During the past week, since this article to announce the end or Hawaii Five-0 was first published and share by us, and which you can read here, the response has been overwhelming.
From comments here and on social media especially Facebook & Twitter it is clear that a LOT of assumptions has been made. Some just go on hearsay and do not even read the statements properly before commenting. And then there are speculations made and rumours started – the usual fandom stuff….. Many of those who only care to have half the facts and ignore explanations given, even call executive producer Peter names for things that he has no control over.
I would also like to remind fans that for Peter, Alex, the rest of the cast and the crew, Hawaii Five-0 is/was their real life and work – and now it ends. For us as fans, it is just entertainment and it comes nowhere close to what they experience at this time.
- From the article:
“CBS’ Hawaii Five-0 will be coming to an end. The popular action crime drama series will wrap its 10-year, 240-episode run with a two-hour series finale on Friday, April 3.“
I will discuss this first statement in further detail below.
- From the article:
“for the show’s entire run, Hawaii Five-0 has been a strong profit generator tor for CBS. In addition to its solid ratings performance, initially on Monday, and as a Friday anchor for the past seven seasons, Hawaii Five-0 has been a big international seller for CBS TV Studios, seen in more than 200 countries.”
Hawaii Five-0, which consistently wins its time period, has been watched by almost 40 million viewers this season. In addition, the show has ranked in the top 15 or higher of broadcast dramas during its run. Also, Hawaii Five-0, is CBS’ most social primetime drama, generating 47 million impressions, 3.7 million engagements and 3.8 million video views, season-to-date.”
The show therefore still ended on a strong note and was not cancelled because of bad ratings or money. Looking at the rest of the article I guess the question they had to answer was, will the show keep on going strong without McGarrett at the helm? And my next guess is that they did not want to bank on it.
- And to confirm the success, a statement by:
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Kelly Kahl, President, CBS Entertainment.
“From episode one, Hawaii Five-0 has been a huge success for us. Thanks to the amazing talents of the producers, writers, cast and crew, it has played a key role for a decade on our schedule and helped establish our powerhouse Friday night. We cannot be prouder of its quality, longevity and are thankful for the passionate fan-devotion it inspired.”
- From the article:
“Hawaii Five-0 will end its run with its original stars Alex O’Loughlin as McGarrett and Scott Caan as Danno. I hear both of their current contracts are up at the end of this season.”
This is not stated as facts and there are no mention or actual confirmation at this stage of whether contract negotiation to renew, with both or with either of them, failed.
- From the article:
“O’Loughlin suffered a serious back injury during the early seasons of the show, and has been dealing with effects from it ever since. There was speculation that he may leave the show two years ago but he stayed on after receiving a stem cell treatment for his back. I hear this time around, he felt he could not continue.”
Here it seems by hearsay that Alex did not want to renew his contract and connected it to his back injury. A year ago at the Paley panel, he also implied that after 217 episodes (at that time ) of Hawaii Five-0, that he is kind of tired of acting. Maybe that also played a role in his decision? I would guess that there are many factors that added up if, in fact, he decided not to renew.
The facts of his injuries should be known by everybody by now, but if they got worse again and affected his decision, is not actually confirmed here as the main reason for him not renewing. However many just assumed that the effects of Alex’s injuries are so bad that he now needs loads of time to recover – this was never said in this article.
- This is what Alex said in the Watch! article in May 2017:
“I blew one of my knees, I’ve torn ligaments and tendons, ankles, both shoulders, both wrists,” he says. “I’ve knocked my front teeth out. I’ve got fake front teeth. I tore my right shoulder to pieces—three external tears, a labrum tear and a detachment of the bicep tendon. My current favorite injury is two herniated discs in my lower lumbar, which I’m receiving stem cell treatment for to avoid surgery.”
Signed on to Hawaii Five-0 through eight seasons, he began talking about walking away while he felt he still could. But recently, he’s felt his workload lighten, and those stem cell injections? They’ve been “magic,” he says. Does this mean he might challenge Jack Lord’s record 12 seasons as McGarrett?
“That would be a miracle,” O’Loughlin says with a laugh. “But I can see coming back and doing another season or two. I think this show is everything. It’s the core of it all.”
If the fact that Alex did not renew his contract surprised anybody then they have not been paying attention to his own words. Whether his injuries are better or worse at the moment only he knows, but back then already he said that going beyond Season 10 would be a miracle. Some seem to suggest that there are some hidden facts when it is, in fact, clear from this Watch! article and a few other ones before as well, exactly how Alex felt about it all.
The fact that you carry scars from injuries always places you at risk, but it does not prevent you from having an active sporting life. Injuries do to not necessarily cripple you if you look after them well. Injuries can get better, but they can also get worse – it is a balancing act that gets trickier with age.
- From the article:
“I hear the network explored continuing Hawaii Five-0 with Caan’s Danno and a new partner but ultimately, everyone felt that this was the right time to end the series”
From this, the assumption might be made that Scott was still willing to renew his contract. It also looks like it was definitely an option until the very last days, as Peter posted this message below on 15 February – barely 2 weeks before the end of the series was announced on 27 February with this article that we are discussing.
- From Peter on IG (15 Feb 2020)
Sooooooo excited about this #H50
- This is the article from Deadline on 14 February 2020 which he referred to in this social media post:
‘Hawaii Five-O’: Lance Gross Joins Cast As Potential Series Regular
A major new character is coming to CBS’ long-running series Hawaii Five-O. Star alum Lance Gross is joining the rebooted crime drama as a guest star in the final two episodes of Season 10, with a series regular option pending renewal. The back-to-back episodes will air April 3.
