‘NCIS’ season 12: Reader questions about Gibbs, Ziva, Tony, and more

June 4, 2014

We’ve been teasing this “NCIS” article for a little while now that is all about answering reader questions, and now, it’s finally here. We received well over 100 questions, which is incredible and appreciated. There was no way that we can answer everything, but we will answer as many as we can. Some of these questions were asked multiple times, and we chose some of the most-popular along with those that covered a variety of topics. We originally planned to do ten, but in honor of season 11 ending we decided to bump it up to 11.

There are a couple of things to mention before we get started: These answers are based on our own experience and expertise, and not from any first-hand information we received from CBS or the show. Also, most of the spoiler-related questions are based on past information and also patterns across TV. The writing process for season 12 is still so new that the writers are the only ones who actually know what’s coming up … and even they don’t know everything yet.

1. With Mark Harmon executive-producing ‘NCIS: New Orleans,’ might he take a step back from NCIS after season 12? perhaps giving Michael Weatherly the chance to take center stage a little more often? – Lorraine64

This is an interesting idea, and Harmon’s deal may be up at the end of season 12. Personally, though, we see no connection between Harmon’s new EP job and his status on “NCIS.” There are two other producers more directly involved in the spin-off, which means this will not impede with Mark’s ability to play Gibbs.

Being that Harmon was the anchor when this show began, we would estimate that he will stay however long he wants to. We cannot imagine there being a situation ever where the show lets him go.

2. Are Jimmy and Ducky going to be in S12 more? They didn’t seem to be around much in S11, with a couple of exceptions. – Lisa Liscoumb

Odds are good that you will see more of them. The reason why season 11 felt so unbalanced character-wise is largely because of events that the writers were not prepared for long in advance. Cote de Pablo’s exit was fairly last-minute, and saying goodbye to Ziva and introducing Bishop took up a good chunk of time that would have been allotted for more individual stories on some of the supporting characters. Ralph Waite’s passing also changed the plan for the final two episodes.

The best template for season 12 is some of what you saw with “Shooter,” “Alleged,” and “The Admiral’s Daughter.”

3. I wanted to follow up on a point you mentioned in your wish list for Season 12 – crossovers with NCIS NOLA and NCIS Los Angeles.I thought the Bellisario lawsuit precluded any further crossover with NCIS LA? Am I wrong on that?

And, most importantly, is there any interest at all on the part of [Gary] Glasberg/Harmon in working with [Shane] Brennan and the crew from NCIS LA – and vice versa? I’d LOVE to see the three shows interact both in a multi-part series, and in smaller ways throughout the season (guest appearances by actors on one of the other shows, or characters referenced in passing by name).

Conversely, is there a possibility of one of the NCIS shows crossing over with another CBS drama? NCIS with Criminal Minds or CSI: Cyber would be very interesting, and Sam Hanna working with Steve McGarrett on a joint OSP/Five-0 case would be a fun ride! -BrianD

There are some good points that are brought up here in regards to the lawsuit, which was really all about ownership and whether Bellsario’s past involvement with the “NCIS” franchise stipulated if he should be entitled to a stake of “Los Angeles.” Whatever happened behind the scenes here clearly had no impact on the “New Orleans” show getting off the ground, so we’re not ruling out a crossover episode with all three shows at some point. All legal matters can be worked out in due time, and it would be a great move for the February sweeps. “CSI” did it with their three shows back in the day.

As for crossing over with other CBS shows, that’s a little more complicated for many reasons. Many of these shows have to think with syndication in mind, and it would be awkward for a “NCIS” fan watching on USA to see half of a spin-off with “CSI” that was continued on the next “CSI” episode. We suppose, though, that it is still possible. There’s already been a crossover between “NCIS: Los Angeles” and “Hawaii-Five -0,” and the only show mentioned here that could prove difficult is “Criminal Minds” being that it is not produced by CBS Television Studios.

4. Will Ziva return in season 12? -Multiple people, every week, ever since she left.

By far, this is the most widespread question we receive, and we also receive it in a variety of different forms. Some want to know if she will be a regular again, and others are merely upset that the dynamic of the show has changed.

The important thing to realize first of all is that in theory, it’s possible she could come back. Both the show and Cote seem reasonably open to the character returning again someday, and she and Michael Weatherly also remain friends. The only person who has really spoken out negatively was David McCallum.

If she does return, there are a number of issues that have to be worked out here. For one, whatever happened with her and negotiations on a new contract would need to be addressed, and you have to find a way to include it that makes sense for the story. Given the lower demo ratings and the salaries that are already on the payroll, bringing someone like Cote back full-time would be a large investment that the show may not want to spend the money for. We’d be very surprised if that happens.

Our best guess is that if she does return, it will be for an arc either during a sweeps period, a milestone episode, or a season or series finale. If “NCIS” wanted to make sure she would never return, they would have killed off the character. The important thing to remember is that time heals all wounds, and the longer the show stays on the air, the more likely it is to us that Ziva pops back in someday.

There are a couple more Ziva-related question later, so we’ll have more there when it comes to Tony.

5. Now that Michael Weatherly has a production company will he be cutting back his screen time over next 2 years? -Donna2712

It’s doubtful that the two will have any connection. Michael’s got enough money in the bank and resources at his disposal that he can manage his gig as Tony and also a production company. Really, him staying on “NCIS” only helps his other endeavors given that it is such a big platform for promotion. He’s also been on “NCIS” for so long that he has an established a routine there, and he can balance this out with other gigs.

6. Will Tony ever have a crime related arc again that gives Michael Weatherly an opportunity to flex his considerable acting muscles? And two follow ups: Are the only two characters who [the powers that be] care about Gibbs and Bishop now? And – Will Tony ever be allowed to move on from ‘tiva’ or is the character doomed to continued stagnation because it is to the show’s advantage to keep the ‘will Ziva return’ debate alive? -sadtonyfan

This question first of all touches on one of the craziest conspiracies that we get from time to time: That the producers don’t care about certain characters. This is right up there with the laughable one that CBS somehow pays writers like us to not say anything negative about the show. If that were true, we’d be writing from a yacht somewhere, dripping in diamonds and bathing in champagne.

The writers still very much care about Tony, Abby, and everyone else, and we feel like season 12 will give DiNozzo opportunities to do a variety of different things. With the way that Ziva’s exit happened, the writers had to basically do everything on the fly the rest of the season, whether it be Bishop’s introduction or individual arcs, and were forced to change most of their original plans. This summer will be good for the show in that they’ll hopefully have time to come up with plans and arcs that won’t need to change last minute. While we know that it’s easy to blame the producers or CBS for whatever happened with the Cote negotiations, don’t blame the writers. They’re trying to do the best with whatever they are given.

The way that the show may chose to handle Tony post-Ziva is similar to how other shows have handled similar situations in the past: We expect him to move on personally and professionally, and then change course if Ziva is brought back. It limits possibilities for the writers if they have a character hung up on someone who is not a present part of the show.

7. We may meet Ellie Bishop’s husband next season, what else may we learn about her? -queendenise

The plan is that you will meet Bishop’s husband next season; he along with GIbbs’ second ex are two of the big guest stars.

Season 12 is really going to be the year of finding out whether or not Bishop can be a great character in this world or not. It was a rocky start, but that can often happen when you are trying to integrate a new regular in the middle of the season with limited preparation. The character was a little ethereal and abstract in season 11, and this is an opportunity to ground her with a backstory and with people in her life.

8. Will Tony go undercover again? -Lorraine64

Just as the sky is blue and Gibbs is known to scowl, you can count on it. It’s too fun of a story trope to pass up.

9.. Why do you think there was such a drop in the key demo rating over the duration of Season 11? -Corrine

There was some controversy over what we wrote about this a while back, and we’ll try to clear it up somewhat here since there are a multitude of factors that go into why a show drops as much in the demo ratings as “NCIS” did during season 11.

The popular explanation is that many young viewers may have bailed on the show due to Ziva’s exit, and we believe there are a certain number of people who either quit watching, or started going to their DVR instead. The curious thing, though, is that while the demo numbers dropped pretty significantly, the total viewer drop was somewhat minimal in comparison. This is where the “audience is aging” argument comes from.

Clearly, there were not millions of 49-year olds that suddenly turned 50 overnight this season, and what most likely happened here is that some older viewers may have decided to start watching the show live who were not previously, while many younger viewers stopped doing so. Some other factors include heavy competition (“Agents of SHIELD” and “The Voice” have taken away some younger viewers), and also just general viewer fatigue with network TV. There are exceptions and shows (“Survivor” and ironically “NCIS: Los Angeles”) that have not seen big drops at all, but then you have ones like “American Idol,” “Glee,” “New Girl,” “The Mentalist,” and “Modern Family” that have taken big stumbles in the demo the past two years.

10. Why do you think Gibbs is not so stern anymore? We should have had headslaps galore with Bishop and her quirks!! -Sherri Keefer

Part of it most likely comes with time. A good analogy is the first day of college, where your professor is terrifying the first day and assigns you a book to read overnight. However, over time you realize that so long as you do the work, the professor is not so bad. We’ve come to know Gibbs now, and over time some of his grizzled nature has started to wither away.

11. When will there even be a mention of Ziva? It isnt ‘organic’ 2 have her never spoken about or ignored by her supposed family. -Hannah

What we would tell you is that the fictional world of “NCIS” is not encapsulated in an hour-long episode. They are only showing you the part of these characters’ worlds that have to do with a story at hand. If Ziva is not relevant to a case they are trying to solve or a storyline, it’s less likely that she will be brought up. Maybe she is discussed in other parts of the character’s day that aren’t shown on TV, and that is we are led to believe.

We understand the frustration, but we’ll go back here to something that we said earlier in this article. The show is not going to spend much of its time discussing a character who is no longer around onscreen. You don’t see Mandy Patinkin mentioned much on “Criminal Minds,” and even after Sharona left on “Monk” she was only mentioned on a handful of occasions save for that one episode she returned. This is just the way that TV works sometimes; even “Glee” didn’t mention Cory Monteith every episode after he died.

We do like the Ziva character and would like to see her back at some point, but the real way that it could happen is if you make your feelings known, but then continue to watch and support the show and the people on it. You want to build a positive environment around a character, and being kind and supportive towards those who work on the show is going to inspire them to want to bring her back.

—

Thanks everyone for your questions, and maybe we will do this again.

Love TV? Be sure to like Matt & Jess on Facebook for more updates!

