NCIS

[LM117]

Anybody still watch NCIS? I'd gotten away from it for a while, but I recently started watching again and I'm glad I did. The season finale was certainly one I didn't expect, though I'm not complaining!

[kphoger]

I think we own all the seasons we can on DVD/BluRay.  We don't have cable so we can't watch them live, and we don't typically watch them through streaming service either.  We wait for the season to come out on disc and then watch that.

[LM117]

I think we own all the seasons we can on DVD/BluRay.  We don't have cable so we can't watch them live, and we don't typically watch them through streaming service either.  We wait for the season to come out on disc and then watch that.

It's a CBS show. No cable required, unless you can't pull in your local CBS affiliate with an OTA antenna.

[kphoger]

I think we own all the seasons we can on DVD/BluRay.  We don't have cable so we can't watch them live, and we don't typically watch them through streaming service either.  We wait for the season to come out on disc and then watch that.

It's a CBS show. No cable required, unless you can't pull in your local CBS affiliate with an OTA antenna.

Ah, yes, we only pull out the little $1 DTA rabbit-ear adapter for (1) tornado warnings and (2) the Olympics.

[Avalanchez71]

I haven't watched that show in years now.  I used to not miss an episode.

[SP Cook]

Like most dramas that run a long time, it has become formulistic and tired.  Like all police procedurals you must have a suspension of disbelief. 

In the original show, you must buy that sailors and marines get murdered with a regularity that should demand martial law, but there is plenty of time to smash spies.  And smacking a subordinate on the back of the head and yelling "pull out all the stops" is leadership, because every crime can be solved if you just work hard enough.

In the LA version, the actual mission of the unit is spy smashing, and they work out of a multi-million $ house and drive luxury cars.  And fully automatic weapons are easy to obtain, but no body who can obtain one can hit the broad side of a barn.

In the NO version, the actual mission of the unit's leader is to be a holier than thou leftie who is beloved by the populace, and allowed to work out of a old house in the French Quarter, delving into political corruption. 

In the real world, the NCIS and its sister agencies in the other branches mostly do audits of defense contractors and roust the 1% of servicemen who do the kinds of things 20 something criminals do, which is sex, drugs, and petty theft.

[kphoger]

And smacking a subordinate on the back of the head and yelling "pull out all the stops" is leadership

My father has a theory about why so many crime shows have the police agents bending or breaking the law in order to get the job done.  His theory is that we Americans are tired of bureaucracy and red tape getting in the way of justice.  We have a longing inside to see the police just do what needs to be done, laws and sensibilities be damned.  We never see that sort of thing in real life, so we eat it up on the TV screen.

[SP Cook]

Which brings up Hawaii Five-0, which demands a yet higher level of disbelief suspension than the NCIS series or any series not based on a comic book.  In the original "bible" for the show is the idea that the group is allowed to violate the Constitution with impunity. 

[formulanone]

And smacking a subordinate on the back of the head and yelling "pull out all the stops" is leadership

My father has a theory about why so many crime shows have the police agents bending or breaking the law in order to get the job done.  His theory is that we Americans are tired of bureaucracy and red tape getting in the way of justice.

That, and airtime for a six-week-long montage of dead air until the next tribunal meeting to discuss the change of venue or if the correct paperwork was stamped properly is really expensive.

[Avalanchez71]

And smacking a subordinate on the back of the head and yelling "pull out all the stops" is leadership

My father has a theory about why so many crime shows have the police agents bending or breaking the law in order to get the job done.  His theory is that we Americans are tired of bureaucracy and red tape getting in the way of justice.  We have a longing inside to see the police just do what needs to be done, laws and sensibilities be damned.  We never see that sort of thing in real life, so we eat it up on the TV screen.

So trash the Constitution in the name of the law?

[Rothman]

And smacking a subordinate on the back of the head and yelling "pull out all the stops" is leadership

My father has a theory about why so many crime shows have the police agents bending or breaking the law in order to get the job done.  His theory is that we Americans are tired of bureaucracy and red tape getting in the way of justice.  We have a longing inside to see the police just do what needs to be done, laws and sensibilities be damned.  We never see that sort of thing in real life, so we eat it up on the TV screen.

So trash the Constitution in the name of the law?

I am the law.

[roadman65]

I am surprised that without Michael Weatherly the show lasted.  The fact he was replaced with three actors.  However, I heard that the girl who was the computer forensics expert left.   Only Gibbs, the Director, and McGee are the only originals from what I heard.

Have not got CBS in a long while.  Have a cheap antenna.

