What the End of Rescue HI-Surf Means, and Why the Survival of Moku Moku Is More Than Just a TV Story

By Kawika Hoke

Showrunner, Moku Moku

When news broke that Rescue HI-Surf — a network TV drama filmed in Hawaiʻi — had been canceled after averaging 2.8 million viewers, many people were shocked.

I wasn’t.

The show didn’t “fail.” It just didn’t hit the right benchmarks on the spreadsheet of someone who’s never stepped foot on the ‘āina. That’s the game in Corporate Hollywood. It doesn’t matter where it was filmed, how much it cost, or who connected with it. If the numbers don’t convert, it’s gone.

But it’s what happens next that matters.

Because while Rescue HI-Surf gets pulled off the air, Moku Moku is still here. Still streaming. Still standing. Still fighting for breath.

And here’s the difference: Moku Moku wasn’t funded. It was built.

A Story From Hawaiʻi, Not Just Set in Hawaiʻi

I created Moku Moku to prove we could do it ourselves.

Not for a studio. Not for a tax incentive. For us.

It started out as an R&D project—a way to test the waters and create a “safe” first show. But the more I developed it, the more I realized that what I needed wasn’t safety—it was honesty.

At the time, I was empty. After years of working on other people’s shows, saying lines that didn’t reflect our lives, and watching writers who’d never set foot in Hawaiʻi define us for the screen, I’d lost track of what I really wanted to say.

Then I remembered something simple: If I was going to be a Showrunner, I needed to make something for the audience — not for myself. And that audience deserved to see itself.

A Mirror for Hawaiʻi. A Window for the World.

Moku Moku is a show about our people, cultural weirdness, and the unspoken parts that bind us all. It can be watched with the whole family, and it may be low-budget, but it has a lot of heart.

We didn’t show the ocean in Season 1 for a reason. I didn’t want people to get distracted by postcard Hawaiʻi. I wanted them to see us.

I wanted Hawaiʻi to smile at itself, maybe cry a little, and feel free to be what we are — layered, loud, loving, and complicated. Not just background actors in someone else’s dream.

I wanted the world to stop thinking of Hawaiʻi as just beaches, babes, and bums. We have stories worth telling and the power to tell them.

Still Streaming. Still Waiting.

Currently, Moku Moku is streaming on Tubi, Amazon, and YouTube. It’s 100% locally owned and built from scratch. There are no studio deals, no network handshakes, just us.

We’ve had fewer than 50,000 views total — across all platforms. That’s it.

Meanwhile, Rescue HI-Surf had 2.8 million and still got canceled. Think about that. If Moku Moku had even a fraction of that, we could fund not just another season — we could launch a whole generation of Hawaiian storytellers.

Why We Keep Going

You ask why we’re still pushing. We can’t give up. We already made the baby. Now we have to raise it.

When someone says, “I’ve never heard of your show,” it doesn’t hurt. It motivates. I check the reports daily. I see the numbers. I know how far we have to go.

But I also know this: we’re the only fully locally-owned Hawaiian series in distribution on major platforms.

We are The Last Hawaiian Picture Show — and we’re the first of what’s possible.

What You Can Do — Right Now

You don’t need to donate.

You don’t need to pledge.

You don’t need to buy merch.

You just need to watch it. For free.

1. Stream Moku Moku on Tubi (no account needed)
2. Leave a review on Amazon or IMDb
3. Tell someone — your auntie, your maddah, your braddah, your friends

That’s it. If everyone who cared did those three things, we’d never stop streaming.

The Dream That Doesn’t Die

If Hawaiʻi had its own studio system, we’d already be in production. We’d be greenlighting our own shows, building jobs, and exporting culture on our terms—just like Korea and New Zealand.

We don’t have that yet. But Moku Moku is a step toward it.

We’re writing Season 2 now, but we need the audience to catch up. This isn’t about ego; it’s about legacy.

Let Moku Moku be more than a good try. Let it be proof.

Watch for FREE. Support Hawaiian TV.

#MokuMoku #Tubi

https://bit.ly/MokuTubi