The Upfronts 2016: CBS

On May 25, 2016June 30, 2019 By sulkyblueIn 15-16 Season, TV, TV 16-17 SeasonLeave a comment

cbs CBS is traditionally the home of the franchise procedurals, with the majority of the schedules filled with CSIs and NCISs. But the last CSI is officially dead leaving the network feeling a little like it’s lost its defining feature. NCIS powers ever onwards though, and with The Big Bang Theory still regularly topping the ratings, CBS shows no signs of faltering.

What’s cancelled
The Good Wife was a bit of an anomaly at CBS, not a huge ratings success but kept on the air because it was a critical and award hit, often one of the few network shows to appear amongst the offerings of HBO, Showtime, Netflix and Amazon. It’s amazing it lasted as long as it did, but maybe that’s not such a good thing given that the last couple of seasons showed a significant fall off in quality (I haven’t summoned the enthusiasm to get through season 7 yet). Person of Interest was another surprisingly long runner, cancelled after its 5th season. I never made it past the pilot. Mike & Molly was cancelled after its sixth season, again surprising that it lasted this long given Melissa McCarthy’s accelerating film career. The only thing surprising about CSI:Cyber’s cancellation was that it made it to a second season.

Only two freshmen shows were cancelled at CBS, Rush Hour, a generic buddy-cop procedural based on the film of the same name which lasted just 8 episodes; and Angel from Hell, the Jane Lynch comedy that was pulled after only 5 episodes.

Supergirl manages an odd trick of being both cancelled and back, it’s renewed for a second season but will move to The CW, which seems an infinitely better fit for it.

What’s back
NCIS continues to occupy half the schedule and the tops of the ratings charts. Original Flavour is renewed for season 14 AND 15, Los Angeles goes into season 8 and New Orleans gets a third season. I still just about watch the LA variant, but only while ironing. Criminal Minds is renewed for a twelfth season (although I keep thinking they must run out of serial killer ideas eventually!) and has finally managed to get a spin-off to stick with Beyond Borders getting a second season and hopefully some budget either to actually travel to more locations or at least for better green-screening.

Continuing the action/procedural thread are Hawaii Five-0 and Blue Bloods both going into seventh seasons, Elementary going into a fifth and Scorpion (which has somehow completely passed me by) getting a third. Madam Secretary is a slightly odd ball on the schedule as a political drama, but the rather over-dramatised cheese does sort of fit, and it’s now going into its third season.

CBS has a pretty solid comedy line up, driven by the phenomenally popular Big Bang Theory, which goes into a tenth season. 2 Broke Girls continues onwards into season 6 and Mom goes into season 4.

Freshman shows that are picked up for seconds – Code Black, an overblown but entertaining medical drama and Zoo which I understand to be a pretty hilariously dumb “wild animals attack the world” show. Comedies The Odd Couple and Life in Pieces get second seasons too.

New Shows
Bull – Dr Bull is a jury analyst, fighting cases through psychology and manipulation. The concept is at least a slightly different take on standard legal procedurals and reminded me a bit of Lie to Me which I liked a lot. But what really sells it is Michael Weatherly who may have stepped out of a going-nowhere role on NCIS to land a real winner.

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The Great Indoors – holy crap, this is a terrible, terrible trailer. From the obvious script, stilted delivery, and wooden junior cast through to the cheap staging and horrific laugh track. The blurb actually uses the word “millennials”. Joe McHale (Community) should be in something so much better.

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Kevin Can Wait – Kevin James retires from the police force and has to deal with his family. How sad for him and how sad for the audience.

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Pure Genius – while Fox is showing what happens when a technical genius takes over a police force, ABC is looking at what they can do when they take over a hospital. It looks even more likely to fall into the same traps of magic and miracles, this time just with more emotional manipulation along the way.

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Man with a Plan – Here in the 21st century, yet another comedy about a man who’s forced to actually parent his own children. This time starring Matt LeBlanc and yet another awful laughter track.

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Training Day – Another one based on a film for no good reason. Dirty(ish) cop takes on good intentioned trainee. Shouting and shooting occur. Boring.

Why I’m Not Watching – NCIS

On March 3, 2014 By sulkyblueIn Crime Procedural, Why I'm Not Watching...1 Comment

Rather foolishly last weekend I blitzed through several reviews that I had backed up, now I find myself with nothing to write about. Work permitting I try to do about two articles a week and usually between new pilots and seasons finishing I have enough material to keep me going. Now that I’ve cleared my backlog however I realise that we’re entering the dry period where most shows have started and most shows won’t be finishing for a couple of months. So it’s time for a new occasional series – Why I’m Not Watching…

It’s actually quite rare for me to stop watching shows, particularly if I’ve watched the first few seasons. And I realise that if people look through my reviews of series they might find the sequence just stops randomly with no explanation of why there are no more reviews, so I figured that this series would act as a form of obituary list for shows that would otherwise just disappear. So first up… NCIS

I’m a sucker for an American Procedural, and NCIS was once of the first attempts to clone the success of CSI and by far the most successful, at least in terms of ratings. It’s currently showing in its 11th season and it’s been firmly lodged at the top of the most watched list in the US, averaging about 20 million viewers per episode for the last few years (wikipedia. I was initially attracted by the cast list who had all appeared in shows that were far less successful, but some of my favourites. Mark Harmon was to Chicago Hope what George Clooney was to ER, Michael Weatherly had been a great ‘straight guy’ in the unusual Dark Angel and David McCallum was always my favourite in Man from UNCLE. I’d also been a bit of a fan of JAG for a while, so slotting into that universe was the icing on the cake.

The early seasons did not disappoint. It took CSI’s science and focus on investigation and put it into the interesting context of investigating crimes within and against the navy. There was more excuse for running around and shooting things so that didn’t feel so strained. Key for me however were the characters, they were quirky, but not ridiculous, personal information was revealed slowly and organically and melodrama was kept to a minimum. NCIS was never going to win awards, but it was reliable entertainment that was neither completely mindless nor particularly challenging.

But by about season 7 things were starting to fray, the slow and steady character development started wobbling about. One week a character would demonstrate the competence and be shown the respect their many years of experience warranted. The next week they’d be the clown, making rookie mistakes and being treated like a child. The biggest sin to me in any show is sacrificing believable character development to drive a plot. And it wasn’t even as if most of the plots were that good. Increasingly I couldn’t remember the case of the week from one scene to the next, let alone one episode to the next. If I wasn’t watching for the story and I wasn’t watching for the characters, why was I watching? It took me a while to actually really give up, but after season 9 I called it a day.

