OT: Why I don't watch NCIS

[Tribe13]

Absolutely ridiculous. I caught part of this past episode, and it reinforced two reasons why I don't watch much TV anymore

1.) The Israeli-mossad agent's completely unrealistic fight scene with the Marine. Israeli agents are trained in Krav Maga, a decent fighting art. But this lady took a full force punch to the face by a man quite larger and heavier than her. I don't care how tough she thinks she is; a real punch by a fellow like that would put ME on my back-and I'm a bit bigger than she is. The whole "super-woman-can-do-it-like-a-man" thing runs thin with me, especially in a more "realistic" show like this.

2.) The "eeeeeevilllll corporation" angle. Now in the end, it turned out that the corp had nothing to do with it. But a good part of the premise up to that point was geared toward pharmaceutical companies and the evils they indulge in for profit. That's why I react so negatively to the whole thing whenever it's brought up. In the end, it's almost always coming down to a villainizing of capitalism.

So that's why I'm glad this show has gone by the wayside for me.

[Cavalier]

The Israeli-mossad agent's completely unrealistic fight scene with the Marine. Israeli agents are trained in Krav Maga, a decent fighting art. But this lady took a full force punch to the face by a man quite larger and heavier than her. I don't care how tough she thinks she is; a real punch by a fellow like that would put ME on my back-and I'm a bit bigger than she is. The whole "super-woman-can-do-it-like-a-man" thing runs thin with me, especially in a more "realistic" show like this.


Yeah, I actually like the character but that strike should have knocked her on her ass and had her seeing double at the least.

[fletch2]

To answer your points

1) NCIS is like the Avengers. The Avengers started out as a straight drama about doctor David Keel whose fiance is murdered. As such it has more of a similarity to the Fugitive than to the show it became. In the same way NCIS is not JAG, and like the Avengers it evolved from a (fairly) straight drama into an action adventure show. If you can believe that Emma Peel can throw a 200lb man across a room then you can believe Zeva David.

2) One thing you'll notice if you watch JAG is that, 1) the Navy is never at fault and 2) if a member of the navy swears something ---- like that he's innocent, he always is. That's because Don views the Navy as an institution and the vast majority of the people in it to be honorable. That leaves the problem as to who to make the bad guys. In JAG and in NCIS the bad guys are almost always civilian or foreign and yes as a result they do do "evil corporation" story lines. Given the limits to the format of the show introduced by the fact that every case has to involve the Navy or USMC somehow they are very limited in players that could be involved.

In short, not realistic, if you watch the commentaries on the DVD set you will find that it was never intended to be. Just like it being REALLY convenient that Thomas Magnum could sponge off Robin Masters, just like Al Calervici has a limitless range of fringe knowledge that Sam Becket just happens to need. Hell they did an entire episode of JAG explaining how improbable Harmon Rabb Jnr's Navy career was --- Don doesnt make "reality" or even realistic, he makes TV entertainment.

[Tribe13]

To answer your points

1) NCIS is like the Avengers. The Avengers started out as a straight drama about doctor David Keel whose fiance is murdered. As such it has more of a similarity to the Fugitive than to the show it became. In the same way NCIS is not JAG, and like the Avengers it evolved from a (fairly) straight drama into an action adventure show. If you can believe that Emma Peel can throw a 200lb man across a room then you can believe Zeva David. Throwing I can believe. Had they had her do a more soft-style response, like an aikido wrist lock or a judo throw, it would have been both believable and well done. As a matter of fact, a soft-style art can and does actually work better for a smaller woman against a larger man. But a fist-to-fist brawl like that was just dumb.


2) One thing you'll notice if you watch JAG is that, 1) the Navy is never at fault and 2) if a member of the navy swears something ---- like that he's innocent, he always is. That's because Don views the Navy as an institution and the vast majority of the people in it to be honorable. That leaves the problem as to who to make the bad guys. In JAG and in NCIS the bad guys are almost always civilian or foreign and yes as a result they do do "evil corporation" story lines. Given the limits to the format of the show introduced by the fact that every case has to involve the Navy or USMC somehow they are very limited in players that could be involved. IIRC, Don was a former Marine, so I can believe that. But still, it just gets cliched. And while I take issue with the "military is never at fault" mentality, neither do I swing to the Ron Moore extreme of the "military is always at fault" mentality, which is equally as ridiculous.

I guess I fail to understand why you couldn't have bad military MEMBERS but still have a good military ORGANIZATION. Seems to me that military investigations are for military crimes, not civvy crimes or evil corp crimes.


In short, not realistic, if you watch the commentaries on the DVD set you will find that it was never intended to be. Just like it being REALLY convenient that Thomas Magnum could sponge off Robin Masters, just like Al Calervici has a limitless range of fringe knowledge that Sam Becket just happens to need. Hell they did an entire episode of JAG explaining how improbable Harmon Rabb Jnr's Navy career was --- Don doesnt make "reality" or even realistic, he makes TV entertainment.I know that. And I realize that there has to be a somewhat fantastic element to it. It would just be nice if the element could be a little more politically neutral a la Whedon or Straczynski. Heck, even HEROES does a better job of it.

[Wild Boar]

Don doesnt make "reality" or even realistic, he makes TV entertainment.

Which is why Don is successful.

Regardless of how unrealistic the character is, I enjoy Zeva. She has great interplay with Tony. The character she replaced, Kate, never had the dynamics to stand up to Tony in anything other than a prudish, snobby manner. Zeva beats Tony at his own game.

I've missed a few weeks. The last ep I saw had a great opening sequence with Dinozo (sp?) sprinting through a warehouse exchanging gunfire with badguys on his was to a kickass rescue of Gibbs and a girl in a car underwater. It was a really good action sequence, the best the series ever had. Definitely not realistic.

[jewels]

Classic Tony/Zeva scene:
They're all in a sexual harrassment seminar, the instructor is distracted, responding to someone else's question. Zeva grabs Tony and licks him on the face, then lets him go. The look on his face and their mutual instant return to looking as if nothing had happened was just priceless. I can't watch their banter and not think of it. Too funny.

[fletch2]

Well of course the Navy has bad apples but the series goes out of it's way to make sure that Aholes are seen to be Aholes and not a product of their environment.

The point is that the show doesnt pretend to be a procedural like L&O, it's an action adventure show.