By Stu Robinson,

In the past, I’ve observed that episodes of CBS’s new Hawaii Five-O come in two varieties: those devoted to revealing the back stories of Steve McGarrett (Alex O’Loughlin) and the three other main characters; and those that simply serve up a crime for them to solve. But Episodes 16 & 17 made me realize that I might have painted that with too broad a brush.

Two observations:

• Among those that focus on a crime du jour, there are two sub-genres that I call “procedural” and “pursuit.” In the former, the protagonists – and the viewers – have a mystery to solve. In the latter, the threat is clear and it’s a race against time.
• Some episodes blend the various genres and sub-genres. The main plot may be a mystery while the secondary plot advances one of the back stories.

That is the case with Episode 16, in which McGarrett, Chin Ho and Kono engage in a pursuit while Danno splits off to deal with a situation involving his daughter and ex-wife.

The story starts with a bang – literally. Federal witness Julie Adelman (Mariana Klaveno) is on the run in the jungle after her U.S. marshal protector is gunned down by assassins posing as Honolulu police officers. This prompts ex-Navy SEAL McGarrett to go all Rambo as he and Chin Ho plunge into the jungle to rescue the witness and take down the killers. The clock is ticking; Julie must testify later in the day or the case involving her will be dismissed. They find her before the assassins, and McGarret orders Chin Ho to escort her to the courthouse while he continues the hunt. By the end of the journey, Chin Ho and Julie are exchanging smoldering glances, but it’s already been established that she is headed for the witness-protection program. (Maybe she’ll pop up on USA Network’s In Plain Sight.) Back at Five-O headquarters, Kono attempts to identify the “cleaner,” a sort-of insurance assassin tasked with killing the target and the other hit men if the initial attempt fails.

Meanwhile, Danno is concerned about his daughter, Grace, and ex, Rachel, after their vehicle is carjacked. When the car, normally driven by Rachel’s husband, Stan, is recovered within an hour without any of its contents taken, Danno becomes suspicious. When he takes Grace and Rachel home and finds their mansion ransacked, again with nothing taken, Danno is convinced that Stan has gotten himself into trouble and is being sent a message. Rachel thinks Danno just has it in for Grace’s stepfather. We finally meet “the Stan” and get a glimpse into the stepfamily dynamic when Danno picks him up at the airport for heart-to-heart chat. Turn out Stan has gotten himself into a bit of a pickle, which Danno resolves in an overly simplified manner.

The plots intersect only once. McGarrett has disabled one of assassins with a jungle booby trap and is about to perform field surgery on the guy when he receives a phone update from Danno and improbably stops to counsel his partner about anger management before Danno confronts Stan.

While Episode 16 was generally a pursuit episode, Episode 17 was more procedural. After a group of partying college students is kidnapped from a tourist catamaran, the team must identify the pirates and rescue the hostages. This premise not only enables the cameras to appreciate buff young adults in swimwear but also opens the way for buff, young guest stars – in this case Nick Lachey and fiancée Vanessa Minnillo.

When the hostages’ parents arrive on the island, the most troublesome is portrayed by the incomparable Ray Wise (Twin Peaks, Reaper). That’s an opportunity for a possible red herring, as viewers are likely to assume he’s the bad guy because of his previous roles. It’s also an opportunity for product placement, as McGarrett orders his team to “set up a holding area at the Hilton.”

But the episode does give viewers a chance to figure things out at home. I admit, my own suspicions were confirmed at the conclusion.

Final Thoughts

• Expect the stunt casting and the storyline involving Danno and his ex to continue. Previews for tonight’s Episode 17 show comedian Dane Cook, playing Danno’s brother, at a restaurant sharing stories with Danno, Rachel and their daughter, Grace.
• The Feb. 18, 2011, issue of USA Today included a lengthy feature story on Hawaii Five-O that discussed the show’s ratings success and how it has moved beyond the original series by delving into the characters’ back stories. It also cites the writers’ use of humor, particularly in the car bickering between McGarrett and Danno, which the crew have dubbed “carguments.”

