My wife enjoys both flavors of NCIS on CBS, and I find the original one pretty solid for a network TV program, so I watch along with her; if she wasn’t a fan, I doubt I’d give either a second thought. We’ve been watching NCIS: LA this season, and “watchable” is about its ceiling right now – but I think that, if the writers have any stones, they have an opportunity to turn it into something much better.
If you’ve seen the original NCIS, you know the formula: well-developed characters, lots of witty banter, incredibly simple plots where the perpetrator is always one of the first three non-regular characters you meet, and some serious fast/loose play with technology. If you’re looking for riveting stories, this isn’t it. It’s entertaining, and the writers have done a good job with the characters, but if they get CBS in the afterlife Agatha Christie scoffs for an hour every Tuesday night.
NCIS: LA follows the pattern of the clones in the Michael Keaton movie Multiplicity – it’s a copy, but the quality is below that of the original. The plots are even sillier, with higher stakes and more ridiculous resolutions, and even the show’s very premise – a secret NCIS unit in Los Angeles that, if you’re a stickler for things like accuracy, is WAY out of its jurisdiction in almost every episode – is absurd. The writers are pushing hard to flesh out the various characters, but only one (G. Callen, played by Chris O’Donnell) is at all compelling, and, amazingly enough, LL Cool J carries most of the episodes. He’s the best actor on the show after Oscar winner Linda Hunt, who is outstanding as the eccentric unit manager in a fundamentally supporting role, and the writers have wisely put his Sam with G. Callen in a “bromance” at the center of the show. The rest of the cast is bloated even after the recent elimination of Dominic, the biggest cipher. Kensey, played by Brazilian actress Daniela Ruah, serves primarily as a pair of legs and as the token female agent, while Eric, the techie, has the same cliched TV-geek’s inability to stop himself from going into excessive detail on technical subjects, something that was already hackneyed when NCIS started using it for McGee.
Despite its many flaws, NCIS: LA is the highest-rated new show of the 2009-10 season and one of the top-rated shows on network television because it has an incredible lead-in audience from NCIS and serves as an extension of the prior show. The writers and producers could, of course, rest on those laurels, let the money roll in for a few years until either it or the original NCIS runs out of gas, and move on to something else, older and perhaps a bit wealthier. But I see this as opportunity: If audiences will tune in by the millions to watch a mediocre show, why not experiment with something edgier that might not have found the same audience if it hadn’t been handed enormous ratings from the start?
The episode where Dominic was removed from the cast of characters reminded me of one of my favorite British shows, MI-5 (known as Spooks in the UK), which easily beats any network crime drama I’ve ever seen in the U.S*. MI-5 is the British equivalent of the CIA on matters of “internal” security (meaning on British soil), and the show puts the agency and its operations at the heart of the series, rather than the characters. That focus and the serious subject matter give the writers substantial latitude to break with the audience’s normal expectations for a crime drama, where main characters may be killed or otherwise eliminated with little or no notice. Even though things do usually work out in the end, they don’t always work out, and successful operations on MI-5 often come with sacrifices, costs, or casualties. As a result, the show brings a tension unlike any I’ve seen on network TV here.
*I’ve never watched Fox’s 24, because I have little or no interest in a show with a storyline that demands that I watch every week, given my travel schedule and irregular work hours, but I get the sense that that’s one show that matches MI-5 for anything-goes tension. I’m open to other suggestions, as always.
NCIS:LA almost nodded to MI-5 in the episode where Dominic departs the show, but it proved an outlier with the following episode, which brought the series to new depths of ridiculousness when Callen saves an entire mall from botulinum toxin exposure by diving to catch a bottle of the bad stuff that was thrown from two levels up … right near where he happened to be standing. And he made a shoestring catch, of course. That’s fake tension – there was no way in hell CBS was showing a mall full of people dying from botulinum toxin poisoning – whereas MI-5‘s history of less-than-happy endings provides real tension, not to mention twice the freedom for the writers to craft compelling and at least moderately realistic stories, where characters burn out, quit, get hurt, and die, and you never quite know what’s going to happen next. If NCIS: LA took that risk, which would be reasonable given the subject matter of the show, not only would it help them turn over a fringy cast of characters beyond Sam, Callen, and Linda Hunt’s Hetty, it could turn a merely watchable program into a can’t-miss one.
