Tag Archives: NCIS: LA

Mondays deliver Entertainment

#Supergirl #Blindspot #Scorpion #Gotham #Legends #MajorCrimes

If you are struggling to find something to watch live on television on Monday nights I am left wondering why.  Fox’s Gotham going head to head with CBS’s Supergirl means my DVR is hard at work, leaving me with only one decision — which show am I watching live, and which show am I tuning into after the fact, but definitely watching.

Supergirl

For me, Supergirl is shiny and new and I watch it each week because I can not resist, and the actor playing James Olsen, Mehcad Brooks, is leaping from small screens with his portrayal.  Gotham on the other hand is great entertainment, but their arcs work well in the marathon watching format where I have an easier time keeping track of the threads, and who is where doing what in the vast city / world that the creators have Gotham are serving up to their viewers each week.   (If you missed it, you may want to take a listen to our recently released podcast about Season 1 of Gotham.)

The next hour of prime time brings both CBS’s Scorpion and TNT’s Major Crimes.  Scorpion mixes attempts at intelligent problem solving with humorous scenes and lovably awkward characters.  There are certainly moments you can stop and think about and question, but if you allow yourself to simply get caught up in the momentum of the episodes, they take you on a fun and exhilarating ride, week after week,  and offer hope that intelligent good-hearted people are out in the world, trying to keep us safe, and make our world a better place for us to live.  Then again, the guys who can hack any computer get sent on a mission to Cuba where there are few computers, and are getting ready to take on an assignment to area 51, so as I said — there is a strong sense of humor that flows through and carries the shows along as well.

TNT’s Major Crimes evolved out of the Kyra Sedgwick show The Closer,  and for those who were worried a change in team lead, and show title, might spell the beginning of the end, it has not been the case here.  Mary McDonnell‘s character Sharon Raydor has come in with a different approach, determined to not only get confessions, but see the guilty parties go to jail, and in doing so has taken the show from a determination to close cases to a determination to get justice.

As if the DVR had not been doing enough for one night, next up is the decision of whether to view live, or later, NBC’s Blindspot vs. ABC’s Castle, with CBS’s NCIS LA also in the mix as well.

NBC_Blindspot_728x90_wk2_dayofI’ll confess, of the three shows offered in this hour of Prime Time, my first choice to record and watch later is Blindspot (which NBC has already said will have a second season).   Not because I do not enjoy it, but because it is a show full of details I do not want to risk missing.  What if the phone rings when they show the tattoo that means everything this week?  What if for some reason I’m not looking at the screen when some great reveal occurs?  I want to see these things.  Blindspot is not a show you can listen to and catch every aspect of importance.  Castle has a lot of great character interplay, and moments, but if you miss a moment it rarely feels like it changes your understanding of the episode or season.  They certainly enhance your enjoyment — and are appreciated, and the talent that goes into the script and acting is appreciated… but if I have to choose 1 show I can record… I lean towards Blindspot vs. Castle.

As for NCIS: Los Angeles… thankfully we live in the age of Video On Demand, an age where if you can only record 1 show, while watching another, you can actually view what all three networks aired in a given hour, provided you have enough hours in your day.

pre_legendstif_120The other thing to be thankful for, is TNT showing episodes more than once in a night, offering me the chance to watch Season 2 of Legends as it airs.  Where Season 1 focused on a different Legend each week, and the many faces Martin Odom was capable of taking on, Season 2 is delving into his search to discover who he was before he had an accident that robbed him of his memory.  A bit more confusing in nature, because the scripts are moving between both locations and time frames, season 2 has the potential to either be eye opening, or something I need to re-watch to understand.

Criminal Minds & Stalker

Probably since the dawn of television program scheduling the infamous powers-that-be have been trying to decide how to pair television shows.  Oversimplifying the problem/question, each season as they plot it out, they are trying to decide whether they want a block of shows they feel naturally fit together, where the audience for one show is an “obvious” for the next, or if they want to pair shows that are at first glance about as far from a match made in heaven as an audience member can imagine, and yet, when you get tempted by that teaser scene into staying tuned into the next show, suddenly you discover a new favorite show you might otherwise have never found on the schedule.

CBS putting NCIS back to back with NCIS: Los Angeles in previous seasons, and NCIS: New Orleans this season is a prime example of that seemingly obvious and natural fit.  The hope is, if you like one NCIS show, you like all NCIS shows.

In contrast, there are many who wondered at the pairing of Blue Bloods with Hawaii Five-O.  A match-up that as succeeded for several seasons now.  Perhaps it is the nostalgia factor of Hawaii Five-O that leads some to also like a Tom Selleck led show.  Or maybe audience members who like one cop show on an island (Hawaii) like another cop show on an island (Manhattan).   Whatever the magic is (two strong family/community-centric shows?), the majority of the audience from Hawaii Five-O appears to stay where they are for another hour and follow the Reagan family as they keep New York safe in Blue Bloods.

