NCIS MODERATORS’ BLOG 33

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CHANNEL 10 – HAVE THEY FINALLY REALIZED WHAT THEY HAVE WITH NCIS?

3rd October 2009

With the start of season 7, Channel 10 here in Australia seem to have finally realized what a treasure they have in NCIS.

With the early seasons, they jumped them around for a while before settling on the 8.30pm Tuesday timeslot. Even then, we were months behind. We were so behind with season 5 that I bought the DVDs from the USA on release day….and had seen Judgment Day over a month before Channel 10 got around to screening it.

Season 6 Channel 10 decided to fast-track. We were only one week behind. However, due to our ratings period being different to yours, Channel 10 unceremoniously removed NCIS from the line up after “Cloak”. This didn’t cause as much outrage as their claiming it was the “end of the season”. It was not. Channel 10 lied through their teeth rather than admit they had removed the show because they didn’t want to show it in non-ratings period. They must have wondered what had struck them with the avalanche of letters, phone calls and emails that poured in. I will freely admit that I encouraged all Australian members on this site to let Channel 10 have it both barrels.

By the time season 6 returned we ended up being about a month behind. At least it was better than the 3 months of previous seasons.

With season 7, something appears to have changed. Last Tuesday we got “Truth and Consequences” and on Wednesday we saw the premiere of NCIS: Los Angeles. All through the week an awful movie was being advertised for Friday night. Then, late Thursday the commercials started on Channel 10. Friday 8.30pm NCIS: Los Angeles – Encore Presentation. 9.30pm NCIS – Encore Presentation.

In the prime Friday night time slot we got “Encore Presentations” (TV executive speak for Very Important Repeats) for the new seasons shows that had only been seen earlier that very same week. This is from a channel who invariably repeats season 3 NCIS like it is the CEO’s favorite season ever! And yes, they repeated “Mind Games” after the premiere of NCIS: Los Angeles on Wednesday night!

I don’t know if this Encore Presentation is a taste of things to come for dedicated Australian NCIS fans, or whether it was an attempt by Channel 10 to get an audience for NCIS: Los Angeles. There was on Channel 9 something called “Hey Hey It’s Saturday Reunion”. A two and a half hour special reuniting cast members of a long running and much loved Australian variety show. It blew the opposition out of the water in the ratings. It pulled an audience of 2 million. Doesn’t sound like much, but Australia only has a population of around 20 million. So this reunion show had 10% of Australia’s total population watching it! Maybe if the Encore Presentation rated well on Friday, then it could become a regular feature of Channel 10’s line up. I certainly hope so.

The real test of Channel 10’s commitment to NCIS will come at the end of the Australian ratings period at the end of November. Will we be treated as dreadfully as before, or will Channel 10 bite the bullet and continue to show this wonderful show outside of ratings. Not all of us want to watch garbage over the summer.

The ball is in your court, Channel 10.

LAST UPDATE ON 4th October 2009, 10.50AM Australian Time
SUBMITTED BYMargyW

BACKGROUND OF THE GIBLETS

3rd October

Almost got stumped today for a topic until this little brainwave (or not – poor befuddled brain of mine, how mercilessly do I flog it), I seem to recall in one (maybe several, pardon me if I don’t verify, but I’m supposed to be working, and this is really my clone writing), Shane Brennan interview that he was interested in the personal side of our characters and telling us about them or developing their personal side, or similar. Anyhow, I got to wondering just how much do we or rather don’t we know about our intrepid team. And you know, even now that we’re in S7, we know really very little about their personal lives, apart from beign sketchy at best, some details change season from season.

CHARACTER	Know	Don’t know	Changed
GIBBS	Married 4 times Divorced 3 times Widowed once Had one daughter (died) Marine Names of 3 wives His father’s alive Named after a friend of his father’s Catholic	The names of all 4 wives Why he never had children with 3 of the 4 wives Why he learnt ASL Much about childhood	Led to believe his father was dead until S6
TONY	Disinherited by his father Came from a wealthy family Father left him behind at a hotel Unpleasant childhood Father a disciplinarian Mother an alcoholic	If his parents abused him or not His religion Has siblings or not Why Tony changed police forces every 2 years before joining NCIS Hobbies
ABBY	Parents are deaf Single Knows ASL Has siblings Goes bowling with some nuns	If she’s ever been married Why she joined NCIS Why she’s close to Gibbs
DUCKY	Only child Mother has dementia Never married No children Studied medicine in Scotland	Why he he never left home Why he never married How he joined NCIS	In an earlier season (S2 I think), he mentioned he had nephews, implying he had siblings
McGEE	IT expert Writes bestsellers Allergic to poison ivy Has a sister, Sarah	Why he joined NCIS His childhood Relation with family except his sister
ZIVA	Mossad Had a sister and a half brother (Talia + Ari) Likes cooking Good fighting skills	What her childhood ws like Who her mother was
PALMER	Studying to be an ME under the auspices of Ducky Close to his mother Sang in a barbershop quartet	His hobbies Whether he has siblings
VANCE	IT expert Sparred in his younger days and still does Wife and 2 kids	His background with NCIS Where he worked prior Who he really is

Looking at the table we know sod all about our favourite characters, all information is extremely sketchy considering how long the series has been on the air. I think it would be interesting to find out some more about the different characters, after all it’s only logical for them to have some kind of evolution or for us to get an insight into their pasts or private lives, as in the case of Gibbs last season, when we discovered he actually has a father and had a childhood. To think we all thought he’d always been he age he is, but no, not only does he have a father, but the gent is also extremely charming and chatty much to Gibbs’ chagrin at times.

I think this area would be far more interesting to explore than TIVA – sorry fans of same, but knowing the team’s personal backgrounds, albeit through a crime scene or as a secondary story arc in an episode, is much more scintillating, not to mention satisfying the natural curiosity people have about other people.

Y con esto y un bizcocho, se acabó lo que se dió.

LAST UPDATE ON 3rd October 2009 10:05 PM -CET
SUBMITTED BY Sorgiña

PROVE ME WRONG SHANE BRENNAN!!

2nd October

No doubt you’re thinking I’m angry with Shane Brennan, not at all! I’m simply challenging him. Why? Well, in his interview on 29th September he said they would be resolving TIVA to keep both the pro and contra fans happy. Call me sceptical if you will, but unless Shane Brennan can prove otherwise, and believe me I sincerely hope to be proven wrong, however, to date no-one has yet been able to prove you can have your cake and eat it; it’s either one or the other, hence my challenge to the gent.

I freely admit I’m anti-TIVA, insofar as it developing into a full blow romance, I mean it’s highly unpractical in the job they do, not to mention working together, why else do so many places of work put a ban on romantically involved couples being on the same team, on the same floor, in the same department, or even in the same company. And why exactly is that ban there for? Well, a romantically involved couple rarely (there are exceptions to every rule) work well together, given the difficulty of separating private and professional, either because the couple is in the lovey-dovey honeymoon phase or because you’ve had a raging argument before you came to work, which eventually ends up encroaching on the workspace. I know it’s fiction, and everything and anything is possible, believe I’m aware of that fact. However, do we really want to turn this into a romantic soap? Look what’s happening with Bones – it started out as a great series until the writers decided to resolve the UST between the 2 main characters, and now the hype revolves around the romantic involvement of the 2 instead of the case histories. And you know, I really would hate for that to happen with NCIS, much more interesting would be the X-Files option where Mulder and Scully never quite got together, plus the fact UST is much more entertaining. I know the TIVA fans are going to want my guts for garters for saying that, but hey! We’re all entitled to think differently and that’s what makes discussion interesting otherwise can you imagine if we were all either 100% pro or contra TIVA or any other ship – Yeuk!!! This difference is what gives life its spice.

Getting back to the matter in hand, I’ve been puzzling ever since I read said interview how in heaven’s name is he going to work TIVA out so both the pros and contras are happy, because I really don’t see it, not even with conjuring tricks. The nearest thing I can think of is upping the ante on the flirting without reaching destination port, apart from that , I just don’t see how. I’m basically thinking about getting my cauldron out, calling the coven together and concocting some kind of voodoo to prevent TIVA as the pro-TIVA fans would like from becoming a reality. In fanfiction you can do what you like, and I for one, like a few pairings that we would never see on the series, and I’m glad we don’t, I prefer to read this situations in fiction.

So now you all know the reason for my challenging Shane Brennan – a sportsman’s challenge, i.e. with the shaking of hands (virtual in this case as one might image), and no money or any other payment in kind. And as I said earlier, I really, really would like to be proven wrong, because you know this would be another first for NCIS, i.e. how to resolve UST without upsetting any of your fans, it would certainly go down in the annals of history, not just TV entertainment but in general.

Now tell me Shane Brennan are you up for making history? And if he’s the person I think he is, he’ll pick up the gauntlet, I for one am banking on it.

Y con esto y un bizcocho, se acabó lo que se dió.

LAST UPDATE ON 2nd October 2009 6:15 PM – CET
SUBMITTED BY Sorgiña

KATE TODD – BELIEVABILITY – REVISITED

1st October 2009

Due to the great feedback I got from you all, I am going to take another look at Kate Todd’s believability as a federal agent.

I admit I was surprised to find a large number of people agreed with me. It has previously been my experience that if you criticize Caitlin Todd, prepare to greet the lynch mob.

Apart from my comments, several other points were raised against Kate’s believability.

Her failure in both “Unsealed” and “Meat Puzzle” to protect the people she was supposed to be protecting. In “Unsealed” she gets tied up and her gun stolen; in “Meat Puzzle” Ducky is kidnapped. Kind of makes you worry about her ever having been on Presidential Security Detail, doesn’t it?
Her inability to stab Ari Haswari in “Bete Noire” eventually lead to her own death in “Twilight”.
Sleeping with the holder of the “football” in “Yankee White”. A huge security breech that one.

However, mcseek sums it up best: “I see your point, but I guess I just love the humanness of Kate and miss her humor, her enthusiasm, and her voice of reason with the team. In the end though, her caring – her seeing good in others – certainly had a huge hand in her death. If she hadn’t let Ari go, she wouldn’t have been murdered, but then again, being Kate, what choice did she have?”

Thank you all for your imput.

LAST UPDATE ON 2nd October 2009, 6.31AM Australian Time
SUBMITTED BY MargyW

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