INTO THE NEXT STAGE: Why the Original ‘Hawaii Five-0’ Was Better at Reflecting the 50th State Than the Current Series

By GUY AOKI
(First published in The Rafu Shimpo on Jan. 12, 2012.)

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Aloha from Hawaii, where I’m still on my annual vacation home. Every night, one of the local channels ran episodes of the original “Hawaii Five-0,” so I taped as many as I could to compare the ethnic casting on that show to see if it really did reflect the local people of Hawaii as I’d remembered it. I was surprised by how much.

The episodes I’m analyzing come from the 1974-75 season, its seventh (the program ran from 1968 to 1980, the longest-running cop drama until “Law and Order”).

In a previous column, I’d noted that at CAPE’s 20th anniversary dinner, Daniel Dae Kim (who plays Chin Ho on the rebooted series) boasted that the new show used 6 to 10 locals on every episode. So I had to smile when, upon viewing the first show I taped from 1974, there were 11 or 12 locals credited.

It was the infamous episode where someone was threatening to cause eruptions on the Big Island if he didn’t get money (to pay off his debts). The Five-0 team went to Waimea and the only two police officers we saw — a captain and a sergeant — were both Asian. Heck, they could’ve been actual police officers because they were rather dry. But have you ever spoken to a real cop? Yeah, often dry.

In other episodes, you couldn’t get away from seeing local, Asian/Pacific Islander-looking folks from the mail carrier to the secretary to the prosecutor to the man falsely accused of murdering a white man (Leslie Nielsen, the victim’s dad, wants to hang him).

Although, from memory, I’d assumed Steve McGarrett (Jack Lord) dominated most of the series with Danny Williams (James MacArthur), Chin Ho Kelly (Kam Fong), Ben Kokua (Al Harrington) and the others merely saying “phone call for you Steve,” by the seventh season, the episodes usually opened with the others investigating the crime scenes and McGarrett showing up later after most of the facts had been collected. We also saw recurring cops like Frank Kamana (Doug Mossman), Duke (Herman Wedemeyer, who was later promoted to series regular), Nick (Danny Kamekona, later of “Karate Kid II”), and forensics specialist Che Fong (Harry Endo).

In the last episode that ran, “Small Witness, Large Crime,” a homeless boy witnesses a sharpshooter executing a man (Chinese) on a boat and has to evade capture. When McGarrett and Williams question the boy, Moki (Joshua N. Farin), he won’t speak at all, seemingly mute. So for his own protection, they keep him in custody because he stole chocolate milk and donuts from a local woman (Hawaiian).

Francis Chai (France Nuyen), a public defender, is outraged that the tough cop would do this to a young child, so she complains to Judge Keana, who sets him free. McGarrett angrily tells Chai what she’s just done — that the killer now has access to the witness to his crime. So Chai goes out looking for Moki. The killer finds both of them and begins shooting as Five-0 arrives just in time to save them.

Throughout this episode, you feel for the young boy (his dad was sent to prison on the mainland and his mom died of an overdose) as well as the welfare of Chai. The guest cast: 4 white mainlanders vs. 9 locals.

Contrast this with the current “Five-0.” On the most recent episode, high school kids (all white) are having a party on the beach at night. They go to the home of one of their friends (also white), who is discovered dead. So we care about the white victim and her white family.

Five-0 interviews one of the victim’s friends. She and her dad are clearly Asian, yet their last name is Sargeant! Meaning even the local characters have white names, which would lead me to believe they assumed the actors hired would be white. In fact, the only Asian person on this episode who actually had an Asian name was Brian Yang, who recurs as forensics expert Charlie Fong.

The principal of the school is also white. Number of white guest stars: 12. Number of APIs: 6.

Throughout its one-and-a-half years, most of the victims or those Five-0 must protect are white, so that’s who the audience cares about — white people. Most Asians are either used as suspects or the henchmen of Wo Fat (Mark Dacascos). The only local person we see on a regular basis is Taylor Wiley, the obese shrimp truck informant. Kelly Hu had a recurring part in the first season, but in the season finale, she was blown up in an SUV. Jason Scott Lee, an actor who literally still glows on screen, was cast as a traitorous cop killer.

In one of the ‘74 episodes, an Asian leader and his entourage is coming to Hawaii and the team must protect him and his son. Wo Fat (Khigh Dhiegh), McGarrett’s arch-nemesis, makes his return. So you’d think with so many Asian faces, the producers might’ve worried about there being “Asian overload.” Well, you couldn’t tell from who they picked to appear on screen.

