Although I don’t remember seeing it during its original (1968-1980) run, my favorite show growing up, starting in my early teen years, was “Hawaii Five-0.”  The action, the locales, the consistency of the characters and the storylines — mostly straight-on crime dramas — were appealing.

In N.Y., WOR-TV (which later became WWOR, I guess when it moved to New Jersey) Channel 9 showed reruns for years, then after an absence from TV for about a decade (at least on the channels I had) it returned on The Family Channel, albeit cut apart and “sped up” a few frames per second to squeeze in 5 or 6 more minutes of commercials.

Today I received a notice from Amazon that they’d be shipping my “Five-0” Season 8 DVD’s out today.  I’m a little surprised that there was enough interest in the show (it has been off the air for 30 years, after all) to have eight seasons released so far (nine through 12 are in the works, I assume).

But the brand is strong, with “Five-0” long in the vernacular as slang for cops, “Book ‘em Dano” a catchphrase even for those who never saw an episode, and the famed Ventures theme song still played by college bands everywhere.

There have been more than a few attempts at a revival, one even getting as far as a pilot movie starring Gary Busey, but none had come to fruition.  But now, a heavyweight project has begun shooting another pilot, with some characters remaining (Steve McGarrett, Dan “Dano” Williams), some undergoing changes (Chin-Ho Kelly, played by Chinese actor and former cop Kam Fong in the original. And now by Korean Daniel Dae Kim), Governor Jameson (was veteran character actor Richard Denning as Paul, now is Jean Smart as Pat, the female governor).

I can live with the updating of that, as long as the producers understand that Chinese and Korean are not the same.  But imagine a remake of, say, “Seinfeld,” where “George Costanza” is introduced, but now it’s Jerry’s niece.  Same name, just “updated.”. Well, that’s what they’ve done here, turning Kono Kalakaua from a burly Hawaiian cop into the niece of Chin-Ho (Chinese or Korean, maybe), played by Grace Park (no argument with that pick — the original “Five-0” was always long on babely actresses).  They didn’t even bother to change the name.  She’s Kono.

I can’t know yet whether the series will be any good, of course, if it ever gets past the initial pilot, but I’ll give it a crack.  They’re shooting on location, which was always a huge plus for the original.

But as a true Five-0 fan from way back, I can’t see it stacking up to the original.

At least there’s Season 8 (and 1-7) to fall back on.

Be there. Aloha.