Rather stopped. I’ve thought about watching a few of the more recent episodes to see if losing and then replacing one of the key actors has given it a shot of life, but to be honest, I can’t really be bothered. For now, the Los Angeles spinoff is enough. It has all the positives the early NCIS had, consistent and interesting characters and engaging enough stories. There’s another attempt at a spin off in New Orleans staring Scott Bakula coming soon as well, so I think that’s plenty of NCIS for me.

The 2011-2012 Season

On September 19, 2012October 1, 2012 By sulkyblueIn 11-12 Season, TV Lists2 Comments

I’ve been dragging my feet on my season round-up post as I’ve been trying to polish off a few more series. But all the new stuff is starting, so the time has come to just get on with it! I’ve watched 39 series this year, last year was 28 so that’s a pretty terrifying increase! A fair number of the series are only a handful of episodes though (for better or worse) so I figure the number of episodes is about the same, somewhere around the 600 mark.

American Horror Story – S1
Awake – S1 (In progress)
The Big Bang Theory – S5
The Big C – S2
Blue Bloods – S2
Bones – S7
Borgen – S1
The Bridge – S1
The Cafe – S1
Castle – S4
Criminal Minds – S7
CSI – S12
CSI:NY – S8

Downton Abbey – S2
Forbrydelsen (The Killing): S2
Fringe – S4 (in progress)
Game of Thrones – S2
Glee – S3 (in progress)
The Good Wife – S3
Grey’s Anatomy – S8
Homeland – S1
House – S8
The Jury
Luck – S1
Luther – S2
Mad Men – S5 (In progress)

Merlin – S4
NCIS – S9
NCIS: LA – S3
The Newsroom – S1
Once Upon a Time – S1 (in progress)
Outnumbered – S4
Sherlock – S2
Smash – S1
Sons of Anarchy – S4
Supernatural – S7
Terra Nova – S1
Veep – S1
The Walking Dead – S2
Warehouse 13 – S3

There are a few other bits and pieces that didn’t make the list, mostly documentaries, many of them really rather excellent – Inside Nature’s Giants, David Attenborough’s Kingdom of Plants filmed at Kew Gardens, Frozen Planet, Wonders of the Universe to name a few.

BEST SHOWS
Borgen. “The Danish West Wing” is an overused label, but it’s so accurate it’s hard to resist. It’s not just the subject matter that draws the comparison, but the quality of writing and production and, sadly, the ability for it to break your heart as characters realistically, but depressingly make the wrong decisions.

Fringe. For complicated housemate related reasons I still haven’t seen the final two episodes of this series, but I can’t see how they would do anything that would mean the series drops from this list. Fringe continues to evolve into a spectacularly complex, yet completely followable series while never forgeting to actually entertain its audience with self-aware nods to the ridiculousness of the situations.

The Good Wife. A brilliant cast, fascinating storylines, sure and steady character development all polished off with sparkling dialogue makes a package that’s just a complete and utter joy to watch. In a world of mediocre network procedurals, this one is so far ahead it’s clearly in a different league.

Homeland. Another show that’s complex yet accessible. The gradual reveal and development of characters is fascinating and I was on the edge of my seat all season not knowing which way anything was going to go.

Mad Men and Awake could potentially be added to this list, but I am less than half way through each.

FAVOURITE SHOWS
The Newsroom. This show was the one I’d been most looking forward to, and I’m slightly devastated that I can’t include it in the ‘best’ category. But despite massive flaws with the characters and a preachiness that even I find rather troublesome, it’s still one of my favourite shows of the year. That may be blind Aaron Sorkin obsession, but I don’t care.

American Horror Story. A huge collection of characters and stories intricately interwoven and elegantly revealed over the span of a carefully structured series. It felt both innovative and yet thoroughly grounded in the history of the genre. I’m especially happy that each season is completely self contained, so nothing is dragged out or has the chance to get dull.

Smash. It’s original and fun, balancing cheesiness and melodrama with engaging characters and a surprisingly real feeling storyline. I’m really looking forward to next season, particularly given they’re getting rid of all the annoying characters.

Once Upon a Time. Another new show that’s original and fun. The storyline is incredibly complex yet revealed so elegantly that there’s never any difficulty keeping up. It’s beautifully designed and just a lovely series to watch.

ACTORS
I sort of covered my thoughts on actors in my Emmy post, so here are some broader thoughts.

House . Hugh Laurie gets the most praise publicly, but the whole cast of the series are absolutely superb. Robert Sean Leonard as Wilson completely and utterly broke my heart, Peter Jacobson (Taub) cracked me up, Olivia Wilde (Thirteen) stole the very few scenes she was in, and Jesse Spencer (Chase) produced one of the most satisfying character developments I’ve seen in a long time.

Homeland . One of the few things that myself and those that vote for awards actually agree on, the superbness that are Claire Danes and Damian Lewis. I however would go a lot further and also heap praise on the supporting performances by Morena Baccarin and Mandy Patinkin.

Sons of Anarchy. Award voters clearly have some kind of blind spot when it comes to Sons of Anarchy, because year after year they completely fail to register the incredible performances throughout the cast, but in particular from the female leads Katey Sagal and Maggie Siff

Katharine McPhee (Karen) and Megan Hilty (Ivy), Smash – I loved the dance the characters went on, competing with each other but respecting each other’s talents; sometimes gracious, sometimes bitchy. And boy can they belt out tunes! Also Jack Davenport (Derek) had some of the funniest lines of the year!

Fringe . The cast are good as their primary characters, but what’s impressive is that most of them then go on to play the same person in the alternate universe, each of them the same person but with slight variations. It’s astonishing, they are the same person yet completely different, it’s mind twisting and fascinating. I can’t imagine a greater challenge as an actor. While Anna Torv and John Noble rightly get a lot of praise, the performances of Jasika Nicole (Astrid) and Seth Gabel (Lincoln Lee) are just as subtle. Poor Joshua Jackson must feel rather hard-done-by without an alternate version to play with. He is pretty though.

The Good Wife – so many great performances and characters that I love from both stars, supporting characters (I could watch Josh Charles and Christine Baranski do the Will and Diane show all day long) and a dream list of guest stars (Michael J. Fox, Martha Plimpton, Matthew Perry – all playing deliciously slimy characters).

