9/10
Another case of: "Too real for the viewing public"
6 April 2001
Another Steven Bochco-branded hit which delved (perhaps too deeply) into modern day Hawaiian island's culture. My wife and I lived on Maui and the Big Island, the later destination where we resided during this great show's tragically short life. The issues were wonderfully relevant to families from "the mainland (USA)" trying to live in the duality of Hawaii's very complex cultures. So many see Hawaii from the balcony of the hotels or the beaches, the bike rides down Haleakala.

A few also see it when faced by some local people who speak pidgin English - that's right - If you're really one of "da kine",(a local) how 'ya talk-story' counts. And that is apparently one of several factors "language", and cultural / historical ignorance by many 'viewers') that got the show canceled.

Hawaii is a 'melting pot' of Native Hawaiians, many generations of Japanese-Americans, Chinese, Portuguese and Filipino-Americans as well as the 'perceived late-comers' known by the racist term "HAOLE" to some of the less-educated locals. Actually, people of European & British decent arrived well before the Japanese-Americans and people of Russian descent colonized Hawaii prior to that.

Mr. Bochco and crew (I am not sure who conceived the plot), combined the positive and negative to show a true-life Hawaii and a 'model- mainland' family struggling to adapt. Too bad so many people can't handle the reality of it. It was a show that should have been re- considered. Shame on you network hatchet-people - Hawaii's 'balcony dwellers' 2 weeks a year!
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