YMMV / Hawaii Five-O

• Awesome Music:
  • The theme tune is considered by many to be one of the best TV themes ever.^note When the 2010 remake tried to do an "updated" version with electric guitars and synth drums, the response was so negative that they had to hastily record a shortened version of the original theme with some of the original musicians in the orchestra. The theme song is by composer Morton Stevens. It became a hit single for The Ventures, a famous instrumental rock group.
  • A bit of trivia: That distinctive music that plays over the old "CBS Special Presentation" ident is from a cut on the soundtrack called "Call to Danger".
  • In fact, the show's only Emmys were for Stevens' scores to the episodes "A Thousand Pardons, You're Dead!" and "Hookman" (he was also nominated for the pilot) — and what's more, "Hookman" was up against two other episodes of the same series (Bruce Broughton's "The $100,000 Nickel" and Don B. Ray's "Nightmare In Blue").
• Captain Obvious Reveal: In the Pilot Movie tries really hard to make us think Brent (Leslie Nielsen's character) is The Mole working for Wo Fat. Miller's ever-present pipe gives it away long before the climax.
• Esoteric Happy Ending: At the end of "Tricks Are Not Treats," McGarrett orders Chin Ho to arrest the bad guys, even though he really has zero evidence against them and knows they'll probably walk.
• Harsher in Hindsight: "Paniolo" climaxes with title character Frank Kuakua ("paniolo" is a Hawaiian term for cowboy) heading to the mountains he calls home, where he dies. Frank was played by Frank Silvera (The High Chapparal), who passed away in an accident in his own home not long after filming this episode, leading to a The Character Died with Him moment on his regular show.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • John Hillerman appeared in one episode that was partially filmed at the house that would later become Robin's Nest. And gets a massage there to boot!
  • When the Meighans get arrested at the end of "The Meighan Conspiracy," Mrs. Meighan tells her Affably Evil Smug Snake of a husband that he's better judge of a women than of men. Hubby is played by then (and for most of his life) closeted Robert Reed.
  • In "Deep Cover," the villainous femme fatale is played by Maud Adams (between The Man with the Golden Gun and Octopussy) - Jack Lord, of course, was the first person to play Felix Leiter in the movies... and in the same season's "My Friend, The Enemy", Luciana Paluzzi aka Fiona Volpe turns up. This time she isn't a baddie.
  • "Year Of The Horse" has George Lazenby. He is a baddie.
  • When you consider the revival takes place in a Shared Universe with NCIS, you can easily picture the season eight premiere "Murder - Eyes Only," a Wo Fat episode dealing with the murder of a Naval Intelligence commander during McGarrett's Naval Reserve duty, as a Poorly Disguised Pilot for some kind of NCIS: Hawai'i series. Sure enough, come 2021...., although it didn't actually take that route via Hawaii Five-0 due to ending in 2020.
  • Sanford and Son buffs will get a kick out of James Gregory appearing in the Pilot Movie (as the original Jonathan Kaye)^note as well as in different guest roles on the series proper and later turning up on the Sanford and Son two-parter "The Hawaiian Connection" as a cop who makes a joke about giving McGarrett time to get his hair teased!
• Memetic Mutation:
  • "Book 'em, Danno."
  • "Five-O" has become street slang for "the police", especially state troopers.
  • The Instrumental Theme Tune composed by Morton Stevens is now the semi-official fight song of the University of Hawaii.
• Narrowed It Down to the Guy I Recognize:
  • It's likely adults watching "Horoscope For Murder" in its first run will have suspected Tab Hunter's character knows something about a series of fatal stabbings around Honolulu.
  • Similarly: with special guest star Cyd Charisse in "Death Mask".
  • Also applies to frequent guest stars. If Nehemiah Persoff turns up, you have your villain (except in "Will the Real Mr. Winkler Please Die?").
• Questionable Casting: "To Hell with Babe Ruth" expects you the viewer to accept Mark Lenard and Will Kuluva as being Japanese - it's especially glaring when Lenard's character is in a scene with actual Japanese-American Virginia Wing as his daughter (i.e. most of the episode).
• Retroactive Recognition
  • An early 1970 episode, "Run, Johnny, Run", guest starred a 27-year-old Christopher Walken. Also in the episode with a small role as an attorney is Al Michaels, at that point a local sportscaster in Honolulu, with Monday Night Football and NBC's Sunday Night Football far away in his future. Do you believe in cameos? YES!
  • Hippie drug dealer Big Chicken was played by Gavin MacLeod, who'd go on to greater fame as Murray Slaughter and then Captain Stubing.
  • In "Tricks Are Not Treats," Chano has Harris assassinated, while Pat Morita tends bar.
  • Jeff Daniels plays a college student/jewel thief in the Season 12 episode "The Flight of the Jewels".
  • In "Kiss the Queen Goodbye," Commandant Lassard is forced to help the Romulan Commander and King Richard to steal a gem.
  • Annette O'Toole is the wife of an ex-military sniper with a troubled relationship with his mother in "...And I Want Some Candy and a Gun That Shoots."
  • Dirk Benedict gives one of the Victims Of The Week (there's two) syphilis in "Chain of Events".
  • Shirley Feeney is the wife of the "Secret Witness."
  • Lee Potter helps Dr. Westphall in his conning of rich male tourists in "One Born Every Minute".
  • Apparently Lt. Biddle is Steve McGarrett's brother-in-law.
  • Who knew Emily Gilmore ran a call-girl operation (as seen in "Oldest Profession - Latest Price")?
  • Hawaii-born Kelly Preston (then going by her real name of Kelly Palzis) appears in one of the final episodes, "For Old Times' Sake".
  • Jonathan Goldsmith in the episodes "By the Numbers" (billed as Jonathan Lippe) and "Man In a Steel Frame".
• Special Effects Failure: In "Anybody Can Build A Bomb," when Dan Williams instructs police sharpshooters to "Nail that plane" - the one used to extortionists in a getaway plan - they do with the help of badly superimposed flames as the plane goes down the runway before it crashes. This happens again in "The Capsule Kidnapping".
  • "Death's Name Is Sam" suffers from several - the ridiculous fake moustache George Takei has to wear as Patrolman Blake who's drafted by Five-O to help the unit find out who's smuggling in parts of a surface-to-air missile into Honolulu. Then the mismatch of stock footage when Patrolman Blake is blown out of the sky (the helicopter turns into a plane...) by the villain, played by John Colicos. That's right - Kor kills Sulu! And there's another awful plane-related superimposition in the climax...
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Several, in fact. In "Death Is A Company Policy," Duke is framed as part of a scheme orchestrated by a criminal organisation with international scope called Bryce Halsey; given the company's representative escapes and Bryce Halsey remains out there at the end of the episode (although Duke does get his name cleared and returns to duty), the series had a golden opportunity for another recurring menace a la Wo Fat - but it never happened.

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