6 Star Classic HFO Episodes (1968-1980)

[John Chergi]

There are so many Classic episodes of Hawaii Five-O that around a decade ago...I shifted to my 6 Star system. It allows more flexibility for the very elite episodes of HFO. An excellent or outstanding episode could earn 4.5, 5, 5.5, 6 stars. I haven't decided on 3.25 or 4.75 episodes. The episode either earns the extra half star or doesn't. Here are some of my elite 6 star episodes. In no particular order.
1. Hookman
2. Engaged To Be Buried
3. Honor Is An Unmarked Grave
4. Highest Castle, Deepest Grave
5. The Vashon Trilogy
6. Yesterday Died And Tomorrow Won't Be Born
7. King Of The Hill
8. Didn't We Meet At A Murder?
9. Beautiful Screamer
10. Draw Me A Killer
11. To Kill Or Be Killed
12. East Wind, Ill Wind

Others fall just short in the 5.5 stars. Usually some nicks or small things. Do you agree with my 6 star episodes? What episodes would earn your highest rating? JC

[ringfire211]

East Wind, Ill Wind? Definitely not.

It’s alright for a season 10 episode. But nowhere near classic status.

[Mr. Mike]

I don't understand why you persist with this 6-star rating system.

The only place I can find reference to a 6-star rating anywhere is:

What is a 6-star energy rating?

An energy rating reflects how much artificial heating and cooling is needed to keep the inside temperature of your home within a comfortable range. A 6-star rating achieves a higher level of thermal energy efficiency than a 5-star rated house.

[John Chergi]

Mr. Mike
Thank you for the inquiry and interest in the 6 star system. I know that it could use some more explanation. Its origins started over a decade ago. My Sister had printed out the 12 Seasons of Classic HFO as a birthday surprise to me. Shortly thereafter, I grabbed a pen and paper and quickly installed Stars for each episode. First impression kind of thing. When I counted it out, I had over 40 close to 50 of the 4 Star episodes. It just appeared too many. I experimented with a 5 Star episode system for a year or two. I believed further differentiation needed for the "Elite" or "Heaven" episodes. Thus, the 6 Star System was created. I use it only for Classic HFO. It has so many outstanding episodes. Usually for movies I do a 5 Star System. Every other TV show would go under the 4 Star umbrella.
I'll give an example of a 4 Star, 4.5 Star, 5 Star, 5.5 Star, and 6 Star episode.
4 Star Episode (****). This is a very good episode but has noticeable flaws. Six Kilos (Season 1) would fit here. The rolling of the dice sending McG undercover, the Nitro Man incident, etc. The Big Kahuna Season 1 would be similar. Plenty of questions how they would light up the area where there is no electricity to scare Sam, the strange ending how she ends up behind Sam falling over the cliff, etc.

4.5 Stars (**** 1/2) would be a FAV episode of mine with less flaws than 4 star episode. EX:Assault On The Palace (Season 9). This is an episode that I think is creative with Wilcox Raiders. However, there are questions like: Why didn't Lambert use the gun on Kalani initially? How did Lambert know the criminal was ready to exit prison? etc.
The Grandstand Play and Savage Sunday would be examples that fit nicely here.

5 Star (*****) Episodes are usually outstanding episodes but might have 1 Major Flaw that stands out. One of Ringfire's episodes Rest In Peace Somebody (Season 4) is a good example. It's starts out as a Top 5 episode with Cameron's creativity and talents to have Five-O on the run. I just cant get passed the paint stretching that far and that there would be no guard or HPD waiting for Cameron. Especially since he already entered McG's office. Cry,Lie (Season 2) fits nicely here because I didn't really like the ending and I didnt like how Cahlo folded quickly after being confident and strong the entire episode.

5.5 Stars (***** 1/2) I would say these are ELITE episodes. They have something very minor holding it back for 6 stars. It could be a character I don't like or an ineffective episode. EX: Singapore File (Season 2). A brilliant episode of the Series. I just haven't elevated it to 6. Maybe, it's the priest they focus on which telegraphs who is the criminal. Fizzling the suspense. East Wind, Ill Wind fits better here than 6 stars. Love this episode. Double Exposure would be a 5.5 star episode.

