I planned to talk about Rizzoli & Isles today, the show I spent the last three weeks binging in all my free time. Falling in love with the two leads, who claimed to be straight and yet had more lesbian chemistry than half the canon queer couples I’ve watched on TV lately. Yes, a post will come about them in due time, I’m sure. Perhaps after a rewatch or two.
Right now, instead of Rizzoli & Isles, I’m going to talk about NCIS.
An Introduction
NCIS is an American police procedural, particularly military police, which began airing in September of 2003 and as of writing has just been renewed for its 22nd Season. Though, it got it’s start with two backdoor pilot episodes in the series JAG. It airs on the CBS network and is produced by CBS Studios and Belisarius Productions.
NCIS is one of the longest running live action U.S prime time scripted series currently airing. Surpassed only by Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and Law & Order. To say that it has garnered some success in it’s over two decades on the air would be an understatement.
The series has grown into a franchise consisting of numerous spinoff series including NCIS: Los Angeles and NCIS: New Orleans, both of which had backdoor pilots in the main series. Also part of the franchise are: NCIS Hawaii, NCIS: Sydney and NCIS: Origins, as well as, Hawaii Five-0 due to a crossover event with NCIS: Los Angeles. The main series being introduced via JAG, also means it is related to JAG, which, I have discovered, is much harder to find. Reportedly, Paramount+ has slated an untitled Tony DiNozzo and Ziva David spinoff series as well.
It’s cast has included so many people over the years, that I recommend you just check out the list on IMDb, but some of the most notable of course include: Mark Harmon, Cote de Pablo, Sasha Alexander, Michael Weatherly, Pauley Perrette, Sean Murray, Lauren Holly, Brian Dietzen and the late David McCallum. Just to name a few of the early seasons, never mind those to whom the rotating door has been open to most recently.
In Brief: NCIS follows a team of investigators at the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, as they look into various crimes involving military personnel. Occasionally, these episodes may get personal, but as it is a procedural you can always rely on the weekly case.
Further details on NCIS can be found on IMDb.
SPOILERS
Where Am I?
I started the now 20 Season deep show just today, and I am only on Season 1 Episode 3: “Seadog”, but it is not the first time I’ve watched this marathon of a show, and given time it is likely not to be my last.
It will come as no shock that NCIS and Rizzoli & Isles have a cast member in common, in the form of Sasha Alexander, who stars as one of half of the titular characters in the latter as Dr Maura Isles, and portrays Caitlin Todd in NCIS.
As someone who found NCIS via reruns of Ziva David’s seasons I never really fell in love with Cate, but I did, in the past three weeks, fall in love with Maura Isles, and so in following my fandom fixated heart today I started NCIS Season 1 again to fight the feeling of loss I’d garnered since completing Rizzoli & Isles on Tuesday.
So far: it’s worked. I don’t know if I’ll stick at it. I used to power though shows this long like a sprint and love every second, but 20+ Seasons does start to push it for me, and it’s been a good few years since I was even caught up on NCIS never mind finished a rewatch. So, we’ll see where this takes me.
For now though, it is satisfying the floating feeling between fixations, keeping me going… and the pretty face in common certainly doesn’t hurt.
I used to skip Seasons 1 and 2 in favour of getting to Ziva much quicker, but liking Sasha Alexander as I do now, there is a deeper appreciation for those two seasons and, considering I love pretty much the rest of the cast also, this is bound to be a fun watch while it lasts. In fact, Abby is such a favourite of mine, I haven’t been caught up since she left in Season 15.
What Do I Think?
When I’m this early in a watch there’s little to talk about in terms of content of the show. Especially considering we’re not even half a season deep, the character’s have barely been introduced, and exist little outside of offhand comments and their current actions. Their bonds are only just starting to grow.
Still, I remember who I love, and that is almost all of them. In fact, in the early seasons, it may just be all of them, and honestly that is rarer than you’d think.
I don’t often have main characters I hate. If I do I generally end up giving up on the show unless I have an exceedingly high amount of love for one of the others. I do, however, from time to time, have characters I don’t particularly care for. I won’t name any, because opinions do tend to change, and there are plenty of shows I’ve rewatched and rewatched and every character has grown on me. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, for example, is one of my go-to favourites now for every moment and every character, but the first watch was filled with episodes and characters I had no particular interest in. Now, I wouldn’t skip one for the world, even if some characters actions are not always to my taste.
As is the case here, really. I’ll always have favourites in Ziva, Abby and Gibbs, but it’s good to have a deep appreciation for everybody now. The seasons are better when all are loved, in my past experience anyways. So, I am glad that finishing Rizzoli & Isles has brought me back here with more love than I had first garnered. Enough love, in fact, that perhaps this rewatch will last longer than a season. As this ever-expanding, intersecting, overlapping and changing cast does potentially mean there’s always one you can fall in love with… but I make no promises.
It is like Criminal Minds in the fact, that if you can care for more than one, you can watch all the seasons with just as much love, even if people tend to leave. Similar to Grey’s Anatomy for that matter, or a plethora of other early 2000’s shows that have gone on for way longer than anyone expected.
I love them, but I’m sure it gets increasingly harder to gain new fans when your backlog of episodes exceeds 20 Seasons. Twenty is a lot, and even I, who falls in love and gets obsessed like I do, can admit that twenty is a big commitment to try catch up to. I mean, I fall in love so fast and so much that I have dedicated myself to catching up to Critical Role, and that is taking me a hell of a lot of time and commitment, with, as you may have seen, a series of breaks for variety. NCIS is celebrating 1000 episodes over it’s franchise these past weeks… that is a lot of hours, still potentially less than Critical Role, but A LOT of hours to catch up to if you wanted to.
Regardless, it is never me to complain about more content. I love TV Shows over Films for the fact that there is so much more content to consume, assuming they got the success they needed. I hate endings, so give me all you’ve got and I’ll try to keep up as best I can. Just give me someone to love and don’t let them and their story end too quick, okay?
Why The Post?
It is early in a watch, so early, in fact, that a post is almost not worth it. Yet, I post anyway.
I realised today that NCIS is truly one of the first shows I watched. Sure, there’s a lot, but NCIS and Criminal Minds are likely the first two I really got into outside of kids and teen TV. I have distinct memories of recording and watching reruns of both with my dad. Alongside, eventually, Medium and, on the rare occasion we were all caught up, whatever episode happened to be playing that night of Bones. I actually didn’t watch Bones in full until after it aired its finale, as it turned out.
NCIS is a small return to my roots. One of the reasons I’m here, dreaming of a career I want and writing these posts for my own enjoyment. It’s one of the sparks into my now ever-growing love for TV and Film, and rewatching it is always a little bit nostalgic. Especially now, as it has been so long.
The nostalgia of watching this 2003-airing season (wow, is it old) brings me back to those TV nights with my dad. Something easy to miss. My dad is not a man of many emotions, and less a man of many words, but the world is yet to take TV away from us. It remains one of the few things we can easily connect over, and I am perhaps quite thankful for those early nights that allowed us to have the bond we do. I don’t think we would be nearly as close if not for those early loves of mine in NCIS and Criminal Minds. Sure, we watched numerous fictional murders together, but the point is not necessarily the content. It was the routine, this one activity we regularly did together. Something we both understood, enjoyed and could come back to when time, distance and life pulled us apart. I don’t see my dad every night now, but I can still talk to him about TV like nothing has ever changed. When I do see him, I can still play a show for hours and feel ever-so comfortable and glad to be with him.
So, maybe I’ve started on NCIS again, and maybe I decided to because he told me that he had too after we started Rizzoli & Isles together. Maybe I’m glad common ground can exist in the bright red faces of early 2000’s crime dramas. Quite honestly, maybe I’m intensely grateful to shows like NCIS for providing not just that ground with my dad, but my spark of fixation into the world of TV. I have a blog because of shows like this, a dream career in the industry because of shows like this, a relationship with my dad because of shows like this.
I suppose, when people say a TV Show changed their life, this is what they mean. Who knows where I would be today if those nights spent watching NCIS with my dad hadn’t led to an interest, a love and a dream.
To Conclude
Thanks for tuning in this week, and I hope this brief piece was a fun read. Believe me, in time, I have some deeper analysis pieces coming. I just have to find the time. Even ones for Rizzoli & Isles, but I just feel they deserve one more rewatch before I give too big a commentary on them. At the moment, anyways, it’s not like I’m lacking for things to say.
I will not over promise, though. I ask you to bear with as I work on those pieces I have in mind, slowly but surely.
Thank you again for popping by this week, and I hope you’ll join me in a fortnight’s time for the next one.
On to the next!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the images, narratives or characters present or referenced in this post. All rights belong to CBS and all other relevant parties.