GOOD THINGS
Booth and Bones getting together on Bones. I was completely against it, but cheerfully admit I was wrong. Having them jump from no relationship at all to living together and having a baby brought a breath of fresh air to the series. It was handled with such lightness and charm, with both characters bending to accommodate the other, but not making any fundamental changes… beautifully written and acted. Here’s hoping Castle can do the same.

The end of House. A series going out gracefully and winding everything up with a collection of satisfying resolutions for all the characters. House has never been about the medicine, but about the puzzles and about the people, while I may personally wish that Wilson had a different conclusion, it all fed in so perfectly and everyone ended up where they were supposed to be.

Creativity! It felt like there was some variation with what’s on TV, not just an endless stream of interchangeable procedurals. Shows like American Horror Story, Game of Thrones, Once Upon a Time and Walking Dead (finally) are investigating what it’s like to bring non-traditional genres to television, and shows like Smash, Luck and The Newsroom brought different subjects to the screen.

Female Characters! There are plenty of people out there who have and will write far more eloquently on the plight of women in television, but this year has felt like a relatively good year. Shows are full of strong women doing their jobs, raising their families and doing so as if it’s the most natural thing in the world. Shows like The Good Wife, Smash, Once Upon a Time and Grey’s Anatomy have dominantly female casts, and almost everything else has a nice balance. Even something like Downton Abbey with its period constraints provides some wonderful roles for female actors.

BAD THINGS
Lighten up! Supernatural is superb, but it really really needs to lighten up a bit! It’s turned into something I have to force myself to watch, rather than something I really look forward to. The same argument could be made for Sons of Anarchy. Relentless depression is just not entertaining to watch, I’m not saying they suddenly need to be all sunshine and puppies, but just every now and then, let them catch a break.

NCIS . After 9 seasons, I realised there’s no point in watching this any more. The plots are utterly disposable and the characters are disastrously erratic. The last two seasons I’ve relegated it to ‘ironing watching’, but I’m even giving up on that (the show, not the ironing sadly).

Glee. I still haven’t managed to get to the end of the season having realised that I’m increasingly just fast-fowarding episodes. I just got sick to death with the terrible writing which completely undermined the charm of the characters and the talents of the actors. It just stopped being fun.

Still no spaceships. Can no one make this work?

Too short! Sherlock and Luther both had only 3 episodes, each ‘double’ length. It’s not enough. There’s the obvious problem that like a small child if I like something I want more of it, but it also really hampers the ability to get invested in characters and stories, just as you’re settling in, it’s all over and the voice over man is saying “will return in 2014”.

PS
In preparing this article, I went back and looked at my summaries of last years shows and I have to highlight the following phrase in my summary of 2010-2011’s new shows:

Superheroes are out – there was a flurry of superhero shows and none of them were any good. People keep trying to find the magic of the early season of Heroes and the massive success that’s being found by Marvel and DC Comics at the cinema, but no one’s managed it yet. Here’s an idea, stop pissing off Joss Whedon and get him to do one, after he’s done making millions with The Avengers that is.

I rejoice in my ability to predict the future and can’t wait to see what Joss does with S.H.I.E.L.D.

NCIS Season 9 and NCIS LA Season 3

On July 15, 2012September 29, 2013 By sulkyblueIn 11-12 Season, Crime Procedural, Season Reviews3 Comments

It seems a bit of a cheat to review these two together, but to be honest each review would so heavily referencing the other series anyway they might as well be combined. The thing is that NCIS LA is great and was one of my goto shows for reliable entertainment this year, while NCIS Original is rubbish and I struggled to bother watching most of the season.

It’s not like NCIS LA is going to be winning any Emmys or anything, but it hits what it aims for – a fast paced and entertaining action movie boiled down to 45 minutes each week. The plots are unspectacular but definitely get the job done in providing opportunities for running around, shooting people, interrogating bad guys, driving fast cars, blowing stuff up, using cool gadgets, playing over the top undercover roles and generally being loud.

NCIS original flavour on the other hand just doesn’t seem to be having as much fun. There’s more politics, the forensics that used to be cool are now just a bit tired and dull and the explosions seem to be limited to the occasional splashy two-parter. It’s now categorised as a show I’d shove on in the background while cooking or ironing and once something’s relegated to background noise it’s very hard to come back.

The biggest difference between the shows though is in the characters. We’ve spent 9 years with the original characters and I’m just plain fed up of complaining about the inconsistent way they’re written. It’s like they take turns being the competent one and all the others are forced into idiot roles. One week Tony is a hugely experienced and talented (if quirky) investigator, the next he’s a frat boy clown. One week Ziva is a highly trained operative, the next she’s losing her temper and over-reacting. One week McGee is still the inexperienced probie he was when introduced but other weeks he actually remembers he’s got nearly a decade of field experience and really isn’t a child any more. There’s no sense of continuity or growth and it’s insulting to those of us that pay attention. The only positive is that the talented actors each actually manage to pull off all those personalities convincingly.

NCIS LA on the other hand actually focuses on the characters and their relationships, and rewards the loyal viewers with continuous (all be it very gradual) character development. Characters behave consistently but not woodenly, and have entertaining personality traits without becoming caricatures. They manage to have fun, make mistakes and have emotions without ever putting the audience in doubt that they are still extremely competent professionals. The building of the relationships and partnerships is particularly charming, I’m far more interested in Deeks and Kensi’s relationship than I ever have been in Tony and Ziva’s.

The only worry I really have is that the decline of NCIS is inevitable, that by keeping a series going for that long without occasionally shaking things up, it ends up becoming either dull, or a parody of itself. CSI original flavour has stayed reasonably fresh for 12 years by continually shuffling characters in and out and bringing new people in. The main team on NCIS hasn’t changed since Ziva joined in season 3, the only other cast changes have been the swapping of the director from Jenny Shepard to Leon Vance in season 6 and frankly neither really felt like a central character. They need new characters to make things interesting again, the introduction of Jamie Lee Curtis’ recurring character was a start, but she only really had an impact on Gibbs so her impact was extremely limited.

With all those complaints, I’m finally calling time on NCIS and dropping it from my watch list. The good thing about the series’ lack of consistency is that I can always drop in for occasional episodes that the grapevine says are worth watching. As my enjoyment of NCIS:LA grew, it just showed how old and out of touch its older sibling was. NCIS LA is fun, lively, entertaining and exciting, NCIS original just plain isn’t.

