Source: Vancouver Sun
Date: September 15, 2010

The catchphrases may be the same — “Aloha,” “Book ‘em, Danno,” etc. — and a sexy, hard-hitting new opening-title sequence may pay homage to one of TV’s most iconic opening theme songs. The new Hawaii Five-0, though, is not a remake, so much as a reboot, says its star, Alex O’Loughlin.

O’Loughlin may be a post-modern sex symbol for the Internet age with devoted, (mostly) female online fans following his every move, but even O’Loughlin knows there’s no upside in trying to one-up the late Jack Lord, who played legendary TV crime-buster Steve McGarrett for 12 seasons between 1968 and 1980.

Lord had better hair, for one: a flamboyant, curling coif that resembled the famous surfer’s wave that opened every episode of Hawaii Five-0 in those years, when a generation of viewers familiarized themselves with iconic TV characters such as Dan “Danno” Williams, Chin Ho Kelly, Kono Kalakaua and the inestimable Wo Fat, Hawaii Five-0′s most famous, and infamous, villain.

O’Loughlin is a man of his time, and times have changed.

“I remember the old show from when I was a kid,” O’Loughlin says, in a quiet, measured tone that suggests his Steve McGarrett will be the strong, silent type — more David Caruso than Don Johnson. “If you can remember, the old show was taken off TV 40 years ago. It started more than 50 years ago. There’ve been a lot of changes in television and the way we act, stylistically and with technology, and what we can do in terms of special effects and stunts. It’s not a remake. We’re not picking up where they left off. It’s a complete reboot, and the characters are very different.”

In the original, viewers didn’t know much about McGarrett’s backstory, for example. He was simply there, a fixture of the Hawaiian landscape, like Diamond Head.

“You learn a lot about my Steve McGarrett right away in the pilot,” O’Loughlin says.

O’Loughlin may be a matinee idol for the new age, but that doesn’t mean his television projects are guaranteed hits. His vampire detective series Moonlight lasted just 16 episodes in 2007 to ’08, before going the way of all flesh. Last year’s hospital drama Three Rivers, in which O’Loughlin played a transplant surgeon, lasted just eight episodes before being pulled in November; the remaining episodes were burned off over the summer. Even though there are no sure things in television, Hawaii Five-0 is unlikely to need an emergency transplant.

“I don’t want to take anything away from the other shows I’ve done,” O’Loughlin says. “I’ve worked with some wonderful people. Those other shows were great in their own ways. There is a reason, though, why things either work or don’t work. I don’t know what the answer is: I just keep blundering along to the next thing and hoping.

“This has a special feel to it, though. Everyone involved in it, from the writers to the actors, just feels so . . . capable. I read the pilot. I did the pilot. I saw the pilot, and I saw what they did with it. There’s something about it (that) feels just right. I mean, if this one doesn’t go, I’ll be completely bewildered, I have no idea how television works at all.”

O’Loughlin has a deep, abiding respect for the original, even though he’s determined to put his own stamp on the role.

“I love Jack Lord’s McGarrett,” O’Loughlin says. “I love Jack Lord’s hair. I love Jack Lord’s version. I think he started Blue Steel, that look that he does. He’s awesome — none of which I can get away with in 2010 on television.