The motivation behind Duane "Dog" Chapman’s new reality show on CMT is deadly serious.

In February, when the Hawaii bounty hunter was at a convention of his peers, two bright-faced young brothers from Bakersfield, Calif., introduced themselves as newcomers to the profession.

They called him Uncle Dog. They were 23 and 25 — "choirboys," Chapman said as he recalled the story. He stressed training, told them to be careful.

Two months later their father called Chapman to say they had been shot and killed during an encounter with a man who had skipped bail.

But that was not the only phone call to Chapman, who starred in the recently canceled A&E series "Dog the Bounty Hunter." He and his crew, which included his wife, Beth, inspired wannabe bounty hunters as they grabbed fugitives for eight seasons.

"A man told me, ‘Dog, you birthed this idea and made it look really easy,’" Chapman said. "I feel kind of responsible. You would be surprised how many guys are dying out there. You don’t go for a long swim alone, and you don’t hunt alone. And a lot of these guys don’t even know that."

To help, Chapman and his wife joined with CMT to produce a show tentatively called "Dog." It will follow the couple across the country as they train bounty hunters while tracking what the network calls "the most dangerous fugitives on the streets today."

CMT ordered 10 one-hour episodes. Production is tentatively set for early next year with episodes starting in the spring or summer. Jayson Dinsmore, the executive vice president for development and programming at CMT, called the Chapmans "one of the most bankable teams in television history."

When A&E pulled the plug on its half-hour "Dog the Bounty Hunter" in May, it wouldn’t give a reason. But the 59-year-old Chapman said he took it hard.

"My heart cried every day," he said. "I wasn’t myself anymore. I told the Lord, ‘I don’t want to be here anymore if this doesn’t happen.’"

Although the new show will be shot on the mainland, Chapman and his wife will continue to live in Hawaii. But they will scale back their local captures, he said.

"I went into a store the other day, and this 85-year-old lady was pushing her shopping cart and she started running," Chapman said. "I caught up to her, and she said, ‘It wasn’t me, it was my grandson who got all those tickets.’"

She started crying.

"I don’t want to do this anymore at home," he said. "It really made me feel awful."

CHANCES are good that Maui filmmaker Kenneth Martinez Burgmaier had a more interesting time last weekend than you did.

He was at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., to produce a program for PBS Television. As his cameras rolled, Burgmaier interviewed Grammy winner Aretha Franklin, Oscar-winning actress Helen Mirren and former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who then got on stage and played the drums in a jazz session.

The women were part of the Thelonious Monk Institute’s "Women, Music and Diplomacy" gala concert. The institute honored Albright’s contributions to diplomacy, and after accepting her award and praising jazz as America’s most distinctive art form, she got behind a set of drums to perform a rendition of "Nessun Dorma" with Chris Botti and George Duke.

Burgmaier, 52, owns a film and television production company, hosts an internationally broadcast TV show, "Jazz Alley TV," and oversees HawaiiOnTV.com, which puts local videos online.

All the editing will be done when Burgmaier returns to Maui, and the program should air early next year, he said.

"It was absolutely epic for me," Burgmaier said. "For a guy coming from an island so far away to be chosen — they had a lot of confidence I could deliver a high-end quality product. It is quite an honor and very humbling."

AND that’s a wrap …

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Mike Gordon is the Star-Advertiser’s film and television writer. Read his Outtakes Online blog at honolulupulse.com. Reach him at 529-4803 or email mgordon@staradvertiser.com.