100 TV Shows-#36-NCIS
NCIS
All my NCIS fic
I like to watch shows in order, especially if they have any kind of arcs, rather than being "pure" standalone episodes. Which are getting damn harder to come by in this day and age, and I miss it. Why can't episodes just be about single cases? WHY do characters have to grow? Who cares about their deep, dark secrets? Is there anything to be gained with relationships that are all tease and never go anywhere, but insist on taking up screen time?
But I digress.
Once I was turned onto this show as being sort of like CSI before it went horribly pear-shaped (BECAUSE OF ARCS AND EMOTIONS!) I wanted to rent the disks from Netflix and watch in order. Unfortunately this happened around the same time as hubby ended up in the hospital and "skilled nursing facility" following the 2nd broken leg. One of the stations on the TV set was USA, which meant that every afternoon before I arrived, he'd already seen 2 or 3 episodes, from their
"Marathons," which tend to be themed, but completely out of order. Then I'd watch a few more with him, which led to the two of trying to piece certain relationships together from what sometimes appeared to be confusing and contradictory information. YOU try watching bits of Tony/Jaune without even knowing who Jenny is and see where it gets you.
EVENTUALLY we did end up filling in all the blanks and I can now say I've seen every single episode to date, many of them over and over and over. Because that's how USA keeps showing them. Hubby has them being constantly TIVO'd and will have them on as back-ground noise when nothing else of interest is one, plus the last few seasons we've actually been watching the new ones as they come up.
I hate cast changes, but I don't mind the loss of Kate one little bit. I've never been able to forgive her for the transphobic/homophobic way she behaved after the reveal in "See No Evil." Yes, I get that she's not mocking Tony and NOT the transgender person, but it was just so ugly and went on for so long after the incident that I honestly couldn't stand her after that. Plus even thought Ziva has certain Mary Sue-ish qualities, I like having a Jewish badass female character on the show. (Even if she's played by a Chilean.) I think one of my all time favorite lines is: "We're not looking for the afikomen."
On the other hand, I can barely forgive whoever is responsible for trying to turn such a fierce character into a poor wittle woobie waiting three hours in a restaurant just so we could learn just how bad a guy CI-Ray really was. And for taking a potentially interesting character and making him into a one-note scum-bag just to prove that he was no good for Ziva and to potentially put us through more Tony/Ziva teasing, which I still think is honestly going to go no-where.
I hate it when ships are "fanserviced" by the writers. I genuinely don't know if ANY of the stuff that's been written for Gibbs/Fornell is deliberately being done as a slash-tease by anyone on the writing staff. I honestly don't think so. I think it really is all subtext. BUT if I'm wrong, I don't care. If someone deliberately put in lines about "our friendship" and all the bits where Gibbs and Fornell act like an old married couple in "Jack Knife" are deliberately meant to hint at the relationship (while never, ever confirming) I do not give a fig, and I will happily own my hypocrisy on the matter. I believe to my soul that there IS something between Gibbs and Fornell, going back to the break-up of Fornell's marriage to Diane. It's honestly the only Gibbs ship I can genuinely believe in, although I'll go for a bit of Gibbs/Abby just to watch the exploding heads because "Ewwwwww, he sees her like a daughter." STFU!
Another favorite line/moment is the way Joe Spano giggles when Gibbs is getting a polygraph. I wish I knew if that was scripted or the actor just lost it and they kept it in. No matter how many times I watch it, I think it could go either way.
(Now that I'm watching Mad Men, I find it hilarious that the sexually aggressive and ballsy Diane is the same actress who played the sexually aggressive and ballsy Bobbie Barrett.)
I hate overly "quirky" characters, but I do love Abby, except when I have to take her SERIOUSLY, or when they do "women in jep" plots with her. (I'd also gotten way over the whole "medical examiner talks to bodies" thing from my brief experience with CSI-Miami, but I'll accept it from Ducky.)
I really dislike "personal lives" interfering with the procedurals. I could easily have done without Jaune, Vance's brother-in-law, Jamie Lee Curtis, CI-Ray, Agent Lee and her kid, or compulsively clean lady and her brother.
On the other hand, I do love Ducky's mother and I'm glad that Nina Foch got a nice role like that toward the end. I love Anthony Senior, because DUDE!!!-Robert Wagner. I like Tim's Grandma, because...hey, Lily Tomlin. (I don't know why it's YAY Lily Tomlin and Boo Hiss Jamie Lee Curtis, but there it.)
Special love for Michael Nouri as Eli David. In fact, one reason I have actively disliked Gibbs, was anytime when they tried to paint him as a superior father figure for Ziva. Eli is her father and he loves her. And since when do I care about father/daughter storylines?
I genuinely dislike Tony most of the time and I loathe the bits where any of the team members are made to beg and grovel and compete for Gibbs' approval. If you put all the details together, there would probably be more times the show has things I either don't or shouldn't like than things I do. But here I am, pretty much with every intention of sticking, and very little of the venom I felt for House MD when a show I loved ceased to be the show I loved.
I tend to think of NCIS as one of my non-invested shows, which means I enjoy it without caring about it, but I think that's also a bit or a lot of a lie.
Like I said, LOTS of contradictions, but I still intend to be watching when the new season starts.
