Imagine the temptation for anyone with a smartphone sitting in the audience of Saturday’s "Hawaii Five-0" Sunset on the Beach celebration.
After waiting four months since the season one finale — an episode packed with mayhem, murder and lots of cliffhangers — they’ll get to see an advance screening of the season two kickoff nine days ahead of the network premiere.
Which begs the question: To tweet or not to tweet?
The ability to instantly communicate with like-minded people definitely adds to the TV viewing pleasure of fans everywhere but the potential to ruin a surprise is just 140 characters away.
Peter Lenkov, the show’s executive producer, admitted to being a little worried. If you live here, though, you’ll love his reasoning.
"There are major twists and turns in the story that we are very nervous about getting out," he said. "But at the end of the day we have to do this and we want to do it and it is very important that we do it. We feel connected to the island and we want to give something back."
Lenkov hopes tweeting fans will limit the number of juicy spoilers out of respect for the show.
"But there is one major twist at the end of the show that helps launch a new mystery this year and our big fear is that getting out," he said.
Rebecca Reiswig, a 24-year-old fan from Atlanta who goes by the handle @reebsreiswig, plans to follow the Twitter traffic during the event’s red carpet arrival of the "Five-0" stars.
And she’ll keep reading when the episode starts.
She might not be there, however, when the credits roll.
"Tweeting during the show can be a double-edged sword: It can be fun but you don’t want to spoil it for other people," Reiswig said. "I think most people are pretty good about avoiding tweeting too much information but occasionally there are people who will say something. A lot of ‘Hawaii Five-0′ fans have respect for everyone. They won’t tweet too much."
TAKING A cold-turkey approach to the Internet is not an option.
"I don’t know anyone who really goes way out of their way to avoid a spoiler and not go online," said Kristy Henderson, a 47-year-old fan from Buffalo, N.Y., who can be found on Twitter as @buffalobabe723.
"If a spoiler gets out there, it’s all over the place," she said. "It’s really hard to avoid seeing something. I don’t know anyone who goes to that extreme."
Then there are fans like Ronnette Hedgepeth, a 52-year-old mother of three from Kinston, N.C., who states right off: "I don’t mind telling you I am completely obsessed with the show."
She doesn’t care if you share a secret. But she’s not exactly promising to keep it.
"I know some people who don’t want to read any spoilers," said Hedgepeth, who tweets as @sabrinanthesand. "Most of my friends want to see spoilers. They are like me. Anything they can find out, they want to know. I guess it can be a little crazy. But we are just so excited to see it. We want to know what we are going to see."
AND that’s a wrap…
Mike Gordon is the Star-Advertiser’s film and television writer. Read his Outtakes Online blog at honolulupulse.com. Reach him at 529-4803 or email mgordon@staradvertiser.com.
