There comes a time in watching and re watching older television series when it really becomes and old friend. I am one of those people who keep a TV on in the house most of the time I am at home. It's like having someone else in an otherwise quiet house.
The original Hawaii Five-O is one of the old friends I use to just play in the background while I am doing something else. I'll even do my reading with the TV on in the background. One of the characters in Hunter S. Thompson's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" wold set the TV to an empty channel and let the white noise of static provide the backdrop for sleep.
I can't do that as my low-level mental processing keeps trying to put the static into a pattern that isn't there. Old TV programs work for me. They are familiar as they are largely formulaic. One-hour programs will have a standard four part structure that is predictable even if I haven't seen the particular episode many times before.
In that manner some episodes stand out from the average. Some Hawaii Five-O were very bad. They had a simply robbery and then McGarrett solving the case while barely moving from his desk to the map of Honolulu and back again. To fill out the show there are many shots of cars driving around the island.
Most of the episodes were not that bad but there were just average. There was one that was way above the norm for Five-O, "Over Fifty? Steal". It is not only the best episode of the series, it is far better than the series as a whole.
It is a clever script with plenty of location shots but the best part is Hume Cronyn as the Monopoly Thief. He steals money and jewels while leaving the orange Monopoly cards to taunt McGarrett to catch him.
Catch this episode to remind you how good the old Five-O was.
Original Air Date:25 November 1970
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