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Stu Robinson, a college friend of the TV Tyrant, is a writer, editor, media-relations practitioner and social-media guy based in Phoenix.

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I’m on my fourth episode of In Plain Sight off the DVR and am pleased to report it’s at least as good as Season 1 – possibly better.

I braced myself for disappointment, recalling the less-than-stellar sophomore outings of Burn Notice and Kyle XY.

Would Mary — after having been kidnapped, nearly raped and killed in the first season finale before she managed to kill her would-be killer and save herself, never mind the FBI crusade against her and her family because of what her long-missing father may or may not have done and her sister’s involvement with a big-time drug dealer — remain the strong-yet-vulnerable tough-as-nails funny-as-hell Mary we’d grown to love in Season 1? And if she did, would it be as if the rough end to Season 1 never happened?

No need to worry. Four episodes into Season 2 and despite Mary’s return to work and Jinx’s stint in rehab, the house is still trashed from the tossing the FBI gave it.

Mary was followed around for one episode by a psychologist who — rightfully, redeeming generations of TV psychologists — deemed Mary’s work the one thing in her life that kept her sane and decided she needed to be back on the job. In fact, I liked the psych quite a bit. She put up with Mary’s hostility exceptionally well and actually gave Mary some good advice: “Cut yourself some slack.”

Somehow, the creators of this show and actress Mary McCormack have managed to craft a character who is funny, smart, sexy and scary – let’s face it, you do NOT want to cross Mary Shannon – all at the same time.

Add to that her fabulous partnership with Marshal Marshall (hee!), her usually adversarial relationship with cop Bobby D, her completely selfish yet evolving baby sister Brandi, her fresh outta rehab for booze mom Jinx, her sensitive refusing-to-call-it-love relationship with Raphael, her fatherly boss Stan and her inability to cope with Eleanor, the new alpha female in the office – well, then you’ve got some kind of a show.

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OK, I guess the TV seasons before most people had televisions were worse, but this season was for the birds, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The four major networks (that’d be CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox – sorry CW) lost an average of 16 percent of viewership in the coveted “demo” – adults 18-49. That includes DVR use.

Fox was on top, followed by CBS, ABC and NBC. But “on top” still includes a steep drop.

Why is this?

A whole mess of things.

First off, a lot of people are watching online – legally and illegally (Hulu an example of the former, BitTorrent an example of the latter). I know some folks who don’t have televisions, even, and only watch what they like online.

Second, a lot of people watch on DVR, but not within that 7-day window included in ratings. For example, my husband and I haven’t watched Season 2 of Damages yet. The entire season is sitting there on our DVR. We just finished up the entire first seasons of Dollhouse and Better off Ted in a few days in marathon viewing sessions. (I’ll be writing about BoT in a couple days). I still have episodes of Reaper, the season finale of Supernatural and Sunday’s episode of Breaking Bad on my DVR, waiting for me to have a chance to sit down and watch ‘em.

Then there’s the whole DVD experience, too. A few years ago, we caught up on the first two seasons of Alias by borrowing them from the library. I’ve been watching Season 1 of Torchwood on DVD, a Christmas present.

The ratings were as of Wednesday night, which marked the “official” end of the TV season. Did you even know that? Didn’t think so.

There is no such thing as a TV season anymore. We just were treated to a third season of Burn Notice this winter, and another one is coming this summer. Some shows never start until “midseason” (24, American Idol, Lost). Others bounce around the scheduling calendar (Battlestar Galactica, Kyle XY).

Yet the ratings system, other than adding the DVR and DVR+7 ratings into the mix, hasn’t changed in forever.

It’s time to change. We’ve lost too many good shows (Jericho, Kings) to the poor way ratings are measured. All the networks own multiple stations now; if the ratings for Kings are too low for NBC proper, why not send it on over to USA or even SyFy?

C’mon. The Nielsen ratings are so … 1980s.

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