S01.E02: Mauka to Makai

[AnimeMania]

KAINALU AND HINA FACE THEIR FIRST DAY ON THE JOB

When a flash flood sweeps a young tourist away from her family and out to deep sea, Sonny, Em, and Will race into action to save her. Going against Sonny’s wishes, Em takes a bold risk and places her own life in danger in hopes of rescuing the lost-at-sea tourist. Meanwhile, Laka supervises rookies Kainalu and Hina’s first day on the job.

Premiere Date: Monday, September 23, 2024        FOX     9pm

Mauka means "toward the mountains" or "inland". 
Makai means "toward the ocean".

[agathapenny]

And wow, it did not get any better. Baywatch rescues had more suspense than this. There was zero tension either in the rescues or the other stuff. It just plodded along. About halfway through I couldn't help but look at the clock and couldn't believe it wasn't closer to over. Most of the characters are pretty unlikeable/dull as well. How was this so boring? How do you make this this boring? Even the scenery isn't enough to make me watch another episode. Awful, simply awful.

[Irlandesa]

I didn't really feel compelled to watch this and missed the premiere.  But I decided to at least catch one episode and didn't have any conflicts so I watched this episode.

I found it to be so dull.  The characters aren't interesting yet.  Perhaps they could get there but the exposition dump didn't make me excited that they'd develop them well. 

Nothing about the rescues was all that appealing.  There was also zero humor.

The only thing the show really had going for it was the scenery.  

I'm sure the show will be a hit, though, with the post-NFL and post-Super Bowl launches.  

[Raja]

58 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

I'm sure the show will be a hit, though, with the post-NFL and post-Super Bowl launches.  

I'm not sure about that. Baywatch had to change up the uniform wearers from one ex Playmate to many potential Playmates  to get over on syndication.

I did notice the "last season" pasted on 9-1-1: Lone Star so I guess the is the heir apparent on FOX.

They sure were dumping a lot on the Mayor's son. First day out he didn't know his exact location so rightfully the leadership gets sued. They assigned guards by who finished first in a race and doing a favor for the politician. Captain and Lieutenant means more than a cool title. Followed up by I'm patrolling go clean up. And somehow the kit they bring doesn't contain the essential equipment. But no fear they both swim and run fast. It reminds me of Kevin Costner knocking the racer mentality, so what if you were the fastest. out of Ashton Kutchner's Coast Guard rescue swimmer in The Guardian .  I guess like cop shows using shooting range for police training the qualification race is the cinematic part of lifeguarding.

The fire department is angry because the ocean safety took it upon themselves to preposition their assets. I guess the gas bill goes to the fire department but otherwise why the drama? Possibly since the Captain didn't want to call in air support for an open ocean search. You get the feeling if not one of his own he wouldn't even consider it.

The not great plan of drifting with the current and we will track your GPS. You would think that working in the conditions that they do essential equipment would be attached by a lanyard.  And the Em seems to suffer more than the victim even if she had a wet suit and was in the water for a shorter period.

All topped off with the soap of our couple breaking up because being a Captain is more important to her than having his baby. but even if he has moved on..... Meanwhile the uncle just can't get help with dealing with the loss of his nephew

[FnkyChkn34]

I'm going to throw out an unpopular opinion... This is no more "Baywatch 2.0" than ER was "St. Elsewhere 2.0," Grey's Anatomy is "St. Elsewhere 3.0," and Chicago Med is "St. Elsewhere 4.0."  Just because it's re-using the concept of the characters being lifeguards as their jobs doesn't mean it's the same as Baywatch.  I didn't watch Baywatch much at all, but the episodes that I did see in reruns or syndication were way campier than this show so far.  The scantily clad Playboy models in impractical bathing suits would never pass as real-life lifeguards.  At least these actors are plausible.  

I agree that the characters so far are very boring.  Some are supposed to be tormented, some are exes still pining for each other, some are nepo-baby rookies who screw up...  These are the same types of characters on every single primetime drama or even soap opera.  I'll still stick with it for a few more episodes, but I'm not sure I see this show lasting.  In two episodes so far, there's been no immediate hook to catch viewers and keep them watching.

[Irlandesa]

1 hour ago, Raja said:

I'm not sure about that. Baywatch had to change up the uniform wearers from one ex Playmate to many potential Playmates  to get over on syndication.

Baywatch didn't do well on NBC, but it also didn't get the promotion they're planning for Rescue: HI-Surf.  And they were able to sell the show to syndication after it got canceled on NBC before any major cast changes happened.  

But I also don't think they're trying to be Baywatch (or Baywatch Hawaii).  They're definitely trying to fill the 9-1-1 hole with something they own.

