@AlohaBruce who runs the hawaii-aloha.com blog was with fellow bloggers @WebSouffle and @WendieJoy at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, Tropics Bar and Grill to catch the filming of the dinner scene with the Five-0 team and Kamekona!
Grace Park(Kono Kalakaua), Governor Neil Abercrombie, Alex O’Loughlin (Steve McGarrett), First Lady Nancy Caraway, Scott Caan (Danny “Danno” Williams), Daniel Dae Kim (Chin Ho Kelly), Larisa Oleynik (Jenna Kaye).
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – It was the start of another episode. Danno and Chin Ho Kelly were leaning over their car. Danno’s mouth was still full, but he still found room to remark, “It’s should be illegal it’s so good. What the hell is it?” Chin Ho replied, “Coco puffs. Liliha Bakery sells 7,000 of these a day.”
It seems every week another local business gets a plug like this on Hawaii Five-0. Take the Battleship Missouri Memorial for instance. It served as the backdrop when Steve McGarett met the governor for the first time in the pilot episode. It’s also in the credits at the opening of every show. And it also had its own episode. An ex-Navy Seal took a group of visitors hostage.
Since then, tourists have been pouring in. Last December the Missouri saw 25% more visitors than any other December on record. And just last month they saw 30,000 paid customers.
Michael Carr, the President and COO of the Battleship Missouri Memorial says, “We had a record year in 2010, I think driven by a number of things, the publicity that we got from drydock, the fact that tourism has improved, but I think the Five-0 Effect certainly had a positive impact on the later part of the year.”
Carr says the Missouri never paid for the publicity. In fact, Five-0 paid them a site fee and even let the Memorial authorities look over the script before shooting. “The alleged suspect was supposed to come on covered in blood,” remarks Carr. “We’re like, we don’t let people through the gate covered in blood. So they actually had to change it.”
Five-0 fans know the character Kamekona as the face of Waiola Shave Ice. But in real life, it’s Jerry Lee who’s owned the shop for 30-plus years. He still doesn’t know why the producers chose to feature his business. “It could be just the name ‘Waiola,’” he says. “It’s Hawaiian, versus some other Japanese name.”
He calculates an additional 20% in shave ice sales since his business’ name appeared in the pilot. And he says T-shirt sales are up 30%. He even has a shirt with Kamekona’s likeness on it. He has a tough time keeping that one in stock.
Still, there’s just one more thing he wants from Kamekona. “I wanna meet badly,” he says. “I want to invite him here, have a shave ice, take a picture and we can hang it on the wall here and have the words that say ‘founders,’ you know? Because I always tell people he’s the owner, and I’m the brother.”
Kona Brewing Co. has seen a HUGE boost from it’s appearance in the show. Steve McGarett is always drinking their beer. In fact, the show’s alpha male has been heard asking for the company’s signature “Longboard” brew in several episodes. How did that help? Well in the 4th quarter of last year they saw a 60% increase in beer sales.
“It’s probably added 10,000 barrels of beer to the sales over the 4th quarter and into the beginning of the 1st quarter,” says Mattson Davis, President of Kona Brewing. “It’s just been, that’s 10,000 on top of the growth we were already experiencing.”
But for all the products featured on the show, the biggest product has got to be Hawaii itself.
I asked Steve Spalding, a tourist from Michigan if seeing the sunny beaches and blue skies on TV during the winter made him want to come here. He replied, “Yes! I’ve been dying to come here. Been watching this show since it started and I’ve been dying to come.”
And when you think about it, the show is still in its first season. Who knows how much stronger the Five-0 Effect will get.
Copyright Hawaii News Now 2011. All rights reserved.
Inside the old Advertiser is a room used as medical examiner’s morgue on Hawaii Five-O.
By Teri Okita
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – A trivia question for you: what iconic Honolulu building houses a police department, a tsunami center, a medical examiner’s morgue, and even a brothel? Hmmmm. Stumped?
It’s the old Honolulu Advertiser building on Kapiolani Boulevard in downtown, and these days, it’s the center of operations for the hit show, Hawaii Five-0.
Steve McGarrett can call the three-and-a-half acres of prime real estate in Honolulu “home”. Well, sort of.
“We’re standing just outside Steve McGarrett’s house,” says co-executive producer and director, Brad Turner. “The ocean’s just over there,” he points to a big blue screen. “There’s a backdrop now for the ocean.”