NCIS: Season 8

On June 17, 2011June 2, 2013 By sulkyblueIn 10-11 Season, Crime Procedural, Season Reviews1 Comment

I claimed my season 7 review was going to be very short, because my season 6 review. pretty much covered it. Well season 8 is going to be even shorter.

I resorted to looking at an episode guide because I had so little recollection of what could possibly have filled 24 of the most highly rated episodes on television. Even after looking at it, I still can’t remember more than a few moments from the season.

The introduction of the second team was a missed opportunity, it may have been interesting if it had been done earlier, as it was they felt too much like red-shirts sent in to increase the body count with an artificial emotional attachment. The relationship between Tony and EJ was surprisingly interesting in that it caused a wobble in Tony’s relationship with Gibbs and gave them both pause. If that concept is pushed in the next season with Tony’s secret assignment there might still be some life in this show, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.

Season 8 really was one of the most unremarkable collections of episodes I can (fail to) recall. I guess I should be positive that at least nothing stood out for being horrendous, but then at least that would give me something to write this review about.

What I’m watching at the moment

On March 3, 2011 By sulkyblueIn 10-11 Season, TV ListsLeave a comment

I’m pretty much in the depths of scheduling desperation at the moment. Keeping on top of all the stuff coming in each week is about all I can manage, taking an evening out to watch a film can cause catastrophic backlog on the sky+ box. Unfortunately while I’m watching a lot of TV, there’s not much for me to talk about, no new pilots, no season end reviews, I’m just trudging through the middles. So with a lack of anything else to write about, here’s a snapshot of what I’m watching at the moment.

Bedlam (Sky Living, Mondays) –Sky’s attempt to offer an alternative to Being Human, with a supernatural ghosty drama type thing. It’s awful. Particularly hateful is the lead female character, Kate, who is an absolute bitch of a blond trendy 20something who the rest of the cast don’t slap about the head for some reason that escapes me. Will Young is kind of adorable, but the rest of the cast is completely bland and the plots simultaneously over the top and boring. I gave it two episodes, but I don’t think I’ll be watching the third.

Glee (E4, Mondays) – I’m also enjoying Glee recently, although I have no idea why. The characterisation is all over the place, just about every relationship is lacking in chemistry, plots are painfully ‘issue of the week’ and I want to gaffer tape Rachel’s mouth shut every time she appears. However, there’s been some really fun music choices, the Rocky Horror Picture Show episode was kind of inspired, Kurt breaks my heart every week and for all the fact that most of it is rubbish, it really makes me smile.

Blue Bloods (Tuesdays, Sky Atlantic) – There are two remarkable things about this otherwise mediocre show. The first is that the writing is often utterly terrible, plot is delivered in scenery chewing monologues with all the subtlety of breeze blocks, “it’s a shame mom is dead and my brother was killed on duty, I’d really like to talk to them about my conflicted feelings” isn’t far off the quality of dialogue here. The other remarkable thing however is Tom Selleck. Every time he is on screen he brightens the place up, managing to somehow have credible relationships with his concrete inspired offspring and navigate his way through the awfulness in a way that makes me come back for more each week.

Bones (Sky Living, Wednesdays) – Bones herself seems to have regressed this season, becoming even less aware of how normal people behave, more annoying than ever. But despite the best efforts of the central character, I still enjoy the show a lot. It comes up with an interesting gimmick each week (the body in chocolate was particularly grim) and Booth and the supporting cast (including the entertaining, rotating interns) are extremely watch-able.

Grey’s Anatomy (Sky Living, Wednesdays) – I’m loving this season. I pounce on every episode as soon as it arrives and I can find a safe time to watch it – there cannot be any possibility of interruption or distraction, it just has to be me and my show. Everything just seems to be working, there’s not too much whining, there’s no duds in the character collection, the relationships are all interesting and going somewhere and the dialogue is as sharp as it’s ever been. Love it.

Mad Dogs (Sky1, Thursdays) – the first episode was definitely the high point with the careful pacing and gradual creepiness now replaced with a random chaotic collection of violence and shouting. The actors make it enjoyable, but I’m glad it’s only four episodes long and finishes this week.

The Good Wife (More4, Thursdays) – I am SOOOOOO over Kalinda. I mean seriously? Are we supposed to be sympathetic, because frankly I’m beginning to think she’s had some kind of psychotic break. I also don’t really understand why Diane and Will have suddenly taken against each other, I loved them in the first season, friendly and constructive while still keeping a few cards to themselves, now they’re acting like paranoid conspiracy nuts, did I miss something? I’m also pretty bored of the political campaigning – has there even been mention of the actual political issues at all it seems to be all about threats and manipulation? So overall, I’m struggling a bit with The Good Wife at the moment.

CSI (Thursdays, Five USA) – There have been a few interesting bits this season, but nothing spectacular. The emotional and personal stuff has been laid on a bit thick, issues coming and going like sledgehammers. The show could really use some younger characters to come in and challenge the status quo a bit, it’s at risk of turning into Midsummer Murders.

Brothers & Sisters (Thursdays, More4) –This isn’t an amazing show, but it continues to be comfortable. It’s full of melodrama, cheese and sappiness. The cast has thinned down a bit having lost Robert, Holly and Rebecca which I think actually improves the show and I don’t miss any of them. The small time shift also makes things a bit more interesting, but at its heart this is a hot chocolate and duvet show.

The Big C (Thursdays, More4) – It’s billed as a comedy, and it *is* funny, but all the humour comes from the “you’ve got to laugh or you’ll cry” school of thought. It’s not an easy show to watch, but it is extremely good with a spectacular performance from Laura Linney.

NCIS (FX, Fridays) – only just returned so the only episode I’ve seen is the resolution to the big mid-season cliff-hanger which I really didn’t care about in the slightest. Despite the fact that the ratings are through the roof on this in the US, I’m losing interest as characters continue to behave erratically and the plots get less and less engaging.

Criminal Minds (Sky1, Fridays) – I always enjoy Criminal Minds, it’s not spectacular, but each week the mysteries are interesting, the action suitably dramatic and the characters and their relationships rewarding for the long term viewer. I do miss JJ horribly, but am enjoying Garcia’s increased role and appreciate that the new agent brings a bit of energy to the show. A solid performer.

CSI:New York (Saturdays, Channel 5) – The disappearance of Stella and her replacement by Sela Ward was a bit spontaneous, but gave the show a bit of excitement. But it didn’t really last and it’s settled back into a bit of rut. It’s ok to watch while cooking or ironing, but that’s not exactly high praise.

Outcasts – (BBC1 Sundays) – it’s a bit n&*f really, I have some really very serious doubts the writers have any idea about the timelines, the history of the colony or where they’re going with the mystery. BUT if treated as mindless entertainment, it’s actually moderately enjoyable.

NCIS: LA (Sky1, Sundays) – the sister series however I’m enjoying more and more. The plots are still pretty dull, but the characters and dialogue have a spark to them that the original series seems to have lost. The ensemble is working well together having lost Nate and what’s-his-face who were pretty dull and replaced them with quirkier and more interesting Nell and Deeks.

Top Gear (BBC2, Sundays) – Falling to the bottom of my watch list, I find myself fast forwarding more and more of each episode. When they’re spontaneous, I still love them, but too much is scripted and obviously faked.

Supernatural (“spring/summer”, Sky Living) – when a show takes on the apocalypse and the devil, it’s a big question where to go next, but the tighter focus on the more personal issues was a good choice. There’s still a great mix of angst, action, drama and a bucket load of humour (it’s been a long time since I laughed at anything as hard as I laughed at Dean and the fairy).

End of year report card

On September 12, 2010September 29, 2013 By sulkyblueIn 09-10 Season1 Comment

The start and end points for the television year is pretty fuzzy. Given that I watch mostly US shows, I tend to go by their year which runs roughly from September rather than the calendar year. So I decided that I’d count the start of the year as 1st September (and I go by American air dates, not the UK). BUT life isn’t that simple, because what do I do with shows that start in one year but end in another. For example Mad Men season 3 ran August-November 2009, running one year to the next. Then I looked at what the Emmys do and it turns out they run June 1st 2009-May 31st 2010. BUT they don’t strictly speaking pay attention to show seasons, it’s just whichever episodes ran in that time frame, which means from what I can tell – the last two episodes of the season of Glee weren’t eligible for entry as they aired in June 2010.

So after all that, I decided to hell with it and I’d count what I felt fit within 2009-2010 and be pretty much arbitrary about it.

Bones – Season 5
Brothers & Sisters – S4
Caprica – S1
Criminal Minds – S5
CSI – S10
CSI:NY – S6
Defying Gravity – S1
Dollhouse – S1
Doctor Who – 2010
FlashForward – S1

Friday Night Lights – S4
Fringe – S2
The Good Wife – S1
Glee – S1
Grey’s Anatomy – S6
House – S6
Leverage – S2
Lie to Me – S2
Mad Men – S3
The Mentalist – S2

Merlin – S2
NCIS: Los Angeles – S1
NCIS – S7
Outnumbered – S3
Sons of Anarchy – S2
Stargate Universe – S1
Supernatural – S5
Trauma – S1
Warehouse 13 – S1
White Collar – S1
V – S1

Top of the Class – Best Drama

Mad Men: For once, I’m in absolute agreement with the Emmys. Season 3 (season 4 has just started on BBC4) was a work of near perfection. The pacing, the way everything had been so carefully and subtly built up until the final episode which was one of the most satisfying hours of television I’ve ever seen. The detail of this show is incredible, it’s a slow burn, but it’s really worth it.
Friday Night Lights – I have a guilty relationship with this show, because despite the fact I have it ‘available’, I haven’t managed to bring myself to watch the second half of the season. This season has felt like really hard going, everybody’s’ lives really seem to suck and it’s just hard to watch. But that doesn’t make it any less superb or any less worthy of its position in the number 2 slot in the drama category.
Sons of Anarchy – There’s just something about this bunch of gun running, murdering, hells angels that just makes you forgive them everything they do. The closest thing I can think of to this show is Brothers & Sisters, it’s got the same sense of families fighting amongst themselves, but ultimately doing anything for each other – just with more Nazis.
Trauma – Maybe this show wouldn’t have made the cut if I didn’t feel bad for it being cancelled, but I really do think it was one of the better shows of the year. It’s not perfectly refined like Mad Men, but the heart and soul of it are true, the characters and relationships are interesting and different and I enjoyed every episode.
The Good Wife – Proving that ‘legal procedural’ doesn’t have to mean Law and Order or wanting to kill all the characters. The ensemble cast is amazing and contains some of my favourite actors, and seeing them together creating such complex characters is immensely satisfying.

Head Boy – Best Male Actor/Character (you don’t get to be a great actor without a well crafted/written character and great characters don’t survive great actors)

Tim Roth (Cal Lightman, Lie to Me) – I don’t understand why Tim Roth and Lie to Me don’t get more attention. In a world of dark, sober, troubled and angsty television detectives, Tim Roth lights up the room. He’s manipulative and arrogant, but he’s also a brilliant father, a caring friend and of all the investigators on television, he’s the one I’d want in my corner the most.
Matt Smith (The Doctor, Doctor Who) – I had my doubts, not because he was young or unknown or anything like that, but just because I thought David Tennant had created an un-equalable character. Matt Smith blew me away with his charm, his goofiness, his terrifying speeches and his ability to make a fez look cool.
Kyle Chandler (Coach Taylor, Friday Night Lights) – This man seems to do less acting than anyone else on television, he hardly says anything, sometimes he barely moves, but somehow you understand every single thing the character is thinking.
Jenson Ackles (Dean Winchester, Supernatural) – I was a bit disappointed by the season of Supernatural, but I was never disappointed with either of the lead performances. Part of what frustrated me about the season was that it was all over the range from slapstick to suicidal angst, via homicidal range and utter psychosis. Jenson Ackles nailed each of the emotions and how stubborn, but over-his-head Dean would approach each one.
Hugh Laurie (Dr House, House) – I didn’t like this series of House much, as per usual I think it spent too long coasting through the middle of the season and then made some dubious relationship choices. But Hugh Laurie was consistently great throughout, except for the bookending episodes, where he was absolutely amazing.

Head Girl – Best Female Actor/Character (is actress politically incorrect?)

