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Season 1 generally

Trivia: Hawaii Five-0's first season interiors were shot in a WWII-era Navy warehouse above Pearl City. The creaky building was infested with both rats and mongooses that were so noisy, one director routinely fired a starter pistol at the ceiling to scare them away before filming. Lacking air conditioning, the makeshift soundstage also reached over 120 degrees F when the studio lights were turned on. Fortunately, CBS increased the budget enough for producers to build a new, air-conditioned soundstage for succeeding seasons.

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The Face of the Dragon - S1-E17

Trivia: Colonel Tyler receives an emergency call from "General Freeman." This was an in-joke homage to Five-0 creator and executive producer Leonard Freeman.

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The Box - S1-E18

Trivia: This story was shot on location inside Oahu Prison, a dilapidated facility built in 1918 but still in use. Activists lobbying for prison reforms used footage from this episode to illustrate the need for long-overdue building upgrades.

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Trivia: Actor Robert Brown (Jason of Here Come the Brides and Lazarus in the ST:TOS episode "The Alternative Factor") was originally slated to play McGarrett. A week before filming was to begin on the pilot, CBS asked producer Leonard Freeman to change the lead, giving no explanation. Freeman had to scramble for another leading man, and asked Jack Lord, whom he'd worked with on a previous (failed) pilot. Lord moved to Hawaii on a week's notice, and remained there throughout the series' run and for the rest of his life.

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Trivia: Danno was played by Tim O'Kelley in the 5-0 pilot. But a NY test audience told CBS they didn't buy him as a serious cop because he was too much of a "smart-cracking, Jimmy-Olsen-type gee-whiz kid." Leonard Freeman took the criticism to heart, and recast the part with James MacArthur for the series.

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Trivia: Kam Fong, who played Chin Ho, was a real Honolulu police officer for 17 years before changing careers to become an actor. He originally auditioned for the part of villain Wo Fat.

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Nightmare Road - S2-E22

Trivia: Theresa's letter from Immigration is signed by "James Heinz," an in-joke. Heinz, in real life, was Hawaii Five-0's associate producer.

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F.O.B. Honolulu (1) - S3-E18

Trivia: Roger C. Carmel, best known as Star Trek's Harry Mudd, played KGB agent Misha Toptegan in this episode. But his end credit lists the character as "Misha the Bear." This was a joking reference to Carmel's years as the voice of Smokey the Bear in hundreds of public service announcements throughout the 1960s.

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F.O.B. Honolulu (1) - S3-E18

Trivia: CBS had to reschedule this episode twice after pre-emptions for speeches by President Nixon. When Secretary of State Henry Kissinger visited Hawaii and asked to tour the Five-O studio, producer Leonard Freeman asked him for a favor in return. Could he talk to the president about that speech schedule? Within a week, Nixon's speeches were moved to a different night.

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Mr. Monk and the Captain's Marriage - S4-E12

Trivia: Just before he's attacked by the murderer, Gerald is reading to Devo from a mystery novel. Not by coincidence, it's a book by Monk novelist and scriptwriter Lee Goldberg. (00:24:30)

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Trivia: Walter Koenig's recurring Psi Corps character, Bester, was named in honor of science fiction writer Alfred Bester, who coined the term "psi cop" in one of his many novels about psychic manipulation.

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What About Bob? - S1-E10

Trivia: The coroner's assistant standing behind Justin Morningway's coffin when it's opened is Jim Butcher, author of the best selling novels on which The Dresden Files TV series is based. (00:20:00)

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Trivia: The murder victim in Jim Butcher's fourth Dresden Files novel is named Ronald Reuel, and Dresden's chief suspects, not coincidentally, are fairies. The name is an homage to Lord of the Rings author J.R.R. Tolkien, whose initials stood for John Ronald Reuel.

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Trivia: High Chaparral was one of the first TV westerns to hire large numbers of genuine Native American actors to play the "Indians." During a casting call for the part of Apache Chief Cochise, one actor, when asked to give his name, responded "Cochise." "No, no," the casting director argued. "That's the role. We want your name." "Cochise." This went back and forth a few times before the actor slapped the table and angrily declared, "Damn it, I am Cochise!" And to the casting director's astonishment, he was - a namesake and great-grandson of the original Cochise. [Source: TV Guide, 1967.].

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Trivia: In its day, War and Remembrance held the record for most expensive mini-series ever produced. Its price tag was in excess of $110,000.00. (ABC picked up the tab after Paramount declined to finance the sequel.) The production was shot in over 750 locations around the world and hired more than 44,000 actors, 358 of whom had speaking parts.

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Trivia: In what may have been a casting first, the actor playing Adolf Hitler, Steven Berkoff, was Jewish.

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Trivia: The Green Hornet series often paid tribute to another show on the air at the same time, its more popular rival in the TV superhero department. Whenever a Green Hornet character turned on a TV set, the show on the screen was invariably Batman..

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Trivia: Prop master Joe Longo, a Ricardo Montalban and Fantasy Island fan, modified a small toy robot, painted a tux on it and used a poster to give it Tattoo's face. When Montalban first pulled into the studio parking lot, Longo sent the mechanical Tattoo toddling out to his car. Every day of the production after that, "Tattoo" arrived in the passenger seat of Montalban's car, came to the set with him, and went home every night to play around the actor's swimming pool.

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The Night of the Infernal Machine - S2-E14

Trivia: West collides with the cook and sends him sprawling face-down in a huge platter of gelatin. Before racing off again, West quips, "Sorry about that, chef!" This was a winking homage to the 60s spy comedy Get Smart and its bumbling hero Maxwell Smart's famous catch-phrase, "Sorry about that, Chief!" (00:47:30)

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Can't Run, Can't Hide - S2-E10

Trivia: Casey's framed certificate says that he won the "Borchiver Award for outstanding service with disadvantaged children." The name is a nod to series producer Richard Borchiver.

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