6 Stars (******) These are what I consider and most are the best episodes of the Series. Above average creativity and excellent story. Draw Me A Color, Engaged To Be Buried, Hookman, V For Vashon Trilogy, Highest Castle, Deepest Grave. Honor Is An Unmarked Grave is a recent addition. A reason I boosted this to 6 is Mrs. Henderson remembering what happened that night at the Henderson home. It ties it all together and loved the flashbacks there. Yesterday Died And Tomorrow Won't Be Born is another recent addition. My problem was Trinian slowly walking up the staircase and Danny arriving just in time. Viewing it again, it's a rather winding staircase and I gave it the benefit of the doubt.

Hopefully, this better addresses the origins of the 6 Star System and some examples of them. I would say it would be difficult to accordion down the 6 Star System to a 4 Star System. I would have to use quarter and three quarter stars in that case. JC

[Mr. Mike]

Uh, no, John, you wouldn't have to "accordion down" the 6 star system to a 4 star one. You could just use the 4 star one.

My main problem with your 6 star system is that it's not consistent with the 4 star one which I have been using since 1998 or even earlier. Every time I read some 6 star rating which you have posted, I have to do mental arithmetic to try and figure out "what is that equivalent to in 4 stars?"

Even a 5 star system which has 3 as a "middle" rating is less complicated. Someone in e-mail to me said, "Why does he use a 6 star system, why not 7?" Sure, why not a "100 star" rating, then some episode might be 58.3 stars, another one 76.7 stars?

Using a 6 star rating system reminds me of a Steve Martin monologue on Saturday Night Live many years ago where he was trying to get the audience to do a sing-a-long, and told them, "All right, ladies only... Come on! Okay, this half of the room! Beautiful! Now this half! Good, good! All right, two-fifths! Now, three-fifths! Good. Seven-ninths! Two-ninths."

More recently, it reminds me of what the disgraced comedian Louis CK said regarding "The 'N'-word," when someone uses this term in conversation with another person. The second person must mentally say to themselves, "Hmmm, the 'N-word,' that really means '[the dreaded word this stands for]'."

I have had issues with "rating systems" before. I have often felt about just removing all the star ratings on my review sites, because people see these ratings, and they don't even bother to read the reviews that they are based on, they just say that "Oh, that is what I think of it too," or "That Mike is an idiot."

You will notice that I don't have any ratings for Peter Gunn episodes (www.petergunn.tv) at all (there were 38 x 3 episodes in total) because, as mentioned elsewhere, it was just too much work to deal with the "big picture." I also didn't use star ratings with my reviews of the Mission: Impossible 1988 reboot (www.missionimpossible1988.info) because I was just doing those reviews for fun. If I decided to do the original Mission: Impossible, I probably wouldn't have ratings either.

With the H50 reboot, I got myself mentally twisted with the early season shows because they were so bad, and I actually had an alternate rating system called "This Is Just A TV Show Rating" which was better than the rating which I eventually gave the show. If you look at the HTML on some of the pages for the reboot reviews, you can still see this "alternate" rating, which has been commented out.

There is a Wikipedia page devoted to star ratings:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_(classification)

You might want to check that out.

Most of the discussion there is regarding four or five star ratings. Six star is very unusual and just causes problems. You suggest that you would have to adjust your rating so that 5 stars, for example, was actually 3⅓, and 4 was 2⅔.

Using a 4 star system eliminates this problem.

[John Chergi]

Mr. Mike
Thanks for the feedback on my 6 Star System. I've created the 6 Star System after experimenting with a 5 Star System. I really love the 6 Stars for the Top episodes. It's narrowed it from 40-50 4 Star Episodes to around a dozen to 15 Six Star episodes. I've already listed most of the 6 Star episodes already. I think a fair compromise for the purposes of the forum...Have a letter grade system. A+, A, A-, B+, B, B-, etc. The episodes that I believe are truly ELITE...I will give an A+ score ranging from 100-105%. A fair scale for the grading system could be A+105%-100% A-99-94, A-93-90, B+ 89-87, B 86-83, B-82-79 C+78-76 C 75-72 C-71-68 D-67-60 F-59 Below. I'll see how this works.
Let's do a few quick examples.
1. Highest Castle, Deepest Grave 102% A+
2. Rest In Peace Somebody 91% A-
3. Steal Now, Pay Later 86% B
4. King Of The Hill 102% A+
5. Requiem For A Saddle Bronc Rider 81% B-

I could also just go A+, A, A-, B+,B, B- without percentages. I might go this route. Will do an example soon of this variety. It might be simpler. JC

[Bobbi]

Grading would work, but it appears to me that you're hung up on differentiating the "Elite" episodes from the rest. Classic H5O had many really good episodes (you said 40-50) and if you're overwhelmed by that, I don't know what to tell you.