“Watchable” is generous adjective for NCIS:LA. I think the show ends up being a Franken-show between 24 and the original NCIS. LA’s crew try to graft the witty banter that is the m.o. of the original NCIS onto the new series, but for some reason it comes off as being contrived–or rather, with NCIS already monopolizing the market on that style of script writing, LA using that formula ends up making it tiresome quickly. Just my $0.25.
KLAW,
So what are your top 10 tv sitcoms?
Also why don’t you watch 24 on dvd? That way you wouldn’t have to watch every week you can just watch as you travel or lay low at home?
Keith: Love the “watchable” tag – I laughed aloud. Sadly, for me, this show (and many others) are unwatchable. I credit The Wire for that.
Not that it’s a bad thing that it ruined these shows. I find The Wire to be both the finest and most important television show of all time. It has literally changed my life – my opinions on social institutions, my faith in our ability within these institutions, the treatment of socioeconomic statuses in America, etc. I don’t want to get too philosophical, but hopefully a couple other readers here can back me up on its, for lack of a better term, brilliance.
Watching the Wire is certainly a commitment – 5 seasons, 60 total episodes all a good 60 minutes or so each. It’s also emotionally draining, especially in later seasons (the 4th season in particular). The compassion and knowledge one gains from it is unprecedented in television, and perhaps most mediums of art.
Done with this rant – hopefully you’ll give it a chance at some point. I would also like to see what else you watch on TV, like the reader above asked.
NCIS doesn’t do it for me. I do think Criminal Minds is watchable. However Mulitiplicity is a gem of a movie. Hysterical, and I believe the term is duplicitive degeneration. Keaton’s copy of his copy kills me.
Aiden,
A little deep there friend, but the Wire IS absolutely amazing. The way the writers shifted the focus from the streets, to the police dept, to the local govt and media was so unique and just a totally original viewing experience. Miss that show, in fact it may have been long enough ago to start all over.
I also wonder if the West Wing could be revived…
I just wanted to second the suggestion of the Wire. Get the DVDs and watch them while you travel, if you must, but you won’t be disappointed. As has been stated by many critics, it’s structured more like a novel than a TV show.
As far as comedies go, Arrested Development is sorely missed.
Most television shows aren’t worth the powder to blow them up. For my no-money, Castle is a better show than NCIS:LA (which, again, isn’t saying much).
If you want tension, drama, and fantastic stories, watch Dexter on ShowTime. There’s never been anything like that show before, and I suspect there never will be again.
MI-5 sounds interesting. Klaw should be appointed showrunner on NCIS: LA for a year.
The lack of believable peril for main characters is something that appears to plague most TV shows. 24 has a lot of problems, but one of its strengths is there’s no guarantee the characters around Jack Bauer will live to the next hour.
And when characters are killed off, I wish more TV shows would handle it like Terminator: Sarah Conner Chronicles handled the death of one of its main characters. The character came around a blind corner and was immediately shot in the head by a Terminator. There was no mournful soundtrack, dying slowly in the arms of someone else or lingering camera shots. The character was shot, fell to the the floor and the next scene followed.
Just a correction, Daniela Ruah that plays Kensi at NCIS:LA it is a Portuguese actress not Brazilian.
She born in Boston come to Portugal with 5 Years Old, and her roots are from Portugal, Parents comes from Portugal and family i Israel too.
The only network television show that I find worth consistently watching is ABC’s Modern Family. For a weekly, half hour, network sitcom, the writers have done as good a job as possible in developing 8 or 9 characters and most of the humor is surprisingly original and funny.
Also agree on The Wire. Best show I’ve ever seen from a writing/concept standpoint. I can’t recommend 24. It”s just as formulaic as the drivel you mention above. The first few seasons were ok, but beyond that it’s all recycled garbage (this season in particular is mind numbingly boring, but my wife likes it, so I still subject myself to the pain).
Dexter is an amazing show, but I’d recommend starting from the beginning by renting the DVDs. It’s not a Drama, but if you’re looking for a fun/goofy spy oriented show, I’m a huge fan of Chuck, although that may be because I have a complete crush on the female lead in the show.
