It is way too soon to tell if the show will be worth the time, but in the first minutes of the new version of “Hawaii Five-O”, one thing is for sure.
They got the music right.
That classic theme song from the original CBS television show that began some 42 television seasons ago sounded great. And those notes composed by Morton Stevens were great then. and now, well now they are just iconic.
Icons are just that, things that are symbols that represent something of greater significance.
The Hawaii Five-O theme song represented cool to a twelve year old boy who thought that you could be killer even wearing a suit and tie in Oahu.
More recently, cool for a slightly older version of that twelve year old boy has been about another guy from the 60′s with a suit and tie. And he’s already an icon in just four television seasons.
We need icons. They give us something to hold onto. Something of greater significance. Most of the time they are visual, but sometimes they can be aural.
And that is why CBS was so smart to have the commercials leading up to the return of “Hawaii Five-0″ feature almost everyone they could find singing that theme song. Which as it turns out, is also the unofficial fight song of…The University of Hawaii! (Of course.)
Talk about iconic.
Oh, and it’s just my opinion and it’s just one episode–but the new version of McGarrett and Dan-o was pretty solid. Not “Mad Men” solid, mind you–but it’s early yet. They’ve got some time.
Besides, what do you call the remake of an Icon, anyway?