This Just in from Mike Quigley

Many thanks, once again, Mike!

Soon after Hawaii Five-0 ended production in December 1979, an unnamed reporter interviewed Jack in his office in the Five-0 production office at the Hawaii Film Studio. After telling the reporter that the series had ended when it needed to, Jack explained a bit about why the series had been so successful. Jack said,

“It was fresh, it was interesting. It was a police show the first couple of years and then, we experimented. We found out we could do comedy. In one show,* for instance, Hume Cronyn did seven different characters, and it was high camp. And we did love stories,** and that took quite a lot, because McGarrett didn’t have much sex life. And we did spy stories in Hong Kong*** and Singapore.****”

Jack's reason for the show ending when it needed to: "We'd exhausted all the possibilities." That seems strikingly similar to something Susan Saint James said about why McMillan & Wife ended: "It had to. All our friends were either in prison or dead."

* “Over Fifty? Steal” (Season 3)

** “The Singapore File” (Season 2)

*** “Nine Dragons” (Season 9)

**** “Year of the Horse” (Season 11)

Source: “A Liberated Lord” in ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Globe and Mail. July 28, 1980, p. 16.