{alltv} Rebooted 'Hawaii Five-0' rides a new wave

Jack Lord in heaven, what's going on here?

The theme song is familiar, the names haven't changed, but much is different on CBS' new Hawaii Five-0, premiering Monday (10 ET/PT).

The updated version of the '70s classic contains more action and humor, and it examines the personal lives of main characters Steve McGarrett (Alex O'Loughlin), Danny "Danno" Williams (Scott Caan), Chin Ho Kelly (Daniel Dae Kim) and Kono (Grace Park), the last of whom is now a woman.

"There are a lot of things in the new show that pay homage to the original. It was a great show of its time, (but) it's 2010," O'Loughlin says.

There's no reason to remake a show unless you can add value, says executive producer Peter Lenkov, who grew up watching the police drama with his dad. "It was a great procedural, but you didn't get to know a lot of back story," he says. "My Steve McGarrett still embodies the essence of the Jack Lord character, (but) you probably get to know him more in the pilot than you did over the course of the 12 years on the original."

Lenkov builds on elements from the original — leader McGarrett as a Navy veteran and the fact his father was murdered — in developing characters and creating a longer story arc along with weekly crime stories.

The other characters who make up the special Five-0 crime-fighting unit have their own backgrounds:

•Danny, a divorced mainland cop who comes to Hawaii to be close to his daughter, doesn't particularly like the island paradise.

•Chin Ho is a disgraced ex-police officer who was set up for a fall.

•Kono is a former pro surfer, a new officer and Chin Ho's cousin.

The new series acknowledges the original, from the well-known ("Book 'em, Danno") to the subtle (a clipper-ship painting in McGarrett's office). But a reboot, as producers call it, brings extra pressure in the form of comparisons with the original. Some recent TV remakes, such as The Bionic Woman and Knight Rider, failed. A new Star Trek, however, was a big-screen success. (Trek writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci are Five-0 executive producers.)

"You set yourself up to fail really hard or succeed really hard," Caan says. "If you have the confidence and have the writers and actors and people who want to do it properly, you stand to do something huge. You also take a big risk."