House, Hawaii Five-O and The Mentalist - What Do They Have in Common This Fall?

I was just thinking this the other night (which I had to write down before I could go back to sleep again), and I just realised that several returning shows this fall start with the protagonist(s) being in jail, with the new teaser promos to show for it. 

Here's the fourth season teaser of The Mentalist, where Simon Baker's character Patrick Jane was arrested and is incarcerated for killing Red John (jury's still out on that) in last season's finale. I have no idea how he'll get out of it, seeing as Lisbon and the rest are still suspended (why?)...

In the second season teaser of Hawaii Five-O, Five-O was disbanded and went to heck with the arrests of Kono and McGarrett for (allegedly) killing the last governor, and Danno finally having the opportunity to leave the big island and have his family back in one fell swoop last season. There is footage of McGarrett in jail. Another LOST alum is back in Hawaii for this, but I have no idea how he'll be a part of getting the group back together.

And of course, House MD with House in jail early the next season for driving his car into Cuddy's house and endangering its occupants LAST season. I seriously have no idea how the team is going to function with House in jail and presumably can't do the teleconference calls they've been doing lately from the big house.

Another thing they all have in common is that the protagonists are also NOT AMERICAN: Hugh Laurie is (still) English; Simon Baker and Alex O' Loughlin are Australian.

What do these shows have against their non-American protagonists anyway? I'm kidding, but still.

If anyone else can think of any other shows in this vein, let me know.

What I like about the new Hawaii Five-O pilot

Saw the pilot of the Hawaii Five-O reboot, and it was entertaining enough, I guess.

Here's what I liked about it - spoiler alert be damned.

• Having the older McGarrett (even if it was in the cold open and was killed during) was pretty dramatic for a show pilot. But not a first.
• A cop show with no red tape? A MACHIAVELLIAN task force? I'm in!
• Danno's ringtone for his ex-wife? Obvious, but still got a chuckle out of me.
• Alex O' Loughlin's Mandarin? Almost pitch perfect.
• Only mention of Malaysia had us smuggling kids. What the..?!
• Steve swearing in to take the job offer over the phone to supercede Danno was hilarious.
• Always nice to see James Marsters (Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) on TV again as a baddie. Doubt that he'll be a one-off character, he might be back.
• Grace Park's character's name is a mouthful... but it won't be too bad in the end.
• Am I the only one that's glad that the team hasn't decided on a name at the end?

Overall, I think it was a good pilot. The episode was pretty cinematic by small screen standards, I might keep watching... if it stays on long enough.

Hawaii Five-0, the remake

I wasn't even born yet during the run of Hawaii Five-O, so watching the opening credits for the new Hawaii Five-0 was a new experience.

After hearing the theme music used in cheesy fashion in bad presentations and events over the years, I was a little immune to it. But this new one seems promising, even though I had not really seen anything else the main cast had been in prior to this. I also can't help but compare to it NCIS: LA, except that it's set in Hawaii.

I have no idea if this remake will be any good, but I'll probably watch a couple of episodes first for the heck of it.