What Might've Been: Hawaii Five O (1997)

 It's been almost two years since the 21st century revival of Hawaii Five-O ended its run (reruns are now spammed at least 1-2 days a week on Ion). But would this have gotten the green light had a 1997 pilot from Stephen J. Cannell not misfired?

Cannell was able to coax James MacArthur out of retirement to reprise as Dan Williams, now the Governor of Hawaii. Local product Russell Wong (ex-Vanishing Son) and film veteran Gary Busey, whose son Jake would have a short lived TV career of his own (Shasta McNasty, anyone?), were posited as the headliners for the proposed series. Original cast members, including Kam Fong and Herman Wedemayer, were brought back as well. Cannell also called on Branscombe Richmond (Renegade) to play a mob boss being set up as a fall guy. I'm not going to bother with any Lee Majors jokes from the 80's.

The problem was that Chin Ho Kelly had been killed off in the original series, and if this pilot was to pick up where the original left off in 1980, continuity needed to be retained.

Check it out for yourselves.

Apparently, Cannell couldn't get the rights to the classic recording of the theme by The Ventures, and I'll guess, since there are no closing credits or definitive information online, that Cannell's go-to music guys, Mike Post & Pete Carpenter, covered the track.

No rating. Just a public service.