TVSquad

A little over a year ago, CBS was all a flutter with thoughts of a new Hawaii Five-O. Jane wrote about it and even allowed herself to get geeked about a new Jack Lord and company. Well, that incarnation by Criminal Minds executive producer Ed Bernero failed to make it into production. I guess it didn't have enough "Book 'em, Danno's" -- or maybe it had too many. Whatever the reason, that version died and a new one has been ordered. CBS now has a new plan for an updated Hawaii Five-O.

Ed Bernero is such a big Hawaii Five-0 fan, he has the show's theme song as his ringtone. But that's not all.

The Criminal Minds exec producer is also creating a new version of the classic show that starred Jack Lord as Steve McGarrett, head of an elite branch of the fictional Hawaii State Police. The show won two Primetime Emmys and ran on CBS from 1968 to 1980 (Really?! It ran that long?!).

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the new version will feature McGarrett's son as top cop. Bernero says he won't try and re-invent the series, and will "keep as much of the original show as possible."

Okay, let's think about this. Who looks enough like Jack Lord to play his son? (Of course, he'll have to have the same immovable, thick mane.) Jake Gyllenhaal? Kyle MacLachlan? How about Peter Krause? Dirty Sexy Money can't last much longer, can it?

But only for a week! The first season DVD set of the classic crime series was supposed to come out on February 27, 2006, but the release date has now been changed to March 6. Here is a list of the episode titles, though there is no word on commentaries or other extra features.

Take a look at the box cover. Notice how the giant wave from the opening credits matches star Jack Lord's hairstyle! I wonder if the people who designed the cover did that on purpose. Lord was an interesting guy. Checking online, it looks like he pretty much stopped acting after the 1980 movie M Station: Hawaii, which I've never seen but seems like it was probably done with the same crew/facilities as Hawaii Five-0, and was probably an easy gig since Lord lived there. After that movie he seemed happy painting, and could often be seen walking around Hawaii in a big straw hat. I remember that image from several photos in magazines in the 80s and 90s.

I enjoyed the series, but not enough to go out and buy the DVDs. Unlike my roommate, who I think has been waiting for the show to come out on DVD since 1981.