Countdown to #H50 Season 5 Blessing #4

Less than 24 hours  to go to the 8th of July, 6am in Hawaii. That is when we get to join the cast of Hawaii Five-0 to start the filming of the 5th Season of the series, with a blessing ceremony! Please make sure you read the comments at the end of this post, to help and assist you to watch the proceedings tomorrow.

For our 4th instalment of the countdown, we take a look at the Blessing ceremony for Season 4. The blessing of the new soundstage and upcoming season consisted of prayers and chants pronounced by Kauila Kawelo Barber and Kalei Nu’uhiwa. Attending were series stars  Alex O’Loughlin, Daniel Dae Kim, Michelle Borth, Taylor Wily, Dennis Chun and Al Harrington, with  Peter Lenkov, along with some of the other producers and staff.  Then everyone was off to shoot the first scenes of Season 4.

This blessing ceremony felt to me very similar to what the Season was for me as well. Disorganized! All the elements were there and it was all pretty and nice, but somehow it lacked some structure and passion…….. Even the footage from Hawaii News Now, was poor quality. It was as if the whole affair was rushed and everybody was just going through the motions, without any quality and real structure.

Season 4 Blessing:

– 10 July 2013 –

Interview before the blessing started:

Alex: You want me to say something?

Tannya: Actually you are live.

Alex: Teleprompter?

Tannya: Hi, good to see you

Alex: How’s things?

Tannya: Good. A little different look than all season?

Alex: I actually haven’t had time to shave, believe it or not. I just got off a plane. I’m about to shave. Stick around you could film me.

Tannya: We do have our international fans watching online.

Alex: Good. Hi.

Tannya: So you are not trying to throw us off the scent? It does not have anything to do with this episode?

Alex: Maybe I am trying to throw you off the scent. You will have to tune in to see what is going on.

Tannya: Did you enjoy the off-season. When we caught up with you at the ranch, you were filming some very exhausting episodes. It’s been a very long season on Hawaii Five-0. Are you rejuvenated now?

Alex: Yeah, to be able to have two months with my kids and my family is the best. And my dog, you know. It was needed and I am ready to get back to work.

Tannya: In that order, kids, dog?

Alex: Well sometimes, depending on how the kids are behaving.

Tannya: What’s it like now being back? The studio has a lot of history. You get to film where the original Five-0 was.

Alex: You’ve got to forgive me; cause this is the first time I have been in HQ, since we moved to this new studio. So I’m still taking it in. And it’s amazing, it looks just the same. No matter where we move to, we sort of readjust.

I’m thrilled because we are closer to my house now, so I can sleep for longer.

Tannya: That’s great, because you don’t get much sleep on the show, do you?

Alex: Well, we do alright.

Tannya: What are you looking forward to? I know Sunset on the Beach has always been so important to you, so now it’s a go, set the date.

Alex: They have? It’s all locked in?

Tannya: Should I tell you Thursday September 25th?

Alex: I  thought I knew. You know I wasn’t sure if there was going to do it.

Tannya: You going to be there?

Alex: Of course. I love it. I hope Hawaii wants to keep doing it that s all. I get nervous with a lot of premieres. If they keep showing up, I’ll be thrilled to go.

Tannya: You think there will be a day people that there are not people hooting and hollering for you?

Alex: I don’t know? Maybe. I mean that’s the fear that I’m just going to roll in and that no one is going to be there.

Tannya: Crickets?

Alex: But I’m stoked, we got another great season on TV. I’ve never been this deep into a TV show before. I’ve never been to the fourth season as the lead of a show. It’s kind of … it’s crazy to me. Not that it’s ……. Experiencing this objectively is amazing.

So every new year that comes along I don’t take any of it for granted. I’m extremely grateful. I’m just as excited as you guys to see what is going to happen. I feel like a fan, more than the guy in the thing. So I am like, what is happening.

Tannya: I don’t want to cut you off, but I think they want to get the blessing started. Maybe that is the good luck charm to keep season 4, season 5, season 6.

Alex: There you go.

Tannya: Alex O’Loughlin, maybe we will catch up with him after the blessing, but we will officially let things get started here. Nice to catch up with you.

Alex: Good to see you.