188 Comments

Michael Snyder
June 9, 2014 @ 2:02 pm

Going back to Ziva. I’m sorry but you Tiva and Ziva lovers are stubbornly deluded.
Let’s recap 11×02.
1. Tony, McGee and Ziva resign to cover for Gibbs.
2. Tony and McGee are reinstated, Ziva is in Israel visiting old faces and places.
3. Ziva invites Tony to join her. Tony sees an opportunity to go from friend with occassional priviledges to lover with full time priviledges and jumps.
4. Before Tony can leave for the airport, someone shoots up his apartment. At the same time, local hired muscle go after Ziva. The Brotherhood of Doubt is making their play.
5. Ziva kills her attackers but is hurt. She visits an old friend who is a doctor in Tel Aviv.
6. While hiding at her apartment, Ziva confesses she loves Tony but then adds that she killed her half-brother Ari. Turns out the doctor friend thought Ari was going to propose to her when he got back from his “mission”. Things go downhill rapidly.
7. Ziva leaves suddenly and looks for shelter, finding it at her grandparents’ house where she was born. Tony tracks her down and finds her there.
8. Ziva has had an epiphany. Every man (and I’m sure she killed a number of women) she killed was someone’s father, son, brother, fiance or lover. Their deaths, regardless how justified, left others in pain and anguish. She can’t and won’t continue to kill people.
9. This causes a problem (or problems). Ziva cannot go back to being a NCIS agent, where she would be put in positions where she would have to kill. She can’t live her life as she and her friends are targets from revengeful people, from families of American criminals she’s killed, to her time as a Mossad assassin, which means Hamas, Hezboullah and Syrian or Iranian intelligence would love to get their hands on her, which means she would have to kill to protect herself and her loved ones.
10. Tony tries to get her to come back to DC with him, even if she quits NCIS. She says no. He tries to stay with her, saying he can change with her. She says no. She knows if she won’t kill to defend herself, she can’t protect Tony either. She believs that going back or staying in touch with her old life would drag her back to a life of killing.
11. She sends Tony away, calls and says goodbye to Gibbs.
12. What next? As long as Ziva David exists, her loves and friends are in danger of being used as leverage against her. As long as Ziva David lives, she is a target for revenge. Her and their only protection is for Ziva David to cease to exist. This means Ziva David disappears and reinvents herself as someone else. She changes her name, her life, her background, maybe her hair ( which leaves the writers the opportunity to cast another actress of the same build, height and athletic ability if they want to reintroduce the new “Ziva”). She goes in another direction, something far from her previous life. Dancer, medical technician, something where she would never again put others in danger or have to kill.
13. If Ziva David returns, she won’t be the same Ziva David that left the show, unless the writers throw away this episode. I guess they could always go the “Dallas” route?
- liz laughlin
  June 14, 2014 @ 12:09 am
  
  This is very interesting but not the only way she could go. Ziva is a complicated person. She entered the Israeli army when she was young. Later she joined Mossad where her father trained her to be “a ruthless, cold hearted killer.” She had to stuff her feelings most of her life. Second guessing would get her killed. She is the last of her immediate family. She is alone but as you say, she finally admits that she loves Tony She admits it to her childhood friend, the doctor. She doesn’t know that her friend fell in love with Ari. and expected to marry him. Her friend tells her that if she can’t have Ari, the man she loved, why should Ziva have the man that she loves? This breaks a dam of repressed emotion that has been held back most of her life. She finally must face all of the killing that she for which she was responsible–all of the pain and misery she has caused She does not feel worthy of love and happiness so, she turns Tony away. She starts a life of penance so to speak. Perhaps she works in hospice or a day care center in Israel. But she can’t resolve these issues–she can’t bring about closure and peace within. Finally she thinks of the only one who has lived a life similar to hers, Gibbs, the marine sniper. He would understand. She once told him that he was the closest thing to a father that she had. She dials his number. So, begins the conversation. Maybe that conversation has already begun.
- Carol
  June 19, 2014 @ 11:13 pm
  
  And your point is? I just hate Bishop so nothing you say helps.
marysue
June 7, 2014 @ 3:13 pm

I too, was upset with Cote leaving. She had a special spark with all the cast and most of all Michael Weatherly. She did say on a TV interview that after she and Michael auditioned together – even though she was at first upset with him for going off script, they spent time to get to know each other and realized they were a good fit for the show. It was the main reason she got the role. She was able to handle Michael’s jokes and ad libs without getting bent out of shape. The producers saw something unique between these two. I hope that the writers will create some good banter with Bishop and the guys next season. That is what I enjoyed about Ziva – the banter she had with the guys. It has been said that it would be an expensive venture to bring another full-time character back and a lot would have to be worked out with Cote if she is interested and willing to come back, not only money but the what, where and how. I like, many feel the show has fallen flat because of her exit. Hopefully she will return one day.
Gina Callen
June 7, 2014 @ 9:17 am

For all those people blaming GG for the state of season 11 CUT IT OUT! Cote quit 2 weeks before filming which is over 2 months after the first few episodes are written. The writer’s had to go back and change the entire series because of her actions. Writing for a tv series is not easy. There are immense pressures to get things right and to make sure that future storylines are set up in early episodes. AI would like to see all the whiners try and do it. Its not as easy as it sounds and GG and the team did a great job. Looking forward to season 12.
- liz laughlin
  June 9, 2014 @ 12:31 am
  
  She did not have a contract with CBS. They were in negotiations for months. Was she just supposed to sign the contract because we all wanted her to return? This is how show business works.. When you get a meeting of the minds between the two parties, then a contract gets signed. She did not get what she wanted from CBS. She had the right to turn them down Glasberg should have been ready for that eventuality.. He was not. It wan’t her fault.
  - annsan
    June 12, 2014 @ 11:04 pm
    
    Very obviously there were assurances made by her or her people that she would sign and be back….had there not been, MH would not have announced in mid May 2013 that everyone was returning.
    
    Also given that GG and the writers are back in pre-production in early June, mere weeks after the UpFronts, and that her management company had been negotiating for months (some say since Harmon signed) and that Harmon had advised her on the negotiations….yep, all points to the idea that cdp repeated what she did at her last contract negotiations – played hardball at the last minute. Only this time, it didn’t work. Given the rumors of what she supposedly wanted, not a huge surprise….
    - liz laughlin
      June 13, 2014 @ 9:47 pm
      
      “Very obviously there were assurances made by her or by her people that she would sign and be back.” I have always told you my sources, now, you tell me your sources. You are claiming inside information.
      I held a real estate sales license for 3 years and I can assure you, there is no contract until both parties sign. Oral agreements have no weight in court. Only a fool would think that there is a binding agreement when there isn’t. I don’t think Les Moonves is a fool and I don’t think that Cote is a fool either When it comes to legal counsel, I have to believe that CBS had a much bigger and better team of negotiators and lawyers than Cote did.. So, don’t ask me to feel sorry for CBS. If as you said, “She played hardball at the last minute” and she did it the last time she negotiated, it makes CBS look foolish. There would have been even more reason to have a contingency plan in place. Trick me once, shame on you, trick me twice, shame on me..Look, every year CBS has to negotiate with cast members and production staff over salaries and other things, trying to tell me that they are a bunch of “babes in the woods”–naive innocents–is just laughable. Maybe you can sell this one to someone else, but I’m not buying.
      - annsan
        June 13, 2014 @ 11:15 pm
        
        cdp gloated in, I believe, a tv guide interview after she signed her last contract about how she played hardball and won. There’s your source for that. It’s pretty safe to say that she was going to do it again since it worked for her the last time.
        
        As far as the source about the assurances that she’d sign, that too is fairly simply. As I said when I made that statement, MH announced that ALL would be back at the UpFronts last year (May 2013). No way he would have done so if he hadn’t been told she’d be back.
        
        As far as who has the better negotiating team….she’s with Paradigm (or was – who knows). Pretty high powered agency….
        
        Not trying to ‘sell you anything….everything that I’ve surmised I’ve done from what I’ve read about the actual show and from the actual cast. Not drawing conclusions based on oh a real estate career….funny, thought you were a teacher. At least that’s what you claimed a few replies ago when you were forcing your own view of the show’s theme down everyone’s throats
      - liz laughlin
        June 14, 2014 @ 8:22 am
        
        I had a real estate sales license in the past. I don’t now. People do make career changes. My reference to real estate is that you have to understand about contracts to be licensed in real estate sales. As I said oral agreements mean nothing legally. It has to be in writing whether its a sale of real property or a contract for a job, such as the ones that TV actors sign.
        
        Cote herself admitted that she did not plan on leaving the show–that it was a last minute decision. I think she thought that she would still be there in season 11 and Harmon thought she would accept the contract offer. They were both wrong..
        
        I don’t know what the final offer from CBS was, but I know that she refused it CBS has said that she refused the contract offer. Moonves said they offered her a lot of money and then they offered her more. What “a lot of money” might be is very subjective. For a poor man $2000 may sound like “a lot of money,” but to someone like Bill Gates it’s taking his wife out to lunch. So, did they offer a $25,000/episode raise or a $50,000/episode raise? More? I don’t know. Maybe you do. It sounds like a lot of money to me but my face and name have never shown up on the opening credits right after Mark Harmon and Michael Weatherly on the most watched television drama in the world. I guess “a lot of money” is a matter of perspective.
        
        Do you also have trouble with men who play “hard ball” or do you just find that to be a character flaw in women?
        
        As for who did her negotiating, I don’t know one agency from another. You evidently are up on that, maybe part of your job. Again, it was Cote’s choice to accept or turn down the offer from CBS. Also, CBS should have had a contingency plan. I’s just good business. And I am a teacher been one for a long time.
- Carol
  June 19, 2014 @ 11:17 pm
  
  One word – Contract
  
  A contract is an agreement between two entities.
  
  One entity- Cote. Second entity – Gary
  
  There was no contract. Any employer who neglects to sign his staff to contracts less than two weeks prior to filming is by definition negligent.
  - liz laughlin
    June 20, 2014 @ 3:48 am
    
    Amen!
Carol
June 7, 2014 @ 12:17 am

Matt – thanks for the article. I enjoyed it but I cannot watch another season with Bishop. She is dreadful and the storylines have been boring. They do not have to bring back Ziva but they have to show a willingness to make changes to get me back. Killing off Bishop would be the best new start.
- annsan
  June 7, 2014 @ 1:38 am
  
  can’t see them doing that just to get you back
  - Carol
    June 19, 2014 @ 11:30 pm
    
    Can see them cancelling the show if season 12 is as bad as the second half of season 11. That would be due to people like me. But I really never get theimression you would care if it lived or died. You seem to be in your own little world of backing some people and bashing others and your comments indicate you don’t know much about the characters or the content. Its like you have a vested interest in one of the current decision makers rather than an interest in the show.
Anna690710
June 6, 2014 @ 4:02 pm

Thank you for the article although I don’t know why you want your loyal readers to give Bishop on NCIS another chance, he had 16 already!
I used to love NCIS with Kate and with Ziva but not anymore. One comment stated there is nothing about McGee anymore, right, McGee and Tony are background characters now!
I don’t care one second what happens to this screwed up Bishop character. I was done with her the moment Gary Glasberg changed supergirl into an incapable woman lost and shot on the job!
Besides Emily Wickersham is not good enough to be on that show, her facial expressions and her way of speaking clearly show that (thank God I am not old or hearing impaired so her mumbling is no problem for me)!
I would have watched without Cote de Pablo (she was great for 8 years but I wish her the best for whatever she plans to do) but Bishop makes the show unwatchable! There are already enough incapable people in real life so I don’t want to be annoyed when I am looking to be entertained!
And after reading another article where the showrunner claimed he won the lottery with Bishop and the actress portraying her because she sat on the floor during the audition I knew the producers and maybe some cast members had lost their minds!
Thank you for 10 years of NCIS and a few good episodes in season 11 but with some people involved that show is not worth watching anymore!
abby
June 5, 2014 @ 8:07 pm

I have to agree with those who have said that Not mentioning Ziva is the least organic thing that has been done this season. I mean up until season 10 there were still reference to Kate who hasn’t been on the show at that point in 8 years. In the episode “You better watch out” we learned that DiNozzo named his pet goldfish Kate. And I can count on both hands how many times Kate has been referenced over the last 11 years. So how is it organic to bring up Kate so much but not even mention Ziva once?
- Gabi
  June 5, 2014 @ 11:46 pm
  
  Not mentioning Ziva was the most forced thing ever done in the series. There were so many instances when it could have happened and been completely natural that it became evident that they the writers were avoiding mentioning her name.
  - abby
    June 6, 2014 @ 2:21 pm
    
    I was never a big Ziva fan, in fact it took a few years for me to warm up to her. Nothing against the character of Ziva or the actress I just always liked the character of Kate a little bit better. But by the time Cote De Pablo left the show I had really come to like the character of Ziva. I really enjoyed her season 10 story arc and looking back over the years in retrospect some of the better story arcs had to do with her. I’ll admit when I found out she was leaving, I was a little disappointed but at the same time I had figured they would get another strong confident female character in her place. And the show wouldn’t miss a beat. Obviously not another former foreign operative, but maybe someone more like Kate. And I was disappointed with how things turned out, majorly disappointed. Instead of a strong female character, we got Bishop, who is anything but. Any hopes that the show would even be an echo of what it once was in the beginning went out the window. I was so very disappointed in Glasberg and in the writing of this last season. He should have had a back up plan, for if Cote De Pablo left and I am very sad because he is destroying my favorite show and he doesn’t seem to care.
- annsan
  June 6, 2014 @ 3:26 pm
  
  What show have you been watching? Kate was mentioned in S3 and then wasn’t referenced at all until AMWIAB. beyond that, Kate was murdered (thank you Ari & ziva) whereas all ziva did was quit her job. That definitely does not warrant regular mentions by the team.
  - abby
    June 6, 2014 @ 7:07 pm
    
    Kate has been referenced in:
    ” Kill Ari” (part 1 and 2)
    “Probie”
    “Mind Games”
    “Hiatus” (Part 2)
    “Bait”
    “Aliyah”
    “A Man Walks Into a Bar”
    “Life Before His Eyes”
    “You Better Watch out”
    And most recently in Season 11 “Gut Check” and “Double Back”
    And tecnically in Whiskey Tango Foxtrot if you count Dinozzo talking to the stupid fish….which personally I don’t. But some might.
    The fact is even in season 11 Kate is still very much remembered. I will say that there have been non verbal references to Ziva since she left. We’ve seen her necklace in Dinozzo’s desk drawer and the Israeli flag her father gave her is now in Abby’s lab. Which is something. So its not like she is totally forgotten. But I will say I find it odd that a character that has left in season 2 is still referenced quite often.
    - annsan
      June 12, 2014 @ 11:06 pm
      
      Aliyah?? don’t remember that…
      
      Funny though how a majority of the eps named were all season 3….
      
      As far as ziva being remember, Kate was murdered (by Ari, with an assist from his loving sister). ziva simply quit her job. huge difference
      - Abby
        June 17, 2014 @ 2:35 am
        
        Ducky mentioned her in that episode. But here is the deal. Kate was killed in season 2. When the actress playing the role broke contract. Yet the powers that be, seem to hate that they killed her off. Because they find ways to include her all the time. Ziva left last season, when the actress who portrayed her simply decided not to renew her contract. And they send off the character and never mention her again. Kind of strange. That being said, I would be surprised if we ever hear the name Ziva again on the show. And her character is alive and well. I have a feeling Glasberg has no intention of ever mentioning her again and any chance of a future role reprisal well I wouldn’t hold my breath.
      - liz laughlin
        June 20, 2014 @ 2:38 am
        
        Aliyah Season 6 ep. 25, the episode where Ziva, Gibbs, Leon and Tony go to Israel to talk to Eli David after Tony killed Michael Rivkin.
JCL
June 5, 2014 @ 7:49 pm

I actually laughed out a loud at the irony of referencing the only two pieces of solid information we do have about Season 12 – guest characters tied to Gibbs and Bishop – right after insisting that, no, the main focus of the show is NOT on Gibbs and Bishop. Sure, I believe you. Really I do…
- agentscully514
  June 5, 2014 @ 11:57 pm
  
  Bishop is his partner now.
GiveusmoreMcGee
June 5, 2014 @ 4:15 pm

You said that Gibbs’ ex wife and Bishop’s husband are the “big” guest stars in S12. I hope that doesn’t preclude another appearance by Admiral McGee. Seeing as he was left in a precarious situation, and given the number of times we’ve seen DiNozzo Sr, it hardly seems unreasonable. And now that Tim is more of a “key” player on the team, it seems like he should get more than ONE McGee-focused episode per season. Sans Delilah, of course, who needs to stay away.
Carl Beck
June 5, 2014 @ 3:02 pm

I have to admit I was surprised after reading your article! I think I never commented before on an article about NCIS because I always agreed with your thoughts but not this time!
I am a fan of great acting that’s why I watched JAG and NCIS! My favorite character was Kate but I continued watching because although I thought Ziva was too skilled and too tough for her age but Cote de Pablo is a good actress and I expected the showrunner to replace her with another good actress but NO!

I watched season 11 until the Ralph Waite tribute but I really have to ask: Is there anyone who thinks the Bishop actress has a clue of what she is doing? I don’t think so! Miss Wickersham cannot act at all!
No one needs to know why Cote de Pablo left the show but the people I know would like to find out why a pretty young woman without any acting skills got a part in the former Number 1 show? Who helped her to get there?

It is so sad to see NCIS going down the drains because the people in charge chose an actress who cannot act and in case you endured watching the 16 episodes she was in you must have realized that too!

I won’t watch any episode of season 12 I already know that Bishop doesn’t belong there!
- liz laughlin
  June 23, 2014 @ 8:19 pm
  
  Tried and true “good actresses” cost money and television is a business. I too was a fan of JAG and NCIS. I own seasons 1-10 for both shows. I have no plans to buy season 11 of NCIS. They need an actress the caliber of Sasha Alexander and Cote de Pablo. I liked both Kate and Zia.
Lisa Liscoumb
June 5, 2014 @ 2:03 pm

Thanks for using my question, Matt! Great article, although I suspect (especially after reading some of the comments below) that it won’t be popular with some of the more die-hard Ziva fans.
Marianne Gibson
June 5, 2014 @ 6:33 am

I am what most people consider an “old person” …63 to be exact and I started watching NCIS because of Ziva. There was quality, a special zap between Tony and Ziva that made me laugh, smile, and sometimes cry. The chemistry that existed between the team was magically unique. Since Ziva’s left it has gone. I tried to watch season 11 but honestly, once Bishop was introduced, I was totally turned off. I quit watching. Writing CBS hasn’t help, as nothing has been done to rectify the matter. Sorry Matt but I can not remain loyal to a show that isn’t loyal to their employees. The *sigh* headache of the rating numbers is directly linked to CBS’ refusal to give Cote what she asked for. CBS and Glassberg took a gamble and lost. And not to be prepared???? They honestly thought Cote was going to cave in. I applaud the stand she has taken for herself and pray CBS will wake up and be honest enough to offer her what they just gave Michael Weatherly: what he wanted. As I writer of fiction myself, I know how easy it would be to rewrite Ziva into the script. CBS just has to want to.
- Naomi
  June 5, 2014 @ 1:27 pm
  
  very well said marianne!!! my thoughts on the situation exactly!
  - Marianne Gibson
    June 5, 2014 @ 2:44 pm
    
    Thank you Naomi.
agentscully514
June 5, 2014 @ 4:41 am

after Ziva left, this show OFFICIALLY became an old people show. NO action. stupid little girl sits on the floor and looks constipated. I am mourning the show I loved for ten years. Sharp, funny, lots of action. All gone. replaced by Bishop chomping on cheetos.
- annsan
  June 5, 2014 @ 7:12 pm
  
  Show wasn’t sharp, nor funny – it was humiliating humor which is very much not funny. & the action was akin to what used to be seen on Saturday morning cartoons
  - agentscully514
    June 5, 2014 @ 7:17 pm
    
    Why did you watch for 8 years if you hated it so much? Why do you complain about Ziva all day every day on every website when she has been gone almost a year? You talk about Ziva more than any Ziva fan I’ve ever seen. You police the internet to try to rid it of Ziva. You need to move on.
    - annsan
      June 5, 2014 @ 7:22 pm
      
      Why do you continue to watch? or half the ziva/tiva fans on here who do nothing but complain & lambaste GG, MH & EW, yet still watch.
      & I’m laughing at the idea you persist with as to what I do all day. You know so little….guess it’s all the sock accounts you use –
      - agentscully514
        June 5, 2014 @ 7:25 pm
        
        I watch because as a true fan, I wanted to give Bishop a chance.
      - annsan
        June 5, 2014 @ 7:30 pm
        
        ROFL
        Yeah right….& there’s ocean front property in South Dakota
      - Carol
        June 19, 2014 @ 11:43 pm
        
        You are truly nasty and probably the biggest hypocrite on this website. You project your beliefs onto others, you attribute motivations to others but get on your high horse if anyone does it to you, you ?make accusations that you could not possibly have knowledge of unless you have access to Matt’s blog metadata. When you have nothing to say you say something unpleasant. Grow up.
- Tweeter_NCIS
  June 5, 2014 @ 7:16 pm
  
  Wow, 1 instance of her eating cheetos and she’s doing it the whole season? To be honest, for me NCIS has been comfort food. It’s never been edgy like L&O:SVU, which I watched recently – there are truly disturbing episodes – or Criminal Minds and I don’t think it was ever intended as such.
  - agentscully514
    June 5, 2014 @ 11:58 pm
    
    Her “food associations” are supposed to be one of the cornerstones of her intellect, so it gets mentioned all the time. I chose a food. it wasn’t literally all about the one food.
    - annsan
      June 7, 2014 @ 6:49 pm
      
      & the cornerstone of the ziva character was the ‘I can kill you xxx different ways’…
      
      Not really seeing much of a difference
- Carol
  June 6, 2014 @ 10:22 pm
  
  Agentscully- you hurt my feelings. I am 70 and I hate Bishop. I do not think the fact that older people are departing the show more slowly than younger people is related to them liking the changs. I think perhaps older people are slower to give up on things they once loved. At this age we experience a lot of loss in a very short period. I lost my Mum, my sister, my best friend and my job all within 2 years. I did not watch the last Parsa episode because the whole Bishop/Gibbs things was so inane. I did watch the later episodes on my DVR and enjoyed one where Tim and Tony were the leads and there was very little Bishop, Most of the others I found to be boring and poorly acted. It is not just Bishop. It is the others too when she is in a scene – they come across as wooden. I watched the finale only because of Raph Waite and when it was done I told my husband I was not going to bother starting another season until Bishop is gone.
Moncitymom
June 4, 2014 @ 10:48 pm

Not one question about McGee? :(
- agentscully514
  June 5, 2014 @ 4:43 am
  
  LOVE McGee. loved how he and DiNozzo became real buds this season. Despite PR, McGee still has no meaty stories. Not ok. He is a terrific actor and can do so much more. THe Delilah thing was honestly brushed over in spite of promises.
  - Sandi Brooks
    June 9, 2014 @ 3:03 pm
    
    I watched a bit, but I honestly failed to see any actual McGee/Delilah sparks. Tony and Ziva always had magic chemistry between then ( which likely comes from how well CdP and MW relate to each other).
    
    It is curious how the show has no issue with McGee continuing a relationship. With a woman on a different continent who is likely to be little seen, but balks at the concept for Tony!
- Lydia
  June 6, 2014 @ 12:55 am
  
  There have a least been spoilers that the McGee and Delilah story would be carried into the next season. Until this article there have been no spoilers about anything Tony related.
  - JCL
    June 6, 2014 @ 6:01 pm
    
    I’m a Tony fan, too, but I wouldn’t count this article as “spoilers.” It is really mostly speculation other than confirmation of the only two spoilers that have been released regarding Gibbs’ gazillionth ex and Bishop’s husband. And as far as McGee and Delilah, has anyone seen actual confirmation somewhere that the “story” would be continued outside of a rather vague comment by GG that their relationship would have to be addressed in season 12? Unless he’s confirmed somewhere that Delilah will physically be back on the show (which I haven’t seen), in GG-speak his comments could end up meaning nothing more than a line or two around mid-Season 12 confirming that they broke up two months ago because they couldn’t make the long distance thing work. At this point, I know better than to expect any more than that until I see true confirmation from somewhere.
- annsan
  June 7, 2014 @ 6:50 pm
  
  That’s cuz this site is overloaded with ziva & tiva fans
exltcmts
June 4, 2014 @ 7:48 pm

The issue here is the story arc. Ziva is no longer Ziva. Go back and watch Ep.11×02 again. Ziva kicked Tony to the curb and phone flagged Gibbs, all to go find herself. If Cote de Pablo comes back it will not be as formar Mossad assassin and NCIS agent Ziva David. She would be someone else, a different someone else. I imagine her as a ballerina or a dancer in a small troupe, since her martial arts skills would give her the flexibility, strength and motor coordination to dance at a reasonably high standard (though not Moscow prima ballerina standard). If they were to bring her back, it would be like Tony going to the ballet with a new girl friend and recognizing (the former) Ziva on the stage. Would (the former) Ziva even want to talk to this shadow from a past she has abandoned and pushed away? What would she be like without the sense of danger and mystery that accompanied her as Ziva. To bring Ziva back as Ziva would make the “goodbye” episode laughably stupid.
- Naomi
  June 4, 2014 @ 8:47 pm
  
  i’m sorry but that is the stupidest assumption i’ve ever heard. first of all, the goodbye episode IS “laughably stupid” since it was completely out of character for Ziva & even Tony. secondly, however, that does not mean the character has been ruined. you are who you are – a person doesn’t change just because they went to “find” themselves. so who’s to say ziva didn’t end up back in mossad somehow?! it’s TV for pete’s sake!
  - liz laughlin
    June 5, 2014 @ 4:49 am
    
    Not so, I have been rewatching NCIS since Cote departed. I’m now on season 7, when NCIS posted some of it’s highest viewership numbers. There is a scene in season 6 where Gibbs tells Ziva that her father raised her to be “a ruthless, soulless killer.”. She was trying to reclaim her soul. The soul that her father had taken from her.
    - Naomi
      June 5, 2014 @ 1:24 pm
      
      except that makes no sense whatsoever because she had already “reclaimed her soul” as you say. the way she was close to the team & became a U.S. citizen showed she had left her old life behind & found a new home at ncis – this was clearly portrayed throughout the years.
      - Lisa Liscoumb
        June 5, 2014 @ 1:57 pm
        
        It may have been, until season 10 when she reverted to her old ways when her father was killed. Even then, I have my doubts.
      - Lydia
        June 5, 2014 @ 5:15 pm
        
        I just abhorred the Ziva revenge arc in season 10. It turned the entire team into hypocritical vigilantes. I didn’t even watch the last two episodes of the season because I became so disgusted after watching Revenge. I certainly don’t want to see a return of Ziva. The show had become ZCIS. Now the writers only have Gibbs to stress about giving all the big important stories to. Without Ziva at least Tony and McGee might get more than the usual one and done, although now that they have another female lead, it seems to be going from being the Gibbs and Ziva show to the Gibbs and Bishop show.
      - agentscully514
        June 5, 2014 @ 6:40 pm
        
        I’m a huge Ziva fan but I also hated the revenge arc. It went against years of her character development.
      - annsan
        June 5, 2014 @ 7:16 pm
        
        what character development? There was no character development under SB & GG spent most of his time cleaning up the storylines & trying to retconn the characters from the damage done
      - Marla
        June 5, 2014 @ 7:19 pm
        
        You’re not the only one who hated the Revenge arc. Not only did they
        have Ziva seek revenge, but Vance and Gibbs both knew what she was doing
        and didn’t stop her. For all the growth she did, it got thrown away in
        this arc, sadly.
      - agentscully514
        June 5, 2014 @ 7:28 pm
        
        They as good as ordered her to do it. They gave her agency resources.
      - Lydia
        June 5, 2014 @ 10:58 pm
        
        They didn’t order her to do it. They just let her have her way and didn’t stop her. It made them all look really bad IMO.
      - agentscully514
        June 5, 2014 @ 11:28 pm
        
        Gibbs told her to go to Rome to get Bodnar and told her to take Tony with her. That means he authorized the trip and gave her agency resources. Vance also authorized it (even though he couldn’t do so explicitly). So that’s why they “as good as” ordered her, just MHO. I agree it made them all look really bad, even McGee.
      - Lydia
        June 5, 2014 @ 3:06 pm
        
        After CdP’s last minute departure tptb had to come up with some plausible way to write Ziva out. I suppose they could have killed the character, but I’m guessing her already upset fans would have been even more unhappy about that. I thought they did a pretty good job with the situation they found themselves in. My biggest complaint is that once again Tony was sacrificed, and now for a character who opted to leave. He’s been once again limited by over stating his attachment to Ziva in order to placate fans who seem determined to hate the show no matter what. I wish tptb would grow a pair where Tony is concerned and allow him to have a mutually gratifying, mostly off screen romantic relationship and give him his skills back on a regular basis. The writers need to be allowed to let Tony grow into a mature relationship and suck it up and let Tony be a hero agent again instead of having absolutely all the exciting hero moments bestowed upon Gibbs. That has become ridiculously predictable.
      - Naomi
        June 5, 2014 @ 3:16 pm
        
        i agree that they should give more spotlight to weatherly who is way more talented than harmon imo. but cote is the last person to be blamed for what happened in S11. surely Gary G. & writers knew she hadn’t signed her contract yet. so why weren’t they prepared with a plan B then??? and you’re incorrect about ziva fans who “hate the show no matter what” if the reason is ziva/cote why we watched & loved the show for all these years then of course we’ll only be satisfied if she returns. why should we keep watching if in our opinion the show lost all that made it good?!
      - Lillian
        June 5, 2014 @ 6:48 pm
        
        Someone else said this, but perhaps CdP was giving all indications she was returning. She was in contact with MH and MW, they may have been confident she was signing. They did write Ziva-lite first episodes, in case she hadn’t signed by the time they started filming, as they did for MW when he didn’t sign right away. Why waste time writing a new arc when your actor is assuring you they are returning?
      - Naomi
        June 5, 2014 @ 7:23 pm
        
        stop blaming Cote for everything! it’s the job of the showrunner to run the show & this includes being prepared for whatever may come – such as an actor leaving!! they lost all the chemistry & spark when cote left & have been making excuses because the show now sucks without her!
      - annsan
        June 5, 2014 @ 6:37 pm
        
        Lydia – spot on…
        The show, for years now, has sacrificed MW & Tony to the altar of tiva. Time to lock the door on that & give MW as Tony what he deserves
      - agentscully514
        June 5, 2014 @ 6:40 pm
        
        What Tony deserves is a promotion and his own team. He’s been crippled by Gibbs for too long.
      - Lydia
        June 5, 2014 @ 7:12 pm
        
        Of course the problem with giving Tony his own team is it would probably be the game ender for NCIS. Realistically though, if Tony was such a great agent he would have been promoted by now and not so dependent on Gibbs. Somehow Don Bellasario managed to write a Tony who was a great and independent agent who didn’t need Gibbs blessing and approval 24/7. It wasn’t perceived as a threat to Gibbs alpha male. But once Shane Brennan took over as show runner Tony became increasingly the teams weak link and butt of every joke. Tony is not quite as seemingly lame and incompetent now that he doesn’t always have to be written as saved and bested by the always superior Ziva. I’m glad he’s not being cast as regularly as the joke now, but he’s a long way from the highly gifted agent of the show’s early seasons. I guess making sure that Gibbs is the only one who gets moments that make him look heroic, brave, noble, the smartest, tptb don’t have to worry about Tony as the eternal subordinate seem out of place. But unfortunately it doesn’t let the character grow. I suppose it is flattering to Gibbs though
      - agentscully514
        June 5, 2014 @ 7:27 pm
        
        Why would it end the show? Gibbs could get promoted and Wed still see him all the time. Easy.
      - Lydia
        June 5, 2014 @ 11:02 pm
        
        I like the idea of Gibbs moving up and Tony taking over too, but the problem is it would end up changing and limiting the Gibbs character too much. He’s always been portrayed as being pretty disdainful of his desk sitting administrative superiors and continues to be the almost exclusive (especially with ZIva gone) heroic action figure. It seems as though tptb have no such issue with limiting Tony.
      - agentscully514
        June 5, 2014 @ 11:26 pm
        
        BUt it could be great with Gibbs moving up. What an adjustment to go from the maverick to the man in charge. It would be great drama and you know he’d be bucking to get back in the field at every opportunity, but Tony would be callnig the shots. I think it would be great fun to watch and would really shake up and refresh the show. My biggest beef with season 11 is that they did NOTHING wiht the opportunity they had. They could have shaken everything up, but instead they manufactured a Ziva-opposite and dropped her in Ziva’s exact slot. How was that supposed to succeed? THey still have no idea what to do with her.
      - Gabi
        June 5, 2014 @ 11:55 pm
        
        They are pretty much going to be doing a repeat of the dynamics that viewers have started to reject next season. The storylines are going to be exactly the same as last season.
        
        The show lost all their chemistry and with the creation of Bishop Glasberg shows he has no idea of the nuance that it takes to create chemistry.
      - Lydia
        June 6, 2014 @ 4:06 am
        
        Geeze I hope not. I gave the last season some leeway because CdP left them at the last minute and they obviously weren’t expecting this. The hierarchy for Glasburg and co. seems to be Gibbs first and foremost always and constantly, then the female lead (which is the same as Shane Brennan), teasing important things for Tony but not being sincere, and trying not to piss off anyone who could criticize his efforts and be considered important enough to be heard.
      - Gabi
        June 7, 2014 @ 12:47 pm
        
        Glasberg should have had a backup plan. What sort of irresponsible showrunner is he?
        Anyway McCallum confirmed that they only rewrote 5 scripts (due to being irresponsible and unprepared) so what happened to the other 19 episodes?
      - Carol
        June 6, 2014 @ 11:22 pm
        
        Probably true. For a minute there I got excited about something fresh but it will be Bishop to the death. oh. Now I am getting excited again, this time about Bishops death.
      - Gabi
        June 7, 2014 @ 12:44 pm
        
        Glasberg is not going to kill of his creation. He thinks he won the lottery when he cast EW and created Bishop so do not expect Glasberg to ever write her out.
      - liz laughlin
        June 12, 2014 @ 1:55 am
        
        I think that money had something to do with the selection. As TV shows age, the payroll budget goes up and many shows start to cut out actors and replace them with less costly ones. I would be willing to bet that the TPTB continue to get big raises.no matter what. NCIS lucked out when they signed Cote back in season 3. But as she became more important to the show, she probably wanted more money and rightly so.
      - Carol
        June 19, 2014 @ 11:12 pm
        
        I know Gabi. I just can’t stand her and would like my favourite show back with someone who does not bug, annoy, irritate and bore me. I have this tiny scrap of hope which my right brain tells me is hopeless and my left brain says keep trying.
      - annsan
        June 5, 2014 @ 7:14 pm
        
        actually he was far more crippled by ziva than he ever was by Gibbs.
      - agentscully514
        June 5, 2014 @ 7:26 pm
        
        He’s totally crippled by Gibbs now.
      - Lydia
        June 5, 2014 @ 8:15 pm
        
        I agree with that.
      - liz laughlin
        June 6, 2014 @ 3:16 pm
        
        I strongly disagree. Many people, myself included, did not like Tony, the overage frat boy. I know someone like that. When a man is still behaving that way when he is older, it’s beyond annoying. I did not become a serious viewer until the writers allowed Tony to grow up. The growing up had to do with his falling in love with Jeanne and then with Ziva. Finally, he cared more about someone besides himself. The change from whiny narcissist to a real man was amazing. He can now joke with people without acting like a middle school misfit, which is what he was if you know your NCIS.history. Finally after years, I like Tony. I’m sorry you hate Ziva so much. Most of the people that I know think she is a great actress.
      - annsan
        June 6, 2014 @ 3:24 pm
        
        Laughing at the idea that the only thing you saw was the ‘overage frat boy’. Tony never ‘grew’ up’ with ziva around. He was nothing but a one note character & butt of all the ‘humor’/snark on the show. While he was definitely in love with Jeanne, he was never in love with ziva. & honestly – Tony ALWAYS cared more about others than himself. Just gotta actually WATCH the eps to see that. Know NCIS history – he was never a narcissist or a ‘middle school misfit’.
        
        But then again it’s also very obvious that ziva & tiva was your focus for the show. Hard to see the real Tony then. ziva was a shallow character played by a one-note actress who had maybe 2 expressions.
      - liz laughlin
        June 6, 2014 @ 10:47 pm
        
        Do you know what you were watching? It seems that it was something different from what is on my DVDs. Tony was obnoxious because that was his way of keeping people from getting too close to him.. If he could keep them at arms length, they couldn’t hurt him. He lost his mother when he was 8. His father put him in boarding schools and only saw him a few weeks out of the year. His father betrayed him. His father ran from the responsibility of raising him. . He was a little chubby cheeked kid who was bullied.. (Remember the picture that Ziva kept? Remember the story where Tony was going to apologize to a former classmate? If you don’t , you weren’t paying attention. ) But he was a survivor. Gibbs is the one who saw the potential in him. Gibbs was a father to him. I think that you should go back and watch from the beginning because you obviously missed some things. Also, there is a difference between joking around and being hurtful. Tony said and did a lot of hurtful things He was what the shrinks call a “boundary crosser.” I’m glad he changed. I like him much better. I like people.who know when to be tough and when to be nice, like Gibbs and McGee. One last thing, was the kiss he gave Ziva at the airport a kiss you would give a coworker or a casual friend? Bye now.
      - Carol
        June 6, 2014 @ 11:12 pm
        
        I agree with most of what you say. I have never liked the head slapping thing. That is a real boundary violation to me. I understand the meaning behind it but I think the writers could have found a less offensive way of portraying the same thing (no suggestions, I could never write a script).
      - annsan
        June 7, 2014 @ 1:56 am
        
        I think that you should quit putting how you see the character relationships onto others or as show canon.
        
        Tony has done nothing ‘hurtful’ to McGee or ziva. Too bad neither of them could return the favor. He’s never been a boundary crosser either. & obviously you need to rewatch a lot of the show if those are the only 2 adjectives you can put to Gibbs & McGee….
        
        As far as the kiss goes, would YOU kiss the person who has physically assaulted you as a lover?
      - liz laughlin
        June 7, 2014 @ 7:00 pm
        
        Whatever are you talking about? As I remember the KISS, Tony initiated it and Ziva who could have dropped him in a hear beat, wrapped her arms around him. She didn’t protest and she didn’t push him away and that was not the kind of kiss that you give grandma, a coworker or a casual friend. As far as crossing boundaries is concerned, getting into a person’s desk drawers at work whether locked or not is inappropriate behavior. The only people who would think it’s right are the ones who do it themselves. Physical assaulted? Are you talking about Israel after Tony killed Michael Rivkin. Tony knew that Ziva was very upset and he understood and let it go. He knew she could have killed him if she wanted. Later she apologized to Tony–“You’ve always had my back.” By the way, did you know that this is just a show, it’s all made up?
      - liz laughlin
        June 9, 2014 @ 12:10 am
        
        I’ve read most of your posts. When do you not put YOUR opinions on people? At least I have evidence to back up my opinions.
      - annsan
        June 9, 2014 @ 7:53 pm
        
        huge difference here, Liz –
        I put my opinion out there; I do not emphatically state that family is main theme that the show portrays period.
      - liz laughlin
        June 12, 2014 @ 8:48 pm
        
        As I said go watch JAG. The main character Harmon Raab Jr. Lost his father when he was a little boy. When he was sixteen, his goes to Viet Nam to try to find his MIA father. He continues to search for him as an adult and after many years finally finds out that his father was sent to Russia as a prisoner. Realizing that he would never be able to return home, he finds comfort with a Russian woman, fathers a son and dies there.
        The leading lady Col. MacKenzie had an abusive alcoholic father. She left home at 18 and married an abusive man. Eventually she makes her peace with her father when he is on his death bed in a coma. She stays long enough to make sure that he is properly buried
        Then there is Bud Roberts who is very much like MCGee. He was a nerdy guy and his father was an retired Navy Master Chief. He abused both Bud and his brother..
        Admiral Chegwidden, the father figure, is divorced from his wife and rarely sees his daughter, Francesca, who lives in Italy where her mother lives. They eventually get together when she is a young woman and when he retires in season 9, they plan on touring all of the major league ball parks in the USA.. I’ll leave you with this from season 8 ep.1 of NCIS.
        
        Michael Franks: “Do what you have to do for family.”
        Gibbs: “What rule is that?”
        Franks: “The unspoken one.”
      - liz laughlin
        June 20, 2014 @ 5:17 pm
        
        There are other themes, of course, The search for truth is another Both Gibbs and Commander Raab in JAG were known for wanting the truth not just to put someone in the brig.. Bellisario, like Gibbs, was a retired Marine Corps gunnery sgt. His admiration and support of the military was another of his themes. That one was slowly eroded after Bellisario left. In the beginning of the show, everything was clearly tied to the military. I loved the episodes when they went aboard a ship (or submarine,) traveled to Iraq or Afghanistan. It’s silly to let this love of the military slip. A recent Gallup Poll shows that this is one demographic where a majority of Americans agree. 74% of the people polled showed approval of the military. The numbers for the president and congress were not so glowing.
      - Carol
        June 19, 2014 @ 10:57 pm
        
        Liz. I enjoy your posts and find you anything but dogmatic. I think I understand annasan a bit better after reading her views. She is not a complex-thinker, not understanding of complexity and does not need to be challenged by thinking very deeply. It became apparant to me when she TOLD you that Tony never was hurtful to Ziva or Tim. See my response to her above regarding hurtful incidents.
      - liz laughlin
        June 20, 2014 @ 3:42 am
        
        Thank you and I yours. You understand that people can politely disagree.
      - Carol
        June 19, 2014 @ 10:51 pm
        
        You really are quite unobservant or you don’t really watch and enjoy. It is quite amazing how far ahead storylines and character development were thought out in earlier days. Watching reruns is always a delight and there are often things that were missed first time around. Anyone who says Tony has never done anything hurtful to mcGee or Ziva has never seen the crazy-glue on Tim’s keyboard episode (downright dangerous) or does not remember his crack to Ziva about dead-man walking. Or perhaps you have a different definition of ‘hurtful’ from the rest of. There are other examples as well as many examples of Tony being kind, Tony being boorish, Tony being selfless, Tony behaving like a frat-boy (spring-break?). As Liz pointed out, Tony is a complex character and that is what makes him interesting. Unfortunately either Bishop or Wickersham’s portrayal of Bishop is very one-dimensional. But I do understand now why you are so uncritical of her. You don’t see a lot of the dimensions that others do and you don’t require complex characters to be satisfied. And that’s OK for you.
      - Carol
        June 6, 2014 @ 11:04 pm
        
        your claws are showing
      - liz laughlin
        June 9, 2014 @ 8:08 pm
        
        well, I think that you probably are an expert on snark. I’ll give you that.
      - agentscully514
        June 6, 2014 @ 12:01 am
        
        Haven’t you figured it out yet? Tony is always the sacrificial lamb. It’s not because of Ziva. He is always sacrificed to make evyerone else look better, especially Gibbs. And Gibbs has held him down in his career for years.
      - Gabi
        June 6, 2014 @ 12:22 am
        
        Season 11 proved that Tony and everyone else is sacrificed for Gibbs. It is only going to get worse next season because no else else besides Cote had comedic timing so he will be the only one they can use for comedy.
      - Sandi Brooks
        June 6, 2014 @ 9:21 pm
        
        The revenge arc was MORE of the rest being sacrificial lambs to Gibbs (and Vance). Gibbs covertly encouraged Ziva to seek Bodner specifically to spare Vance getting his hands dirty doing so. Gibbs even snapped at Tony for suggesting they try to talk Ziva out of it (“She’s not gonna let it go, Boss”). And WTF! Why did they need to throw in a shack up with Adam after that really beautiful airport scene with Tony? It cheapened the whole already aweful arc!
        
        Wink Wink. Nod Nod. Vance gets his revenge, and Ziva gets emotionally sacrificed. NICIS has a history of sacrificing the ladies to provide emotional growth to their male leads. Even Ziva’s exit story was all from Tony’s perspective.
        
        As to the BS about the last minute aspect of her leaving: The actors are out of contract when the season ends. Nobody walked from a contract: they had made no commitment to her, nor she to them after the contract expired. If I plan on starting a real estate development, for example, I’d better make sure the land I need is locked up and under contract long before I line up the bulldozers and utility layers. GG just planned poorly.
        
        Based on interview, it appears obvious that CdP intended to return, I suspect there were some non monetary terms that the network refused to move on, and she eventually threw up her hands and gave up. If she needed time away, a break, they could have worked something out. NBC allowed Jesse L Martin time away from Law and Order to film Rent, for example. I recall network shows like Bonanza, after running many years, negotiating contracts with their stars that freed them from all being in every episode. Many ways to lesson or break up Cote’s time there existed, without losing her totally.
        
        There truly is that intangible something called chemistry. Either it is there or it is not. All the back stories in the world will not fill the void left by the lack of it now. MW has been very vocal about missing his buddy and has posted more than one twitter of his favorite or funniest NCIS moments etc. He clearly misses playing opposite her: their chemistry was one of the things that took NCIS beyond being just a crime of the week procedural. Now my husband, who has tried to keep watching while complaining how much he cannot stand seeing Bishop on the teem, can’t stand watching her, falls asleep during episodes. Sure the TV is on and NCIS is running in our home, but nobody is seeing the ads or caring about the show anymore. Additionally I suspect the current syndication value is lessened, as the rabid fans, the ones who will watch episodes over and over to catch little interactions are less likely to want to watch after season 10: unless there is some Ziva presence in future episodes.
      - liz laughlin
        June 6, 2014 @ 4:12 am
        
        Running into her childhood friend reopened the wound of killing her half brother, Ari. Ziva and Gibbs had a rather serious talk about whether she was sent by her father to kill Ari. She tells Gibbs that she was but she did not intend to kill him. She wanted to stop him. She tells Gibbs that at the time he, Gibbs, was nothing to her. At one point, Gibbs yells at her, “you killed him, you killed your own brother!” I think that the episode was called Aliya. Anyway, Cote’s acting was great. This was gut wrenching. Some of the best acting on NCIS was delivered by Cote. I don’t think that they will ever find a replacement for her. When she left, it was as if the heart and soul of the team left with her;. I wish they would bring her back but there is a lot of ego at CBS. Before NCIS, there was JAG another great creation of DP Bellisario. It ended with a contract dispute with the leading man, David James Elliot. I think that they were going to replace him with a younger actor (try to raise that important demographic) but the fans didn’t like him, So, they cancelled the show.
      - annsan
        June 6, 2014 @ 5:25 pm
        
        cdp has already been replaced. she was replaced by guest stars at first & then by Emily Wickersham. it’s an ensemble cast with Harmon as the star/leader.
        Anyone who paid attention to body language during episodes or in on screen interviews can tell that the ‘heart & soul’ definitely did not leave with cdp. Only her blind fans appear to believe that.
      - liz laughlin
        June 6, 2014 @ 10:01 pm
        
        NCIS is a spionoff of Donald P. Bellisario’s JAG. A recurring theme for Bellisario is “fatherhood.” You can see this in JAG and in NCIS. While most television shows treat Dad like a clueless buffoon, Bellisario took fatherhood seriously. Gibbs is the man who lost his daughter and with her his fatherhood. Tony had a father that all but abandoned him after his mother died when he was 8 years old His father put him in boarding school and only saw him a few weeks out of the year. McGee had a father that was career military. He was disappointed that McGee did not follow in his footsteps and let McGee know his feelings. In one scene Gibbs defends McGee to his father. Ziva had a father that stole her soul. Eli used her, his own daughter. Gibbs said to her at one point, “your father turned you into a ruthless, soulless killer.” At another point before Eli David died, Ziva told Gibbs that her father was all but dead to her. She also told Gibbs that he, Gibbs, was the closest thing to a father that she had. Gibbs became the father to his team. They became his family.so to speak. When Cote left and no one talked about her anymore, they killed the family dynamic.. This probably happened because, TPTB did not understand it in the first place. Kate left when Bellisario was still show runner. He knew his characters and dealt with the loss in a natural, “organic” way. We mourned the loss of Kate with the team.
        You can see this same theme in JAG where the leading man had a father who was a US Navy aviator shot down during the Viet Nam war. He searches for his lost father over many seasons of JAG. The leading lady, Col MacKenzie, had an abusive alcoholic father, with whom she finally makes her peace right before he dies. This is Bellisario’s overarching theme. It’s all about family and fathers. I’m thankful for the legacy that Donald Bellisario left us all. .
      - Carol
        June 6, 2014 @ 10:59 pm
        
        Liz, that is a really interesting point of view.
      - annsan
        June 7, 2014 @ 1:51 am
        
        NCIS did not turn into the team as family and Gibbs as daddy until SB began to slaughter the characters that DPB so wonderfully created. This thereby negates your whole theory
      - liz laughlin
        June 7, 2014 @ 6:23 pm
        
        Sorry, that you don’t agree. Go watch JAG. Also, look at the people surrounding NCIS. Bellisario lived what he beleived. David Bellisario, producer on NCIS: Los Angeles; Julie Bellisario Watson, producer on NCIS; Michael Bellisario actor, played Michael Roberts on JAG and bad guy Chip Sterling on NCIS; Troian Bellisario , actress on NCIS played McGee’s sister, Sarah and Erin on JAG. these are all Bellisario’s children. But it doesn’t stop with them. Stepsons Chad W. Murray, producer NCIS, Los Angeles and of course Sean Murray, actor, special agent Timothy McGee, NCIS. If you don’t get it, you just don’t get it..
      - annsan
        June 7, 2014 @ 6:52 pm
        
