H&I airing of Five-O

[Bobbi]

So this last Friday, I was able to catch all 5 hours of the "Day Shift" for Five-O. The line-up was really good, with the exception of the first one:

Let Death Do Us Part (this is a whack-a-doodle episode, in my opinion)
Double Exposure (my personal fave!)
Target -- A Cop
The Bells Toll At Noon (an excellent episode, probably the series best!)
Man In A Steel Frame (another stellar episode!)

Anyway, as I was watching, it didn't seem they edited out very much. The episodes were left pretty intact. However, when the show starts, it's the wave and the theme right off the bat. There is no teaser/preview at the beginning which started in Season 9. After reviewing Mr. Mike's page it looks like by taking those out, H&I saves 31-33 seconds which means another ad! It's enough for two ads if the spots are 15 seconds!

I'm just glad they didn't stop at Season 7 like MeTV did.

[JeffH]

I’ve also noticed H&I has started using a time compression algorithm to speed up parts without dialogue by removing frames per second from the show. They don’t sound like it’s sped up or on helium, but they move in a herky jerky motion at times, which is indicative of frame removal (film typically runs at 24 frames per second).

I didn’t notice this as much on earlier season shows.

The H&I episodes run about 46 minutes, meaning they either cut and/or compress about 3-5 minutes per show.

[Wulfgar1224]

I have been watching H and I and saw one of these episodes last Friday. It was the one that was panned called Let death do us Part. I found it to be confusing. I don’t know if anyone has seen it recently. But, a lot of things didn’t make sense to me. First off, why did that old detective (Norton?) have such a hatred for Spier? From what I gathered about the show, there wasn’t that strong of a case against him. It was circumstancial. I mean the wrong body was in the lime pit for heaven sakes although he probably couldn’t have known that. Plus, he told McGarrett that there was no Edna Kaetner but once Spier stole his file from him and the beautician found a note written by a detective he worked with that the daughter had hired a PI to track Edna Kaetner. So, he had to know since it was in his file cabinet.

Later in the show, when Anita the daughter was confronted after Spier broke into her home, why didn’t she go ahead and shoot Spier? Why let him leave and talk to McGarret? He broke into her place after all.

The whole end made no sense either. Why would Spier leave a one night stand in his house alone after having sex with her? I mean once you have sex with her you either let her lie in bed with you or get rid of her. You don’t leave your own house. Didn’t make sense.

How could they have pulled of the old woman assuming Edna Kaetner’s identity. I mean didn’t EK have friends? Wouldn’t someone have missed her? The twist at the very end didn’t make any sense either. All the daughter had to do is say she went upstairs to check and that the woman was dead. Had she not acted sketchy and tried to get the old woman to change her story no one would’ve known the difference.

Anyone willing to she some light would be appreciated

[Bobbi]

I'm going to try - I may make things worse!

I watched the same episode and like you said, Wulfgar1224, it makes even less sense now.

As far as Norton hating Spier, who knows. Maybe something about the case didn't sit well with Norton but he had no idea what. With the body in the lime pit, the technology has only been perfected in the last 15-20 years concerning DNA analysis so my guess would be that it was the 1970s and there was no way to identify the body except for the ring (which is why they figured it was Newhouse and not Edna). Don't ask me why, I just spaced on the lady's first name - she's Anita's mother.

Why didn't Anita shoot Spier? I have no idea. It would have been simpler, no? Anita could claim self-defense and pinned Norton's death on Spier like she did. The only thing I can point to is that Anita is nuts - we see this throughout the episode.

Spier leaving his house - another good question! It's really weird how everything went down. Anita's mom finds Edna and then fights ensue. Why Edna stayed is beyond me as well, she should have left!

With Anita's mother assuming EK's identity didn't make any sense either. Like you said, didn't EK have friends? Neighbors? Co-workers? Someone is sure missing her somewhere along the line.

I think what really threw the episode through the wringer was the whole ESP/physic angle. Danno is of course very skeptical and it explains why Anita is always acting sketchy. The truth, however, is much simpler - she was talking to her mom on the phone the whole time! I'm sure Anita is nuts on some level but she was pretty clever in keeping her guilt under wraps for so long. Only when her mother resurfaces and McGarrett and Danno confront them do things become clear as mud. Bottom line: Anita killed Edna because she was the other woman in her mom's marriage.