[John Chergi]

Where did I say I was overwhelmed. The 6 star system was set up to differentiate the very Top 12 or Top 15 episodes from the other great episodes. MOST TV programs have a few episodes that are considered the best. In Streets Of SF, The Takers, Mask Of Death, Poisoned Snow, and The Glass Dartboard jump out as great episodes.

[Bobbi]

Where did I say I was overwhelmed. The 6 star system was set up to differentiate the very Top 12 or Top 15 episodes from the other great episodes.

In your big explanation of your 6-star system, you couldn't nail down the top episodes to 40-50. The way you wrote it, you sounded overwhelmed. I would have accepted the fact that there's 40-50 top episodes and be happy!

[ringfire211]

John, don’t you think having 15 6-star episodes is kinda a lot??

You should narrow down your ELITE’s to SUPER DUPER ELITES’s! You should only have about 3 in that category. I would suggest giving those select few 7 stars!

My SUPER DUPER ELITE’s are:

1. Rest In Peace, Somebody
2. Hookman
3. V for Vashon: The Father

My #4 and #5 would be I’ll Kill ‘Em Again and Nightmare in Blue. But I don’t know if I would include them in the SUPER DUPER ELITE’s or just SUPER ELITE’s. I feel like the SUPER ELITE’s should have 5-7 episodes. And then the ELITES maybe no more than 15.

But you know, a case could be made for using the 8-star system. But only one episode is allowed to have 8 stars. This episode would be your favorite. Actually 9 stars might be valid too. This would go to an episode that doesn’t exist. In other words this would be such a “super duper luper heavenly with a cherry on top” episode that it can’t possibly exist, at least not on FIVE-O.

[John Chergi]

Don't be impertinent Ringfire. It's only 6 stars and you know it. I outlined the above average episodes. Anything above 4 or higher stars fits this category. Take away the 6 stars and say it's the 4 stars highest system like Mr. Mike and others. You will still have probably a dozen or more at this level. Off the top of my head. You probably would agree. All these deserve the highest grade.
1. Highest Castle, Deepest Grave
2. Draw Me A Killer
3. The Vashon Trilogy
4. To Kill Or Be Killed
5. Didn't We Meet At A Murder?
6. Hookman
7. Beautiful Screamer
8. Honor Is An Unmarked Grave
9. Engaged To Be Buried
10. Yesterday Died And Tomorrow Won't Be Born
11. And A Time To Die...
12. The Defector
Many others could be 4 stars on a 4 star system.

That's a quick 12 without much thought. Probobaly could reach 15 or 20. What's your point anyway?! In any rating system, the greatest episodes would have the highest star ratings. In Mike's 4 star system, the best and greatest Classic HFO episodes have 4 stars.

It seems there's just jealousy about the 6 star system. That people are jealous they didn't think of it first. Anyway, I've placed letter grades on my last few reviews. I would be curious how many Mr. Mike's top episodes have earned 4 stars. That would be a good barometer.

[Bobbi]

It seems there's just jealousy about the 6 star system. That people are jealous they didn't think of it first. Anyway, I've placed letter grades on my last few reviews. I would be curious how many Mr. Mike's top episodes have earned 4 stars. That would be a good barometer.

No, no jealousy. Just a lot of head scratching of why a 6-star system would be used to begin with.

I've read every one of Mr. Mike's reviews and they're fantastic. Do I always agree with his ratings? No, there are some episodes I really enjoy that have only earned 2 or 2.5 stars under Mr. Mike's ratings. This does not invalidate either opinion, just to each their own.

Also of note, you're still listing a 3-episode arc as one - that's cheating.