TAU Stalker 105086_d0272b

Stalkers Maggie Q Dylan McDermott

When it comes to Wednesday nights on CBS one can not help but think that Stalker is benefiting from having been slotted in after Criminal Minds.  Both shows are intense rides and with 9 seasons under their belt Criminal Minds has shown not only that they know what they are doing, but they are skilled at bringing characters in and out of the fold.  New this season, Stalker follows a Threat Assessment Unit (TAU) as opposed to the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) of Criminal Minds, but the characters are equally determined to protect the victims, hunt down the bad guys, and keep people safe.

In some respects, Stalker and Criminal Minds might have been placed together on the schedule as a combination of both theories… they would attract the same audience, and yet there may have been a fear that Stalker was not getting enough advance attention and promotion for the Criminal Minds audience and fan base to find the show.

If Morgan (Shemar Moore), Reed (Matthew Gray Gubler) and Garcia (Kirsten Vangsness) from Criminal Minds were to help the TAU out on a case or two on Stalker the show might not only get a bump in the ratings, but keep those extra audience members as they discover what they have been missing out on.

Criminal Minds airs Wednesdays on CBS @ 9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT
Stalker airs Wednesdays on CBS @ 10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT

Criminal Minds On the Web:  http://www.cbs.com/primetime/criminal_minds/
Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/#!/CriminalMinds
Twitter:  http://twitter.com/#!/CrimMinds_CBS
CBS Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/CBSTweet

Criminal Minds Cast on Twitter:

Joe Mantegna:  @JoeMantegna 
Shemar Moore:  @shemarmoore
Matthew Gray Gubler:  @GUBLERNATION
A.J. Cook:  @ajcookofficial
Kirsten Vangsness:  @Vangsness
Jennifer Love Hewitt:  @TheReal_jlh

Stalker On The Web:

Website: http://www.cbs.com/shows/stalker
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StalkerCBS
Twitter: https://twitter.com/StalkerCBS
CBS Twitter:https://twitter.com/CBS

Stalker Cast on Twitter:

Dylan McDermott @DylanMcDermott
Maggie Q  @MaggieQ
Victor Rasuk  @victorrasuk
Mariana Klaveno  @MarianaKlaveno
Elisabeth Röhm  @ElisabethRohm

NCIS – New Orleans

Which NCIS do you belong on?

Which NCIS do you belong on?  Take the quiz on the CBS site and find out!

NCIS, which originally spun off of JAG, is adding another spin-off this season in the form of NCIS: New Orleans, which will premier Tuesday Sept 23 on CBS, after NCIS kicks off it’s 12th season.

Fans of NCIS other spin-off, NCIS: Los Angeles will have to wait until Monday Sept 29 to find out if Sam (LL Cool J) and Callan (Chris O’Donnell) survive last season’s cliffhanger which had them trapped in a submarine.  I expect the 6th season of Los Angeles to start off with some tense moments as the rest of the Los Angeles team works to rescue these two beloved characters, because while the show could technically continue without them, and the show has proven itself willing to kill off characters (think Dom played by Adam Jamal Craig), and write characters out (think Nate played by Peter Cambor), Sam and Callan are simply too great to see end here and now.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NCISLA
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NCISLA_CBS
Instagram: NCISLA
CBS Tweet: https://twitter.com/CBSTweet

Cast of NCIS: LA on Twitter:

Chris O’Donnell @ChrisODonnell
LL COOL J @LLCOOLJ
Daniela Ruah @DanielaRuah
Eric Christian Olsen @EricCOlsen
Barrett Foa @BarrettFoa
Renée Felice Smith @ReneefSmith
Miguel Ferrer @Miguel_J_Ferrer

As for NCIS, in its original incarnation, the season premiere looks like it will revolve around McGee (Sean Murray) and Gibbs (Mark Harmon) on a mission to Russia where they are forced to go off the grid.  Given how much fun the show had in an episode not too long ago where DiNozzo was off grid in Europe and the team had to find inventive ways to get in contact with him and help him make it back to safety this has lots of great potential for action, story, and humor — especially given the pairing of McGee and Gibbs in this off grid situation.

Official CBS Website: http://www.cbs.com/primetime/ncis/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NCIS
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NCIS_CBS
Instagram: @ncis.cbs
CBS Twitter: http://twitter.com/CBS

Cast of NCIS on Twitter:
Michael Weatherly @M_Weatherly
Sean Murray @SeanHMurray
Pauley Perrette @PauleyP
Rocky Carroll @RockyCOfficial
Brian Dietzen @BrianDietzen
Emily Wickersham @EmilyWickersham

When it comes to NCIS: New Orleans, what we know about the cast and show really comes from the two-part back door pilot that aired during NCIS last season.  I for one am delighted to see CCH Pounder join the cast full time as the medical examiner.  She was wonderful in those episodes, in a character full of spark and charm, with unique flavor.

Fans of JAG may recognize Zoe McLellan as Petty Officer Coates who joined the show in 2001 (Season 7) as an Aide to the JAG.  Here she will be playing Special Agent Brody, a different character but again she lights up the screen and charms the audience.

NCIS New Orleans

NCIS New Orleans

Website: http://www.cbs.com/shows/ncis-new-orleans/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NCISNewOrleans
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/NCISNewOrleans
CBS Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/CBSTweet

Cast of NCIS New Orleans on Twitter:

Scott Bakula     @ScottBakula
Lucas Black     @TheLucasBlack
CCH Pounder    @CCHPounder