Shark Bytes

When this show was orginally on, I thought the only cool thing about it was the beginning. Watching this show 40 years later on American Life, I still think the same thing. 77 Sunset Strip puts this show to shame. Even Surfside 6 and Bourbon street Beat (other copy cats) were better than HE. If there were the exotic shots of palm trees and the surf riders this show would be the dullest show of all time!

Like all Warner Brothers shows, this one was done on the cheap. The goal was to make the show profitable after one airing, not waiting for syndication to get into the black. The show didn't have known stars for leads and did not usually hire name guest-stars. The stories were often interchangeable with other Warners shows. But like all Warner Brothers shows, Hawaiian Eye had several things going for it: 1) Charismatic, attractive, unknown actors in the leads-who were paid slave wages (Connie Stevens, Grant Williams, Anthony Eisley, Robert Conrad); 2) A remarkably catchy theme song that is impossible to forget even 45 years later and 3) evocative, classic black and white photography. Hawaiian Eye also had a great set for the combination offices and living quarters of Steele, Lopaka, and McKenzie, which was built around a swimming pool in their Hawaiian Village suite. All this added up to an aura of cool sophistication and romance mixed with the mayhem. Even though not nearly as dramatically ambitious or well produced as shows like Ben Casey, The Defenders, and Checkmate, these Warner shows often linger more potently in memory than their more prestigious (at the time) competitors.

A nearly identical show aired in 1961-62, "Follow The Sun". It starred Barry Coe and Brett Halsey as writers who played detective each week. Also had Jay Lanin, Gary Lockwood and Gigi Perreau. This was one of the Henry J. Kaiser sponsored shows (Maverick). Kaiser apparently couldn't get time on "Hawaiian Eye" and wanted a Hawaiian series. This was at the time he built his "pink palace" in Portlock and was developing Hawaii Kai. "Follow The Sun" stories were very much like the "Hawaiian Eye" stories.

"Hawaiian Eye", a/k/a "77 Sunset Strip Goes Hawaiian", was a hit when I was maybe five, so I don't remember much of it. As a lifelong fan of schlocky Island music, clothing, food and the like, I'm not only aware of it but have fond memories of a "Flintstones" spoof called "Hawaiian Spy". Seems Fred won some kind of contest and flew via Air Pterodactyl to the Islands (why didn't they call it "Stoneylulu?") for a guest spot on the show. Anyone remember the animated "Spy" star's name? Why, Larry Lava, of course! Given the familiar Warner formula in the '60s (don't forget "Surfside 6"- cha-cha-cha!- and "Bourbon Street Beat"), the "Flintstones" version was probably better than the real thing!

This black and white showed never jumped. That is because it starred Robert Conrad. Most of his fans don't know that he was already an action hero before the Wild Wild West. In this show he is very young but he already looks so handsome although he hasn't pumped up his body as much as he did later. But if his muscles aren't as big as they will be, you do get a chance to see his amazing abs and butt. Also, you get to watch him get into great fist fights, which of course he always wins, no matter how many men he has to beat up. Conrad had to be the handsomest, sexiest man ever on tv. Too bad he turned out to be such a weird jerk in real life. See the Battle of the Network Stars for more on that.

This show from the late 1950s never jumped the shark because it was the first time we all got to see Robert Conrad, who was the handsomest man on television. He is kind of young in this series, but he was already developing his amazing body, and of course, that thing that made him most famous--his incredible butt. We had to wait for the Wild Wild West to see RC at his best, but this program was a great starter.

Never jumped! So this show was something of a 77 Sunset Strip rip-off, and it had a musically challenged theme song, but it had two great assets--CONNIE STEVENS, who was one of tv's first great sexy babes, and a very young ROBERT CONRAD, who quickly showed his ability to do the three things that marked his entire career: look as handsome as possible, beat up as many bad guys as possible, and take off his shirt and ripple his muscles as much as possible.