Feminist/columnist Caryl Rivers wrote that ridiculous "Nighmare in Blue" analysis 45 years ago, but it easily could have been written by some of today's wacky third wave feminists. Here's the most egregious paragraph:

Glamour' is the only word I can use to describe the aura created by the manner in which the rapist was photographed. There were, for example, numerous low-angle shots of his police car, sleek as a jungle cat on the prowl. The blue light atop the car twirled, phallic, and restless. Given the clear relationship between the automobile and male sexuality in our society, the symbolism was obvious, even if unintended by the producers of 'Hawaii Five-0.' The effect was sexy and glamorous, not horrifying. The rapist was slim, handsome and virile. The camera's treatment of him was so blatantly machismo in tone, granting him so much of the swagger and force that All-American boys are supposed to covet, that I had a funny feeling that a lot of viewers weren't identifying with the victim but with the villain. Sure, he got his just desserts in the end, but while it lasted -- ah, what fun it was!
Ugh. What garbage.

This was written by someone trying to find victimhood where none existed.

At no point was the rapist glorified or presented as a likable or "fun" character. He was presented as cold, scary, and heartless.

The entire episode was spent with the heroes pursuing him, and he was by no means a charming villain. (Five-O did have its share of charming villains, especially in the nonviolent scam-type episodes, but this guy was the opposite.)

Yes, the victims were mostly attractive women dressed in sexy clothing, but the show did not attempt to imply that they deserved it. Instead, the viewer was left to see them as pretty-but-helpless damsels in distress. Perhaps some of the point of this was for the male viewers to enjoy ogling the actresses, but Rivers wasn't even making that point. Instead, she opined that the show was presenting the rape spree as "fun" because of how the women looked.

The blue police light and the automobile were supposed to represent male sexuality? Huh?

Really dumb.

The more things change, the more they stay the same...

BTW, Caryl Rivers, who was 37 at the time of that piece, is now 81 and still alive.