‘Five-0’ ratings win comes with apology to veterans

“Hawaii Five-0” won the ratings war Monday, a night when the show also led local newscasts that reported allegations the cop drama was disrespectful to visiting World War II veterans.

The episode, which featured the wedding of one of the show’s main characters, Chin Ho Kelly (Daniel Dae Kim), drew 11.17 million viewers to easily beat a re-rerun of ABC’s “Castle,” according to Nielsen ratings released by CBS. “Castle” drew 4.14 million viewers. The NBC newsmagazine “Rock Center with Brian Williams” drew 4.03 million viewers.

“Five-0” continued to dominate among adults 18-49, but its numbers were lower than many of its previous episodes this season. The show drew 2.8 percent of the total viewing audience and 8 percent of those watching TV at the time.

The allegations that “Five-0” was disrespectful to a group of 24 Pearl Harbor survivors Friday at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl prompted “Five-0” executive producer Peter Lenkov to apologize Tuesday to veterans it may have offended.

“We recognize the privilege of filming in Hawaii and we are acutely aware of the deserved respect for its culture, history and the reverence that should be afforded to all of our veterans, particularly those who served so nobly in Hawaii and at Pearl Harbor,” Lenkov said in an emailed statement.

Punchbowl officials have acknowledged that while both “Five-0” and the veterans group — the Greatest Generations Foundation — were scheduled to use the cemetery in separate areas, their paths did cross. Steffan Tubbs, a board member of the veterans group, claimed that the veterans were rushed along by the “Five-0” production crew.

Tubbs, a co-host of a Denver morning radio program, also said “Five-0” did not stop production during the national anthem and taps, concluding that the actions of “Five-0” were “disgraceful.”

In his statement, Lenkov said the show halted production and waited for the ceremony to finish before resuming.

“When we resumed filming, we did encounter visitors from the ceremony,” Lenkov said. “Any rudeness by our staff can only be attributed to haste to finish our work, not a lack of respect for men and women who have served and sacrificed for their country. And for that, too, we sincerely apologize to any that were offended.”