Ed Asner joins 'Hawaii Five-O'

Now, now ... don't get too excited -- it's only a "recurring" role -- but CBS just announced that Ed Asner will join "Hawaii Five-O" in the spring. He will actually reprise the original role he had on the original ""Five-O" a few decades or so ago, which means this is a highly unusual  tie-in with the remake. 

Check out details in the release: 

Asner will reprise his role of August March, a character he played in an episode of the original “Hawaii Five-0” in 1975, called “Wooden Model of a Rat.” In a first for the series, footage from the 1975 episode featuring Asner and his character’s backstory will be used, showing him as an up-and-coming world class smuggler. Now a reformed man after serving 30 years in prison for murder, March lives on O’ahu and is approached by the Five-0 to assist on a smuggling case. “It is thrilling to, for the first time, merge the original ‘Hawaii Five-0’ and our new show by having the classic, versatile and award-winning actor Ed Asner reprise his role of August March, a character Mr. Asner first played 36 years ago. There is no better way to form a bridge between our reboot and the original series,” said Executive Producer Peter Lenkov.