Monday, June 24, 2024

KAMEKONA TUPUOLA - A MONDAY MEMORIAL TVXOHOF TRIBUTE

 

From KTLA:
Actor Taylor Wily, best known for his role as Kamekona Tupuola on “Hawaii Five-0,” has passed away. He was 56 years old.

Lana Girl Langi, a Hawaiian personality and musician, announced his death on the local lifestyle show ‘’Island Life Live’ on June 20.

He’s appeared in Jason Segel’s film “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” and the modern reboots of “Hawaii Five-0,” “Magnum P.I.” and “MacGyver.”


As something of a confidential informant, Kamekona Tupuola proved useful to the Five-0 squad, Angus MacGyver, and Thomas Magnum.  And he was always around if you craved some flavored shaved ice, various shrimp dishes, or a sight-seeing tour in a helicopter.


Of course, it was his interactions with those other characters on their TV shows which get him into the Television Crossover Hall of Fame as one of the representatives for the Toobworld of TV Show Remakes – Toobworld-Toobworld or Toobworld2….

KAMEKONA TUPUOLA

From the 'Hawaii Five-0" Wiki:
Kamekona Tupuola is a confidential informant for the Hawaii Five-0 team and entrepreneur who runs Wailoa Shave Ice, The Shrimp Truck and a Hawaiian tour helicopter company.

And there’s more information from another wiki….


From Five-0 Pedia:
Kamekona is an ex-criminal informant who has ties to the underworld of Hawai'i. He is first introduced in “Pilot” when Chin Ho joins the Five-0 task force; Kamekona aids them in their search for Victor Hesse. Kamekona owns his own shave ice business named, Waiola Ice.

Kamekona frequently helps Five-0 in certain cases due to his former years in that type of work.

After the “Pilot”, he later appears in other episodes.  Among them:
  • “Lankila” to which Steve McGarrett has tasked Kamekona to "babysit" his little sister, later on though Steve's sister, Mary Anne manipulates Kamekona into letting her go, he tells Steve she used a "Jedi mind trick".
  • He appears briefly in “Ho'apono” when Kono is out with Lily asking her questions about the incident in that episode.
  • In “Mana'o” it appears that he now has moved his franchise to be a mobile one instead the original one, declaring it "old school."
  • He appears again in “Heihei” watching McGarrett repairing his house from the events of the previous “Po'ipu”.
  • In “Hana 'a'a Makehewa”, he brings Danny an oversized Santa suit which Danno wears annually as a tradition for his daughter.

Here are the shows which qualified Kamekona for membership in the Hall.  (All summaries are from the IMDb unless otherwise stated.)

HAWAII FIVE-0

171 Episodes (2010–2020)


Again, from the ‘Hawaii Five-0 Wiki’:
In the “Pilot” episode, Lieutenant Chin Ho Kelly recruited Kamekona for information into the death of Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett's father, John McGarrett.  (In exchange for information, Kamekona charged money for a 'Wailoa Shave Ice' t-shirt.)


In many episodes, he is seen bringing food to the Five-0 team or assisting them in their investigations and is considered a close friend.


MacGYVER
FLASHLIGHT (2017)

In their trivia section for this episode, the IMDb posted this:

By crossing over with 'Hawaii Five-0', 'MacGyver' is now firmly placed in the same TV Universe as 'JAG', all three 'NCIS' series, and 'Scorpion'.

O’Bservation:
This is only partially true.  ‘MacGyver’ is in the same TV DIMENSION as the other two remakes - ‘Hawaii Five-0’ and ‘Magnum P.I.’.  Technically, they are in the same TV dimension as an alternate version of ‘NCIS: LA,’ which was only seen in that one episode of ‘Hawaii Five-0’.  All of the other ‘NCIS’ shows, plus their mothership of ‘JAG’ and ‘Scorpion’ as well, all exist in the main Toobworld, Earth Prime-Time.

As for the other half of the crossover....

HAWAII FIVE-0
PUKA 'ANA
(2017)

The events of the ‘MacGyver’ cross-over episode are talked about.


MAGNUM P.I.
7 Episodes (2018-2020)

(The pictures all come from the same episode - "A World Of Trouble".)

1] FROM THE HEAD DOWN (2018)
A] Taylor Wily plays his character Kamekona from the remake of ‘Hawaii 5-0’. One scene is filmed at the restaurant that Steve McGarrett and Danny Williams were planning to open. This crossover from ‘Hawaii 5-0 follows’ on from the appearance of Kimee Balmilero (Dr. Noelani Cunha) in the first episode of the remake of ‘Magnum P.I.’


B] In the early restaurant scene, Kamekona (Taylor Wily) jokingly calls Magnum "Rockford", in reference to James Garner's character in ‘The Rockford Files’ (1974).

O’Bservation:
This not a Zonk, not a “Darrin Discrepancy”.  There has never been a remake of ‘The Rockford Files’, and the Good jakLord willing, there never will be one.  In Toobworld-Toobworld, ‘The Rockford Files’ is just a fictional TV series.  We have no clue if it even resembled the TV series from our world.  For alls I know, "Jim Rockford" was "just this guy, you know?" 

Had this been a reference from a TV series set in Earth Prime-Time, as was the case with Big Pussy’s mention of it in an early episode of ‘The Sopranos’, than he would have either been referring to the actual detective (who did work on some publicity-generating cases), or a TV show made about his life, as often happens to people in the main Toobworld.


2] DAY OF THE VIPER (2019)


3] LIE, CHEAT, STEAL, KILL (2019)

Three "Hawaii Five-O" characters - Noelani, Kamekona and Flippa - make crossover appearances in this episode.
Kamekona's line to TC about coming to him with a favor some time, and TC not saying no, is taken from “The Godfather”
(1972).

4] DESPERATE MEASURES (2020)

5] MONDAYS ARE FOR MURDER (2020)

6] A GAME OF CAT AND MOUSE (2020)

7) A WORLD OF TROUBLE (2020)

But wait!  There’s more!

With those three series, Kamekona easily qualifies for membership in the TVXOHOF as a citizen of Toobworld2.  But what if I told you that he appeared even earlier in that particular TV dimension?


NORTH SHORE
TIES THAT BIND (2004)


O’Bservation:
Wiley’s character was unnamed, but his occupation was as a "Bartender" at the Sugar Bar & Grill.  He was O’Bviously deep into his mob connections, as evidenced by the way he threatened Jason and Frankie who were hoping to get some info.  


Frankie relieved him of his baseball bat and might have done some serious damage.  But luckily for Kamekona, Jason spotted the low-life they were seeking and they gave chase.


That was the last we saw of the bartender, but if we accept now that he was Kamekona, then this turn of events was probably his “Road to Damascus” moment.  Over the next six years, before we would see him again in the pilot episode of ‘Hawaii Five-0’ in 2010, he must have worked to better himself spiritually and probably found inner peace in shaved ice.


Welcome to the TV Crossover Hall, Kamekona.  I’m sorry Taylor Wiley has joined the Choir Invisible, but there’s nothing to prevent us from claiming that you still live on in Earth Prime-Time Redux.  In fact, I won’t be around someday to say so, but you could still be going strong by 2054, well into your eighties, enjoying the riches from the financial empire you built.


Raising a cup of shaved ice in memory of Taylor Wiley....