Hawaii Five-O to be remade
Classic cop drama Hawaii Five-O is all set to make a return to television as American broadcaster CBS orders a pilot episode for a possible new series. However, recent revivals of Knight Rider and Bionic Woman haven’t gone down well with the American market so will Hawaii Five-O join the increasing list of flop revivals?
Classic cop drama Hawaii Five-O is to return to screens in a 21st century makeover of the 1980s series. American broadcasters CBS have ordered a pilot episode with the intention of a full weekly series following should the pilot prove successful. The series isn’t the only fondly remembered drama to be revived in recent years by American broadcasters. The pilot episode will be written by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci who have a good track record with revivals. Both writers have worked on the revival of the Star Trek movie franchise – a sequel to the last Trek movie is already underway – and also the hugely successful Transformers sequel. CBS will doubtless be hoping they’ll continue their successful revival streak and work their magic on Hawaii Five-O.
However, as stated above Hawaii Five-O isn’t the first series to be revived and given a modern makeover by American broadcasters. While the reimaging of Battlestar Galactica might have been a critical and ratings success for the Sci Fi Channel NBC’s revival of Knight Rider and the Bionic Woman was less so. While both Bionic Woman and Knight Rider recorded decent ratings for their pilot episodes the weekly series’ that followed failed to build on that success and viewers quickly abandoned both shows. Bionic Woman was effectively killed off by the writers’ strike – a convenient excuse for NBC not to continue production on the series – while Knight Rider’s declining ratings and constant revamps sealed its fate. But it isn’t all doom and gloom for revivals as the CW has enjoyed somewhat more success with its revivals of popular 90’s teen drama’s Melrose Place and 90210 so maybe Hawaii Five-O does have a chance after all.