It seems like Kukui High School has got a more loyal following now than the TV show that spawned it.
Ryan Ozawa, blogger extraordinaire, launched the site for the fictitious high school as soon as it was mentioned in the pilot of CBS’ “Hawaii Five-0” — and it might just be more popular locally than the show itself.
“Weirdly enough, although we joked about it on Twitter the night of the broadcast, I didn’t buckle down to set up the site, Twitter account and Facebook page until the next morning,” Ozawa wrote in an e-mail. “John Garcia, who remembered how quickly I nabbed AbercrombieandSchatz.com after the primary, told me to go get the domain. So I did.”
Right now more than 2,300 people “like” KHS on Facebook and demand for merchandise is growing, said Ozawa. He has mailed more than 100 “Student of the Month” bumper stickers to fans around the world.
The alma mater of Det. Steve McGarrett and Chin Ho Kelly now boasts a nice assortment of alumni including journalists, bloggers and our own Nonstop Honolulu Garcia. (My bio was lost in the blogosphere. I think I got kicked out and didn’t graduate.)
Now you can get T-shirts and, later, football jerseys and other KHS paraphernalia at Butigroove (500 Piikoi St. or 2960 Mokumoa St., 808-589-2884). The first batch of shirts has already sold out. And there are at least two events in the works: a reunion dance at Oceans808 in November and a full-on Winter Ball-type prom in December.
But you’ll be a Fighting Nut — not a King, like in the show.
“We found out a while ago that it was going to be the Kings, but we decided we needed to differentiate ourselves at some point from the show,” Ozawa said. “If we basically reproduced everything we saw on the show — the Kukui Kings, with the logo from the helmets and locker room — we’d really just be stealing the work of the scriptwriters, and another graphic designer. Besides, with a school name like Kukui, the nut jokes were unavoidable. When people first started interacting with @kukuihigh on Twitter, they were suggesting mascots ranging from the mongoose to the flying cockroach. But the nut quickly surfaced as the most popular suggestion.” (Here’s the back story on the name change.)
The network hasn’t contacted Ozawa yet, but he’s been getting “positive vibes” so far. (Daniel Dae Kim even tweeted about the Fighting Nuts — not the Kings.) And a writer on the show gave KHS the thumbs up on Twitter.
“As you can see, the local community (and kama’aina on the Mainland) has warmly embraced KHS,” Ozawa said. “It marries our impossible high school fantasies with a fun show. What’s not to love?”
I’m not sure how I feel about the show right now. Maybe I’m used to shows — like “Grey’s Anatomy” or “House” — where there’s a common theme running through the season, where episodes feed into the next and you grow to actually care about the characters.
Right now I don’t feel any connection to anyone on this show — except maybe Danny “Danno” Williams (played by Scott Caan). I feel for anyone who has to wear a suit in Hawaii.
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To read all of Cat’s blogs, visit www.nonstophonolulu.com/thedailydish. Follow Cat on Twitter @thedailydish or send her an e-mail at [email protected].
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27 Comments
Proud of what me and Ryan created. Even if Five-0 doesn’t last, I hope the Nuts do!
Proud of what Ryan and I created. Even if Five-0 doesn’t last, I hope the Nuts do!
@valdezign Well you guys should be proud. I can’t believe how much this Kukui High thing has blown up. I thought it would be a nice in-joke for local folks, but it’s really taken on a life of its own. I mean, Jimmy Borges writing a fight song (check Kukui High’s FB wall if you don’t know what I’m talking about, it’s hilarious)?! Wow. Kudos to you and Ryan for jumping on the idea and running with it.
So will there now be a page and some merch for the rival “Piikoi Scorpions”? GO SCORPS! PINCH DEM NUTS! 🙂
@valdezign You are definitely the creative force behind Kukui High! And I’m happy to be your geek partner in nuttiness. I think KHS has taken off both because of “Hawaii Five-0,” and because locals love telling tales of high school days. (Or “Daze”?) I wish the show great success, but I think the “Fighting Nuts” will live on beyond any TV season.
@hawaii @valdezign Kukui High, hands down, best thing to come out of the series. Just love it.
Awesome post, Cat! This #H50 stuff is getting fun! All: be sure to take the poll on https://bit.ly/NSHNL — who’s your favorite Five-0 character so far?
I am very proud of this site too. It is nice when good people do something that can be a great inspiration for our whole community. I am happy to have our store working with Val and Ryan to give Kukui High School the “Official Nut Shop” at Butigroove.
Can’t wait to rock the AngelFlights at Prom and Winter Ball
@docrock What about your Famolare’s and your Rayon shirt?
@docrock What about your Famolare’s and your Rayon shirt?
Yeah, it’s really taking off… very cool! Pretty soon they’ll need a flow chart or database file to keep track of the associations and timelines for everyone posting as alums and the blog postings recounting school history, etc., as i has grown so fast!
I’ve e-mailed the link to a few on the mainland so far–explaining to them what “Kukui” is…
Hmmm… I might have to pick up some shirts as Christmas gifts!
One tip to the web guys, if they’re reading. I would change Chin Ho’s listing of when he went to school there. It was stated as in the late-’90s. But if he worked for McGarrett Sr. fifteen years ago as stated in the show, he would have been in junior high school then, haha! Maybe mid- to late-’80s is more like it.