*****

Interview after the Blessing:

Tannya: Can we talk to you real quickly again? Sorry, we ambushed you before. Still live here.

Alex: You look so much like the woman a spoke to before.

Tannya: I do?

Alex: It’s crazy

Tannya: You look just like this guy on a TV show. So what do you think? It’s a new start in so many ways. New home ……

Alex: It’s fantastic. Look, I’m thrilled. I’m thrilled to be here. Like I said, I’m literally taking all this in as you guys are. I landed, I landed. I just landed on an aeroplane back into town. I flew in, hopped into a shower and walked into this blessing and I am like wow.

I’ve been out of town with my eldest son and I am ready to get back to work. I’m very excited. I am in the same place I am in at the beginning of every season. Which is full of kind of hope, excitement and I don’t know what is happening. So it’s always titillation about it. Titillation?

Tannya: Very family like atmosphere, you guys have, like dogs and everything on set.

Alex: Out little ohana here, dogs and kids

Tannya: Dysfunctional family?

Alex: Always, I don’t know how else to do it.

Tannya: What do you think of your co-stars like having to work with Daniel Dae Kim.

Alex: Having to work with Daniel? I mean it’s a struggle.

Daniel: How sexy is this one here.

Alex: I’ve got to bring my A-game with Daniel.

Tannya: You were holding on to him pretty tightly during that blessing.

Alex: You are in the interview now.

Tannya: Daniel, say hi to all the fans.

Daniel: Hey everybody, thank you so much for supporting us and wish us luck for Season 4.

Tannya: Is this like “Groundhog Day” ? This is new to him, but you worked here for Lost.

Daniel: I was here. It’s a little bit disorienting to kind of see this space used in a different way. And it is a little bit odd this space as HQ in a different building.

Alex: Third time.

Daniel: I know right. It’s true, this is our 3rd move.

Tannya: What are your thoughts going into season 4? Do you have any?

Daniel: I always have thoughts. I’m excited. I think it’s gonna be a good season. And to be able to shoot on these stages, which hold a lot of memories for fans of the original Hawaii Five-0, I think it’s really special.

Tannya: And what about the fact that they already have the date set in stone, Sunset on the Beach is a go, we’re doing a premiere again for Hawaii fans first

Daniel: I think that’s amazing. I think it is always great to be able to bring this to Hawaii before everywhere else. You know so much of the show is about this beautiful Island. These beautiful Islands I should say.

You know as far as Season 4 is concerned, I think it’s nice that we are able to plan these things. Now that we are a little bit more of a mature show. So we know what to expect in terms of scheduling and we are able to get ahead of it 8-ball a little bit.

Tannya: Is Chin Ho going to find some happiness? A new lady this season?

Daniel: Your guess is as good as mine. It would be nice. It would be a nice colour for him to have. I’m really happy with how much variety the characters have to play. This year, I’m sure that is how we will continue it.

Tannya: How about your cousin on the show, Grace Park?

Daniel: I don’t think he can date his cousin. I think that would be illegal in most states. Maybe not in all.

Tannya: They are telling me, time is done, Daniel, thank you. We look forward to another great season …. All the stars heading off

Link to the video of the blessing here

******

To make it easier for you to see at what time it will happen, where you live, we have created an alphabetical chart with some of the bigger cities in times zones all over the world. They might start on time at 6am, but as I said in the first countdown post, it normally takes about an hour or 2 before the proceedings actually start……Maybe they will surprise us and will actually start at 6am 🙂

World Map with time zones

If you are still not sure of the time it will happen where you live, you can use the site here to make the time convenient for you.

Just some pointers to help you access and watch the live stream from Hawaii News Now:

• We created the link location for you on the top left of the blog (Just click on the picture of Alex being blessed, and it will take you to HNN live stream). If you are not able to see the live stream, please read the notes under the schedule that they have there, in order to make sure you have all that is necessary for you to watch the live stream on your computer.

• When the screen goes black during the live feed, it will most probably be when they are broadcasting ads on the TV broadcast during the News.

• Sometimes you need to refresh the page to get the live stream to stream properly again – below the live stream screen there is a link to help you to refresh the page (you just need to click on it).