[kphoger]

And smacking a subordinate on the back of the head and yelling "pull out all the stops" is leadership

My father has a theory about why so many crime shows have the police agents bending or breaking the law in order to get the job done.  His theory is that we Americans are tired of bureaucracy and red tape getting in the way of justice.  We have a longing inside to see the police just do what needs to be done, laws and sensibilities be damned.  We never see that sort of thing in real life, so we eat it up on the TV screen.

So trash the Constitution in the name of the law?

For one thing, yes, I believe part of us craves that.

For another thing, the Constitution has been in effect since 1789, and you must admit that the face of law enforcement has changed over the years since then.  It's not necessarily accurate to refer to the style of law enforcement this country had in days gone by as 'unconstitutional'.

[roadman65]

And smacking a subordinate on the back of the head and yelling "pull out all the stops" is leadership

My father has a theory about why so many crime shows have the police agents bending or breaking the law in order to get the job done.  His theory is that we Americans are tired of bureaucracy and red tape getting in the way of justice.  We have a longing inside to see the police just do what needs to be done, laws and sensibilities be damned.  We never see that sort of thing in real life, so we eat it up on the TV screen.

So trash the Constitution in the name of the law?

For one thing, yes, I believe part of us craves that.

For another thing, the Constitution has been in effect since 1789, and you must admit that the face of law enforcement has changed over the years since then.  It's not necessarily accurate to refer to the style of law enforcement this country had in days gone by as 'unconstitutional'.

Law and Order SVU is one of them.  Eliot Stabler used to break the law constantly to get a sex offender in jail even when his job was threatened.

Yet, the original Law & Order they had to do it by the book as McCoy lost many cases where a guilty man walked free cause of not being done by the book.  I guess it has to do with the SVU show is to get the fans hyped up as in real life too many sex offenders get off Scott Free.  Who cares if Eliot (who left the show a long while back) is not following suit as many people in real life will look the other way when a person of hurting a child or teen is prosecuted in a kangaroo court type of set up.

[LM117]

I am surprised that without Michael Weatherly the show lasted.  The fact he was replaced with three actors.  However, I heard that the girl who was the computer forensics expert left.   Only Gibbs, the Director, and McGee are the only originals from what I heard.

Yep, they're the only originals. Ducky only makes sporadic appearances now. Pauley Perrette left, partly because of her beef with Mark Harmon. During her last season, they had no scenes together.

[LM117]

And smacking a subordinate on the back of the head and yelling "pull out all the stops" is leadership

My father has a theory about why so many crime shows have the police agents bending or breaking the law in order to get the job done.  His theory is that we Americans are tired of bureaucracy and red tape getting in the way of justice.  We have a longing inside to see the police just do what needs to be done, laws and sensibilities be damned.  We never see that sort of thing in real life, so we eat it up on the TV screen.

So trash the Constitution in the name of the law?

I am the law.

Not yet...

[roadman65]

Who does Gibbs now smack on the head being Denoso is no longer in the bunch?  I always remember that was the show's main running gag when Gibbs had to point out Tony was being dumb (which was most of the time anyway) and we would see that.

Also why did Gibbs burn the old Director's house down when the actress who played her wanted off the show?  They killed her off I know, but for some reason Gibbs wanted the world to think she died in the fire that he set off, rather than know the truth.

[sparker]

Who does Gibbs now smack on the head being Denoso is no longer in the bunch?  I always remember that was the show's main running gag when Gibbs had to point out Tony was being dumb (which was most of the time anyway) and we would see that.

Also why did Gibbs burn the old Director's house down when the actress who played her wanted off the show?  They killed her off I know, but for some reason Gibbs wanted the world to think she died in the fire that he set off, rather than know the truth.

That director (Jenny Shepard, played by Lauren Holly) was an ex-spook who was always getting her subordinates to investigate personal issues (mostly related to her father) and was always looking for an excuse to murder the person (an arms dealer played by Armand Assante) she held responsible for her father's death (which she apparently and eventually did off-camera).  Also she and Gibbs had a bit of a bedroom history together -- and she was a redhead like his other exes (and like my own 2nd wife!)!  But her overall story lines were a bit incredulous -- so they gave her an advancing case of MS, which she conveniently "shortcutted" by getting shot to pieces out in California in the 2008 season-ender with a storyline that was nothing but a big old McGuffin!  Just a way to change out actors playing the director (they'd introduced the Leon/Rocky Carroll character earlier as a deputy director).   But I'd always thought that the actual intelligence agencies would have gotten royally pissed at a bunch of Navy detectives invading their turf on a regular basis (I have an old college buddy who's a lifetime DIA operative -- retired a couple of years back but still on call as a consultant -- and he gripes nonstop about the depiction of such things!).