NBC’s ‘Hawaii’
wins praise from Variety

The trade paper Variety praises the NBC cop drama "Hawaii" for having "great cast chemistry and an unexpected and welcomed sense of humor," calling the series the network's best new drama that should win its prime time slot with adults age 25 to 54.

Co-star Eric Balfour is also the vocalist for the rock band Fredalba (www.fredalba.com). There'll be a major launch event this month at the Wave Waikiki, including a video shoot.

The show's other lead, Ivan Sergei, may direct an episode if the series gets picked up for an additional nine shows, if not this season, then in season two ...

The "Lost" plane fuselage at Mokuleia Beach is going up in flames soon in a scene where it explodes, killing the unseen "monster" that eats the jet's pilot. As for the remaining 15 local extras who play the minor background cast of survivors, they should be "killed off" this week either from disease, wild boars, but most likely the monster.

The ABC drama's cave sets at the Nimitz Highway soundstage should be ready for filming in a couple of weeks. The first season of "Lost" only comprises the first 40 days on the island. Sala Baker will appear as a guest star ...

Looks like both "Lost" and "Hawaii" will premiere their first episodes at Waikiki's Sunset on the Beach Aug. 28-29, respectively ...

The University of Hawaii's Academy for Creative Media (ACM), under chairman Chris Lee, has received a $20,000 gift from ABC Stores. The money will be used for student assistance, including scholarships to further education in film, television and digital media content, such as computer animation and games, with preference given to Native Hawaiian students.

The ACM plans to launch the world's first academic program dedicated to Hawaiian language narrative cinematic production with this gift, Lee said ...

The Hawaii International Film Festival this October will do a special surf film section celebrating the past, present and future of the genre, starting with "The Endless Summer," with its creator Bruce Brown in attendance, as well as two new films from the Moonshine Conspiracy crew of Jack Johnson, Don King and The Malloy brothers ...

"Baywatch" alum Carmen Electra and husband Dave Navarro are rumored to make a guest appearance on Fox's "North Shore" next week. And Oahu-born cast member Jason Momoa has opted not to do interviews with local news media ...