Hawaii Five-O/Trivia

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Acting for Two:
    • In "A Bullet For El Diablo", the title dictator's daughter is replaced by a double in an attempt to assassinate him (it works).
    • Steve McGarrett comes face to face with his double in "The Ninety-Second War, Part 1".
    • And in "Welcome to Our Branch Office", where criminals have set up a phony Five-O office with simulacra of our heroes, three of the main four are impersonated by people with similar attributes -- but the fake Danny Williams, like the real Danny Williams, is played by James MacArthur (in the end credits, "Fake Danny" is the only one of the four not listed).
  • Actor Allusion: The villain of "A Bullet for McGarrett" is an American communist mole who learned his Brainwashing skills from Wo Fat while he was a POW during the Korean War. Khigh Dhiegh, the actor who played Wo Fat, had earned his first fame as the master brainwasher Yen Lo, who turns American POWs into double agents during the Korean War in The Manchurian Candidate.
  • Directed by Cast Member: Jack Lord, of course, who was also more or less an uncredited executive producer (especially after creator and actual EP Leonard Freeman passed away in 1973).
  • Fake Nationality:
    • Wo Fat, played by Anglo-Egyptian-Sudanese-American Khigh Dheigh. Yes, really.
    • In "Samurai", Mexican-born actor Ricardo Montalban played a Japanese mobster.
    • Spock's dad played a Japanese saboteur in "To Hell With Babe Ruth". Oh dear.
  • Missing Episode: "Bored She Hung Herself", a 1970 episode about a deadly yoga technique that bears more than a passing resemblance to Erotic Asphyxiation, has been banned since its original broadcast, allegedly because a viewer accidentally died while imitating the technique. The episode was never syndicated, and it's not included on the second season DVD box set.
  • The Other Darrin:
    • Tim O'Kelly as Danno, Lew Ayres as The Governor and James Gregory as State Department official Jonathan Kaye (a recurring character on the series) in the pilot movie; Ayres later guested on the series (twice, in different roles), as did pilot cast members Andrew Duggan (four times!) and Leslie Nielsen. Kaye, meanwhile, was played by a total of six different actors.
    • Similarly, Albert Paulsen played villain Charley Bombay in season two's "Just Lucky, I Guess"; when the character returned in season eight's "McGarrett Is Missing" he was played by Charles Cioffi (making him The Danza). He also had his name slightly changed to Charlie.
  • Playing Against Type: Andy Griffith is a con artist in "I'm a Family Crook -- Don't Shoot!"
  • Trope Namer: For Book'em, Danno.

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