I hope this helps as this is an overly convoluted episode.

[Wulfgar1224]

@Bobbi. I appreciate your response. You chimed in with good thoughts. I always try to watch this show understanding that it was made 50 years ago and had to be wrapped up in an hour. Not every loose end can be tied up. I know people thought differently and technology was different then. But, this one really bothered me. Maybe Norton just hated the guy because he played around on an older wife. But, he really did seem closed minded. He pretty much ignored the Edna Kaetner angle. I mean however he got sent to crime scene (probably an anonymous call from Anita) wouldn’t that at least have raised some suspicion?
Maybe the jury convicted on such flimsy evidence because he was an unsympathetic philanderer. The ending though, really difficult to swallow. So complicated and lacking in any common sense. I guess most of all I was just disappointed because I thought this had a chance to be a good episode and the writers blew it. The escape from prison and determination to prove his innocence isn’t a new angle but it can be very fun to watch if written properly. Too bad

[Todd]

I actually don't mind the removal of the previews.

It's funny, because as a kid, I loved the previews before TV shows (something considered very antiquated today), and I got annoyed when my mom would mute the TV during them, and say that it "gives away the entire show".

She was right! I always skip past them now when watching any old show today.

Thinking back, the whole preview thing was very weird. I guess they had to try to entice the viewer to stay around and watch the entire hour?

[Todd]

Regarding Let Death Do Us Part, it was a lousy episode. It was honestly one of the worst episodes of the series, at least from the first 11 seasons.

Here's the review I wrote of it in 2019, which raises a lot of the same issues you guys noticed:


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What started out as a fascinating mystery in the opening acts degraded into a convoluted mess which I still don't fully understand after watching the episode and even rewinding some parts.

The opening act involves Jim Spier (Jack Kelly) escaping from prison, in order to prove his innocence. He had been convicted of killing his elderly wife, Helen Newhall, presumably to receive her million-dollar (about $5 million in today's money) estate. Spier had turned down parole twice, claiming that it would be an admission of guilt.

In attempt to find more information, Spier breaks into the home of Detective Norton (Lyle Bettiger), the now-retired cop who put him away, and steals his files. He also breaks into the home of his deceased wife's daughter, Anita Newhall (Zohra Lampert), and confronts her about an investigation she had done on him and his mistress prior to the murder.

The viewer is led to believe very early in the show that Spier is innocent, and he's seen talking with a hairdesser girlfriend Claudine Hessler (Linda Ryan) about how he can prove his innocence. While it's revealed several times in the show that Spier and Helen Newhall had a marraige which was more of an "arrangement", where he gave her companionship and friendship in exchange for eventually inheriting he fortune, it's not made clear how and when he got together with Hessler. This is because Spier claimed he had an affair with a woman named Edna Kentner right before Helen was murdered, which he was quickly arrested and convicted for. So when did he have time to meet Hessler and fall in love with her? This was never explained.

During Spier's break-in to Anita Newhall's place, it's interrupted by Norton, who had been hired to protect her. However, Anita shoots Norton and lets Spier run off, for reasons which, again, were never explained. Norton died believing that he helped convict the right man, so there was absolutely no reason to kill him, nor was there a reason for Anita to let Spier run off. She would have had the perfect excuse for shooting him in her own house, claiming self defense!

At this point, it is obvious to the viewer that Anita Newhall, who claims to practice some New Age religion and says she communicates with her dead mother, is guilty of something, and likely had something to do with framing Spier.

Much of the episode is spent searching for the mysterious Edna Kentner, who had a 1-night-stand with Spier the night Helen Newhall was killed, but could never be located. Both Spier and Five-O look for Kentner, at first without success. Then, in a strange sequence, Duke and Chin are assigned to search for Spier's mysterious beautician girlfriend, while Danno is tasked to find Kentner. Both of these "searches" are bizarre. After visiting numerous beauty parlors, somehow Chin comes up with a very accurate drawing of Spier's girlfriend Hessler, and verifies it with prison officials who saw her visiting. How? It isn't explained how Chin connected Hessler with Spier. Then, in an even weirder scene, Danno is shown interviewing a stewardess who helped Edna Kentner find a dentist in San Francisco during a flight out from Hawaii. But how did Danno know that Kentner was on that flight, if that was assumed to be (and was) a fake name? Did Edna Kentner book the flight under the alias she gave to Spier? Again, this was never explained.