Gross will play Lincoln Cole, a decorated war hero and ex-Marine Gunnery Sergeant with the Fleet Anti-Terrorism Security Team. Lincoln’s actions as an anonymous good Samaritan now have him in the cross-hairs of some very dangerous people, and McGarrett (Alex O’Loughlin) and Five-0 are determined to protect him at all costs.
Interesting, but I do not really know how anybody really thought this could have been a viable option and why it was left so late in the process to explore. Danno has not been a fulltime partner to McGarrett since Season 4 already, so how would this have worked?
And what credentials would this new guy have had to replace Steve as the leader in this well-established team? A very willful team. And what characteristics would he poses, that the Governor of Hawaii would appoint him as a leader of such a taskforce?
Let’s move on to the other personal statements made as quotes in the article: (Therefore regarded as said by those people)
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Statement by Alex O’Loughlin
“This show has been pretty much every waking moment for the last 10 years of my life. Everywhere I go on this planet, in every language, I am McGarrett to all these people.
What we’ve done, what we’ve accomplished, it’s extraordinary. I can’t really put words to express my level of gratitude. I’m just glad to have been a part of this, a part of history and I’m going to miss it.
And to the fans, I don’t know how to thank you guys. Thank you for following us the way you have. I’m going to miss you. Aloha.”
As you can see from this statement, Alex said nothing about his health or his reasons for not renewing his contract, or even that he did not want to renew a contract to continue. Or, for that, matter that it played any part in the show not being renewed for S11.
He is only saying how proud he is of the 10 years of McGarrett and the thanks to the fans for their support over the years.
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Statement by Peter Lenkov
“Hawaii Five-0 has been such a blessing to me and all of the people who have worked on this incredible show. I truly learned the meaning of ‘ohana’ as the viewers embraced us and the people of Hawaii welcomed us with the privilege to film on their shores.
I am forever indebted to the creative genius that was Leonard Freeman who gave us such a beautiful story to begin with.
And my eternal gratitude to our cast, led by our hero Alex O’Loughlin, the writers, the production team, our CBS ohana, and most importantly –YOU, the fans, who allowed us to come to work with pride and made our series such a success. Mahalo.”
At this point, I would just like to remind fans that Peter also lost a lot. This has been his most successful project thus far. I would guess that he would have tried everything in his power to keep the show running. Not only was he the one who had to tell hundreds of cast and crew that they now lost a job, but he also lost a lot on income in the process.
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Statement by CBS President Television Studios, David Stapf
“For 10 seasons, Alex, Scott and the rest of the talented Five-0 cast have brought fans exciting adventures in a spectacular tropical paradise.
We specifically want to thank Peter and the incredibly talented production team for 10 years of consistently outstanding television. The drama has been a great success for the Studio and Network, and as a global franchise for our company.
We’re pleased to give it a big sendoff and that viewers will have the opportunity to say goodbye to their favorite characters as the final season wraps.”
Grace Park, Alex O’Loughlin David Stapf & Scott Caan – SOTB 2010
From this statement of David, it looks like he is satisfied that the 2-hour finale will be a proper send-off for such a long-running show. Guess we will have to wait and see if we feel the same …..
- But let’s go back to the beginning of the article and the first statement:
“CBS’ Hawaii Five-0 will be coming to an end. The popular action crime drama series will wrap its 10-year, 240-episode run with a two-hour series finale on Friday, April 3.“
There seems to be a kind of debate on, of whether the word ‘cancelled’ or ‘end’ should be used to describe what happened to the show. Interesting to see that the article writer opted to use the word ‘end’ and the President of CBS chose to use the words ‘final season wraps’.
Not that it really makes any difference in the greater scheme of things or to world peace in general 😀 , but as a non-English speaking person, I normally want to see what the words really mean before I make a decision, and this is what the search gave me:
Cancelled: “decide or announce that (a planned event) will not take place.”
End: “a final part of something, especially a period of time, an activity, or a story.”
Wraps: “the end of a session of filming or recording.”
I guess the explanation does not really clear up the fact of whether Hawaii Five-0 was ‘cancelled’ or that ‘it is ending’, but if we took the words of David Stapf, he felt that is the end of the final season. If you, however, argue that it was planned to continue to Season 11 then cancelled would be correct, I guess.
In Summary – from this article, it is clear that many factors came into play to announce either renewal or the end of the show. ALL of it added up to get us where we are today – a month away from watching the final chapter in the lives of Steve McGarrett and his Ohana ……
Just on a personal note – over the years I have stated in many articles here on the blog that I regard the Hawaii Five-0 Pilot as the best I have ever seen. From the start, it hooked me in this story of Steve and his team. It was all set up perfectly and gave me all the ingredients for a wonderful show.
Hawaii Five-0 got me curious into looking up who Alex is, but his portrayal of Mick in Moonlight got me hooked on him as a fan (for life) and a year later enticed me to become a blogger and start this site with Paula. However, who Alex is as a person kept me/us here for nearly 8 years now and inspires us to continue.
If I was not following Alex’s career as a blogger, I would most probably have stopped watching Hawaii Five-0 by Seasons 3 or 4. And at this stage, there would definitely not have been an attraction for me to continue to watch the show if he left.
So I guess CBS felt the same way as me – No McGarrett no Five-0
(Maybe for those who felt the show could go on without Alex, the show got cancelled, but for those who feel like me and would have stopped watching it without him, it has come to an end? 😉 )
Hawaii Five-0: A successful show, ending on a high note.
ALOHA!
Alex O´Loughlin ~ An Intense Study 