Far be it from me to say anything too nice about Lenkov, but I have never heard that he was indifferent to the old show, and the only one in his family who was into it was his father. Here are excerpts from a couple of articles which say otherwise:

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https://calgaryherald.com/entertainm...ts-of-answers/

Lenkov says his connection to the old show was personal. As a boy, he would watch the original Jack Lord series with his father in Montreal.

So while the new Hawaii Five-O may be modernized, Lenkov admits there’s a retro feel to the series that was intentional, a throwback to shows he would watch with his parents, whether it be the original Five-O or Magnum P.I.

“He really loved (the original Hawaii Five-O), and it was on for 12 years,” Lenkov says. “You really get to gauge somebody’s interest in something when they watch it regularly for 12 years. And I think the fact that he was so passionate about it, in a way, was a barometer. I knew there were other people who like it. For me, when I was a kid, I sat and watched it with him and it was like family television. There’s not a lot of shows like that, that you can sit down with your family and watch and still can entertain your dad and your son. There’s something for everybody.”

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https://montrealgazette.com/sports/f...-to-alouettes/

The original Hawaii Five-O, which aired from 1968-80, was Abe’s [Lenkov's father's] favourite TV show.

“When I was a kid I sat by my dad’s knee watching Hawaii Five-O,” Lenkov recalled. “I remember him loving that show, especially in the dead of winter to escape to go to Hawaii once a week — that was a big deal. So that’s the reason I wanted to do that show. It was because of him. I wanted to do Magnum because that was my favourite show.”