+1 for the correct use of a pozterisk. Should I call it klawsterisk here?
I agree with the above posts on “24”. The first three seasons were pretty good (Season 2 especially), but the show has devolved from fresh, unpredictable tension to inane plot twists that constantly try to outdo the previous season’s events.
I would also wholeheartedly endorse “The Wire”. It really is a brilliant show, with several complex characters and realistic plot scenarios that take time to develop. It has a much more deliberate pace to it than most other shows, but that’s certainly a good thing – one huge, overarching storyline takes up an entire season of one-hour episodes rather than jumping around to a new case every few episodes.
And finally, I would also check out “Friday Night Lights” if you have any interest in dramatic shows that aren’t crime-related. There are several interesting, complex characters on the show and the storylines are remarkably intriguing for a show using Texas high school football as a backdrop. In my opinion, it’s the best dramatic show on network TV right now. Best of all, seasons 1-3 are available on demand with Netflix so there is no need to wait for a new disc to arrive.
I also recommend The Wire. In my opinion, it’s the best drama ever. Apologies to Sopranos or anything that was before my time.
The Shield is another great show, though my only knock against it is that some of the story lines bordered on ridiculous. If you like the formulaic nature of an NCIS with everything wrapping up neatly in an hour, The Shield is not it. If you like a long story line with unexpected twists, check it out.
Completely agree with previous comments on The Wire. Most amazing television show I’ve ever seen. It is a commitment though, and it took me 3-4 episodes to “get it.” Once you get past that, you’re hooked. Writing and character development are second to none. Seriously, if someone asked you to describe any one character on that show, could it be done in under 15 minutes?
I’ll also concur with the Wire – best show ever. The first few seasons of 24 are particularly watchable and addictive on DVD.
Dexter is also really good.
Friday Night lights, also quite good, I wish NBC would air the fourth season
I guess I’m not really adding anything to the conversation so, one show I’d recommend is Party Down which was on Starz and can be found on DVD/Netflix streaming. Really funny.
Also a big fan of Parks and Recreation, nice work by Ken Tremendous there.
NCIS is entertaining. Its spin-off is… just there, mostly.
I would recommend that all fans of “The Wire” also check out “Homicide: Life on the Street.” It’s from the same producer and set in the same city (my home city), but aired on regular network TV in the early-to-mid-90s. It’s a great show on its own, and if you don’t think the detective duo of Pembleton and Bayliss are two great characters, then you probably shouldn’t watch TV anymore. The seventh and final season, the only one without Andre Braugher, is… fringy, shall we say, but the other six are really solid.
I loved Homicide. That absolutely hewed to the formula I mentioned above, with contained episodes that were intense because you never knew what might happen next. And, quite accurately, the bad guys didn’t always get caught.
I’m going to jump on the “The Wire” bandwagon here. Talk about a show that took chances. That show set the bar so high that all other TV is mediocre in comparison. Do yourself a favor and watch “The Wire” on DVD and then post your thoughts. I would love to hear what you think of “The Wire”.
No mention of Law & Order? Back when it had Orbach, Noth, Waterson… it was pretty riveting. At times predictable and at times completely unpredictable, but it made you think and wasn’t a clear good guy/bad guy, black and white drama, but had numerous shades of gray that really required the view to consider their own perspective on the matter. It also avoided what has been the downfall of so many similar shows and very rarely waded into the personal lives of the characters beyond what was relevant to the case at hand.
+1 more for “The Wire” and +1 for “Friday Night Lights” while I’m at it. Outside of NBC’s Thursday night lineups I really can’t be bothered with anything non-sports related but both of those shows are light-years better than anything else I’ve seen in a long time/possibly ever. “The Wire” can be arduous to get into because most cop shows use a “Rookie Officer That We Have to Explain Cop Stuff to” plot device as a surrogate to help the viewer out but “The Wire” just drops you into the show and expects you to keep up.
I loved MI-5, but I haven’t seen any episodes since Season 5. According to IMDB, it’s now up to 8 seasons. I wonder why A&E (I think it was) stopped showing it.
A few years ago, I was in a limo heading to JFK with a colleague and two attractive 20-something English women. I brought up the subject of the TV show MI-5, and they had no idea what I was talking about. After I described the show, mentioning spies, just as they were getting out at their stop, one of them said “You mean spooks?” I agreed, knowing that spooks is British slang for spies. Now I know what she meant.
another Brit show worth a try is Life on Mars (the american remake is okay – gotta love anything with Harvey Keitel) but the orig is fresh and fun. Great use of soundtrack as well.
Also a fan of the miniseries State of Play (skip the film remake altogether and watch the miniseries) – the English do make better crime series on the whole.
I’ve got to bring up ‘The Wire’. Seeing it makes every other television show retroactively worse. It’s flawless and I’d be shocked if KLaw hated it.
I’m almost through the second season of The Wire. Agree with everyone above. Amazing.
Keith-
Not sure where to post this, so hear goes:
Great chat today, as always. Someone asked you about the influence race (I’ll stay away from attaching -ism to the end to avoid igniting the conversation) pays in the way teams scout, evaluate, and ultimately make decisions about players. On at least a few occasions, you have given real honest answers to this question about the insidious way it creeps into these decisions. When you worked in Toronto, did you ever see it happen? If so, did you speak up? As a whole, do you think baseball is any more prepared to be reflective and honest about this issue than the rest of society? Or would commenting on it, then or now, have been a death sentence? Thanks!
agree with everyone on the Wire…best TV show I have ever watched. also agree with Keith big time on MI-5, an absolutely incredible show.
I would also recommend “Waking the Dead” which is another British crime series. It is sort of a Cold Case/CSI combo, each story told in two one hour parts.
You’ve said you don’t have time for The Wire, yet you willingly watch NCIS. AND NCIS:LA!
For shame, KLAW, for shame.
/really now – the things you say you liked about MI-5 are the same sort of things that will make you love The Wire
//all 5 seasons of The Wire are available on DVD/Netfilx, so you can watch them at your leisure
///looking forward to your posts once you get hooked
OK, now that I’ve read the comments, I see that The Wire has been covered. I know you can’t really say what you think of another columnist from The World Wide Leader, but Simmons had a pretty good article a while ago about how he’d resisted watching The Wire, mostly because he got his back up from so many people telling him that he should watch it. Then he checked it out and got hooked.
I hope this isn’t a similar dynamic going on with you.
Really, Keith, look at all the comments singing praises for The Wire. These are from people who read your blog for your thoughts on literature. Would we steer you wrong?
Since we Wire fanatics often can’t help ourselves, I’m going to do some comment quoting:
@3: The compassion and knowledge one gains from it is unprecedented in television, and perhaps most mediums of art.
I agree wholeheartedly. I’ve struggled at times to describe how it’s so much more than “a TV show”. I’m reminded of a blurb from the back cover of “Common Ground”, my favorite work on non-fiction. Whoever it was said “To say ‘Common Ground’ is about busing in Boston is like saying ‘Moby Dick’ is about whaling in New Bedford”. Well, to say The Wire is about cops and drug dealers and politicians and dock workers and reporters in Baltimore… well, you can fill in the rest.
@12: It really is a brilliant show, with several complex characters and realistic plot scenarios that take time to develop.
One thing about The Wire is that it doesn’t just demand patience and attention, it rewards them. Plots and themes don’t just develop over the course of a season, but they carry from one season to the next. And the characters! Ask any Wire fan who their favorite character is, and while they’ll be some overlap, there will be almost as many favorites as there are characters. Mine? Off the top of my head – Omar (of course), Lester, Bunny, and String. Prez surprisingly becomes sympathetic, so there’s that. And Marlo and his gang are fascinating in their ferocity. Even the villains are engaging! (Snoop: “You earned the sh*t out of that”!)
@14: It is a commitment though, and it took me 3-4 episodes to “get it.”
It may come as no surprise that I’ve been proselytizing for The Wire for years. Most folks I’ve turned on have actually said it took 6 or 7 episodes for the hook to be set. None have regretted it.
Seriously, if someone asked you to describe any one character on that show, could it be done in under 15 minutes?
Agreed. Even for a minor recurring character like Poot. But the amazing thing is that, after Season 4, while waiting for Season 5, I went back and started watching it again from the beginning and, the first time you see the major characters, they are who they are. They’re so well established.