Man I wish there was an edit button for posts…
“…as i has grown so fast!” should be “…as IT has grown so fast!”
@MaxMaxMax If you need to and no one has “liked” or “replied” just copy your reply then delete it. Paste it into the new reply and no one will know you had a typo. Did it for a few replies already.
@harrycovair Ah… right! I do that for FaceBook all the time… didn’t think of that here. Thanks Harry!
If the show wanted to educate the mainland folk about Hawaii they could have talked about how big high school football is in Hawaii. Remember when I first moved there people asked me where I went to school, named my university like most mainland folk do and learned the correct answer was which high school. Still remember the discussions about Punahou, Iolani, St. Louis, Mary Knoll, etc. I think it would have set up better why something went down at a high school football game. Bet those of us that have spent time in Hawaii got that immediately whereas others likely thought ‘how do you make a public statement by doing something at a high school game. Just a thought.
Anyways, for that weird make out scene with Chin did anyone else wonder if Grace had to take off her heels and lean over a little ways?
@dbjack Maybe Caan wore extended heels to match Grace’s height.
@harrycovair @dbjack Funny you mention that DJBack. Coming from Oklahoma 21 years ago, my first thought was that football was not as omnipresent here as it is in the mid/southwest.
Hi Cat,
I cross posted your link to:
https://honolulugasprices.com/Forum_MSG.aspx?master=5&category=1291&topic=401748&page_no=1&FAV=N
or honolulugasprices.com > Forum > Entertaiment > TV Shows > Hawaii 5-0
A visitor from MN has already posted a link from the Star Advertiser’s article about Kukui High going viral. At least Kukui High is getting air/online time. As @johngarcia wrote “This #H50 stuff is getting fun!”. I have to agree, it is fun with the #H50 tag.
Hello Cat!
I graduated from KHS but it’s not Kukui High school. I’m not a big fan of the show so far.
CAT
All we need is to have a game with the other high school on the Windward Side, Macadam Academy. Then the “Fighting Nutz” will be battling for the championship with the “Macnuts”???
the site is fun … and yeah, I hear you didn’t grad cuz you wen play hookie too much fo’ah go surfin … always gwine beach you … no beeg ting, i didn’t grad either … was military keed and my dad wen transferred to okinawa … (Go Kubaski Dragons) … eh, i get one beef, tink you wen cockaroach my lunch choke times wen i wasn’t looking … like wen my mom made kalbi plate for me and i left it in da cooler (sorry forgot my pidgen)
No one wanna talk about last night’s show? My random notes from this ep:
–Nice job overall on the football game. Piikoi Scorpions eh? Maybe should’ve been McCully Mongoose? Too bad no cameo from Kanoa and Larry.
–The lack of HPD presence in this show is weird…*nowhere* to be seen at a football game? Or at International Marketplace? Come on!
–For the millionth time, Hawaii. Did. Not. Invent. Hawaiian. Pizza. So don’t blame us Dano!
–Sapolu, Tuinei, Satele, reference to UH football names?…no Noga? Tinoisamoa? Brennan? ;-).
–Chin Ho, Kono, and Sid…ouch, talk about unconvincing local family interaction. “That’s cold, brah” so was her delivery of that line.
–Mafia involvement in Hawaii to me is a bit of a callback to OG50, they had quite a few mob-related episodes with Jack Lord. Would have been good to have some dialogue with Danno and the East Coast gangsters since he “speaks their language”.
–Tall Asian woman + short white guy = funny role reversal there.
–Shark cage scene, meh. What’s the next interrogation, hanging the guy over Kilauea Crater? 😛
–Origin of 5-0 name from football jersey, boo junk. They could’ve come up with something better than that!
Overall I thought this episode was much better than last week, a little more close to an original series-type story. Looks like CBS will let this series build and play itself out for a season. They’re winning their slot anyway, so I don’t think there’s any chance for a premature axe job.
@808marv I think it’s gotten really campy in a short time… I’ll continue to watch though as it’s cool to see where all they shoot; and funny to comment on the storylines and dialog… plus, Hawaii really needs a successful show right now–one that highlights Hawaii instead of pretending to be a “lost” island somewhere…
Agreed on the Noga name… why no reference?
808marv wrote:
-Shark cage scene, meh. What’s the next interrogation, hanging the guy over Kilauea Crater? 😛
———-
Hmmm… maybe hanging him over the Pali lookout will be next!
@808marv Great thoughts, Marv! The shark cage scene was a little out there… in this day and age, the criminals would press charges! lol
I’ll be on my way to Europe next week, so I’ll miss the show, but looking forward to seeing everyone’s comments on ep #4!
Lol, the picture.
@strobie The picture rules! Go nuts!
Watch the show more for the scenery and the chance to catch a glimpse of someone I might know. Steve needs to have a stronger personality than Dano. Seems everyone is waiting for the line…”no you book’um Steve-o”
BTW, by my count 5-0 leads the new season in body count. Every week they grease a ton of bad guys.
@coconean Me too — I’m also trying to grasp the story line and get to know the characters since it’s such a hot topic of discussion amongst my friends.
Scenery chasing is fun and I know several actors and stunt guys so it’s fun spotting different people during the show. Good stuff!