Ziva-related stories
Posted Nov 18th 2009 2:00AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, NCIS, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S07E08) NCIS did something so great on tonight's episode that I'm surprised I haven't seen it done on another procedural until now. If you haven't seen the show yet, I won't spoil it, but I will say that it was a complication that really made the show.
There were moments for DiNozzo to reference all kinds of TV shows from the past, a chance for Gibbs to prove that there's nothing he can't handle with aplomb, and even the opportunity for Abby to show that sans Cafe Pow, she's still the sharpest lab tech in NCIS. More on the case after the jump.
Continue reading Review: NCIS - Power Down
Posted Nov 11th 2009 1:12AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, NCIS, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S07E07) People who don't watch
NCIS usually think the show is all about the military, all about forensics, all about criminal procedures, etc. Well, an episode like this is a perfect example of how character-driven the show actually is. Leon Vance has not been as interesting as the director of
NCIS as Jenny Shepherd was, but the look into his back-story we saw with this episode may be a game changer. For one thing, he has some wife.
But as much as the Vance story and his weird connection to Kai drove the show, it may be the sad sack McGee subplot that resonates. Poor probie. Tough luck, McGeek ... or McDigit, as Tony dubbed him. The redhead was a looker. Tony and Ziva were impressed. Oh well ... more after the jump.
Continue reading Review: NCIS - Endgame
Posted Nov 4th 2009 1:10AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: NCIS, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S07E06) Any time
Muse Watson returns to
NCIS as Gibbs' mentor Mike Franks, there's usually something special in the works. Tonight's episode was no different.
With Franks involved in what looked like a heinous act of double murder, Jethro was thrust into the middle of what appeared to be an open-and-shut case.
Not so fast, Probie. The Kelly adrift with two dead bodies -- two ex-military men with ties to a private military operation -- was the first and biggest clue to the mystery.
Continue reading Review: NCIS - Outlaws and In-Laws
Posted Oct 31st 2009 8:17AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, NCIS, Casting, Reality-Free
One of my favorite actresses is joining the cast of America's most watched drama series. That means about 20 million viewers a week will get to see her in action. The actress is
Rena Sofer and she's been cast on NCIS as a hard-nosed, no-nonsense lawyer. The role could be long term or recurring, they're not saying yet.
In fact, they're not giving much away at all. Not even the character's name or when she starts. Thus far, it's hard to see where a lawyer would be needed in the current storylines, so it's likely that there's an arc on the way that will bring her along as a key element.
Rena has a load of primetime experience, having appeared on
Heroes, 24, Couples, Blind Justice, Just Shoot Me... but for me she was never better than when she was on
General Hospital as Lois Cerullo.
Continue reading Rena Sofer cast on NCIS
Posted Oct 21st 2009 1:32AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: NCIS, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(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.
Continue reading Review: NCIS - Code of Conduct
Posted Oct 7th 2009 1:28AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, NCIS, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(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.
Continue reading NCIS: The Inside Man
Posted Sep 30th 2009 12:35AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, NCIS, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S07E02) After
last week's action packed NCIS, you might think that tonight's episode would be more sedate. Not really. There was a gruesome murder scene at the open, and plenty of mystery involving a cop who was out for revenge, but all that was a backdrop for something far more interesting. Ziva's return to the fold. More after the jump.
Continue reading NCIS: Reunion
Posted Sep 23rd 2009 6:01PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Ratings, NCIS, Reality-Free
Over the summer, spoilers were leaked that the
NCIS season premiere would begin with a bang. They weren't kidding. Last night's show was a spine-tingling puzzle of an episode that unraveled scene by scene, building suspense to the ultimate -- satisfying -- conclusion. If you were thinking that, like last year, the team was going to be torn asunder after the way things ended with Ziva being returned to Israel, you were pleasantly surprised. More after the jump.
However, there's another story to report. The overnight ratings are in and the viewers have spoken. Twenty million of them!
The return of NCIS zoomed to the top of the ratings with 20 million viewers tuning in. That helped CBS launch
NCIS: Los Angeles, opening with 18 million, and also bolstered
The Good Wife with nearly 14 million. Any way you slice it, those are stellar numbers. The folk at the Black Rock must be dancing in the hallways.
Continue reading NCIS's big-time return on screen and in the ratings
Posted Aug 12th 2009 12:02PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Watercooler Talk, Ratings, NCIS, Reality-Free
Only 42 days to go. That's how long until the season premiere of
NCIS. According to
Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello, quoting exec producer Shane Brennan,
the first minute of NCIS is a mindblower. What could this possibly mean? Will someone die, or will we discover what happened to Ziva? Was that her being beaten and tortured in the closing scene of last season's finale?
Continue reading NCIS's premiere will begin with a bang
Posted May 15th 2009 1:35PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Upfronts, Reality-Free
Next Wednesday, CBS will be announcing its schedule for the new season, and while rumors have swirled that
Cold Case or
Without A Trace might be on the chopping block -- despite good ratings -- one sure thing seems to be the spinoff from
NCIS.
Well, now that I've seen the two-part
NCIS episode that served as a pilot for the show, I'm hoping that CBS gives this new series a thumbs-down. I don't expect that to happen, but if it were my decision, I wouldn't dump a solid series with a loyal viewership like
Cold Case or
Without A Trace, for the hope of LL Cool J and Chris O'Donnell's overly fussy, overly procedural
NCIS derivative step-child.
Continue reading Why CBS shouldn't pick up the NCIS spinoff
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