good chemistry between Alex O'Loughlin and Scott Caan, and the aforementioned Park-in-bikini scenes (can't mention those enough).

Based on those signs, and the legacy of the original series, there are a few ways Roberto Orici, Alex Kurtzman, and their writers can take this show in a direction that makes it stand out from other procedurals.

['Hawaii Five-0': 'Malama Ka Aina']

Shows like 'Hawaii Five-0' aren't built around deconstruction. They are built around sturdy, repeatable formulas, almost like dramatic recipes that can be whipped up on a weekly basis. And currently, the show is producing one tasty result. It may not win any culinary awards, but the audience never leaves feeling anything but full and sated. Rather than recap this week's episode in a normal fashion (after all, its gang war plot was fairly pedestrian), let's look at five key ingredients that go into a successful episode such as tonight's installment, 'Malama Ka Aina.'

['Hawaii Five-0' - 'Pilot']

Making big assumptions about new shows based purely on pilots is a tricky proposition. Sometimes, a show comes out with literal and/or metaphorical guns a blazin', only to reveal soon after it was only firing blanks. Other shows take time to find their sea legs, not putting their best foot forward, but finding their proper stride down the road.

The reboot of 'Hawaii Five-0' may not suffer either fate: its goals simply don't seem terrifically lofty in the first place to warrant either a major accomplishment or an epic fail. Above all, it wants merely to entertain, and for its initial hour? Mission accomplished.

Since this show airs on CBS, there might have been quite a lot of people watching tonight who remember the original show. One imagines that more money was spent on this initial episode than perhaps an entire season's worth of originals. But all that money certainly ended up onscreen, not in an actor's pocket. Nearly every act of tonight's pilot featured at least one jaw-dropping stunt or explosion that transcended what one normally expects from television action, and landed firmly into motion-picture quality kabooms. A helicopter shooting bazookas, armored vans used as assault weapons, backflips that would make the U.S. women's gymnastics team green with pint-sized envy: 'Hawaii Five-0' spared no expense in bringing the wow factor.

Lone Star - Monday September 20, 9PM ET/PT, Global/Fox

The season premiere of this new series introduces us to Bob/Robert, a con man living two separate lives on opposite sides of Texas. In one, he lives with a naive girlfriend and bilks the locals of their savings, and in another he's married to an oil heiress played by Adrienne Palecki of 'Friday Night Lights.' Her dad is played by Jon Voight. Based on the previews, it's hard to tell if we're supposed to love or hate this guy, but I'll tune in to just to watch Voight chew the scenery, at least the first time.

Unless you've been living isolation without benefit of television service or any outside media, you're very much aware that the most anticipated new drama series on CBS this fall is 'Hawaii Five-0.' Or should I say the reboot, revamped new 2010 edition of the original Jack Lord police show that ran from 1968 to 1980.

It's no surprise that CBS would be hyping the heck out of their new incarnation, but at some point the hype has gone overboard, if you'll pardon the pun. The rolling waves, the all-too-familiar music, the plethora of promotion has been incessant, prompting me to wonder if it's all become too much. Here's three reasons the CBS hype may have already turned off viewers ...

Luck hasn't been on the side of actors Alex O'Loughlin and Jerry O'Connell as of late. Though critical and fan favorites in their previous endeavors, they have a combined four failed TV series over the last three years -- a poor record in any situation. Dare we even whisper the words "show killer"? Yet, network executives still see something in both of these actors to give them another chance.

That's why, come September, both O'Loughlin and O'Connell will be in brand new CBS series: O'Loughlin as Steve McGarrett in a remake of 'Hawaii Five-O' and O'Connell as a Las Vegas lawyer in 'The Defenders.' The question is, will their respective curses be broken or will they need to look for another job outside of acting?

Last year was a remarkable one for new shows, which you can see from the list of this year's Emmy nominees. The Academy, a group that's reluctant to recognize any kind of new show, gave significant nominations to 'Glee,' 'Modern Family' and 'The Good Wife.' In addition to those three shows, 'Community,' 'The Middle' and 'Cougar Town' all had strong creative first seasons, with decent-enough ratings to earn them a second go-around.

Does this fall's slate of new network shows have that same potential? Probably not.

Not that there isn't quality among the fall pilots. It's just that none of them have the breakout potential that last year's freshman class had. And there are a few reasons why that might be the case:

Danno will still be booking 'em -- just maybe with a slight limp. 'Hawaii Five-0' star Scott Caan injured his knee while filming a stunt for the show. But while this type of injury might typically sideline a sports star for months, it won't get in the way of the show's production.

According to the New York Post, Caan suffered "what is believed to be a torn ACL" last week. The new CBS series rearranged the shooting schedule so the 33-year-old actor could undergo surgery for his injury.

According to THR, Caan could be back to set as soon as this week, and his torn ACL will be written into the show.

"Yes, his injury will be noted in the story line," said a CBS spokesperson.

Earlier today, James Hibberd of The Hollywood Reporter's Live Feed published some interesting results of a tracking poll that measured viewers' "emotional attachment" to some of the upcoming new fall series.

'Hawaii Five-O' and '$#*! My Dad Says' took the top spots in the tracking poll, but that doesn't seem to be a big surprise; fans of the original 'Five-O' have been clamoring to see the Alex O'Loughlin-starring remake, and the pairing of William Shatner and a Twitter-feed-to-sitcom success story has made '$#*!' a show that people want to see, despite some bad reviews of the pilot from us grumpy critic-types.

But the shows that round out the top five are a bit of a surprise: 'Running Wilde' and 'Raising Hope' on FOX, and the new CBS sitcom 'Mike & Molly.' This is from a poll which, according to Hibberd, has an 85% track record, though he pointed out that last year's list didn't contain the popular and critically-acclaimed 'Modern Family,' while it did contain the cancelled 'FlashForward.'

The three comedies have been well-promoted by their respective networks, but they are not as high profile as the top two shows on the list. But there are a number of reasons why new comedies are springing to mind when people talk about fall debuts: