TV shows: Chapter 4
Aug. 8th, 2015 04:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
liamstliamThis will bring us up current to shows I am watching or have been watching. Again, possible spoilers.
NCIS: Like Criminal Minds, I have watched a lot of NCIS, but there are some seasons missing as well. I do distinctly remember the first episode (but I initially missed the crossover with JAG, another show I really like).
Anyway, this one has been around 12 seasons now, and I am pretty sure I have seen more than half the episoides. I still loathe Tony, even though he is a little less sexist than he used to be. He is still a dick. It's interesting how in the most recent season they are trying to humanize him with his father. Problem is, I find his father incredibly annoying as well.
I like NCIS best when there's an arc going on. The one-off episodes do not hold my attention the way the arc episodes do, even if there is non-arc stuff going on. There are times I feel the characters are somewhat static through the 12 seasons. There's not a lot of character development. There are some character changes, sure. but I am not feeling like there's been the kind of growth you see in other shows. Sure, I love Abby, but she hasn't really changed very much.
If anyone has developed, it's McGee, but I am not always sure I like the direction. I also felt it was kind of cheesy for him to fall in love with Delilah, then have her get paralyzed. Some of their following interactions were pretty awkward.
I watched a lot of Season 12, and I felt like it was really dragging. My understanding is it picks up in the final episodes, so I will have to go back and watch those.
NCIS New Orleans: Here's another I watched from the beginning, and I am absolutely loving it. I did see the two-part crossover with NCIS, and I liked it from the beginning. I am a big Scott Bakula fan, and I adore the way Lucas Black plays LaSalle, right down to him having been the Alabama mascot in college. Sebastian, however, is the Jar-Jar Binks of the show, and Patton Plame (wheelchair guy) is almost as annoying. CCH Pounder is a great actress (I have watched some Warehouse 13, though in the early episodes of W13 we do not see enough of her. Brody's not really developed yet, but I did like the focus on her at midseason. I don't know if LaSalle's brother really adds a lot. I will say this, just as NCIS itself was wearing thin on me, I watched the last few episodes of NCIS: New Orleans and it seemed so much more interesting, active and fresh. I didn't like what happened at the end, and I will be interested to see what the fallout will be. (Note: I have never watched very much of NCIS: Los Angeles at all. It just seems like a bit much, and I am having trouble wrapping my head around Linda Hunt in the Gibbs/Pride role.)
Chicago Fire: I jumped into this in the middle of the second season and have seen pretty much everything since then. I need to go back and see the first season, but I sometimes find that hard to do. Yes, this is another soap opera set in, well a firehouse in this case. I will address the crossover aspect of the show under Chicago PD, but I do think that's a major strength here. This show, like a number of other lately, doesn't seem to have an issue killing off major characters and working the story line from there. t makes me a little nervous when I start to get to like a character. Again, like many of these types of shows, you have as many major incidents in a single show as a real-world place would have in six months or a year. But that's part of the suspension of disbelief. I feel this show does a great job when it comes to conflicts and tension among the characters. I will be interested to see how things developin the next season.
Chicago PD: Another show that started as a crossover from another, this time with Hank Vought establishing his bad guy credentials in a couple episodes with Chicago Fire. (I do know any other shows that crossover the way these two do, and it's been pretty cool to see Law & Order: SVU pop in there, too. (And apparently Chicago Med is on the horizon for the fall, but we will have a lot of competition in that ER-type category.)
Back to Chicago PD: One of the things I love about this show is that you do not have typical "TV Tropes" characters, starting with Voight himself. The whole show spins around him playing fast and loose with the rules and his colleagues trying to figure out just how fast and loose they can be. Trudy Platt is a highlight for me, and he portrayal of the desk sergeant (or charge nurse in hospital series) is the best I have seen. You get the idea that she knows every officer inside and out and what is best for him or her. She can be a bit brusque, but she reacts in an apologetic way fairly quickly. Antonio looked interesting at first, but he has flattened out. I do get tired of all of the intramural hookups on this show. Olinsky seems to be going through some development, and I am waiting to see Roman break out. The Nadia story line, while not always believable, was both heart-warming and heartbreaking. I did not like the outcome. Finally, we come to Erin, who has had the most ups and downs and appears to be one of the focal points for the next season. Finally, I will say I enjoy the show (and Chicago PD) when there are extensive crossovers.
NCIS: Like Criminal Minds, I have watched a lot of NCIS, but there are some seasons missing as well. I do distinctly remember the first episode (but I initially missed the crossover with JAG, another show I really like).
Anyway, this one has been around 12 seasons now, and I am pretty sure I have seen more than half the episoides. I still loathe Tony, even though he is a little less sexist than he used to be. He is still a dick. It's interesting how in the most recent season they are trying to humanize him with his father. Problem is, I find his father incredibly annoying as well.
I like NCIS best when there's an arc going on. The one-off episodes do not hold my attention the way the arc episodes do, even if there is non-arc stuff going on. There are times I feel the characters are somewhat static through the 12 seasons. There's not a lot of character development. There are some character changes, sure. but I am not feeling like there's been the kind of growth you see in other shows. Sure, I love Abby, but she hasn't really changed very much.
If anyone has developed, it's McGee, but I am not always sure I like the direction. I also felt it was kind of cheesy for him to fall in love with Delilah, then have her get paralyzed. Some of their following interactions were pretty awkward.
I watched a lot of Season 12, and I felt like it was really dragging. My understanding is it picks up in the final episodes, so I will have to go back and watch those.
NCIS New Orleans: Here's another I watched from the beginning, and I am absolutely loving it. I did see the two-part crossover with NCIS, and I liked it from the beginning. I am a big Scott Bakula fan, and I adore the way Lucas Black plays LaSalle, right down to him having been the Alabama mascot in college. Sebastian, however, is the Jar-Jar Binks of the show, and Patton Plame (wheelchair guy) is almost as annoying. CCH Pounder is a great actress (I have watched some Warehouse 13, though in the early episodes of W13 we do not see enough of her. Brody's not really developed yet, but I did like the focus on her at midseason. I don't know if LaSalle's brother really adds a lot. I will say this, just as NCIS itself was wearing thin on me, I watched the last few episodes of NCIS: New Orleans and it seemed so much more interesting, active and fresh. I didn't like what happened at the end, and I will be interested to see what the fallout will be. (Note: I have never watched very much of NCIS: Los Angeles at all. It just seems like a bit much, and I am having trouble wrapping my head around Linda Hunt in the Gibbs/Pride role.)
Chicago Fire: I jumped into this in the middle of the second season and have seen pretty much everything since then. I need to go back and see the first season, but I sometimes find that hard to do. Yes, this is another soap opera set in, well a firehouse in this case. I will address the crossover aspect of the show under Chicago PD, but I do think that's a major strength here. This show, like a number of other lately, doesn't seem to have an issue killing off major characters and working the story line from there. t makes me a little nervous when I start to get to like a character. Again, like many of these types of shows, you have as many major incidents in a single show as a real-world place would have in six months or a year. But that's part of the suspension of disbelief. I feel this show does a great job when it comes to conflicts and tension among the characters. I will be interested to see how things developin the next season.
Chicago PD: Another show that started as a crossover from another, this time with Hank Vought establishing his bad guy credentials in a couple episodes with Chicago Fire. (I do know any other shows that crossover the way these two do, and it's been pretty cool to see Law & Order: SVU pop in there, too. (And apparently Chicago Med is on the horizon for the fall, but we will have a lot of competition in that ER-type category.)
Back to Chicago PD: One of the things I love about this show is that you do not have typical "TV Tropes" characters, starting with Voight himself. The whole show spins around him playing fast and loose with the rules and his colleagues trying to figure out just how fast and loose they can be. Trudy Platt is a highlight for me, and he portrayal of the desk sergeant (or charge nurse in hospital series) is the best I have seen. You get the idea that she knows every officer inside and out and what is best for him or her. She can be a bit brusque, but she reacts in an apologetic way fairly quickly. Antonio looked interesting at first, but he has flattened out. I do get tired of all of the intramural hookups on this show. Olinsky seems to be going through some development, and I am waiting to see Roman break out. The Nadia story line, while not always believable, was both heart-warming and heartbreaking. I did not like the outcome. Finally, we come to Erin, who has had the most ups and downs and appears to be one of the focal points for the next season. Finally, I will say I enjoy the show (and Chicago PD) when there are extensive crossovers.