Julianna Margulies (Alicia Florrick,The Good Wife) – A breath of fresh air on network television, a woman with kids, a career, issues and most importantly a personality of her own. I loved when she got drunk with Kalinda, or acted as a big sister to Cary, or didn’t quite know how to interact with Diane. But mostly I loved the way she fell back to being a college student falling for her friend and not knowing what to do about it.
Katey Segal (Gemma Taylor-Morrow, Sons of Anarchy) – Gemma had the epitome of a bad year on Sons of Anarchy, but through it all she was their Queen, she loves all the members of her family and fights to protect them, whether with a gun, her fists, or just by keeping a secret. Katey Segal was amazing.
Connie Britton (Tammy Taylor, Friday Night Lights) – The other half of the best couple on television, Tammy’s not had a great year either. But like her husband, she doesn’t have to say anything for you to understand the multiple faces the character presents to everyone, including herself. When she steals her little victories wherever she can, and fights for her kids (the whole school load of them) it makes me want to hug her.
Ellen Pompeo (Meredith Grey, Grey’s Anatomy) – Meredith grew up and got happy and made me love her. Last year I put her on this list partially out of pity, this year she’s there on merit, actually taking her position as ‘lead’ actress more than just being a ‘prominent female member of the ensemble’. She’s completely settled into her position as the mother of the group – her reaction to her marriage and the loss of her friends was really mature. Whiny Meredith is hopefully gone for good.
Sally Field (Nora Walker, Brothers and Sisters) – When Sally Field cries, I cry. When she screams, I hid under a cushion. Whether herding her unruly brood, or causing chaos all by herself, I love her to pieces.

Prefects: Boys (Supporting actors)

John Noble (Walter Bishop, Fringe) – Walter is crazy. Utterly and completely, self-medicatingly, one-too-many-magic-mushrooms, bucket loads of crazy. But then in alternate world Walter is utterly sane and calm and scary and slimy. Noble bounces around between Walters multiple personalities and bodies with amazing talent.
Chris Colfer (Kurt Hummel, Glee) – The best thing in Glee. He’s completely over the top and ridiculous to the point you almost want to throw him in a dumpster yourself, but then he does something heartbreaking. Also, he can belt out a tune like the best divas out there.
David Blue (Eli Wallace, Stargate Universe) – He’s exactly what the stereotypical Stargate fan would be like if they found themselves inside a Stargate series. He’s got no clue about the military, or really people at all. He’s a massive geek who breaks tension by making Star Wars jokes. He brings a bit of reality to the otherwise slightly highly strung Stargate team.
Cliff Curtis (Rabbit Palchuk, Trauma) – Cliff Curtis became one of my favourite actors this year playing the deeply troubled, but utterly charming Rabbit. A really fascinating character and a slightly unlikely leading man, but he was the heart of this show.
Enver Gjokaj (Victor, Dollhouse) – I ummed and erred between Victor and Fran Kranz’s Topher, but eventually the Doll edged out the geek because he got to play a different role (and accent) every week and nailed them all, even managing to play Topher to perfection.

Prefects: Girls (Supporting Actresses)

Chandra Wilson (Miranda Bailey, Grey’s Anatomy) – She wasn’t even nominated for an Emmy this year, which I was so astonished by I had to check multiple times. Bailey follows the Sally Field rules – she cries I cry, she shouts, I actually cheer out loud. Her final scene of the final episode just destroyed me.
Elisabeth Moss (Peggy Olson, Mad Men) – “I’m Peggy Olson. And I want to smoke some marijuana” and “Beg me? You didn’t even ASK me”. Nuff said.
Christine Baranski (Diane Lockheart, The Good Wife) – Although her colleague Archie Panjabi (Kalinda) got the Emmy, I think Christine Baranski was far superior if for no other reason than she seemed to be having so much FUN with the role. Not afraid to flirt with a colleague or laugh out loud at the ridiculousness of a situation.
Allison Scagliotti (Claudia, Warehouse 13) – like Eli in Stargate, Claudia is the voice of the fan. She’s a geek who loves a gadget and points out the idiocy of all the plans. She, and her ever changing hair colours, brings life to the show.
Linda Hunt (Hetty Lange, NCIS:LA) – A breath of fresh air, a bizarre mix of motherly and drill sergent that manages to make even LL Cool J quake in his boots.

Team Players (Best pairings/ensembles)

Callen and Hanna (NCIS:Los Angeles) – A perfect yin and yang thing of hot headedness and cool, all bundled up in a caring (but not out loud!) partnership. Who’d’ve thought it.
Team Free Will, Supernatural
“This is it… Team Free Will. One ex-blood-junkie, one drop-out with six bucks to his name and Mr Comatose over there. Awesome.”
“It’s not funny”
“I’m not laughing”
Christina and Meredith (Grey’s Anatomy) – When Meredith revealed the plans for her and Derek’s dream house and pointed out Christina’s Room I burst into tears yet again. I love these two sisters.
The Walker Clan (Brothers and Sisters) – You can’t really break this group up. They squabble and occasionally even fight, but the group of them together and the complex relationships between all of them are amazing.

Points for effort – The home of the things that are solidly doing their job, are entertaining, and occasionally verging into brilliant, but are generally just really solidly plugging away doing what they do.

CSI:Original had a really solid season, settling down after the changes of recent years and just turning in an entertaining, reliable and interesting season, there’s not many shows that can say that moving in to their 11th season they’ve still got some spark.
Grey’s Anatomy deserves a lot of praise for bouncing back from the previous terrible season, I nearly gave up on the show, but I’m glad I didn’t.
Brothers & Sisters – cheesy, melodramatic, sappy and utterly sentimental – it embraces these things with such enthusiasm and does them so well, it’s hard not to love.
Glee – If only the quality of the plots were more consistent, this would be worthy of considerably more praise. As it is, I enjoyed most of the episodes, but ended up frustrated that it wasn’t just slightly better.

Must Try Harder

The Mentalist – A nice idea, a charismatic lead character… but ultimately the character development isn’t, ‘mysteries’ aren’t, and the novelty wore off.
Outnumbered – It was still funny, but it just wasn’t as good as previous seasons. Not least because it seemed to spontaneously stop dead, to such an extent that I completely failed to note it had finished and never got round to writing a review.
Science fiction – it’s not been a good year for science fiction imho. V, Caprica and Flashforward were all disappointing.
NCIS – Still flipflopping all over the place with a lack of consistency and character development. Maybe it’s time for this one to retire.
Criminal Minds – I praised the show for finally having the team come together and having an impressive group of strong female characters… then they sacked two of them.

NCIS: Season 7

On June 26, 2010June 2, 2013 By sulkyblueIn 09-10 Season, Crime Procedural, Season Reviews3 Comments

This is going to be one of my shorter reviews, because quite frankly I could type word for word my review of season six and it would still be spot on.

The biggest frustration is the lack of steady character development. While each character has their individual scenes, and various pairings have nice little moments of connection, they’re all isolated and almost forgotten the next week. It was great to finally meet Tony’s dad (brilliantly cast as Robert Wagner), to see Ziva fully commit to NCIS and Ducky dealing with his mother. The plots are fast paced, twisty and interesting; the actors very charismatic; the dialogue smart and funny and all wrapped up with some big budget action sequences.

The problem is that when they’re not moving forward, they’re taking massive steps backwards. It’s frustrating and insulting when one week there are insights into a character or a partnership is shown working with trust and respect, then the next week the character is back to a one-dimensional stereotype, and the partnership reverts to name calling and manipulation. It’s absolutely fine that not every episode can have big revelations and events, there’s going to be a lot of filler in a 24 episode season and they can still be fun, creative stand-alone episodes. But in a season with only a very minimal running storyline, the characters are the only things that bind everything together. If they are flip-flopping about one episode to the next, watching every episode is actually damaging rather than rewarding. I can only conclude that they are lacking a driving force in the writers room, that each episode is written largely independently and there’s no one ‘running the show’ and making sure that everything is consistent.

In the season six review I said “I think if [NCIS] wants to keep going it needs to find some spark otherwise it’s going to decay to an inglorious retirement” and that is still very true. Season seven was a step towards that retirement. It’s a sorry end to a show that I might once have argued was the very peak of the crime procedural genre.

Top 25 Characters

On April 23, 2010 By sulkyblueIn TV Lists1 Comment

Four years ago I came up with a list of my top 25 characters. I couldn’t resist updating the list.

Gaius Baltar (Battlestar Galactica)
A fascinating character, weaving from hero to villain and back again often within the space of a sentence. The religious stuff was laid on a little heavy towards the end, but the character managed to pull it off.

President Bartlet (The West Wing)
Martin Sheen was so amazing, and the character so inspiring it’s hard to believe that he never won an Emmy. These days we may have Obama, but for a long time President Bartlet was the best hope we had.

Sam Beckett (Quantum Leap)
Bumbling through history playing a variety of parts, but always being Sam. The only connection he had to his old life was his weird friend Al, but despite not remembering it, he desperately wanted to go home.

Chandler Bing (Friends)
The only character in the series that managed to feel like a real person all the time (well, almost all) probably because it’s basically Matthew Perry playing himself.

John Crichton (Farscape)
Hilarious and heart-breaking, just your average astronaut (!) having a weird life.
“I try to save a life a day. Usually it’s my own…”

The Doctor (David Tennant’s Dr Who)
Tennant’s Doctor was such a wonderful character covering the full spectrum from depression through anger to pure childish joy, that I decided he was eligible all by himself without needing his other versions.

Michael Garibaldi (Babylon 5)
Garibaldi was always my favourite character on Babylon 5. He was the human element, he fought, he drank, he mocked everyone and the universe seemed to have some kind of grudge against him.

Jethro Gibbs (NCIS)
I love Mark Harmon and his ex-marine is brilliant. Outwardly gruff and hard, but not so inhuman that he doesn’t show his affection to his team with a kiss on the cheek for Abby or a slap on the head for DiNozzo.

Harper (Andromeda)
Andromeda had some epic problems with plots and writing, but it had some amazing characters and Harper was my favourite. He’s a scrounger, desperately trying to get through life as unscathed as possible while his friends seem weirdly obsessed with dragging him on suicide missions to save the universe.
Abel: You must be the engineer.
Harper: Why? Because I’m the short guy with the sense of humour, the wry wit? Huh? Because I’m so freakin’ amiable with the careless demeanor? Is that it?
Abel: Well, that – and the tools.

Gregory House (House M.D.)
Most of the time he’s a complete and utter bastard, and yet he’s also generally right. Every now and then he shows that he might, just about care about his colleagues.

Susan Ivanova (Babylon 5)
No one from B5 made the first list and now I’ve got two. I had decided on Garibaldi over Ivanova, but then when I started reading through quotes I remembered just how many brilliant lines she had and managed to squeeze her in.
“No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There’s always a boom tomorrow. What? Look, somebody’s got to have some damn perspective around here. Boom, sooner or later. BOOM!”

Josh Lyman (The West Wing)
He’s a political genius who can’t keep track of time zones or find his luggage without his assistant. Sometimes he’s brilliant, sometimes he’s embarrassingly poor, but he always tries so hard.

Rodney McKay (Stargate Atlantis)
Another character that says all the things normal people never would (I’m spotting a theme). He’s arrogant, obnoxious and rude… he’s also a geek, a genius and occasionally very sweet.

George O’Malley (Grey’s Anatomy)
Poor George. He always means so well, and tries so hard and yet his colleagues are always the ones getting the glory. Except, just possibly, the last thing he does on the show, makes him the greatest success of all of them. His absence almost made me stop watching the show and there’s not much higher compliment can be paid a character.

Veronica Mars (Veronica Mars)
Teenager with attitude. She’s the kid that’s so amazingly cool, the cool kids at school don’t even realise that she’s light years ahead of them. So she tells them. Except that occasionally she also has a bit of a cry, falls in love with the wrong people and needs her dad.

Peggy Olson (Mad Men)
From a historical point of view her character is fascinating, a woman making the leap from being an object, to being an individual. As a character though she’s so compelling because she’s not making a statement about women at work in the sixties, she’s just doing what she wants to do.

Hawkeye Pierce (M*A*S*H)
“I will not carry a gun…. I’ll carry your books, I’ll carry a torch, I’ll carry a tune, I’ll carry on, carry over, carry forward, Cary Grant, cash and carry, carry me back to Old Virginia, I’ll even hari-kari if you show me how, but I will not carry a gun!”

Mal Reynolds (Firefly)
The hero who doesn’t want to be a hero, it never goes smooth for poor Mal. Some people are at their best when they’re having yet another bad day.

Doug Ross (ER)
There are reasons why George Clooney is a star and they’re all demonstrated in Doug Ross. Mark Greene may have been the soul of ER but Ross brought some character to it. He drank too much, womanised, looked great in a tux, looked great in scrubs, said what he thought and even rescued drowning children!

Nick Stokes (CSI)
Nick is a straight swap for his boss Gil. This is partly because Gil is gone and got a little irritating towards the end. But Nick deserves this place because he’s the little engine that could, never the smartest or most heroic of theCSIs, he’s just been quietly plugging along with his Texas twang and concerned looks until someone finally realised the department couldn’t run without him.

