50 Fun Facts About Hawaii Five-0

The Five-O of Hawaii Five-O marks which milestone, reached by the islands nine years before the 1968 premiere?

Becoming the 50th state in 1959 is what the name salutes, and five-O has since become American slang for the police.

Which Canberra-born actor plays task-force leader Steve McGarrett in the Hawaii Five-0 reboot?

Alex O'Loughlin trained at Sydney's National Institute of Dramatic Art before leading the reboot. One of his first acting jobs was as an extra playing a marine in a commercial.

A CBS insider said the reboot Hawaii Five-0 traded its title's letter O for a zero to improve what?

Search engine results were the worry: a zero set the new show apart from the more than 1.7 million pages Google already listed under the original's spelling.

Which detective series was created to keep using the costly production facilities built for Hawaii Five-O?

Magnum, P.I. arrived on CBS months after the older show ended, and its first episodes even refer to Five-O as if both share one world.

Which actor, the first Felix Leiter of the James Bond films, played McGarrett in the original Hawaii Five-O?

Jack Lord played Leiter in Dr. No in 1962, then McGarrett for twelve seasons. A CGI recreation of him even shares a scene with the reboot's McGarrett in a 2016 episode.

How are Chin Ho Kelly and rookie Kono Kalakaua, both recruited in the Hawaii Five-0 pilot, related?

Cousins from a clan of Honolulu cops, the pair double as the team's snipers, and Chin looks on Kono as a younger sister.

Which comedy legend guest-stars in Hawaii Five-0 as Aunt Deb, who raised Steve McGarrett's sister Mary?

Carol Burnett plays Deb, a singer who gave up a promising career to raise Mary and who later marries a retired lawyer played by Frankie Valli.

Hawaii Five-0's Danny Williams transferred to Honolulu from a police department in which state?

New Jersey is where Danny served before following his child to Honolulu after a divorce, and his father is a retired Newark firefighter.

Which instrumental rock band took a cover of the Hawaii Five-O theme to number four on the Billboard Hot 100?

The Ventures peaked at No. 4 in May 1969 and named an album after the tune, which marching bands at the University of Hawaii adopted as an unofficial fight song.

Which Hawaii Five-0 informant, an ex-convict, runs a shave ice stand, a shrimp truck and helicopter tours?

Kamekona became Chin's informant while serving time, where Chin handed him the book Think and Grow Rich. In season 3 he earns a helicopter pilot's licence with McGarrett's help.

Which Ocean's Eleven actor earned a Golden Globe nomination as Danny Williams in the Hawaii Five-0 reboot?

Scott Caan broke through as Turk Malloy in the heist film, and in the 1990s he rapped as Mad Skillz in the hip hop duo The Whooliganz.

Hawaii Five-O was America's longest-running police procedural until which series overtook it in 2002?

Law & Order took the record in 2002, though the Honolulu series was still the first police drama to run unbroken for more than a decade.

Which Walking Dead star plays arms dealer Anton Hesse in the opening scene of the Hawaii Five-0 pilot?

Norman Reedus plays Anton, whom McGarrett is forced to shoot during an ambush on his convoy. Anton's brother Victor then executes McGarrett's father in reply.

Which other CBS crime drama crossed over with Hawaii Five-0 twice during season 2, once as a two-part story?

NCIS: Los Angeles sent Kensi Blye to Honolulu first, then Callen and Sam Hanna for a two-parter that finished on their own show with Danny and Chin as guests.

Each Halloween, Hawaii Five-0's Max Bergman dresses as a character from the films of which actor?

Keanu Reeves films supply the medical examiner's costume every year, a tradition as dependable as his habit of reciting trivia until the team cut him off.

Steve McGarrett calls his Hawaii Five-0 team his ohana, a Hawaiian word with what meaning?

Family is what ohana means, and the show's Hawaiian episode titles use the word too: one season 4 title translates as Family Comes First.

Before a knee injury sent her to the police academy, what was Kono Kalakaua's career in Hawaii Five-0?