Turner shows us how they’ve transformed the old newspaper property into a Hollywood soundstage. “It’s kind of movie magic at work again.”
McGarrett’s house – and Danno’s apartment – are nothing more than four walls suspended from the ceiling. There are no foundations. But the inside is decorated as any home would be, and it looks very realistic. Both sets are located within one the newspaper’s old storage warehouses. “The idea is: control the sound. Control the look. Control the light.” It’s easier and cheaper to build the sets than shoot on location over a long period of time.
The process for building the sets actually starts in the main building. The art department conceptualizes the sets according to the way a script is written. Then, the designs head down to the construction mill located, for now, in what was the Advertiser’s paper warehouse.
Turner says, “We’re moving the mill into where the printing presses used to be, and we’re going to build HQ in here”
HQ is Five-0′s headquarters – currently shot in the back of the Old Federal building in downtown, but next season, the main sets will all be at the old Advertiser. A good sign. “As we build more sets, yeah, it does indicate that we’re going to be here for a long time. It’s something we’re committing to, yes,” says Turner.
When they’re not creating sets, they’re converting old rooms on the compound. In 1929, the Beaux-arts style building boasted one of the most beautiful front entrances in all of Honolulu – with terra cotta detailing and a grand, quarried style staircase. Newspaper employees sat at their desks in the big, front room. Today, actors sit at the desks, in what is now, a fake police squad room.
They’ve used every nook and cranny of this old newspaper building to shoot. 95% of the property is being utilized in some way. The upstairs hallway was a brothel in one episode. On the second floor, the tsunami warning center sits ready for action, if needed, and downstairs, old newspaper offices have become the medical examiner’s morgue. Even the parking lot is used to shoot. Production supervisor, Angie Laprete, wants to see more kama’aina working around the property.
“One of my missions is to get as many local crews as we can on the show,” says Laprete.”And what’s nice about it is we have about 80-85% locals”
The Gannett corporation eventually plans to sell or redevelop this property – reportedly assessed at 16-and-a-half million dollars. For now, though, this iconic building – which is not on the list of historic buildings – will continue to sit at the busy intersection where Hollywood meets Hawaii.
Copyright 2011 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.
Here’s audio of my Hawaii Five-0 talk story session with Mike Buck yesterday on AM 830 KHVH. We talked about the storyline, local businesses, Lani of Hobbietat, twitter and the #H50 tweetups, my writing process, Dane Cook, and a lot of Scott Caan.
A phone conversation in a Waikiki hotel room, Tuesday 2/22, 7:37 AM.
Jenn: “Hello, Outdoor Reservations, this is Jenn, how may I help you?”
Barry: “Hi, my name’s Barry, I’m sorry to say that I’ll have to cancel my zipline reservation for later today.”
Jenn: “I’m sorry to hear that, did something come up?”
Barry: “Well, I saw Hawaii Five-0 last night, and quite honestly, I don’t want me or my wife to plummet to death on our honeymoon.”
Jenn: “Sir, I assure you that our zipline is the safest, it meets all industry standards, and besides, that was just a sho-”
Barry: “No my mind’s made up. Is there something else I can do? That’s a lot safer?”
Jenn: “How about an ATV tour?”
Barry: “No thanks, a bomb can be planted underneath the chassis!”
Jenn: “A horseback ride?”
Barry: “Are you insane?!? There could be a stick of dynamite in the saddle. How about a flower sniffing tour of your garden?”
Jenn: “Sir, you don’t need a guided 3 hour tour for that.”
Barry: “Alright fine. How about a nice relaxing cataman ride on the ocean.”
