"Hawaii Five-O" 2.0 set up at CBS

By Nellie Andreeva

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - CBS is saying aloha to a new installment of "Hawaii Five-O."

The new take on the popular crime drama, which aired on CBS from 1968 to 1980, is being developed by Ed Bernero, executive producer and showrunner of "Criminal Minds." He is such a big "Hawaii Five-O" fan that he has the Ventures' iconic theme song from the show as his ringtone.

Bernero is writing the project, which he describes as "'Hawaii Five-O' 2.0."

Like the original series, it chronicles the workings of the fictional Hawaiian state police department. In the original, the unit was headed by Steve McGarrett, played by Jack Lord. In the new series, McGarrett's son Chris will be the top cop.

While the characters, storytelling and pacing will be updated, "we will try to keep as much of the original show as possible," Bernero said. "I'm not trying to reinvent it."

The famous opening music will be back but may also get a face-lift, much in the vein of the theme from the 1966-73 series "Mission: Impossible," which was rearranged for the Tom Cruise movie franchise.

As for the staple "Book 'em, Danno" closing line, delivered by McGarrett to his sidekick Dan Williams (James MacArthur), there will be a version of it in the new installment, Bernero said.

"Five-O," which would be filmed in Hawaii, is the second classic cop series that CBS is looking to bring back. The network also is developing an updated "Streets of San Francisco."

The two retreads would give CBS more procedurals in distinct locales to complement its "CSI" series set in Las Vegas, Miami and New York.

Like several other classic cop series such as "Starsky and Hutch" and "Miami Vice," which have made the leap to the big screen, there has been an attempt to make a "Five-0" feature, but the project, set at Warner Bros., has been dormant for a while.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter