Season 6's strong start

Imagine it's September 1973, and you're settling in for the 6th season of your favorite show, Hawaii Five-O.

First you see "Hookman". The next week, another great episode in "Draw Me a Killer". The following week, it's "Charter For Death". You even get a touch of humor the next week, from the memorable "One Big Happy Family".

No Five-O season had a better start.

Did it hold up? Sort of, but not really.

"The Sunday Torch", "Murder is a Taxing Affair", "Tricks Are Not Treats", and "Why Wait Until Uncle Kevin Dies?" were the next four. They weren't bad episodes, but they weren't very memorable, either.

Most of the rest of season 6 followed this mediocrity, but then things picked up again in January 1974, with "One Born Every Minute" and "Secret Witness", and February featured "Nightmare in Blue" and "Mother's Deadly Helper" -- both excellent episodes. Two mediocre episodes then concluded the season.

But ignoring the final two episodes, Season 6 was like a sandwich, with high quality episodes binding each end of it, and a lot of mediocrity in between.

Yep Hookman, Draw Me a Killer, and One Big Happy Family is as good as it gets! Can’t beat that season opener trio!! But I disagree that the rest of season 6 is uneven or fails to measure up. Secret Witness, Murder is a Taxing Affair, A Bullet for El Diablo, Anybody Can Build a Bomb, Death with Father, One Born Every Minute, Nightmare in Blue, Mother’s Deadly Helper, 30,000 Rooms and I Have the Key are all top notch episodes. Sure maybe they can’t top Hookman but then what can?

What you say actually describes season 7 more than 6. It too opens with a series of strong episodes (The Young Assassins, A Hawaiian Nightmare, and especially I’ll Kill ‘Em Again) but then fails to maintain that same high quality, especially after Al Harrington departs. When Doug Mossman steps in I feel some of the episodes become kinda dull or generic. I’m thinking Bones of Contention, Hara-Kiri: Murder, Ring of Life (Don Knight being the only bright spot), And the Horse Jumped Over the Moon, etc. Even the earlier ones with Ben (Steal Now - Pay Later and The Two-Faced Corpse) don’t do anything for me. Both pretty dull.

Season 6 is one of my Top 3 based on my scoring/rankings (3 and 9 are my others). My highlights include the opening trio you noted, Murder is a Taxing Affair, Flash of Color…, Finishing Touch, Anybody Can Build a Bomb (Mr. Mike hates this one), Flip Side is Death, Secret Witness, One Born Every Minute, Nightmare in Blue, and Mother’s Deadly Helper. My average for the season is 3.19 out of 4.

Season 7 ranks about 5th for me with a 3.10, with favorites including Young Assassins, Hawaiian Nightmare, I’ll Kill Em Again, We Hang Our Own, How to Steal a Masterpiece, A Gun for McGarrett, Bones of Contention, Ring of Life, Hit Gun for Sale, Diary of a Gun and 6000 Deadly Tickets. It ranks lower than Season 6 as I felt some of the mid-range and lower scoring shows were more plentiful that season. More dull ones, though not outright bad.