I agree with your assessment Todd. Season 9 is my favorite, I'm not sure why but I think it's because we see other aspects to the characters and it was obvious the cast were really comfortable in their roles. However, I will agree it doesn't measure up to the first 7 seasons.

The show should have stopped at 10. It was also obvious, at least to me, Jack Lord was trying hard to put himself in as positive a light as much as possible. What I mean, he/McGarrett swoops in to save the day in more episodes in the last three seasons than probably any other and it really wasn't needed.

I also agree with your last point, I'm sure James MacArthur saw what was going on and he strikes me as somebody who was pretty smart about such things.

Holy cow! This is my 100th post!!