[Raja]

19 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:

Baywatch didn't do well on NBC, but it also didn't get the promotion they're planning for Rescue: HI-Surf.  And they were able to sell the show to syndication after it got canceled on NBC before any major cast changes happened.  

But I also don't think they're trying to be Baywatch (or Baywatch Hawaii).  They're definitely trying to fill the 9-1-1 hole with something they own.

Curious the 9-1-1 franchise is closer to the Baywatch franchise than what the first two Rescues gave us.

[Passing Strange]

If most of us were asked to name a long running television drama about lifeguards there wouldn't be a lot of candidates. I think that's the primary reason for the references to Baywatch; there's just nothing else available for comparison. For myself, I was hoping for Baywatch with the intelligence and humor of The West Wing. What I got was Baywatch with angst. I'm going to keep watching and hope it gets toned down now that we've had the initial information dump. I love ocean porn.

Here's an explanation from a Hawaii native about the "Uncle" title.

 

Edited September 24 by Passing Strange

[agathapenny]

10 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

I didn't really feel compelled to watch this and missed the premiere.  But I decided to at least catch one episode and didn't have any conflicts so I watched this episode.

I found it to be so dull.  The characters aren't interesting yet.  Perhaps they could get there but the exposition dump didn't make me excited that they'd develop them well. I 

Nothing about the rescues was all that appealing.  There was also zero humor.

The only thing the show really had going for it was the scenery.  

I'm sure the show will be a hit, though, with the post-NFL and post-Super Bowl launches.  

I'm honesty surprised that they wasted the post Super Bowl slot on this show. It is that bad. Did nobody actually watch it first? Or is the rest of their lineup even worse (hard to imagine)?

[FnkyChkn34]

14 hours ago, agathapenny said:

I'm honesty surprised that they wasted the post Super Bowl slot on this show. It is that bad. Did nobody actually watch it first? Or is the rest of their lineup even worse (hard to imagine)?

Did it actually air for the first time back in February?  Sorry, I'm not understanding the Super Bowl reference. 

[Raja]

14 minutes ago, FnkyChkn34 said:

Did it actually air for the first time back in February?  Sorry, I'm not understanding the Super Bowl reference. 

There might have been a Hollywood strikes related push back to the next season instead of a mid season premiere.

As it was the promo for the first episode of the 2 part pilot was "after the game" and not Monday after the games other networks broadcast. The third episode might show changes from the first two if they were a traditional  two part pilot of Em's story and not filmed  the new way of producing an entire season before audience reaction can be used to edit later stories.

[Slider]

Don't like the new girl - she's too much of a Mary Sue; can do no wrong, always in the right, poor girl that knows everything. etc.  It's annoying.

The lawsuit business is dumb.  The EMT's were 100 yards away, ok.  It happens.  Whatever.

[Raja]

24 minutes ago, Slider said:

Don't like the new girl - she's too much of a Mary Sue; can do no wrong, always in the right, poor girl that knows everything. etc.  It's annoying.

The lawsuit business is dumb.  The EMT's were 100 yards away, ok.  It happens.  Whatever.

Both of the rookies are supposed to know, well maybe not the exact landmarks for location calls, they are fresh out training and qualification. It was the first episode where she is the world class endurance athlete able to smoke all of the bigger and stronger men, well okay.

Dumb, but real life is dumb since with nothing better to do how many lawyers would take a swing thinking the government would settle out rather then spend the time and money on the state's attorneys? 

[agathapenny]

9 hours ago, Slider said:

Don't like the new girl - she's too much of a Mary Sue; can do no wrong, always in the right, poor girl that knows everything. etc.  It's annoying.

Completely agree. From the framing of it, it's like the viewers are supposed to side with the whole crew against the nepotism hire, but it just came across as them all picking on him for no reason — because he was SECOND in his class instead of first, and didn't turn down the job he'd worked hard for. Seriously, he didn't do anything especially bratty to get treated like that. And then he made a mistake, because he's a rookie and nobody supervised him.

The worst thing he really did personality wise was whine a bit about being given the cleaning gruntwork (which was clearly a mild hazing) and hit on the new girl. He's kind of entitled and boring, but then all of these characters are tedious, so....

[Irlandesa]

11 hours ago, FnkyChkn34 said:

Did it actually air for the first time back in February?  Sorry, I'm not understanding the Super Bowl reference. 

No. It hasn't aired.  FOX has the Superbowl in Feb. 2025.  They've already announced they plan to air Rescue: Hi-Surf in the post-SB slot. 

The reason I say they're pushing this show is because they started filming it early in 2024.  FOX apparently liked it so much after seeing the initial order of 13(?) episodes that they ordered 6 more before it even aired. 

Then they announce it's going to be a two-part premiere after football and get the post-SB slot in 2025.

I've only seen one ep but I don't see what they've seen.