NCIS : Enquêtes spéciales

Easily one of the best shows on television today, suspenseful, humorous and real-not always pleasant or formulaic-but real! Just when I think Bellesario has gone too far in the "lets screw up Jag" sweepstakes (ok-2 episodes this year were actually good-the rest-terrible!)-he redeems himself with a show that is riveting, timely and funny at the right times!

The casting, the writing, the overall look of the show is first class! Starting at the top with Mark Harmon, the sexiest man on TV-he also sets the tone with his right on portrayal of the most conflicted man on TV today! His obsession with Ari (the terrorist), his list of rules, then his tendency to think out of the box just adds to the spice and pace of this show. (Plus his constant dueling with DiNozzo-priceless!)

An added plus is the inter meshing of the cast-David McCallum-funny, urbane- so hot! His stories are hysterical, then his sad commentary on the life or death of their latest subject-just gives you pause. His diatribe on the terrorist and what he did to his assistant alone is Emmy award stuff-don't mess with Ducky ever again! Then we have the reason for Rule 12-Special Agent Catlin Todd-the writers don't always have a clue as to her portrayal but she always pulls it off (and that humor of hers-the end lines alone are great!) I have to disagree as to the chemistry with Gibbs/Kate-it's there all right-hopefully we get to see something come of it in Season 2! The actors portraying Abby and DiNozzo-Pauly Perrette and Michael Weatherly are hysterical, yet right on in their portrayals-especially when DiNozzo thinks with his hormones and not with his brain-then turns around and saves the day-this show is a keeper! I can hardly wait for season 2!

Finally Bellisario got it right. Gibbs and his gang are first and foremost investigators, not hoity-toity staff officers who moonlight as stereotyped combat soldiers with thickly-laid-on patriotic dogma that would make Ward Carroll vomit with rage. At no time do they ever try to borrow an F-14 to go on some bombing raid over the international hot spot du semaine; they stick to their job descriptions the whole time. They also have personalities and eccentricities that make them a better ridealong than overstarched Harmless Rabbit and whatever babe he happens to be working with this season, such as Gibbs' coffee addiction, Ducky's intellectual ramblings, DiNozzo's attempts at being a cool womanizer, Abby's interesting blend of science nerd and goth grrrl, and Kate as the token vaguely normal neophyte thrown into the mix. Too bad this couldn't have been done with JAG in the first place.

I used to thoroughly enjoy this series, but with Ziva and Tony gone and Abby apparently about to leave, it has gone right down in my estimation. The three new cast members are very poor substitutes for the above, the two females (especially the dark one) being the most annoying. One feels no empathy towards them, and they seem unlikely characters to exist in an organisation such as NCIS.

Has the USA gone to same way as the UK in being unable to produce decent TV series (or films) any longer? Guess I'll just have to stick to watching older stuff on DVD.

What a shame.

Am I the only one thinks that Season 14 is lacking something N.C.I.S. used to have? I am kind of disappointed with this season. Sure, I watch each and every episode and look forward to the next, but; somehow or other, the action seems to revolve less about homicides and N.C.I.S. purpose and more on the personal relationships of its members. Furthermore, the cases that N.C.I.S. got this whole season seem to be very lame compared to the cases from previous seasons. I am writing this because I noticed that while watching the episodes of this season, if I get a phone call, I pause the recording to answer the phone, while in the past, I would let the call go to voicemail so as not to interrupt my watching. I feel that the departures of Cote de Pablo, first, followed by Michael Weatherly took something from the show and that whatever was lost has not yet been replaced. Ducky has fewer lines while Palmer seems to get more attention and is just as funny. Abby is Abby and McGee is not as prominent as before. In my opinion, I feel that the writers seem to also have lost their touch.

This really saddens me because last year, I bought the DVD's for all the seasons which I had missed, and I remember binge-watching them like there was no tomorrow. Let's just hope that things pick up for the next couple of episodes or for next season.

When the show first started out it was a little shaky, but since then has grown into its own. The characters are believable, both annoying and enchanting, and the plots are wonderful. There's a depth and a comradeship that isn't often showed this well in television. It isn't forced or faked; it's entirely true to life and believable.

The underlying sexual tension between several of the characters is also intriguing and interesting to watch, the most obvious of these being the relationship between Tony and Kate, but there's also hints at Kate and Gibbs, McGee and Abby, and so on. It's a crime drama that's both serious and light-hearted, and a wonderful show for anyone who likes fascinating stories, good humor, and great character interaction.