TVSquad

(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.

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.

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.

The Man From U.N.C.L.E. was one of the more successful spy shows/movies inspired by the James Bond craze of the 1960s. It was a fun show (with a great theme song!), and the complete series has just been released on DVD.

Some people might see the show as a "spoof," and one could take it that way, but it holds up really well as a straightforward spy drama too. Personally, I prefer I Spy, but The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is right up there too. And this set should make fans of the show (you are probably in your 30s at least, maybe older) very happy.

Mention The Man From U.N.C.L.E. to a younger, casual TV fan, and they'll probably look at you with a tilted head, the ways dogs often look at people. But to people of a certain age, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (side note: that's a really hard title to type out) brings back a lot of cool memories. It was a spy spoof that debuted in 1964, in the height of the James Bond craze, but unlike a lot of 007 spoofs that didn't make it or were just plain lousy, U.N.C.L.E. stood on its own and still does today as a really fun light adventure show.

I had a chance to talk with U.N.C.L.E. star Robert Vaughn in conjunction with the release of the massive Time-Life Man From U.N.C.L.E.: The Complete Collection set.

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]

Lots of Robert Vaughn-oriented news today: not only is Hustle returning to AMC tonight at 10pm, but it looks like the legal fight over The Man From U.N.C.L.E. DVDs might finally be over.

Vaughn tells the Akron Beacon Journal that he is getting together with NCIS star David McCallum (he played Ilya Kuryakin on the 60s spy show, the partner to Vaughn's Napoleon Solo) to record commentaries and extras for the set, which should be out by the end of this year.

Oddly, Vaughn had already recorded four hours of extras for the show, but then the legal fight delayed the release of those DVDs, so it looks like those extras will be lost forever.

[via TVShowsOnDVD]

Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. This is the DVD release equivalent to a tennis match.

First it looked like The Man From U.N.C.L.E., the 60s spy spoof show starring Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, was coming to DVD this year. Then TVShowsonDVD reported that it wasn't coming after all. Now it looks like Amazon has the first season set listed as coming in July, but the DVD site called Anchor Bay and found out that it's still not coming after all, and might not come until 2007.

Though you might be in luck if you live in Australia...