Jenn: “No problem sir, I can do that. Good news! The Coast Guard just lifted the Tongan pirate alert an hour ago, let me get your name again-”
*click*
The Williams family reunion
Hawaii Five-0, "Loa Aloha". Photo: CBS
What was refreshing about this episode is that we got to see some of our Five-0 team as human beings, instead of officers of the law slaving away to solve the case of the week. This window into their lives was brought to us by writers Paul Zbyszewski and Mike Schaub (Mike’s first co-writing credit), and I thought they did an excellent job in deepening Danny, Rachel, Steve and newcomer Matt (played by Dane Cook). Dane immediately came across as an engaging and personable guy, and the banter between him and Danny was a lot more good natured than the snippiness that can go between Steve and Danny. We heard some of the “back in the day” stories of the misadventures of the Williams boys in their youth. Without a doubt, my favorite scene of the entire series so far was the dinner scene where Danny tells the story of how he handcuffed Matt to the monkey cage at the zoo. They shared a laugh and for the first time, I felt really connected to them. Anyone with brothers or sisters knows exactly what kind of antics siblings can do to each other and the scene was perfectly written. For good measure, the writers threw in a little foreshadowing-Danny tells Matt “I always come back for you didn’t I?”, implying some sort of disaster on the horizon for the brothers.
The Williams dynamic played further when Danny finally confronted Matt about his impending indictment. Scott delivered amazingly, while I was impressed with Dane’s delivery. We always see him as a funny guy, and to see him keep up with Scott was incredible. Selfishly, Matt thinks that this is his problem alone, not appreciating what Danny could have done to help, and worse, not thinking of the consequences that this will bring to the rest of the family. It was a powerful scene that played on classic “I’m not as good/smart/strong as you” rivalry.
We later see Matt digging himself into a deeper hole by making deals with a drug cartel, and Danny’s warning gave Matt the head start he needed to stay ahead of the Feds. In another powerful scene, Danny drew his weapon on his brother as he tried to board a plane. Ultimately Danny chose to say goodbye, rather than pulling the trigger to stop his brother (as if we would), so we’ll see how the writers resolve this situation.
Finally, Danny found consolation not in his partner, but in his ex-wife Rachel. The chemistry between the two of them was perfect and her embrace is the culmination of their first two “long good-byes” that we’ve seen. A lot of you folks have said you didn’t want to see the two of them get back together, but that scene certainly makes it appear so…
And now, Things We Learned About Hawaii From Hawaii Five-0, Episode 18, “Loa Aloha”:
1) There are a lot of buildings in Waikiki, but apparently the Hilton is the only hotel for miles.
2) The best way to get the Feds off your back? Call Mommy, excuse me, I mean the Governor.
Did you notice…
Matt referred to Danny as “Magnum”. Danny did the same thing to a private detective in “Palekaiko”.
Why did Danny let a chain link fence stop him from crashing through like he did in “Ho’apono” to stop the Russian businessman?
Psst Danny, there’s $28 million still in the HPD evidence locker! If you steal it all, *someone* is bound to replace it all again. After it’s replaced, repeat evidence room break in!
Danny referred to himself as “Clarence Clemons” in a phone call. That’s the name of Bruce Springsteen’s saxophonist. Matt later refers to how he and Danny sneaked into the Stone Pony (a concert venue in New Jersey) to go watch “Bruce”. More Jersey references!
“Loa Aloha” translates to “the long goodbye”, but fellow blogger Wendie Joy Burbridge has a different take on the translation, read her blog, “Five-0 Redux”.
Hawaii Five-0: Will Danny Choose the Law Over His Little Brother?
Feb 20, 2011 10:00 PM ET
by Adam Bryant
Source: TVguide.com
Hawaii Five-0
When Hawaii Five-0 viewers say aloha to guest star Dane Cook in Monday’s episode, they shouldn’t necessarily expect to see the funnyman cracking a lot of jokes.
“I think he’s going to surprise a lot of people,” co-executive producer Paul Zbyszewski tells TVGuide.com. “He made a conscious effort to really say, ‘Look, don’t feel like you guys need to write comedy stuff for me.’ He wants to expand his repertoire; he doesn’t just want to be pigeonholed as wacky comic relief. So, while he does have some fun moments on the show, he’s also got some dramatic stuff that he’s got to carry in the episode.”
Cook plays Matthew Williams, a hedge fund manager on Wall Street and the younger brother of Scott Caan’s Danny. Although Matthew seemingly arrives in Hawaii for vacation and to spoil Danny’s daughter, Grace, with gifts, Danny and McGarrett (Alex O’Loughlin) are informed that Matthew is the target of a federal investigation.
Naturally, that information proves to be quite a bombshell for Danny, who viewers will learn comes from a large, tight-knit family.