Professional surfer Kono was only days from graduating when McGarrett recruited her, at first for what was simply called the Governor's Task Force.

Which actor, the first cast for the Hawaii Five-0 reboot, played Chin Ho Kelly for its first seven seasons?

Daniel Dae Kim signed on in February 2010, days before a McGarrett was found, and came straight from six years as Jin on Lost.

Which 1974 car does Steve McGarrett restore in Hawaii Five-0, the very one driven by the original show's star?

The Mercury Marquis is written in as the pride of McGarrett's late father, and the real car has belonged to stuntman John Nordlum since the original series ended.

The creator of Hawaii Five-O borrowed the name of archvillain Wo Fat from what kind of Honolulu business?

A restaurant in downtown Honolulu gave the villain his name, and Chin Ho was named for Chinn Ho, the developer whose hotel appears in the opening titles.

Which Battlestar Galactica actress played rookie officer Kono Kalakaua for seven seasons of Hawaii Five-0?

Grace Park, who played Boomer on that series, earned three Teen Choice nominations as Kono, whose original-series namesake was a man.

Which actor, Hurley on Lost, joined Hawaii Five-0 as conspiracy theorist Jerry Ortega?

Jorge Garcia began as a guest in season 4 and became a regular in season 5, reuniting with a fellow Lost castaway already on the team.

Under which code name did Steve McGarrett's mother work for the CIA before faking her death in Hawaii Five-0?

Shelburne is the name Wo Fat hunts obsessively, believing its owner killed his father. Mother and son finally reunite in Japan in the season 3 premiere.

In season 2 of Hawaii Five-0, Jenna Kaye lures Steve McGarrett into Wo Fat's trap in which country?

North Korea is where Jenna trades McGarrett for a fiancé who was already dead. Wo Fat shoots her, and Joe White leads an unsanctioned rescue that costs him his career.

Which Backdraft star plays Frank Delano, boss of a gang of corrupt ex-cops, in Hawaii Five-0?

William Baldwin plays Delano, and after Chin kills the character, his vengeful brother Paul is played by real-life sibling Daniel Baldwin.

Which Heroes star, once a digital effects artist, played medical examiner Max Bergman in Hawaii Five-0?

Masi Oka worked at Industrial Light & Magic after a computer science degree, then found fame as Hiro Nakamura. He left the Honolulu series midway through season 7.

Steve McGarrett of Hawaii Five-0 is named for a grandfather who died aboard which ship at Pearl Harbor?

The USS Arizona went down with Ensign Steven McGarrett in December 1941, three months before his son John was born, making the reboot's hero a third-generation Navy man.

Which Navy intelligence officer leaves the islands at Steve McGarrett's side in the Hawaii Five-0 finale?

Catherine Rollins cracks the cipher left by McGarrett's late mother, which helps catch the last villain, and the two reunite as he departs.

Who decided the ending of Kapu, the season 3 episode of Hawaii Five-0 about a professor and his students?

Viewers voting online settled it, and the eastern and western halves of the country each saw the ending their own time zones had chosen.

In the original Hawaii Five-O, which Honolulu landmark houses the offices of McGarrett's unit?

Iolani Palace was the unit's fictional base, and the reboot nods to it by setting its headquarters in the building directly across the street.

Which Boston Public actor joined Hawaii Five-0 in season 4 as SWAT commander Lou Grover?

Chi McBride takes his stage name from his hometown of Chicago, the same city his character leaves to head Honolulu's SWAT team.

Which Lou Grant star returned in the reboot as August March, a smuggler he played on Hawaii Five-O in 1975?

Ed Asner returned as March in 2012, and the reboot spliced in clips of his 1975 episode even though the two series are meant to be separate worlds.

Which RoboCop star directed and acted in Hookman, a season 3 remake of a classic Hawaii Five-O episode?

Peter Weller played the amputee gunman himself, and the remake reused the old episode's locations and styled its credits like the original series.

In the Hawaii Five-0 pilot, what object marked Champ holds the clues Steve McGarrett's murdered father left?

