Five Years Later, Hawaii Five-0’s Cancellation Still Cuts Deep

Ever since the dawn of broadcast TV, networks have taken a cutthroat approach to shows that either aren’t rating well or are becoming too expensive:

A swift cancellation.

While the Hawaii Five-0 reboot lasted a decade, it ended rather abruptly when CBS confirmed it would end with its 10th season.

The stunning decision came as the show was still pulling in decent numbers on the network, and the axe swung as the finale was filming.

Sadly, that meant the final episodes were rushed, which left me and many other fans dissatisfied with the conclusion.

A show that delivered consistently for CBS and spent a decade on the air deserved a much better planned-out endgame.

A full final season announcement would have sufficed because all the character arcs could have reached more organic endpoints.

Hawaii Five-0 Was Still a Major Hit After a Decade on the Air

Hawaii Five-0 wrapped in 2020, and the series finale logged almost 10 million viewers. Understandably, the TV industry has changed since then.

There’s every reason to believe that the decision to jetison the show was driven by rising costs, which are a surefire way to ruin any successful long-running series.

To combat that in more recent times, CBS has been ending some of the more veteran shows and trying to recapture their audiences with spinoffs.

It’s a cost-effective way to keep franchises alive, but it doesn’t always work. We’re about to test it with the Blue Bloods spinoff, Boston Blue.

Who is Danny Reagan away from his family and New York City? That’s what we’re about to find out.

Now that I’m thinking about it, if Hawaii Five-0 was canceled this year, we’d probably have a spinoff or two on the schedule for next season.

Proven IP gets executives’ green light primarily because it has a built-in audience that helps with marketing.

A well-known brand is far easier to get in the public’s mind than something new, so it makes sense, but it’s a shame that wasn’t on the table with Hawaii Five-0.

After watching it for so many years, I expected more. Hawaii Five-0 Season 10 initially played out like it was continuing for another season at least, only to accelerate the pace in the final episodes.

There Was Potential for a Revamped Season 11

Many shows end without climaxes, and that’s kind of what I’ve come to expect with the broadcast networks because shows sometimes don’t catch on.

But the sad thing is that the show was on a creative upswing at the time of the cancellation, and watching the episodes post-cancellation was less enjoyable.

It was glaringly evident that the creatives didn’t get adequate time to bring things to an end.

There were also rumblings that Alex O’Loughlin was ready to walk away and that the creatives toyed with Scott Caan continuing with a new co-lead.

It wouldn’t have been the same for sure, but after a decade on the air, maybe it would have been a change of pace to usher the series into a bold new era.

Given that Hawaii Five-0 netted strong international sales for CBS, there was an incentive to continue it, even without Alex.

Then again, perhaps the five years off the air will manifest into a follow-up series of sorts. Criminal Minds has returned successfully on Paramount+, while NCIS is staging a comeback for Tony and Ziva with a new spinoff.

CBS Must Revisit the Franchise

Hawaii Five-0 has all the makings of being the next big franchise for CBS and its streaming sibling, so it’s disconcerting that it hasn’t been brought back in some capacity.

Over to you, Hawaii Five-0 Fanatics! What are your thoughts on the cancellation? Did it ruin your enjoyment of the final season?

What’s your take on a potential comeback?

Is now the right time?

Hit the comments.

Watch Hawaii Five-0 Online

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