Thanks to the tip and the San Francisco dentist, Danno locates Edna Kentner, and finds out her real name is Evelyn Knight -- but that she had just moved out of her apartment prior to Danno getting there. Shortly after that, a woman fitting Kentner/Knight's description is seen entering Anita Newhall's place, so Danno and McGarrett rush down there.

After initially denying that Evelyn Knight is there, an older woman comes down the stairs who looks just like Helen Newhall, and that's exactly who she is. So Helen Newhall actually isn't dead, after all! But who was the body found in the "lion's pit" (lol) where Helen was supposedly murdered?

It turns out that the real Evelyn Knight, who traveled to Hawaii as Edna Kentner, was killed at Helen Newhall's house shortly after she had sex with Spier. Helen had come home and found this, but said nothing until Spier had left for some reason (again, this isn't expained), and then she confronted Knight. Helen injured her, went downstairs to call for an ambulance, and then her daughter had come down and informed her that Evelyn was dead, presumably having finished her off without telling her mom. They then arranged for Helen to take over Evelyn's identity and move to San Francisco, and Anita pretended that the victim in the lion's pit was really her mom. This was supposed to get her the inheritance instead of Spier, and also screwed Spier, whom she hated.

This convoluted revelation came via an awkwardly-staged, several-minute-long interview between McGarrett, Danno, and the two Newhall women at Anita's house. It ends with McGarrett booking both for "conspiracy". Somehow McGarrett doesn't book Anita for her murder of Norton, despite believing Spier's version of events at that point, because he orders Spier released!

Lots of problems with the entire story. Why was Evelyn Knight using an alias in the first place? Someone said that perhaps she was using it because she was ashamed of the affairs she'd be having in Hawaii, but who flies 3000 miles just to have an affair with married men? Also, even if she came to Hawaii expecting to use an alias while there, why fly under an alias? How could she have predicted she would have been the subject of an investigation later on? Makes no sense.

I have a hard time believing that an elderly, frail-looking woman like Helen Newhall could seriously harm a younger woman (which Evelyn Knight presumably was), even if she were angry. The entire murder of Norton didn't make sense, nor did Anita's sparing of Spier, when she knew he would report on what really happened once he was caught. It's never made clear whether Helen Newhall was aware that Anita was going to frame Spier for the killing. On one hand it seems obvious, but at the same time, Helen seems to be forthcoming with McGarrett and Danno, as if she has nothing to hide. It's also never explained how Helen Newhall took over Evelyn Knight's identity without anyone missing the real Evelyn.

It's too bad. This could have been a good episode. The opening acts with Spier escaping, declaring that he was looking for the real killer, and his invasion of Norton's property were exciting and full of mystery. Then the entire thing went to crap.

Mike gave it 1 star in his review. I'll give a more generous 1.5 stars out of 4.

[John Chergi]

Let Death Do Us Part

1. Jim Spier and Helen Newhall had an arrangement. He gave her friendship and companionship. Spier admitted it himself he probably took advantage of the arrangement. It's interesting this Evelyn Knight would be targeted and fought with by Helen when Spier had sexual relations with several women. He has time to establish a new relationship with Claudine.

2. I think Norton dislikes Jim Spier because Norton comes from the old school detectives. You be honest and admit your guilt. Spier would never admit he killed his wife Helen Newhall. Because he didn't. I think Norton also dislikes Spier because Norton wasted so much time and effort trying to find this mysterious Edna Kentner. He angrily says she doesn't exist. We find out later she did exist. But was killed the woman found in the pit.

3. Anita shoots Detective Norton because Jim Spier is on the run and it would be her version of the story with Norton dead. It would make sense Spier a prison escapee on the run if cornered would shoot Norton. You might remember McG when talking to Norton expresses Anita says you would blame her. It would be Anita's word vs a convicted killer and prison escapee. Anita also was smart to make up a story how her prints would be on the weapon.

4. Evelyn Knight flying to Hawaii and maybe falling in love with Hawaii and finding a lover and staying there not too hard to believe. People have brought up some good points why a friend or relative wouldn't be in Hawaii looking for her. It might have added to the story if a friend of hers or a Private Detective hired to look for Evelyn Knight meets with McGarrett.