A toolbox labelled Champ catches McGarrett's eye because his father used that nickname for the first time on their last phone call.

Which Emmy-winning Lost actor plays Joe White, the SEAL trainer who mentors Steve McGarrett in Hawaii Five-0?

Terry O'Quinn, who was John Locke on that series, joined in season 2. His character rose from master chief to officer and long kept a secret about McGarrett's mother.

Which actor, adopted son of stage star Helen Hayes, played Danny Williams in the original Hawaii Five-O?

James MacArthur got the part after test audiences found the pilot's actor too young, and his mother later guest-starred as his character's aunt.

In the early seasons of the Hawaii Five-0 reboot, who is the only person Danny Williams gladly lets call him Danno?

His daughter alone has unconditional permission to use the nickname, which the original series made famous through McGarrett's arrest catchphrase.

Chin Ho Kelly leaves Hawaii Five-0 after season 7 to run a new task force for which city's police?

San Francisco wanted a task force of its own, and Chin moved there with his niece Sara and Abby Dunn, a former inspector with that city's police.

Which yakuza heir marries Kono Kalakaua at the end of season 5 of Hawaii Five-0 and later joins the team?

Adam Noshimuri was written for a four-episode arc, but fans warmed to him and he stayed until the finale, heading an organized-crime unit inside Five-0.

The actors behind Chin and Kono left Hawaii Five-0 before season 8 after CBS declined to offer them what?

Equal pay with the leads was the sticking point: the network's final offer was reportedly 10 to 15 percent below what the two top-billed stars earned.

Which martial artist, the Chairman of Iron Chef America, plays the reboot's Wo Fat in Hawaii Five-0?

Mark Dacascos first appears in the last scene of a 2010 episode, visiting a jailed killer, and stays McGarrett's nemesis until their fight to the death in the 100th episode.

In the Hawaii Five-0 season 2 finale, Chin Ho Kelly must choose between saving Kono and which woman, his bride?

Malia is the one he runs to, but the corrupt ex-cops shoot her anyway and she dies in the season 3 premiere, while Kono is pulled from the sea alive.

Which Designing Women star plays the governor who creates the task force in the Hawaii Five-0 pilot?

Jean Smart plays Governor Pat Jameson, who turns out to be in league with Wo Fat and is shot dead by him in the season 1 finale, with McGarrett framed for it.

Expelled from the police academy, what job is Tani Rey doing when Hawaii Five-0's McGarrett recruits her?

Lifeguard at a hotel pool was Tani's fallback after she was thrown out for cheating. She first turns McGarrett down, then joins in season 8.

Medical examiner Max Bergman leaves Hawaii Five-0 in season 7 to work in Africa with which organization?

Doctors Without Borders took Max back to Africa midway through season 7, the same season the team learned he had married bank teller Sabrina during a sabbatical.

Which composer wrote the Hawaii Five-O theme and won two Emmys for scoring episodes of the series?

Morton Stevens wrote a tune so prized that when the reboot's pilot tried a synthesizer version, the backlash made producers re-record the 1968 arrangement with three of its original players.

Atop which Waikiki hotel does McGarrett turn to face the camera in the opening titles of Hawaii Five-O?

The Ilikai, Hawaii's first luxury high-rise hotel, lent its penthouse balcony to the famous zoom shot, and the reboot restaged it with its own McGarrett.

Which Homeland Security agent does the new governor attach to the team to keep watch in Hawaii Five-0 season 2?

Lori Weston, a former profiler played by Lauren German, was sent as the governor's eyes on McGarrett and left after an incident involving the Russian consulate.

Which former Navy SEAL must finish the police academy before joining the team in season 8 of Hawaii Five-0?

Junior Reigns asked McGarrett for a job straight after leaving the Navy and was sleeping in a homeless shelter until his new boss took him in.

Conspiracy theorist Jerry Ortega of Hawaii Five-0 is first seen living in which part of his mother's house?

The basement was home until his mother moved to Maui, and in season 6 McGarrett gave him a matching office: an empty file storage room below headquarters.