LOS ANGELES (thefutoncritic.com) -- Just days after being placed on hiatus, NBC has pulled the plug on "Hawaii" despite indications production would continue on the struggling drama.

The news was first reported by two Hawaii-based newspapers, The Honolulu Advertiser (read the story) and The Honolulu Star-Bulletin (read the story), which received word of the show's cancellation from the producers yesterday.

The Peacock originally announced on Friday it was benching the series in favor of fellow newcomer "LAX," adding that the series "will continue in production in Hawaii and will return at a later date with new episodes" (read the story). Nevertheless, NBC publicist Jamie French confirmed yesterday that the show "has stopped production" but wouldn't give any details about the show's fate.

Production had been completed on eight episodes of the series, leaving just one installment on the shelf. "Hawaii" opened to an impressive 10.91 million viewers last month but fell to 6.68 million in its most recent airing (10/6/04), ahead of only "Last Comic Standing" (5.75 million) among all of NBC's series for that week. Also no doubt putting a nail its coffin was its adults 18-49 performance that night (2.1 rating according to fast national data), ahead of only CBS' "60 Minutes" (1.9 rating) in the Wednesday, 8:00/7:00c hour among the six broadcast networks.

Both articles also noted the blow the series' cancellation will bring to Hawaii's local film and television industry, which had seen a resurgence thanks to productions such as "Hawaii" (as well as ABC's "Lost" and FOX's "North Shore"). Each episode of "Hawaii" cost about $2.1 million per episode, bringing more than $17 million of spending to the area for the eight completed hours, as well as an additional $1 million to retrofit the show's Mapunapuna sound stage and another $3 million to build sets for the show.

The Hawaii Film Office hopes to make use of the newly available crew and talent on its other local productions as well as the WB pilot "Rocky Point" should it go forward to series.