@16: I would recommend that all fans of “The Wire” also check out “Homicide: Life on the Street.”
Great show, great writing, the camera work was a little hard to take at times. One fun thing for fans of both shows was playing “spot the actor”. The detective who turned up as a judge was easy, but it took a while to recognize Luther and Barnfather.
@18: Do yourself a favor and watch “The Wire” on DVD and then post your thoughts.
It’s a favor, but it’s also a curse. Every other show looks feeble by comparison. Formulaic procedurals end up looking, well, more formulaic. Silly, even.
@20: “The Wire” can be arduous to get into because most cop shows use a “Rookie Officer That We Have to Explain Cop Stuff to” plot device as a surrogate to help the viewer out but “The Wire” just drops you into the show and expects you to keep up
Well said. I’d also say that this is evidence that The Wire respects the intelligence of its audience, instead of insulting it, as so many shows do.
Well, that’s probably enough, if not too much.
One thing though, about Dexter – if you don’t like shows where you don’t find a single character likable, it might not be for you. I gave it a shot, until about halfway through the second season, and gave up because everyone on it was annoying. YMMV.
Brian: As I pointed out at the top of the post, I watch those shows with my wife. If she didn’t watch them, I wouldn’t either.
And all the arguments in the world are not going to get me to make a 60-hour commitment. There are just so many ways I’d rather spend that time.
I have to agree with Keith, I have three or four Wire loving friends who keep telling me that I HAVE to watch this show (not to mention Simmons mentioning in every other column) and its not all the pressure putting me off, it’s just that I can’t quite commit to all the time. Which doesn’t mean I wont spend that time watching television anyhow, but it will be with my wife and either watching shows I love that she doesn’t mind (Modern Family, 162 Jays games) or shows she loves (American Idol). Well, that or the 18 different cooking shows I PVR.
So, Keith, what’d you get the wife for Valentine’s Day?
While I respect the fact that 60 hours is a long commitment, it’s not like you have some sort of time limit in which to get into the show. And I’m sure you’ve devoted 60 hours to plenty of things without having even noticed. Like, for instance, Ulysses 😉
Ulysses was roughly 20 hours. Gone With the Wind, the longest book I’ve ever read by word count, was around 18. So 60 hours is longer than I’ve ever committed to a work of fiction by a factor of 2 or more. And I’ve commented before that I have an extremely short atten… ooh, shiny.
kyle j: A pair of earrings from her favorite jewelry designer and the DVD of Corpse Bride, since she ?s Tim Burton. And, of course, myself, since I took a redeye back from California last night to spend the day with my family.
Keith, have you seen the new “We Are the World” video with the artists raising money for Haiti?
Incidentally, if you enjoyed Homicide the television show, I’d highly recommend the David Simon book upon which it’s based. I know your tastes run toward fiction, but it’s absolutely engrossing and amplifies all of the best qualities of the show.
I second Daniel’s suggestion. The book is long (over 500 pages, IIRC), and isn’t always fast paced, but there are few better looks inside the law enforcement community and the manner in which these guys live their lives. And, David Simon is one of the finest writers of non-fiction out there, so you’re not sacrificing “readability” by going with a journalist written work.
Sorry, man – I didn’t mean to get all harsh on you (or Mrs. Klaw by proxy). I was mostly joking.
But maybe you gave us Wire fans an idea – does your wife have a blog like Mrs. Poz does? If we can convince her to watch The Wire…
And, not to belabor the point – 60 hours might seem like a big commitment, but many of us were able to do it over the course of 5+ years.
I was going to argue the 60-hours-is-too-much-meme as well but then I realized that’s why I’ve refused to ever get into “24” so I’m going to abstain from being either the pot or the kettle there. I think it took me close to a year to get through “The Wire” on Netflix and even though I enjoyed every minute I won’t pretend that’s an insignificant period of time.
For something shorter that I also enjoyed a fair bit I’d recommend the HBO mini-series “Generation Kill” also available on Netflix. Based on the novel by a Rolling Stone reporter embedded with a Marine platoon (I think it’s a platoon, I’m not good at military stuff) during the invasion of Iraq. And “Friday Night Lights” is great, can’t recommend that show enough.