        Listing the names of the family members still associated with either show does not prove your point about the characters and the supposed team as family development
      - liz laughlin
        June 7, 2014 @ 10:24 pm
        
        How did they get their jobs with the show? Oh my! look at that, what a coincidence!. Have you ever taken a literature class where you were required to analyze poetry or novels or movies? Well, TV dramas are much the same. Essentially, they are short plays. When I work with students one of the things we work on is themes. A theme is a recurring, unifying subject or idea. When you see the author revisit the same topic over and over, in subtly different ways, you are supposed to go, “Aha…” Themes are universal. They cut across times and cultures. Good authors and writers want us to ponder and pick up on what they are trying to tell us.
        We now live in a world of sledge hammers–most things are “in your face.” If you are young, you probably prefer “In your face…” As you mature, you look for the meaning and subtlety is a good.thing. You want proof. You may want the author to say at the beginning of each episode,”Look, this is about fatherhood and family.” or “tonight’s theme is about patriotism or loyalty,” but I think that is boring. I hope that you learn to enjoy the.journey, the discovery, the aha! ..For Bellisario, family is important and the relationship with the father is important.. One more question, how many of the character’s mother’s have you met? ( I think we met McGee’s mother but she was not central to the story.). We heard about the mother’s and the memories were positive.
        Toodles,
      - Carol
        June 19, 2014 @ 10:30 pm
        
        Oh you are a bitter and negative person. Yu can’t concede a single point unless someone agrees with you hook, line and sinker. Liz made some interesting observations which is what discussion is all about and you have to disagree not only with her but bash Shane Brennan too?
      - annsan
        June 19, 2014 @ 11:12 pm
        
        Actually not, m’dear….it’s a pretty much stated fact that during DPB’s run of the show, every single possible pairing/relationship was subtly catered to. it wasn’t until SB got his mitts on the show fully that the focused changed to daddy Gibbs and his misfit children. That’s not bashing – that’s pointing out WHEN the show changed direction. Sorry you can’t tell the difference.
        
        As far as Liz’s interesting observations – not when she’s claiming absolute truth for how she saw the show and the team
      - liz laughlin
        June 26, 2014 @ 3:28 am
        
        Here’s one for you . In Season 2 ep.16, Pop Life
        Tony ate Kate’s tuna sandwich and of course a squabble ensues. They go to Ducky for mediation.
        
        Ducky: “There is clearly a latent sibling rivalry being expressed by your adolescent and sexually charged bickering. It all stems from a desperate desire to please a father figure and I think we all know who that is.”
        Kate: “What does this have to do with my tunafish sandwich?”
        Tony: “Who’s the father figure, Ducky?”
        
        In a previous ep. there was a food fight with McGee, Kate and Dinozzo. Gibbs walks in.
        Gibbs:” Anymore food fights in here and I’m going to join in with peas!”
        Kate: “Frozen Peas?”
        Gibbs: “No, in the can!”
        
        There is another scene in this same season where The team is on protection detail guarding a family. Kate is singing in the shower and Tony comes in the bathroom to brush his teeth wearing nothing but his boxer shorts. He starts singing along with the music and Kate realizes she’s not alone.. Then the sparks begin to fly.
        Kate: “Tony, out of here now!”
        Tony: “What? I’m just brushing my teeth. Don’t use up all the hot water.”
        Kate:: “Tony, how long have you been in here”?
        Tony: “Long enough to know you can’t sing and you haven’t shaved your legs in a week. (laughs)”
        
        All through season 2 there is bickering and childish behavior that goes on between the members of the team.. If you grew up with siblings, you recognize this right off. This is the team as family and it’s there long before Bellisario left and Shane Brennan took over as show runner.
      - liz laughlin
        June 28, 2014 @ 2:24 am
        
        Season 3 episode 1 Kill Ari Part 1–voice over commentary by Donald P. Bellisario. You won’t believe me. Will up believe Bellisario? If you don’t have the DVD, go rent it.
        “This episode is about the family grieving. The family is the NCIS team…grieving over .”.(he got disrtacted by the video) Yes, they’re all going to miss Kate.
        (Later on) “It’s all about the characters, the relationships and humor, something you don’t see on the straight forensic shows. There’s not a lot of character build up on those shows but here there is.”
      - Carol
        June 6, 2014 @ 10:56 pm
        
        Yes annsan, and therein lies the problem, She was replaced by EMILY WICKERSHAM. Even more stupidly the character that replaced Ziva was BISHOP. GG messed up and his ego will result in the end of the show rather than trying another replacement. All of you who think everything is great answer one question. Why not try another actress and another character and see if you can get the favoured demographic back. It can’t hurt. It could help. It would certainly convince me to give it another chance. And I have not read any posts at all raving about the Bishop character or what a great actress EW is.
      - annsan
        June 7, 2014 @ 1:49 am
        
        It’s not a problem to many outside the ziva / tiva fanbase…those that are complaining are mostly either ziva fans or those who can’t stand change.
        
        The ones complaining the loudest about Bishop and EW invariably also drag GG into the midst, sweetie….like an uncontrollable need to tear apart the person who refused to give them their love story
      - Carol
        June 19, 2014 @ 10:25 pm
        
        First I am not your sweetie dahling. Second I never bought into the love story and thought the wrap up was stupid. Three, I do not want Ziva back, I want Bishop gone. Can you grasp those three points?
        
        Yes, GG gets brought into it because first, it is his show, second he created Bishop, third he hired Wickersham. Can you grasp those three points?
        
        Those who can’t stand change have first adapted well to Kate’s replacement and second have adapted well to Jenny’s replacement. Got that?
        
        Now, instead of the sameold rhetorical nonsense you spout, please answer my question. Why not regain lost fans and retain present fans by trying again with a new replacement? I have read absolutely nothing from either group to indicate anybody is watching mainly because of Bishop.
      - annsan
        June 19, 2014 @ 11:09 pm
        
        Can you grasp the idea that I laid out 2 distinct groups of fans complaining about Bishop or did that go over your head,dahling?
        
        Secondly,can you accept the idea that GG and the writers had been at work on season 11 storyline for pretty much a month or longer when cdp finally decided to screw them over and announce her decision to leave? With the first 1/2 dozen or more eps written or in some stage of writing/pre-production, GG AND the writers had to scrap a month of work and start all over, continuing/salvaging what they could while creating a new character and then holding auditions – something they hadn’t planned on doing for the mothership. & as MH has said in interviews, hiring EW was a joint decision after testing actresses both in front of the camera and on set when it’s just cast & crew. Got it?
        
        Now as far as adapting to Kate’s replacement, you are assuming that all those who can’t stand change were actually around for the introduction to ziva….if they were, then Jenny would also be a replacement for them – gotcha! Fact is, there are those who consider ziva an original cast member and to them, the director might not be a main player so changing up the director doesn’t matter. Can you grasp that?
        
        As far as ‘regaining lost fans’, they aren’t lost to begin with. It’s not up to the show when viewing patterns change. Fans are DVR’ing more or choosing to watch online. Considering the price of cable/satellite, more power to those who can save $$ that way. I’d suggest you take a hard look at +3 & +7 ratings. think you’ll be unhappily surprised at the numbers.
        
        As far as trying again with a new ‘replacement’, why? to shut up those who can’t stop their whining & moaning about eyebrows,haircolor or the lack of a team bully? Those whining about that or those who stop watching because of a single character in an ensemble show very obviously were never fans of the show. As far as people watching only for Bishop – she was on for only ELEVEN eps. character needs longer than that to build a fanbase as does the actress.
      - liz laughlin
        June 20, 2014 @ 2:28 am
        
        For the umpteenth time, CBS did not have a contract with Cote de Pablo. It had run out months before. CBS made her an offer, maybe more than one offer (according to Les Moonves). Cote turned them down. She has a right to do that. This is not the good old days when women had very few rights. Is it a problem for you that women get to make decisions now? Would you like to go back to the days when fathers chose husbands for their daughters and women were not allowed to vote or enter into contracts? The reality is CBS did not have a contract with her. You can protest and stamp your feet and whine but that is the way it is.. CBS should have had a contingency plan. You like to make cracks about “one note.” You have been singing this one note for two weeks.
      - liz laughlin
        June 6, 2014 @ 3:01 pm
        
        Michael Weatherly was the one member of the cast who supported Cote’s decision. That may have cost him. Rocky Carroll also stated that he would like to see Cote come back. David McCallum trashed her. Most of the other actors wisely stayed pretty quiet.
      - annsan
        June 6, 2014 @ 5:22 pm
        
        Laughing at the idea that ziva/cdp fans insist that MW ‘paid a price for supporting cdp’. Don’t see where he ‘paid’ anything or has offered open support. He’s been very careful with what he says publicly – that’s not support. That’s making sure her insane fans don’t do/continue to do to him what they’ve done to the rest of the cast.
        
        Also – David didn’t ‘trash her’. He spoke his opinion based on his years in the business – not something any of her ‘fans’ can do.
      - Carol
        June 6, 2014 @ 10:49 pm
        
        or you, unless you have a personal involvement in all this.
      - liz laughlin
        June 7, 2014 @ 7:16 pm
        
        Yes, I’ve wondered that too. There are rumors that there are bloggers in our midst who push an agenda.
      - Carol
        June 6, 2014 @ 10:47 pm
        
        McCallum is 80 years old. Maybe his knees were aching that day like mine do. It makes me grumpy. Or maybe he just wants this series to go on. He made no remarks at all about Cote until Emily started getting bad press. I find that significant.
      - Carol
        June 6, 2014 @ 10:42 pm
        
        Lydia some of your points are really good and then you criticize other people for thinking the same thing. For example, sacrificing Tony, who is staying on the show for Ziva who is leaving the show is just plain dim-witted. Then you slam what you call Ziva fans for not liking a totally stupid episode and imply that Glasbergs idiocy is not his idiocy at all, it is his attempt to placate people who seem determined to hate the show no matter what. Bestowing all the exciting hero moments on Gibbs is indeed ridiculously predictable although I would say Gibbs and Bishop. So even you find the things that bug me ridiculous but somehow I am either a Ziva lover or a person determined to hate the show,
        
        I did not hate the show until Bishop became a regular, I even thought she was quite good as a secondary character at NSA in her first episode, But she makes a lousy agent and she is not good enough as an actress to be a regular. And the character is so annoying and irritating. But both the actress and GG seem to think her quirks are cute. Maybe she would be really good in a cute show geared to the 8 to 12 year old age group.
    - Lillian
      June 5, 2014 @ 6:45 pm
      
      That comment is a contradiction to the anecdotes Ziva gave about her life – a childhood of dance recitals and piano lessons. This was during the Bellisario years, when her creator was still in charge of the characterization of Ziva David. Later episodes – Enemies Domestic, I believe – backed that up by telling us that her mother took her and her sister away from her father. If Eli trained her to be a ruthless killer, it was after she joined Mossad.
      - Carol
        June 20, 2014 @ 12:01 am
        
        Do you think both could be true? Didn’t her sister die at 15 as a Mossad agent? (I’m not sure of this but think so).
- agentscully514
  June 5, 2014 @ 4:34 am
  
  Yes, completely agreed. it was a terrible disservice to the characters of Ziva and Tony. The characters we knew and loved all these years would NEVER have done that. it was painful. I think its evidence of bad blood behind the scenes. certianlly it made NO sense in the long -developed storylines and characters. this was a STUPID bad story, no way it would ever happen, not with the REAL Tony and the REAL Ziva. And I think this is EXACTLY why fans are still so upset to this day.
  - annsan
    June 5, 2014 @ 6:35 pm
    
    Funny how Tiva fans insist that THEIR version of Tony is the REAL Tony.
    Doesn’t seem like MW agrees with the tiva version of Tony
    - agentscully514
      June 5, 2014 @ 6:39 pm
      
      What’s your version, Anna? Oh right. Tony is in love with Gibbs.
      - annsan
        June 5, 2014 @ 6:40 pm
        
        actually no, You couldn’t be farther from the truth when it comes to the Tony I’d want to see on the show
      - Lillian
        June 5, 2014 @ 6:49 pm
        
