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NCIS-N=CSI?! Never.
I saw recently that NCIS: Los Angeles is averaging almost as many viewers as its parent last year. Callen and Hanna are almost as BA as Jethro, and that's saying something. And the cast is fun and quirky enough to work their way through cases and still work into our hearts. One thing I appreciate so much about NCIS and now NCIS: LA is how true it has stayed to itself as a franchise. It's only by the presence or absence of certain characters in NCIS that I can hazard a guess as to which season a random syndicated episode is from. I am certain that as NCIS: LA grows, it will be the same. It is a good formula that the writers are confident enough to embrace, just to point out how good the formula is.
What scares me is, that's how CSI used to be. Until CSI made a mockery of itself, it was a good, pioneering formulaic crime drama. So then I started thinking (it's what I do when I'm not watching NCIS, sorry) and I got more scared. Could NCIS be turning into the next CSI?
The analysis reveals more similarities than one almost being an anagram of the other. They are both beloved formulaic crime dramas. They both revolve around crime investigation and sex up jobs that are in reality kinda boring. They both rely on the all-knowing team leader device for everything from plot resolution to comic relief. They are both syndicated on more channels than most people get with basic cable. They both now have spinoffs set in different cities. And they both have had shameless sweeps sagas where the franchises incestuously intertwine. And, for both, this has all come as a result of tremendous, somewhat unpredictable success. Thank heaven NCIS is the one show on television Jerry Bruckheimer doesn't produce, or we would have two clones on our hands.
But, in spite of the similarities, I have faith. I am an NCIS fan, and I believe in my show. Let's not forget the differences that are there, too. First of all, Chris O'Donnell is a better actor than William Petersen and David Caruso put together. True, Laurence Fishburne and Gary Sinise are masters of their craft, but they are out of place enough in their respective casts that my point still stands. Second, and perhaps more importantly, we know just enough about our favorite OSP agents-not too much, and not too little. We don't have details about their lives shoved down our throats, and we don't have whole boring episodes devoted to narrating stupid personal dramas. They are good friends we get to hang out with-we just get to watch them kick butt and take names, and know more or less how it's going to turn out in the end. See, at some point, the friendship with CSI got weird. I don't think it'll be the same with NCIS.
Jon
Wed, 02 Dec 2009 04:35:39 +0000
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