Lauren Holly-related stories
Posted May 21st 2008 12:25AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Video, NCIS, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S0518/19) Well, the previews didn't lie. For weeks now, we've been told in previews and commercials -- not to mention numerous stories in the press -- that one of the principals would die on the finale of
NCIS. The producers delivered; someone died. In one way, the death of Jenny Shephard, NCIS director, is the least painful loss, and also the most obvious. If you had Lauren Holly in the
NCIS pool, you're the winner. For most of the episodes since the return from the strike, viewers have known that Ducky had determined that the director was sick. Jethro knew it; so did Jenny. But Jenny didn't know that Jethro knew. (Can you follow that?) Anyway, what it means in the big picture is that before tonight's two-hour finale, Jenny Shephard was the most likely candidate to bite the dust.
Continue reading NCIS: Judgment Day (season finale) - VIDEO
Posted Jun 19th 2007 12:21PM by Meredith O'Brien
Filed under: TV on DVD, OpEd
It won Emmys for the best dramatic series, best dramatic actor and best dramatic actress. Right out of the box. In season one.
Nearly 15 years ago.
So how does the first season of the controversial Picket Fences stand up to time, in its new DVD collection? After watching the pilot episode, seeing all those shoulder pads, hearing the heavy-handed background music during some of the scenes and watching "tough" police interrogations in the form of raised voices, my initial thought was, "Picket Fences didn't age well."
Then I watched more episodes. And changed my mind.
Continue reading Picket Fences Season One -- DVD Review
Posted May 23rd 2007 9:19AM by Brett Love
Filed under: NCIS, Episode Reviews
(
S04E24) CBS has been teasing this episode for a couple weeks now, with promises of secrets being revealed. They did get to the big one, though that was more of a confirmation of what we already expected. Overall though, I think they oversold it. Another case of the promotions department writing checks that the writers aren't cashing.
That feeling of something being incomplete carried over into the rest of the episode as well. It just didn't have the feel of the big season finale. The show set a very high bar with "Twilight" in season two and can't afford to just phone it in like this. Half of this episode could have just been dropped right in the middle of any other episode and it wouldn't have made a difference. That's fine, for episodes 2 through 23, but the big guns have to come out for the first and the last.
Continue reading NCIS: Angel Of Death (season finale)
Posted May 9th 2007 9:04AM by Brett Love
Filed under: NCIS, Episode Reviews
(S04E23) This was kind of a confusing episode to me. Not that the story was hard to follow, just that it seemed poorly conceived. I thought the case of the week was well done, but kind of out of place. With it being the end of the season, and the plan already in place to make this a two parter, I would have rather seen something that focused in on the big stories.
It almost felt like flipping the channels between two episodes that were running at the same time. The brief phone conversations between Gibbs and Shepard kind of tied the two stories together, but more than anything, they just pointed out that the story of the week was taking up time that could have been spent on La Grenouille. Maybe I'm just a little impatient, having caught a bit of the finale fever, but it just didn't all fit together for me.
Continue reading NCIS: Trojan Horse
Posted Apr 24th 2007 4:22PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Celebrities, NCIS
Michael Ausiello at TV Guide is reporting a big scoop: NCIS star Mark Harmon is threatening to walk off the hit CBS show.
Citing inside sources, Ausiello says that Harmon has always been fed up with producer Donald Bellisario's (Magnum, P.I., JAG, Quantum Leap) "chaotic management style" and wants off the show. The source also says that Harmon is one of the nicest guys on television and that he's in the right on this one. The dispute is described as "a big standoff."
So I'll ask you readers the same thing that Ausiello asks his readers: can NCIS survive without Mark Harmon, or is he the main reason to watch the show?
[via TV Tattle]
Posted Apr 4th 2007 9:00AM by Brett Love
Filed under: NCIS, Episode Reviews
(S04E19) Those pesky writers at
NCIS just continue to tease us with the Tony/Jeanne story. I saw that Scottie Thompson was going to be in this episode, and after the way the last one ended I was hopeful that we would get tipped off to just what is going on there. No such luck, but I'm ok with that. There were a lot of other things to like about this installment.
Things like the case. The conflicting results from Abby and Ducky had me all confused. Having the plan hinge on the voice modeling software was an interesting way to go with it. The magic door was also a fun twist, and made even more so thanks to Tony's scene both discovering it, and trying to defeat it.
Continue reading NCIS: Grace Period
Posted Feb 7th 2007 9:21AM by Brett Love
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, CBS, NCIS
(S04E14) And that is why sweeps are so good. We finally got some answers concerning what Director Shepard has been doing with Tony for the last few months. Plus, those answers involved a big guest star, Armand Assante. Fun stuff.
I was happy to see them get going with the undercover story. And pretty happy with the results as well. The rest of the team stumbling into the middle of the ongoing La Grenouille investigation while following their own leads was a good way to do it. Having the tip come from Ziva's Mossad connections put it out of Shepard's court.
The thing that surprised me most about all of it was the revelation that Gibbs has been in the dark the whole time. There really did seem to be some hints that Gibbs was in on it. Just some clever misdirection from the writers I guess.
Continue reading NCIS: Blowback
Posted May 7th 2006 12:28PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: TV Royalty, Talent, Industry, Programming, Celebrities
On the cover: Lost (again) and secrets from the big season finale coming up later this month.- Matt Roush pays tribute to The West Wing.
- Analyst and former jockey Gary Stevens gives a preview of The Kentucky Derby.
- Crossing Jordan reaches 100 episodes (might be kinda spoilerish, so click at your own risk).
- In the print edition: the cast of Malcolm in the Middle moves on, a Q and A with soon-to-be Desperate Housewives star Kyle MacLachlan, an interview with NCIS star Lauren Holly, a guest column from 7th Heaven's Stephen Collins, and a behind the scenes look at the hometown parties for Idol finalists Chris, Katherine, and Taylor.
Seven greatest hand cannons in TV history
TV Squad previews NBC's new shows (part 1)
TV 101: How ESPN controls the world and what the other networks can learn from it
