Thanks in part to relatively low COVID-19 case counts, along with photogenic scenery and the state’s film production tax credit, 2021 is shaping up as a bright year for Hawaii’s film and TV industry. While the “Hawaii Five-0” reboot is in the rearview mirror after a 10-season run, “Magnum P.I.,” has been renewed for a third season. Plus, there’s buzz about the possible addition of another CBS crime drama, “NCIS: Hawaii.”

Meanwhile, “Doogie Kamealoha, M.D,” a reboot of “Doogie Howser, M.D.,” which first aired in the late 1980s, has started filming in Waimanalo. The dramedy about a precocious teen doctor is expected to debut this summer on Disney+.

Making the stadium parking lot pay

Necessity is the mother of invention, and there’s a lot of both elements that have been born in the age of COVID-19. The shuttering of the deteriorating Aloha Stadium has left stadium officials short of rental revenues. And people have been in need of both entertainment and business opportunity.

On the invention side of the ledger, there are now craft fairs in the stadium parking lot as well as drive-in shows. It’s too bad some of this wasn’t happening sooner in the pandemic, or even prior, but it’s welcome now.