Buffy Summers (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
Almost all the characters in this show are great, and it’s rare for me to chose a hero over a witty sidekick, but I had to go for Buffy over the others. She does occasionally wallow, but then if your teenage years were commandeered by destiny, wouldn’t you whine?

Malcolm Tucker (The Thick of It)
He’s loud and obnoxious and rude beyond words. But he’s also generally the only one talking sense. Also I will forgive absolutely everything he’s ever done wrong, because while he was having the worst day of his career, he ran to his secretary’s defence because people were badgering her.

Nora Walker (Brothers and Sisters)
The very definition of matriarch. Always ready with several bottles of wine, a shoulder to cry on, a rallying call, or even just a perfectly delivered cake. Nora not only rules her dysfuntional family, but is also trying to work out what a sixty year old woman does when her kids have all left home and her husband dies leaving her alone for the first time ever.

Dean Winchester (Supernatural)
Amongst Supernatural fans there are Dean-girls and Sam-girls, I’m a (only slightly ashamed) Dean girl. He’s a simple guy wanting to kill monsters, drink, eat pie, sleep around, drive his car and above all keep his family safe. He pretty much never gets what he wants, but always has a witty comeback.

Wesley Wyndam-Pryce (Buffy and Angel)
In terms of character development you don’t get much more extensive than Wesley, turning from the annoying twit in Buffy to the scary hero in Angel. He does what needs to be done, regardless of the costs.

To spin-off or not to spin-off

On April 14, 2010 By sulkyblueIn How TV works3 Comments

You’ve got a massively popular television show that everyone’s talking about and everyone’s watching, but how can you do more? You can’t just increase the number of episodes, seasons in the US are already over 20 episodes long and there just aren’t enough days in the year for casts and crews to double that. So the obvious solution is to create a spin-off, possibly even a whole franchise. You’re almost guaranteed to carry across a sizeable chunk of your audience*, half your marketing has already been done for you and the money should just role in.

But how do you do it? You’ve got to create something similar enough it’s familiar, but distinct enough that it’s not cannibalising your original show. You have to look at your show and work out what makes it popular then see if you can translate that to another show. What’s the Thing that carries from one to the next, what is it about your ‘universe’ that makes it worthy of another entry?

If you’re making a science fiction show, that’s a fairly straightforward literal question. Can you just move to somewhere else in the universe you’ve created and tell another story? Maybe look at a different period of that universe’s history (Battlestar/Caprica) or a different location (Stargate, Star Trek). You can keep the complexities of how your universe works and still make it entirely new.

If your ‘universe’ isn’t quite as obvious, the best idea is to break your show down into its primary and secondary defining characteristics – then change the secondary ones. So the primary concept of CSI was that it was about solving crime using forensics. The secondaries might be that it’s set in Las Vegas, with a graveyard shift, with a team led by a scientist. Right, so that means your spin-off is still about solving forensics, but set in a different city, with a day shift and a different style team lead. Welcome to Miami and Horatio Cane. It’s about changing the context without changing the concept. I think Law and Order follows a similar pattern (I don’t actually watch any of them) at its core is the idea of following a crime through the whole legal process, from investigation to the courts, from there you can change the type of crime investigated, or the location, or the type of investigators, while not losing sight of the core idea.

If your show is a little less about what it does and more about how it does it – the writing or storytelling style for example, maybe you literally pick up a character and spin them out somewhere else. This is a popular choice for sitcoms (Cheers/Frasier, Friends/Joey), often with the spinoff launching after the initial series finishes and the character is no longer needed in the parent show. But it has also worked for other types of show, Shonda Rhimes spun off Grey’s Anatomy by having a character head for California. By taking one of the (sorry) older characters from Grey’s, Rhimes has created a more mature show in Private Practice that doesn’t directly compete with the original, but is still familiar in the way it tells stories. The tricky thing is finding a character that’s interesting enough to carry the audience with them, and an actor that’s ready to move from being a supporting player, to being a lead.

But maybe this is all putting too much thought into it. Do you really need to have that strong a relationship between the series? Technically NCIS is a spin-off from JAG, but beyond the fact that they’re both set in side departments of the Navy, do they really have anything in common? Maybe the very fact that NCIS is massively more successful than JAG (it’s currently the number 1 rated show of the year, the best JAG ever did was 15th) shows they’re not that closely related. This year NCIS spawned a further spin-off set in LA, while still nominally in the same department, the new show has a very different approach to investigation, it’s fixed in one city instead of being national and focuses more on a buddy partnership (with some big name actors) than a full team. I think in many ways the show would have been stronger if it had been independent and not continually had to force the navy stuff into the stories.

One thing that NCIS:LA did gain from being a spin-off was that they launched the show with a ‘backdoor pilot’ i.e. they snuck the new show into an episode of the current one. It’s all very friendly, your favourite characters introduce the new team – “hey, it’s alright, you’ll like these guys, you can trust them”. It’s also a way to run a massive focus group on your new show, did the audience like it, do they like the characters? There’s still plenty of time to pull the whole thing, or tweak the cast before you launch the series proper in a few months. NCIS:LA learnt that a couple of characters didn’t work and swapped them out.

If you can get this right, there is so much to gain. If your spin-off runs in parallel you can block out a whole chunk of the schedule and each show helps the other. You can bump your ratings at any time by doing crossover episodes with characters from one show appearing in the other, CSI recently sent a character on a grand tour of the series and that managed to get even ME to watch Miami! But when there’s a lot to gain from getting it right, there’s also a lot to lose if you get it wrong. A bad entry into a franchise can taint the whole thing (Enterprise, I’m looking at you!). Trying to overlap shows can mean that you just dilute the quality of your original offering – if you have to come up with twice as many different navy related crimes to investigate each week, sooner or later you’re going to run out of ideas.
And that leads me on to my thoughts on the Criminal Minds spin-off… but you’ll have to wait until tomorrow for that.

* I spent half hour looking at ratings, comparing the first season of the spin-off against the season of its parent that aired at the same time. The selection I looked at was pretty narrow, and self-lmited to successful spinoffs, but ranged from 60ish percent up to 110% (CSI/CSI:Miami = 63%, Grey’s Anatomy/Private Practice = 73%, Law & Order/L&O: SVU = 75%, NCIS/NCIS:LA = 81%, Buffy/Angel = 104%, JAG /NCIS =110%). Sadly I failed to easily find ratings data on Doctor Who/Torchwood, Star Trek, Stargate or Hercules/Xena.

Narrative Devices

Tag: ncis