“We learn their family dynamic and how Matthew, being the little brother, has done really well for himself professionally and is sort of the pride and joy of the family,” Zbyszewski says. “But there’s no real overt hostility between these two guys. They have a great relationship, and while Danny’s brother hasn’t been out to visit him in Hawaii, these are two guys who are definitely not on the outs when Matt comes to the island.”
Therein lies the rub: Despite his close relationship with his brother, Danny must keep what he knows secret or risk also being charged with obstructing the government’s investigation. Since McGarrett and the rest of the team are busy tracking down a mad bomber who’s picking off the children of judges and other political figures, Danny turns to his ex-wife, Rachel (Claire van der Boom), for advice — something he will likely have to do more than once this season.
“Danny has got to make some tough decisions in the episode,” Zbyszewski says, hinting that Danny may be forced to give his brother up. “Rachel and Grace play a part in that story, and you will definitely see them again come the finale. They play a role in some significant decisions that Danny’s going to have to make towards the endgame.”
As for whether viewers will ever see Cook’s character again, Zbyszewski says, wait and see. “The way that we leave Danny’s story with his brother remains open for perhaps revisiting it in Season 2, in terms of their relationship and how things work out,” he says. “I don’t want to give away the fun and the payoff of the episode, but I think people will be very excited to see what happens.”
Hawaii Five-0 airs Mondays at 10/9c on CBS.
***
Officer 808 says: Now this will make for interesting TV if Danny has to choose between his brother or the law…but with these Jersey boys, I’m guessing blood is thicker than water. While we know that Danny does most things by the book, family comes first (remember the scene with the commissioner in “E malama”?).
What’s refreshing is that Dane wants to broaden his range beyond comedy, so I’m really looking forward to tonight’s episode to see what he can deliver on a dramatic scale.
Also, we’ve seen subtle little hints for a second season (since CBS hasn’t officially announced it yet), and the promise of Danny’s story line extending into the unannounced second season is certainly intriguing…
Keck’s Exclusives: Hawaii Five-0 Adds a Fifth
Feb 21, 2011 07:00 AM ET
by William Keck
Source: TVGuide.com
Alex O’Loughlin and Larisa Oleynik
Talk about pressure. Larisa Oleynik debuts on CBS’ Hawaii Five-0 on March 21 as CIA analyst Jenna “K” Kaye, then returns for the season’s last two episodes — giving her three shows to prove herself worthy of being signed as a permanent team member.
“They’ll let me know by June 30 if I’ll be a series regular in the second season,” says Larisa, a former kid star on Nickelodeon’s The Secret World of Alex Mack. “One of the reasons for bringing me in is the four [main actors] are being worked nonstop. And maybe to add more female energy.”
Jenna arrives in Oahu from Virginia, on the hunt for Wo Fat, who killed her fiancé (also a CIA agent). “She’s left everything she knows and has nothing to lose,” says Larisa. “She thinks she’s going at it alone — until she meets McGarrett.”
***
Officer 808 says: Mmm…love that nerdy, librarian look. Don’t know if that’s what the new definition of “female energy” is for Hawaii, though. CBS may be cracking down on the “Sexy Bikini Kono” and “Sexy Hot Pants Kono” motif currently sprinkled throughout the series. Definitely a love interest possibility for Max the coroner (Masi Oka).
Tracking the supporting actors and the “Lost” connections…
Blogger Ryan Ozawa gives his weekly preview of this week’s Hawaii Five-o:
But this week’s episode brings a parade of local actors, some with established careers and others just getting started in the business. For one, we’ll meet Judge Kamalei, played by Iolani School school Clyde Kusatsu. Kusatsu has a long acting resume, stretching back to playing Reverend Chong in “All In The Family,” and Dr. Dennis Okamura on “The Young and the Restless.”
The characters of Diana and Brian Meachum, meanwhile, are played by Kailua girl Brooke Alexander, wo played a con artist on “As the World Turns,” and Brian Meachum, a member of The Actors Group.
Finally, look for Kaiser High School graduate and college journalist Remington Taum as Lani and local actor Eric Nemoto as Deputy Public Attorney James Chen.
Hardworking stuntwoman Boni Yanagisawa plays Judge Kamalei’s wife Katie. She’s worked in over 50 productions, including “Iron Man 2,” and “The Green Hornet.”
Read the rest of his post, and the “Lost” connection at Nonstop Honolulu.
helps to support the blog, mahalo!