[Mr. Mike]

Oh, puh-leeze, no one is "jealous" of your 6 star ratings system.

You have a list of 12 episodes which are presumably 6 star episodes (I think, the description is not that clear), suggesting that "all these deserve the highest grade." But if you compare those to my ratings, more than half of them (exactly half, if you correctly list Vashon as 3 episodes), in my opinion, are not 4 star.

1. Highest Castle, Deepest Grave - 3½
2. Draw Me A Killer - 3½
3. The Vashon Trilogy - 4 x 3
4. To Kill Or Be Killed - 4
5. Didn't We Meet At A Murder? - 2½
6. Hookman - 3½ (4 pending)
7. Beautiful Screamer - 3½
8. Honor Is An Unmarked Grave - 4
9. Engaged To Be Buried - 4
10. Yesterday Died And Tomorrow Won't Be Born - 4
11. And A Time To Die... - 2½
12. The Defector - 3

Of course, these are JUST OPINIONS (by me).

[John Chergi]

Again, I don't know what the argument is here. If you have a 6 (******) or 5 (*****) or 4 Star (****) System, the best episodes would be at the top. Most of the episodes I listed you have at 4 Star or 3.5 when you responded. There doesn't seem to be much disagreement. As many know, sometimes viewing Classic HFO episodes you can change the ratings up or down. I have stated 2 episodes recently that jumped to the Highest Level. Honor Is An Unmarked Grave and Yesterday Died And Tomorrow Won't Be Born. I can't remember criticizing anybody's episode. Only how it is graded in my system. In my examples, I've stated why an episode is say at 4.5 or 5 stars. Rest In Peace Somebody is a good example. I think 5 Stars is a very high score. I guess people are hung up on the fractions maybe. 5/6 equates to 83.3. That doesn't sound overly impressive. I go by the number of stars. Rest In Peace Somebody did not earn the full 6 because of 3 main reasons.
1. I don't believe the can of paint shown could have lasted to the length of travel depicted. Especially since McGarrett's office is way in the back. He also sloshes paint on the desk and later still has a surplus up against the door.
2. Cameron has the HFO team on the run most of the episode. He inexplicably paints the trail to the Governor's. I think it would have been more suspenseful not knowing the target.
3. There is no guard or HPD protecting McG's office or the HFO main Office. We know Cameron has already broken into McG's office before. It's something I don't understand. No guard or HPD stopped Cameron during his long paint trail. Something Inhad to mark down.

As far as the 6 Star System, I had presented several episode reviews on Mr. Mike's forum. Don't remember anybody objecting to those Reviews at that time. It's the same number of Cadets and Rookies who posted on that forum. I'm glad Mr. Mike has the Forum Archives. It would show the number of reviews in the 6 star system and even Mr. Mike was interested who would be the highest 6 stars and the like.

I have never been critical of Mr. Mike's episodes or reviews. Sometimes, we might disagree on the final score of an episode. I think Yes, My Deadly Daughter could be a little higher and I liked both A Killer Grows Wings and Stranger In His Grave a little more. Everybody has their different FAV episodes. My guess if you asked 10 Classic Hawaii Five-O fans their Top 5 episodes...You would get 10 different responses. It is why 52 or 53 years later...We are still passionately talking about the high quality of the work presented.

As for the Mr. Mike HFO Forum and this one, I've always addressed him as Mr. Mike. He has the first hand experience of watching Classic HFO from its creation to 1980. I respect that knowledge and wisdom. I wasn't born until the mid-1970's and vaguely remember Seasons 11 and 12. Anybody who has put his heart, sweat, and tears this many years chronicling Classic HFO has deserves my honor and respect. I would consider him a Brother or Friend. JC

[ringfire211]

John, which episode cures cancer? Lol. It’s just a TV show. You’ve turned this into a science. Fractions and all that jazz. Yikes!! I hate fractions. Always hated math in school.

Anyway I’m just teasing you.

Ultimately I don’t care what you go with. I was just having some fun with your “system” because... well... because you turned it into this complex system. For me it’s as simple as I liked this episode or I didn’t like it. Or it’s just ok. Or it’s great! Or it sucks!! I just never think in terms of stars. Or stripes. Or apples. Or bananas. Or fractions of stars or bananas. Well, you get the point