        Ziva fans always believe that anyone against Tiva or Ziva is a Tibbs/slash fan. That couldn’t be further from the truth.
      - Tweeter_NCIS
        June 5, 2014 @ 7:07 pm
        
        Couldn’t edit, but many of my friends are slash writers/Tibbs fans and most, if not all, of them had stopped watching the show years ago, and they never, NEVER wanted to see their ship portrayed in any way, shape or form on the show. People are always disappointed when subtext becomes text – it never matches the idealized version people have in their heads.
      - annsan
        June 5, 2014 @ 7:13 pm
        
        Such a one- note reply….goes to show how LITTLE you know & understand
      - agentscully514
        June 5, 2014 @ 7:52 pm
        
        So why’d you reply twice?
      - annsan
        June 5, 2014 @ 8:02 pm
        
        two different thoughts & can’t edit
      - Stacey
        June 6, 2014 @ 4:54 pm
        
        Careful, your decidedly narrow POV is showing.
    - Carol
      June 19, 2014 @ 11:52 pm
      
      You have just read 3 people who did not like the idea of a Tony and Ziva affair and you still don’t hear. We are the ones you call TIVA (stupid word) fans. We say the concept is laughably stupid. Then you make cracks abouthow MW would not agree with TIVA fans about Tony’s character. Do you ever read your own posts? You make no sense whatsoever and end up agreeing with us and disagreeing with yourself. I take back my comments about you being mean. You are as laughably funny as TIVA.
- Carol
  June 6, 2014 @ 10:27 pm
  
  it kind of was laughably stupid. The whole Tony/Ziva thing other than flirtation and friendship was laughably stupid.
Gabi
June 4, 2014 @ 7:12 pm

I think the main issue with bringing Cote back in regards to the ratings would be with the expectation that she would get ratings back up. They definitely would not bring her back and add to this huge payroll unless they expected her to get them back into the 3s again. Clearly if they bring her back they would expect better ratings and would not operate under the assumption that she is to be paid according to the lower ratings that the show has started to get in Season 11 while she was not there to help them get better ratings.
We have to be honest that this ratings drop is not normal. Other shows might have had drops but I am sure most of them also experienced quality drops as well which is what happened here. I have heard many fans complain for the last couple of years about the direction of such shows as Mentalist and Glee and it certainly seems to be the case that we are seeing the same with NCIS. After all since we have had years of stable ratings if NCIS suddenly experiences such drops it must mean that a major event happened because this has not been the normal pattern for the show throughout its run.
Also from what I heard ratings drop always precede viewer drops. Clearly ratings went down first but the final two episodes of the season got 15/16 million viewers, including the much hyped finale tribute, indicating that the viewer drop is starting as well. The show has not gotten viewer numbers in that range since Season 7 so it is clearly not normal numbers either. Therefore it is certainly possible that the viewer drop will continue into next season to go along with the ratings drop.
- agentscully514
  June 5, 2014 @ 4:38 am
  
  Honestly ratings hurt my head. I can only speak to quality. THe quality in Season 11 was god awful. CBS seems to want to blame it ALL on Cote de Pablo which is ridiculous. Either the writers and producers SUCK, or Cote de Pablo was the foundation of the entire series. Pick one. I’m sick to death of people blaming the whole god awful season on Cote. Why they didn’t have a backup plan for her contract is beyond me because they always did in past seasons. THis is an epic fail among the producers, and yet they are still blaming in on the woman. what a shock.
  - Lisa Liscoumb
    June 5, 2014 @ 1:59 pm
    
    Actually, the producers have said nothing about CdP or her effect on the ratings.
    - Tweeter_NCIS
      June 5, 2014 @ 7:12 pm
      
      Not a word. Not sure where Agentscully is getting that. Viewing habits are changing; people deny it, but the DVR number show that people are watching less live and DVRing shows. The Voice is a good example. It’s a competition show, it’s better live.
      - Lisa Liscoumb
        June 5, 2014 @ 9:23 pm
        
        Agreed. The only ones “blaming” CdP are the more die-hard Ziva fans who have been gleefully using it as a talking point for their cause.
  - Gabi
    June 5, 2014 @ 3:14 pm
    
    I suspect it is a combination of both the production team being bad and Cote becoming the foundation of the success of the series. The showrunner Glasberg was already coming up with convoluted arcs (Dearting, P2P) and developing unlikable characters (EJ, Ray, Ryan) during season 8 and 9. However what Cote brought to the show managed to mask some of the problems that were emerging with the scripts. I suspect Season 10 was better received because the arc was much simpler and heavily featured Cote as well as all the Tiva that was present throughout the season. Season 10 is the only season to have averaged more than 20 million viewers with almost 21.5 million viewers on average. Season 10 also increased its viewership by 2 million from what it averaged in Season 8 and 9. Clearly people liked that Cote was so heavily featured through Ziva and Tiva centered storylines.
    When she came in Season 3 Cote was probably not meant to be the foundation but it ended up working that way as she slowly gained more storylines and people gained interest in Tiva. We need to remember that NCIS was not a hit before Cote came on board. On the contrary it was always close to the bottom of the ratings race among CBS dramas. It slowly started working its way up after Cote came. Now that NCIS lost its status as the #1 show to the Big Bang Theory we can see that NCIS became #1 during Season 7 which started with Ziva’s fate up in the air after that shot of Ziva in Somalia during Aliyah. As a result Truth and Consequences was the first episode to get 20 million viewers. After this event NCIS managed to stay as the #1 show on TV for four years. Their run at #1 ended in Season 10 which is Cote’s last season so we see a clear pattern of what viewers wanted.
    Cote was definitely able to mask the horrible writing that is has been plaguing NCIS for the last couple of seasons while at the same time having such prominent storylines that she became the foundation of why NCIS was so big. The balance that Cote was able to bring to the show is gone and it was ceased being the unique show it once was. As a result it lost what made it special.
    - Lillian
      June 5, 2014 @ 6:41 pm
      
      Foundation of the success of the show? Please. After an initial loss of approximately 2m viewers, Season 11 ratings remained steadier than ever. By the end of Season 11 the ratings ended with an average of 18.5m viewers (numbers other dramas would kill for) and a 2.81 in the demo. Die-hard Ziva fans will deny the drop of ratings across all networks after the Olympics, but with very few exceptions, it is a documented fact. Many Ziva fans crow with delight that The Big Bang Theory beat NCIS as the number 1 rating show (by ~800,000), proving what has been said through the years – they are not fans of the show, they are fans of Ziva, Cote de Pablo and Tiva. NCIS is in its 11th year. It’s most likely in its waning years. But NCIS has always been an ensemble show and Ziva has never been the star – as proven by the small number of viewers lost through the first half of the season. In the end, Season 10 lost over 6mil viewers, most during the end, which heavily featured Ziva.
      - Marla
        June 5, 2014 @ 7:35 pm
        
        Interesting that you say they lost 6 million viewers during S10 when they had one of their best seasons ever, not only due to Ziva but due to the ensemble cast. Then Cote left, for whatever reasons, Emily joined and then the ratings started dropping in Feb., well ahead of the usual springtime drop and never rebounded. From S10 season premiere – 20.48 million viewers to S10 finale – 18.79 million viewers, a 1.69 million drop, which is average. S11 premiere – 20.02 million viewers to S11 finale – 16.95 million viewers, a 3.07 million drop, which is NOT average. Not to mention the demo numbers for the same time frame, S10 premiere – 4.1, S10 finale – 3.4, S11 premiere – 3.4, S11 finale, 2.6. These are L+SD numbers posted on TV By The Numbers. So where is the 6 million loss for S10 coming from then?
      - Tweeter_NCIS
        June 5, 2014 @ 7:46 pm
        
        Yay, you’re finally using the numbers I was using, instead of cherry picking, when people (including you) pointed out the loss of 5 million or so from February on, this season. The six million comes from subtracting the lowest rated episode from the highest, which comes to 6.31m. Season 10 ratings fluctuated wildly, as opposed to Season 11’s steady ratings. Of course the most accurate count is to AVERAGE all the episodes, not subtract the finale from the premiere. Nobody has ever claimed there wouldn’t be a loss of viewers when C left; the number of lost viewers was in dispute. My numbers also come from TVbythe numbers, and I have posted averages & comparisons (which you and your ilk mocked) all season.
      - Marla
        June 5, 2014 @ 7:54 pm
        
        So the average for S11 was 18.50 million viewers and 2.81 demo and S10 was 19.29 million viewers with 3.35 demo, all L+SD numbers. Ok, so they didn’t lose much in viewers but the demo number is what counts, especially with advertisers.
      - Tweeter_NCIS
        June 5, 2014 @ 7:59 pm
        
        But you forget that advertisers also look at the other demos, which NCIS regularly did quite well in, if not won. I don’t understand the overlap between 18-49 and 24-53, to be honest. Makes no sense to me.
      - Gabi
        June 6, 2014 @ 12:01 am
        
        The most important demo is the 18-34. Even though they still pay for the 18-49 demo they pay a premium price for the 18-34 demo. Advertisers believe that the younger the better because they want viewers with little brand loyalty. Older viewers are more likely to be set in their ways. Also since young people watch less TV they are harder to reach so advertisers pay more for them.
      - Carol
        June 20, 2014 @ 12:32 am
        
        If I earned $100,000 per month in September and in February my job decription changed and my salary dropped to $50,000 and stayed there until April, I would have to admit that In May I am worth half of what I was in September. Another job change might get me back to $100,000 but averaging in the $500,000 I earned between September and January would be meaningless as an indicator of my salary drop. My earnings for the entire period would be $650,000, my average earnings per month would be $81,250 but my current earnings are still $50,000 which is half of my September earnings. Why would you average ratings or viewers when there has been a massive change to the show mid-season? Why not average 2 or 3 seasons? Why not all 11? Because it is the trend together with the end that matters. JMO.
      - Gabi
        June 6, 2014 @ 12:48 am
        
        Ratings are different from viewers. Ratings are used to determine the ad rates. The ratings they got this season approached the series low set in Season 1. Viewers are ultimately meaningless for ad rates.
      - Gabi
        June 6, 2014 @ 12:56 am
        
        Season averages diminish the massive drop that started before spring or Daylight Savings time.
        In terms of viewer figures the drop has been confirmed which is why The Big Bang Theory became America’s most watched show.
        Season 10 still is and will likely remain the only season with more than 20 million viewers in the show’s history with close to 21.5 million viewers.
      - liz laughlin
        June 9, 2014 @ 7:52 pm
        
        Marla you need to look at all of the numbers but I agree, season 11 declined. The last 10 episodes averaged slightly over 17 million.
      - Carol
        June 6, 2014 @ 11:57 pm
        
        Interesting that you admit most of the drop was in the second half of Season 11. That demonstrates Ziva was not the star. OK. It also means Bishop is the problem independent of Ziva which I have always said.
      - liz laughlin
        June 7, 2014 @ 9:04 pm
        
        Season 11 averaged about 18.5 million viewers. The end of the season went like this from ep.15 to ep. 24.: 17.03, 17.7, 1711, 17.52, 17.16, 17.38, 17.12, 17.25, 15.88, 16.95. These are the final numbers at By the Numbers. So, the last 10 episodes averaged about 17.11. Episodes 1 and 12 were the only ones over 20 mil. Season 10 was kind of up and down. It had eight episodes over 20 mil. The last 10 episodes averaged over 19 mil. If you look at all of the previous season, season 11 was unusual there is a tendency for all television shows to have lower numbers in the spring time probably because as it warms up outside, we venture out from our caves. The east and central part of the country was very cold and snowy this last winter which should have raised the viewership numbers but it didn’t. The first big drop was February 25, episode 15. Maybe huge areas of the country were without power and could not watch. I don’t know but this was very unusual to see NCIS viewership drop and stay there. I guess we will know when Season 12 starts up.
      - liz laughlin
        June 9, 2014 @ 7:46 pm
        
        Season 10 had only 4 episodes under 17.5 million (18 mil). Season 11 had 8 episodes under 17.5 million (18 mil). The most stable seasons were 8 and 9.both of which had zero episodes under 17,5 million (18 mil.) Season 7 had the most episodes over 19,5 million (20 mil) with 16. Season 7, however had 6 episodes under 17.5 million (18 mil). The reason I use the .5 thing is that is the decimal that rounds up to an even million.. For example, 19.5 rounds up to 20. So, 19.50-20.49 would count as 20. The first time the show hit 20 (19,94) was season 6 episode 11..This is kind of rough analysis but it gives you an idea of what happened. You can get the numbers I used from wikipedia.com.
  - annsan
    June 5, 2014 @ 7:17 pm
    
    truth hurts?
    cdp screwed the show over by doing what she did. Her decision & the lateness of it had ramification that lasted the entire season
    - Anna690710
      June 6, 2014 @ 4:10 pm
      
      What truth hurts? That an actress didn’t sign a contract and a completely incompetent showrunner who gets paid millions is not talented or skilled enough to make a good show!
      Maybe you work without a contract or maybe you don’t work at all but no contract means for an employer you cannot count on that person!
      If Mr. Glasberg didn’t know that my economics students could have told him!
      - annsan
        June 6, 2014 @ 5:16 pm
        
        ok…let’s try to break this down so it can be understood by those who insist that St. Cote carries NO blame in the fiasco that was Season 11.
        cdp was in negotiations either at the same time or right after MH signed his new contract. At UpFronts, MH announced that the whole cast was coming back – exactly what was he doing? Lying? Or basing it off of what he was told by his friend & castmate?
        
