‘Hawaii’ is guilty pleasure all the way

This isn’t your father’s “Five-0.”

“Hawaii,” debuting at 8 tonight, isn’t like any past crime show set in the islands. It’s Hawaiian shirts instead of suits. It’s soul patches in place of bushy mustaches. In TV exec-speak, it’s “Miami Vice” goes aloha, full of the quick-cutting and edgy music that the MTV generation just loves.

As you might expect, the cast of “Hawaii,” like the islands themselves, are a regular Rainbow Coalition, filling a series of fairly cardboard roles. There’s the hot-headed young detective (played by Ivan Sergei, “Crossing Jordan”) who is in trouble with his supervisor (Cary Tagawa), and who gets kept somewhat in check by his equally youthful but more savvy partner (Eric Balfour, “Six Feet Under”). The newcomer to Hawaii (Sharif Atkins, “ER”) is paired with the wily veteran (Michael Biehn, “The Terminator”). Then there’s the uniformed beauty catching everyone’s eye (Aya Sumika).

The series, created by Jeff Eastin (no distinguished credits), is essentially a long-form music video with eye candy racing about in front of beautiful scenery, with precious few personal touches to slow down the ride. It’s much like “Fastlane,” from a couple of seasons ago on Fox. We’re taking guilty pleasure all the way.

NBC’s early start gives the drama a chance to hook viewers before more challenging fare in the same time slot, such as the WB’s “Smallville” or ABC’s “Lost,” take the air later this month. Then it could be aloha, “Hawaii.”

Dale McGarrigle can be reached at 990-8028 and dmcgarrigle@bangordailynews.net.