TVSquad

(S07E09) If you want to show the soft side of Jethro Gibbs, involve a kid. That would seem to be the logic behind this episode which was a bit of a reach, what with cornfields, a think tank for gifted children, government secrets, a tenuous link to gang activity, a dead Marine, and pink cupcakes ... but still interesting.

There was also the whole connection to Thanksgiving at Ducky's. Would our favorite NCIS team make it to dinner together or would they be setting out on separate paths? Would Abby master the cranberry sauce? Read more after the jump.

(S07E05) Happy Halloween from your friends at NCIS! There was definitely some creepy stuff going on with this case, and for the first time in weeks, the concentration of the show was strictly on the mystery. No Ziva flashbacks, no Gibbs questions about Mossad, no Vance at all. It was just about how a Marine recently back from Afghanistan wound up dead in his car on the night before Halloween.

(S07E04) First of all, let's get this out of the way quickly. This might be the best episode of the season. It was all character with just enough action to keep those who love gunfire happy. But most importantly, it cemented Ziva's place in the world of NCIS (the show and the organization). For that reason alone, this was four stars all the way.

Mad Men is the kind of show where allusions are made and words have meanings that are not always readily apparent. It's a great show to watch, sometimes difficult to comprehend. NCIS doesn't pretend to be poetic. It presents compelling, dynamic situations in which characters face tough decisions and loyalty is tested and burnished over time. And the words matter here, too.

Tonight the word was mishpocheh. It's Yiddish for family. Ziva used it in one scene referring to her mission on the freighter (the dead Marine was not mishpocheh), but it mattered more in a later scene with Gibbs. More on the complexities of the episode after the jump.

(S07E03) Is it even possible that an NCIS team led by Jethro Leroy Gibbs would make a mistake that would leave the agency open to an investigation by a blogger with an attitude? Nah. Not our Jethro. Still, that was the premise for the case on tonight's episode.

Hard as it was for Gibbs, DiNozzo and McGee to believe they'd screwed up, when the blogger -- BeltwayBurns.com -- turned up as a corpse, a whole can of worms was upended and a closed case was suddenly wide open. Fortunately, that meant a lot more chances for Ducky to interact with Gibbs, something sorely missed in the first couple of shows.

Leo G. Carroll did it in 1966. Lisa Bonet sort of did it in 1987. What am I talking about? Double duty. That is, playing the same role on two series which are running at the same time. There are probably quite a few other instances, but Leo was head man Mr. Waverly on both The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. for a year, and Lisa was Denise Huxtable in college (A Different World) and when she came home to visit the family in Brooklyn on The Cosby Show.

Now, Rocky Carroll will appear on both NCIS shows. Doing double duty makes perfect sense for the NCIS twosome, especially since they're going to be airing back to back on Tuesday, 8-10 P.M.

And so ends the sixth season of NCIS. For some reason, I didn't think the show would even last one season, but sometimes a show just surprises you with how strong it does in the ratings. If anything, the show has gotten stronger as the years have gone on. It survived the departure of its creator and has hung around long enough to spawn a spinoff this fall, with Chris O'Donnell and LL Cool J. No name for that show yet. Any ideas? They'll probably think of something with an "NCIS" and a ":" in it.

This was the second part of "Legend," the episodes that are acting as the NCIS spinoff starring Chris O'Donnell and LL Cool J. It looks like a sure thing for the fall, though CBS will make it official at their upfront on May 20.

What did you think of this two-parter? Can you imagine following O'Donnell and LL Cool J for as many seasons as you've followed Mark Harmon and Michael Weatherly?

So ... what did you think of the first part of NCIS' big spinoff episodes? "Legend" is the episode that serves as the spinoff launch for a new series starring Chris O'Donnell and LL Cool J. Maybe this is the first step in an NCIS franchise, a la CSI. Let's hope not.

Jay Leno is officially America's BFF.

The late night (soon to be 10pm) talk show host has come in first place in the annual Harris Poll to determine who is America's favorite TV personality. Here is the rest of the top 10 to give you an idea of who he's up against:

2. Hugh Laurie
3. Ellen DeGeneres
4. Oprah Winfrey
5. David Letterman
6. Jon Stewart
7. Charlie Sheen
8. Steve Carell
9. Stephen Colbert
10. Mark Harmon

Considering the fact that CSI has been the basis for two very, very successful CBS spin-offs -- CSI: Miami and CSI: New York (in case you've been out of the loop for the past six years) -- it hardly comes as a shock that another CBS ratings powerhouse, NCIS, is planning a spin-off. Maybe the only shock is that they've waited till now to really put thought into action.

EW's Michael Ausiello landed the exclusive and reports that the NCIS spin-off will be like the other CSI's in that they will not take a character from the show and make him/her the centerpiece of that new series. That means you don't have to worry about Ziva, Tony, Abs, McGee and Gibbs breaking up.

And after the fans' reaction at the end of last season, when the team was split up as the new director took over only to be reunited early this season, that's a major relief.

Something amazing has happened recently in the TV media: the critics have discovered CBS's stealth ratings champ, NCIS, and it's now cool to come out of the closet and declare your fandom. Articles in USA Today, the Los Angeles Times and The New York Times have reported the fact that not only is NCIS consistently in the top five of the weekly Nielsen ratings, but it's also a smart, well-acted and compelling TV show.

There are reasons to admire NCIS, and if you haven't been watching, here's five really good reasons to check out the show. I know that before I got coerced into giving NCIS a try, I didn't think I'd like it, but boy, was I wrong.

NCIS has to be the #1 show that no one I know watches. I don't mean anything by that, I hear great things about it from readers here. It's just interesting that it's incredibly popular (always in the top 20, often in the top 10) and yet it's one of those shows that no one talks about (see also JAG).

As regular viewers know, the entire team was split up in the season finale, and then word came that Rocky Carroll had been made a series regular. Now comes word that the show has added three more cast members (no word on if they are in for the long haul or just this season), and one of them is a familiar face and name.

The Emmy Award nominations will be announced a week from this Thursday, and The Hollywood Reporter got a bunch of TV stars (both Emmy winners and nominees) together at a roundtable* to discuss the awards, and it's pretty lively.

While Ted Danson talks about it taking nine times before he won the Emmy for Cheers in 1990, David Spade explains that he was more bummed about not winning a Golden Globe for his role on Just Shoot Me more than not winning the Emmy, because he was beaten by Gregory Peck, who won for a really short cameo. Bryan Cranston reveals how his guest stint on The X-Files many years ago led to his role on Breaking Bad, and Alec Baldwin explains that it's actually OK that he doesn't get to swear on 30 Rock like his friends who have pay cable shows can.

Neil Patrick Harris makes some comments that reality show-haters will love.

* For the sake of journalistic accuracy, I actually have no idea if the table was round or not. It could have been a long rectangle.

(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.

Late last night, TV Guide's Michael Ausiello put in print words that NCIS fans didn't want to see: "NCIS Star Goes AWOL!" As soon as the news hit the Internet, my inbox was flooded with emails asking if I knew who was set to leave the show at the end of the season. I poked my spoilers sources but no answers yet.

NCIS fans will remember that around the same time last year, we heard that Mark Harmon wanted out because of creator Donald P. Bellisario. The latter accepted to reduce his involvement on the show so that Harmon would stay. So who is it this time? Could it be Harmon? Let's analyze the situation and make our predictions.