"Hawaii Five-O" Try to Die on Time (TV Episode 1973) Poster

(TV Series)

(1973)

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7/10
Interesting but unlikely
VetteRanger17 February 2023
Jack Carter plays a man with a terminal illness who has sold a lottery on the hour of his death. Twenty-four tickets at ten thousand dollars each, and when he dies someone will win $240,000.

Having been told he has six months to live, he throws a bash at the seven-month mark. I deducted stars because the medicine of his illness doesn't match the portrayal in this show. It would have drug out for an extended period and he wouldn't have been up and walking around toward the end, or for a LONG time toward the end. The bettors would have had to wait some years for someone to collect.

Still, it made for an interesting episode if you over look that little error.
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8/10
Sorry, Plankton
RedbirdCraig28 March 2013
Plankton, I hate to break the news to you but Jack Carter is currently alive. I agree that he suffers from terminal unfunniness, though. And I agree that this plot is very complicated- either that or I'm not very bright. Then again, both are possible.

I think overall this season was when the episodes started to show some better writing and more interesting plots. I think having Al Harrington added to the cast really helped because he seemed more professional and was a better actor than Zulu. Zuni's character seemed as much for comic relief as anything whereas the Ben character was more of a "full member" of the Five-0 team.
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7/10
You get to see Jack Carter dead in this one, so it's DEFINITELY worth seeing.
planktonrules13 April 2011
Warning: Spoilers
Now that he's dead in real life, I can be blunt. Jack Carter, a perennial guest on game shows in the 1970s, was an amazingly unfunny comic. Heck, I think Edward R. Murrow was funnier than Carter! So, seeing him dead in this episode was, for me, worth seeing the show all by itself!

The show begins with a party for Jack. It turns out it's a party of people who all are waiting for Carter to die! It seems that he's informed these 24 folks that he's dying from cancer and has actually sold $10,000 lottery tickets--and the guest who picks the correct hour of Burns' death will win it all! It's a very macabre idea but apparently someone wants to make sure Carter dies as well as when--by killing him! In fact, several members of the lottery are then murdered--and it appears as if Carter's own daughter might just be the killer! Who it is and why they did such a very complicated scheme is just something you'll need to see for yourself.

The idea is ridiculous but novel--so I was able to suspend disbelief over the premise. The only negative is that the whole thing seemed amazingly complicated--too complicated. However, it was entertaining and worth seeing...plus, Jack is murdered! Woo-hoo!
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3/10
Impossible to Understand
greg-beaulieu2 July 2021
This strikes me as one of those film noir-type plots that are so complicated nobody, not even the writer, can keep track of all the loose ends. I watched this episode 3 times back to back and still cannot tell you who did what and why, or explain all of the bedlam that takes place. Not a good episode.
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5/10
Try to Die on Time
ringfire2116 July 2021
Warning: Spoilers
This one is definitely near the bottom of season 6. Truth be told, I actually like the concept here of people betting on the time when someone will die (as morbid as it sounds) but I just think the execution of it was way off. Needlessly convoluted and confusing. Last time I watched this one I kept thinking how much better this would have turned out if I was the writer of this episode, LOL! Seriously, it's an interesting concept which somehow gets squandered by murky and unclear storytelling. I like the early scenes up to the time when Harry Foxton (Jack Carter) expires and I like the scenes towards the end - the bugs in the office which lead to the van with all the surveillance equipment and the real culprit. But everything in the middle is... boring. Also I really like McGarrett's line at the end to McBain "I guess I'm a sloppy cop" for figuring things out differently than McBain anticipated.
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