5. Anita Newhall I think comes across as an evil and selfish person. She didn't want Spier to receive the inheritance and wealth when Mrs. Newhall died someday. Making it appear Spier killed her mother when Anita finished Edna Kentner off. She then shoots and kills Norton blaming Spier. What's interesting is Helen Newhall very honest answering McG's questions. She talks about the traumatic amnesia she suffered after the incident. However, Helen also admits she tried to fit the Evelyn Knight description and people don't ask a lot of questions. She is aware of the situation. Also, communicates with Anita.

6. It's difficult episode to grade because I think Jim Spier is a fascinating character. He's fighting for his innocence and the truth and I like how Claudine believes him and stands by him. It is a convoluted episode similar to The Gunrunner or Try To Die On Time. I find myself rooting for Spier to get justice when I watch the episode. JC

[Mr. Mike]

Todd says I gave Let Death Do Us Part one star in 2019. I went back at the Internet Archive to look at the page containing this review between 1998 and the present. I gave up doing this after a while, because the page could be under either www.fiveohomepage.com (most recent) or www.mjq.net/fiveo (earliest), I wanted to be consistent with the review for the same month every year which was not always possible, and the Internet Archive is VERY slow when searching for stuff.

I found the earliest date I where I gave this show a rating of one star was in June of 2016, so I must have given the current rating (2½) when I did the revamp of episodes more recently.

This show is problematic -- it is like the writer, Bud Freeman (who did The Two-Faced Corpse, How To Steal A Masterpiece (!!), The Hostage -- all in the 7th season, and Honor Is An Unmarked Grave -- 8th season, one of my faves), wanted to do something different, but this didn't really work out.

I have done the usual mega-anal-ysis of this episode and will be revising my review soon...

[Todd]

Todd says I gave Let Death Do Us Part one star in 2019. I went back at the Internet Archive to look at the page containing this review between 1998 and the present. I gave up doing this after a while, because the page could be under either www.fiveohomepage.com (most recent) or www.mjq.net/fiveo (earliest), I wanted to be consistent with the review for the same month every year which was not always possible, and the Internet Archive is VERY slow when searching for stuff.

I found the earliest date I where I gave this show a rating of one star was in June of 2016, so I must have given the current rating (2½) when I did the revamp of episodes more recently.

This show is problematic -- it is like the writer, Bud Freeman (who did The Two-Faced Corpse, How To Steal A Masterpiece (!!), The Hostage -- all in the 7th season, and Honor Is An Unmarked Grave -- 8th season, one of my faves), wanted to do something different, but this didn't really work out.

I have done the usual mega-anal-ysis of this episode and will be revising my review soon...

I think your one star rating is much closer to what it deserved than your more recent 2.5 star!

The only reason I gave it 1.5 was because the beginning was promising.

Can someone tell me what the "lion's pit" was supposed to be? A pit of actual lions? Where was this supposed to be, and where did the lions come from?

[Mr. Mike]

I tried to revise my review of Let Death Do Us Part, that didn't work. So I wrote what was an addendum to this review, that didn't work either, there were too many things that were repeated from the old review. So I took the addendum and edited it together with the original review, which was revised, that seemed to produce the best results. See the finished product here: https://www.fiveohomepage.com/5-0log9.htm#199

I really hate this episode now. I hope I never have to deal with it again.

To sort of quote myself: This show is very complicated, mostly because of what is not said or described. When you are finished viewing, you have to decide whether dealing with all the "fill-in-the-blanks" was really worth it. It is like the writer, Bud Freeman, who did The Two-Faced Corpse (meh), How To Steal A Masterpiece (top-level), The Hostage (pretty good), all in the 7th season, and Honor Is An Unmarked Grave, 8th season, one of my faves, wanted to do something different. Maybe the show was overwritten and had to be dialled back. I don't know.

[Wulfgar1224]

Wowza. I just watched a terrible episode of Five O today on H and I. It was Deadly Doubles with Kurt Russell. I was kinda excited to see a young Kurt Russell. But, he gave a terrible performance in a very boring episode. For what it is worth, I would avoid this one. I haven’t seen all the clunkers yet. But, this has to be among the worst

[Bobbi]

Yeah, we're entering clunker territory now. I don't mind Deadly Doubles that much, but you have to remember it was the height of the Cold War at the time. When shows ran out of ideas, this was a go to (US v. USSR). It was neat to see a young Kurt Russell but Wowsers...it was nuts. I did enjoy that the KGB guy got arrested at the end!