The schoolteacher was Asian, as were almost all of her kids and all of Wo Fat’s contacts — a local photographer, a man at a bicycle shop — are also Asian. At the climactic scene at a circus, all of the cops looking out for the would-be assassin are Asian. Final tally — White guest stars: 7. APIs: 12.

Compare that with the current season, where the guest stars are mostly white, many of them cops from the mainland who stick around and help the team solve cases (Terry O’Quinn, Greg Grunberg, Lauren German, Tom Sizemore, etc). Last I checked, the 50th state was only 30 percent white, the rest being mostly of Asian/Pacific Islander ancestry. Based on this new version, you’d think it was the other way around. The problem is that most of the bit parts go to the locals and most of the roles with meat in them go to those from the mainland. It wouldn’t be that bad if the producers used non-local Asian Americans…

Keep in mind that when the original series started in 1968, it was the first to be filmed entirely in Hawaii. Previous “Hawaii” shows like “Hawaiian Eye” were filmed on studio lots in Hollywood or Burbank. The producers had a difficult time getting local actors with TV experience mostly because they hadn’t had the opportunity to develop their craft on such shows.

But Jack Lord, who loved Hawaii and its people and said he’d die there (he did), told the producers to use Hawaii’s people. A source tells me that the producers would go to every play to seek out fresh talent. When Lord met someone he liked at a public event he attended, he’d tell them to come by the set because he wanted to have them written into the show. Many of the people they used weren’t actors at all.

How could the producers tell they’d have what it took to act naturally? If they had a strong personality, if they had confidence, if they were used to being in front of people. Maybe that’s why Al Harrington got to join the cast in 1972 after Zulu (the original Kono) was fired: He was a high school history teacher! Two weeks of acting lessons and he was on his way!

Harry Endo was a bank executive who’d done television commercials for a Hawaii bank. Moe Keale, who played Truck in the final season of the original series, was an electrician who worked on the set. Lord encouraged him to try out for the show. Keale kept turning him down… three times! Finally, he gave in, and the rest is history.

Each morning, Lord would read the morning paper. If he saw something pertinent to Hawaii, he’d tell his personal assistant, “put this in the script.” Meaning, give this to the writers so they can incorporate it into a future episode.

Lord was far from a perfect human being. His ego was legendary (he worried about actors appearing taller than he, he went into town in full make-up wearing his trademark white hat; if you didn’t approach him, he’d bump into you so you’d notice him!). But he kept true diversity in mind long before Asian American activists began having diversity meetings with the networks. And for that, he has my thanks.

Given the depth of talent we have in the Asian American acting world now — both in Hawaii and on the mainland — how can this current show go backwards in its depiction of Hawaii over 40 years later? With its ratings continuing to fall, it may get a third season, but it will be lucky to get a fourth. The original got 12. It must’ve done something right.

Coming Attractions Department: I can finally talk about this as it was finally officially announced: George Takei will be part of the cast of the upcoming “Celebrity Apprentice” beginning Feb. 12. This installment will feature more guests than ever before — 18 _ including Tia Carrere, Adam Carolla (ugh!), and Debbie Gibson (hey, I interviewed her in 1987 shortly after she turned 17!).

I didn’t get a chance to give Takei advice when I saw him at the CAPE dinner a couple months ago. From what I’ve observed over the years, older celebrities have a difficult time with the younger ones because they’re more set in their ways and expect a certain level of respect. The main thing is to roll with the punches, be open to the ideas of others, and prove yourself an effective worker who’s essential to whatever team you’re on.

All the money each celebrity makes go to a pet charity, and Takei’s chosen the Japanese American National Museum!

Also looking forward to the April 13 release of “Bullet to the Head” as it stars Sylvester Stallone as a hit man who works with a good cop played by Sung Kang (“Better Luck Tomorrow,” “Fast Five”). Jason Momoa (“Conan the Barbarian,” “Baywatch: Hawaii”) plays one of the villains.

Bachi ga Ataru! Department: “Akira,” the anime-based project that Warner Brothers is trying to turn into a live-action film starring mostly white actors, is stalled once again because of script problems (they’re gonna give it two weeks). Production has been shut down in Vancouver.

Till next time, keep your eyes and ears open.

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Guy Aoki, co-founder of the Media Action Network for Asian Americans, writes from Glendale. He can be reached at guyaoki@yahoo.com. Opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily those of The Rafu Shimpo.