Click to viewAll my NCIS fic
I like to watch shows in order, especially if they have any kind of arcs, rather than being "pure" standalone episodes. Which are getting damn harder to come by in this day and age, and I miss it. Why can't episodes just be about single cases? WHY do characters have to grow? Who cares about their deep, dark secrets? Is there anything to be gained with relationships that are all tease and never go anywhere, but insist on taking up screen time?
But I digress.
Once I was turned onto this show as being sort of like CSI before it went horribly pear-shaped (BECAUSE OF ARCS AND EMOTIONS!) I wanted to rent the disks from Netflix and watch in order. Unfortunately this happened around the same time as hubby ended up in the hospital and "skilled nursing facility" following the 2nd broken leg. One of the stations on the TV set was USA, which meant that every afternoon before I arrived, he'd already seen 2 or 3 episodes, from their
"Marathons," which tend to be themed, but completely out of order. Then I'd watch a few more with him, which led to the two of trying to piece certain relationships together from what sometimes appeared to be confusing and contradictory information. YOU try watching bits of Tony/Jaune without even knowing who Jenny is and see where it gets you.
EVENTUALLY we did end up filling in all the blanks and I can now say I've seen every single episode to date, many of them over and over and over. Because that's how USA keeps showing them. Hubby has them being constantly TIVO'd and will have them on as back-ground noise when nothing else of interest is one, plus the last few seasons we've actually been watching the new ones as they come up.
I hate cast changes, but I don't mind the loss of Kate one little bit. I've never been able to forgive her for the transphobic/homophobic way she behaved after the reveal in "See No Evil." Yes, I get that she's not mocking Tony and NOT the transgender person, but it was just so ugly and went on for so long after the incident that I honestly couldn't stand her after that. Plus even thought Ziva has certain Mary Sue-ish qualities, I like having a Jewish badass female character on the show. (Even if she's played by a Chilean.) I think one of my all time favorite lines is: "We're not looking for the afikomen."
On the other hand, I can barely forgive whoever is responsible for trying to turn such a fierce character into a poor wittle woobie waiting three hours in a restaurant just so we could learn just how bad a guy CI-Ray really was. And for taking a potentially interesting character and making him into a one-note scum-bag just to prove that he was no good for Ziva and to potentially put us through more Tony/Ziva teasing, which I still think is honestly going to go no-where.
I hate it when ships are "fanserviced" by the writers. I genuinely don't know if ANY of the stuff that's been written for Gibbs/Fornell is deliberately being done as a slash-tease by anyone on the writing staff. I honestly don't think so. I think it really is all subtext. BUT if I'm wrong, I don't care. If someone deliberately put in lines about "our friendship" and all the bits where Gibbs and Fornell act like an old married couple in "Jack Knife" are deliberately meant to hint at the relationship (while never, ever confirming) I do not give a fig, and I will happily own my hypocrisy on the matter. I believe to my soul that there IS something between Gibbs and Fornell, going back to the break-up of Fornell's marriage to Diane. It's honestly the only Gibbs ship I can genuinely believe in, although I'll go for a bit of Gibbs/Abby just to watch the exploding heads because "Ewwwwww, he sees her like a daughter." STFU!
Another favorite line/moment is the way Joe Spano giggles when Gibbs is getting a polygraph. I wish I knew if that was scripted or the actor just lost it and they kept it in. No matter how many times I watch it, I think it could go either way.
(Now that I'm watching Mad Men, I find it hilarious that the sexually aggressive and ballsy Diane is the same actress who played the sexually aggressive and ballsy Bobbie Barrett.)
I hate overly "quirky" characters, but I do love Abby, except when I have to take her SERIOUSLY, or when they do "women in jep" plots with her. (I'd also gotten way over the whole "medical examiner talks to bodies" thing from my brief experience with CSI-Miami, but I'll accept it from Ducky.)
I really dislike "personal lives" interfering with the procedurals. I could easily have done without Jaune, Vance's brother-in-law, Jamie Lee Curtis, CI-Ray, Agent Lee and her kid, or compulsively clean lady and her brother.
On the other hand, I do love Ducky's mother and I'm glad that Nina Foch got a nice role like that toward the end. I love Anthony Senior, because DUDE!!!-Robert Wagner. I like Tim's Grandma, because...hey, Lily Tomlin. (I don't know why it's YAY Lily Tomlin and Boo Hiss Jamie Lee Curtis, but there it.)
Special love for Michael Nouri as Eli David. In fact, one reason I have actively disliked Gibbs, was anytime when they tried to paint him as a superior father figure for Ziva. Eli is her father and he loves her. And since when do I care about father/daughter storylines?
I genuinely dislike Tony most of the time and I loathe the bits where any of the team members are made to beg and grovel and compete for Gibbs' approval. If you put all the details together, there would probably be more times the show has things I either don't or shouldn't like than things I do. But here I am, pretty much with every intention of sticking, and very little of the venom I felt for House MD when a show I loved ceased to be the show I loved.
I tend to think of NCIS as one of my non-invested shows, which means I enjoy it without caring about it, but I think that's also a bit or a lot of a lie.
Like I said, LOTS of contradictions, but I still intend to be watching when the new season starts.