Hawaii Five-0 is a CBS drama that has made our bubble watch list for the last couple of years at least. While the show does pretty well for a Friday night series, it's never been a huge performer in the 18-49 demographic and its ratings have never been so huge that a renewal was a shoe-in. Still, this week showrunner Peter M. Lenkov said that he's pretty confident about the upcoming season of Hawaii Five-0. In fact, the show isn't planning for a finale anytime soon at all. Here's what he had to say:
We're playing it as if we're coming back, as if we have another season at least.
It might seem a little weird that Peter M. Lenkov would be coming out and talking about a renewal for Season 8 before Season 7 has hit the schedule. However, the showrunner ultimately opted to talk about the show's renewal prospects because of some comments Jimmy Buffett made on NBC's Today show on Friday. Those familiar with the musician and his acting skills probably already know that Jimmy Buffett plays Frank Bama on CBS' drama, and during the Today appearance, Jimmy Buffett kept talking about how Season 7 would be the last for Hawaii Five-0.
TV Line caught up with the showrunner to confirm the ending, but it looks as if nothing is actually set in stone, yet. We'll have to keep an eye on the ratings this year go and see if the fairly long-running series manages to hold steady or loses numbers---especially in the 18-49 demographic---again. The show doesn't even seem to have an exact ending in mind, and certainly doesn't seem to be preparing an ending for next season.
Lenkov also spoke out a couple of days ago on Twitter, noting that he hopes the procedural will last for years and years to come.
If the showrunner and the network haven't mutually come to an agreement to end the series at this point, it's unlikely that we will know for a while whether or not Season 7 will be the last for Hawaii Five-0. A lot of things have to happen before a major network will say goodbye to a long-running drama. First, ratings would have to worsen. While Hawaii Five-0's ratings aren't as high as they were in its heyday, they haven't worsened to the point of being a disaster; in fact, 8.8 million people tuned in for the Season 6 finale. While those numbers aren't nearly as impressive in the 18-49 demographic, clearly the showrunner isn't super worried, yet. In addition, we'll have to wait and see how CBS new shows do when they hit the schedule this fall. If CBS has a ton of freshman shows that do well, the network may not need _Hawaii Five-0 _down the line. If the new shows don't do that well, we might learn the series is safe for Season 8 sooner rather than later.
If you'd like to check out what all CBS has coming up, take a look at our fall TV premiere schedule.