        After the promotion work, the cast went off & did whatever they do to recharge. The writers were back in Valencia by the first week in June (we know this because they are already back now). They worked for over a month on season 11 – planning, writing & other pre-production tasks. They had at least 5 eps written, guest stars contacted if not signed on & locations in line.
        
        Come the week of July 10, up comes cdp. & out comes the announcement. it’s very obvious that the network did it’s best to save face for both an actress, a show & themselves.
        Doesn’t anyone find it odd that cdp’s own mgmt. team released no statement? that she is no longer on their site? or appears to not be repped by them anymore?
        Not giving ANY blame in this to cdp is simply blindly excuse the very unprofessional behavior of a ‘professional’ actress.
      - Carol
        June 6, 2014 @ 11:45 pm
        
        It is not Weatherly’s responsibility to know the contract status of other cast members. It is GGs and he blew it. He is a bad businessman, a bad producer, a poor character developer, a boring storyline creator and a crummy caster.
      - annsan
        June 7, 2014 @ 1:41 am
        
        no one mentioned MW…can’t blame it on GG either. He runs the show – not the network, sweetie.
      - Carol
        June 20, 2014 @ 12:12 am
        
        My apologies, meant to say Harmon. Fact remains, only a fool would say that Mark Harmon’s words are an implicit contract between CDP and GG or CDP and CBS. And don’t tell me GG was impotent in this matter.
        By the way if your sources are what TV guide and MH said then you know as little as anyone else. You are stating your opinions just like everone else.
    - Carol
      June 6, 2014 @ 11:40 pm
      
      Incompetent producers write 5 episodes of a character without signing the actor. Incompetent producers do not admit their mistakes. Incompetent producers compound their mistakes by hiring less than first class actors to replace the one they neglected to sign. Incompetent producers create unrealistic childish characters and their big egos will allow the show to die rather than fixing the problem. Incompetent male producers will always have a female take the fall but will expect others to do the dirty work of smearing the female.
      - annsan
        June 7, 2014 @ 1:37 am
        
        ROFL….Not sure what you think you know…BUT –
        
        GG had NOTHING to do with cdp’s contract. that was the network’s legal department. and showrunners, when assured by others, do indeed write scripts when they are told all will be back – as MH announced at network UpFronts.
        
        Fact is, you can and obviously do bash GG all you’d like but the blame still belongs to the one person you & others obviously can’t handle admitting has a fault
      - Carol
        June 20, 2014 @ 12:03 am
        
        And pigs fly:-)
      - liz laughlin
        June 20, 2014 @ 2:31 am
        
        see post below, One Note.
Sandra
June 4, 2014 @ 6:52 pm

Thanks for this article. The ratings issues frankly give me a migraine but I enjoyed your thoughts. As far as Bishop goes, I am very skeptical. I believe the problem with her is NOT that she has no backstory. I think she fundamentally is wrong for the team. She’s an analyst, and they don’t need one, so for the most part she has nothing to contribute. Maybe if they send her to FLETC – twice – over the summer, she can learn some more believable field skills. At best she will only ever become an average agent. I wish they would cut bait and give it up. I felt bad for the writers all season who had to struggle to give her anything to do.
Tonyfan Ncis
June 4, 2014 @ 6:49 pm

I will say one other thing- why does Glasburg get no blame for all of the terrible storyline and writing this year? It was his new character, his fault for having no backup storyline plan in case Cote did not renew (which obviously was a possibility) and his directions that the show took. I agree that the writers should not be blamed- they are just doing what they are told to do by the showrunner and working with what they have to work with. The showrunner is the one who is in charge of not only the basic storylines but the directions the characters go. so the person to blame, other than CBS for not doing whatever they needed to do to keep Cote on, is Glasburg. in the end the chips fall on him.
- Gabi
  June 4, 2014 @ 6:53 pm
  
  It is time to start laying the blame on this on Glasberg and CBS. CBS for letting it get to this point by not resigning Cote. However Glasberg gets the blame for not having a backup plan and coming up with the main storylines and characters for the season as well as not mentioning Ziva at all. Not mentioning Ziva is the least “organic” thing that has ever happened to the show. It is the most forced thing ever.
  - Naomi
    June 4, 2014 @ 8:53 pm
    
    EXACTLY!
  - Tweeter_NCIS
    June 5, 2014 @ 9:35 pm
    
    I blame Glasberg for the number 1 scripted drama on television. For the program that consistently won its timeslot and the night for CBS. For the show that ended up as the #2 (by 800,000 viewers) program overall. Yeah, blame him for having one of the most successful shows on television this season. Just because a few Ziva fans don’t like it, doesn’t mean squat. The ratings of the average viewers speak the truth. There is no meaningful loss of viewership or demo numbers following the resigning (as opposed to re-signing) of CdP.
    - Carol
      June 7, 2014 @ 12:11 am
      
      What’s 4 million viewers between friends.
- Sandra
  June 4, 2014 @ 6:56 pm
  
  This is a great point. OK the writers (Gary) had to scramble at the last minute (because they were unprepared). They had to redo the first few episode. What was the excuse for how bad the rest of the season was? That’s on Gary.
  - Gabi
    June 4, 2014 @ 7:18 pm
    
    Glasberg still deserves a lot of blame for not having any exit storyline planned. At least they should have discussed it. Also McCallum confirmed that the writers had to scramble to rewrite five episodes (once again Glasberg’s fault that he had no backup plan) so that means they wrote 19 episodes after they had to rewrite the first five episodes. What is their excuse for the bad quality of these 19 episodes?
  - liz laughlin
    June 5, 2014 @ 4:24 am
    
    I do not totally blame Gary Glasberg. He had an almost impossible task to complete.. He had to replace a character that was created by Donald P. Bellisario.. Bellisario was the creator of NCIS a spinoff of his TV show JAG. Bellisario was a master of creating great characters that fit together with each other. Bellisario was show runner for NCIS up until the end of season 4. All they had to do until the exit of Cote De Pablo was write for those characters .Gibbs, Tony, Abby, Ducky, McGee and Ziva were all Bellisario’s creations. All the show runner had to do was keep the show going. The train wreck occured when Glasberg had to create a new character.to replace Ziva., a character that fit the team, a character that we would all love. He could not pull it off. By the end of the year, it was clear that something was definitely wrong There was a big hole in the team and they couldn’t fill it. The characters seemed flat and they didn’t interact well with each other.
    
    JAG ran on CBS for 10 years and ended with a viewership of about 10 million in 2005. If you want to see how NCIS started, watch JAG season 8 episodes 20 and 21– Ice Queen (part 1 and part 2).
    - Carol
      June 7, 2014 @ 12:09 am
      
      Shane Brennan managed to create Vance who is one of my favorite characters and who got very little time this year. GG not only screwed up on Bishop, but the new Sec Nav is pretty awful too.
      
      Interesting that GG has put his awful creation front and centre.
      - liz laughlin
        June 7, 2014 @ 5:42 pm
        
        Are you sure that Glasberg created Vance? I think that I will check. Are you sure that Shane Brennan didn’t create Vance? Shane Brennan was show runner before Glasberg and is the current show runner for LA. He groomed Glasberg to run NCIS.
      - Carol
        June 20, 2014 @ 12:42 am
        
        I said Brennan created Vance and that he was good. Only Bishop and Sec Nav are Glasberg’s and they are both awful. I did not like the Rota lady agent (name slips my mind) either although I liked both her agents. I also liked her nemesis. Maybe GG cannot create female parts for some reason.
      - liz laughlin
        June 20, 2014 @ 3:32 am
        
        When I realized I misread your comment, I tried to delete or edit my two comments and the site wouldn’t let me. Is that Agent EJ Barret, the port to port killer lady?. She was pretty annoying and she got her team shot up. Wasn’t she Sec Navs neice?
        Well, Ellie B. got a couple of marines killed and that stunt got her a place on the team. Gibbs left the door mat out for Agent Barret, too. He’s a hard guy to understand sometimes.
      - liz laughlin
        June 7, 2014 @ 5:59 pm
        
        Glasberg joined NCIS as a writer in 2009. He didn’t become show runner until April 2011. That looks like the beginning of season 9. Vance was first introduced as Assistant Director Vance in Season 5. Shane Brennan was show runner beginning of season 5. Brennan probably created Vance unless he was already in the cue from Bellisario.
- Naomi
  June 4, 2014 @ 8:53 pm
  
  i completely agree with you!! despite what people’s thoughts may be on Cote’s leaving, whatever may have happened behind the scenes, the bottom line is that GG knew she had yet to sign the contract. so why wasn’t he prepared?! why didn’t he do something like at the end of season 6 where they had a storyline to either end Ziva in somalia if cote didn’t sign?!
  - Zoyarose
    June 4, 2014 @ 10:18 pm
    
    Because that was under a different showrunner who had a back up plan in case Cote didn’t renew her contract. Jesse Stern, the scriptwriter for the Season 7 premiere, even stated this publicly last year on Twitter. It all worked out then and they didn’t have to go to their back up plan. That’s what a decent showrunner does, plan ahead.
    - Naomi
      June 4, 2014 @ 10:23 pm
      
      yes zoyarose my point exactly!!
    - Lydia
      June 5, 2014 @ 1:49 am
      
      The lack of a back up plan makes me wonder if behind the scenes assurances were given by CdP’s lawyers that an agreement could be reached and then Ms. de Pablo simply decided not to compromise at all at the very last minute. I for one want the writers to allow Tony to move on instead of keeping him in limbo in case Ziva comes back for a visit. It’s not fair to Tony’s character, but of course, when has that stopped tptb?
      By the way Cartermatt the assertion that Gibbs and the female lead are the only ones who get serious consideration has definitely been the case for years now yet was met with ridicule. Just watch Tony from seasons 6 – 10 compared to seasons 1-4 if you want to see the difference. The spoilers of late have referred exclusively to Gibbs and the ex we haven’t met, Bishop’s husband, McGee and Delilah, and of course the standard one about the possibility of Ziva’s return. Not a mention anywhere of Tony.
- Carol
  June 7, 2014 @ 12:04 am
  
  Most disgruntled viewers do blame GG. It is his die-hard supporters who claim everything is OK and that only Ziva-lovers are complainig. The flip side to “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” is “if you don’t acknowledge something’s wrong, you can’t fix it”. GG is in denial.
Tonyfan Ncis
June 4, 2014 @ 6:40 pm

Matt, thanks for the great and long article about NCIS and where it is headed. I have to just say one thing about Ziva returning: if she does, I am more than sure that the writers can reintroduce her at any point. There is no lack of ways for her to re-enter the story, and if CBS decides to bring her back, there will be a way. Her coming back doesnt depend as much on the story as on contract status, imo.
- Naomi
  June 4, 2014 @ 8:55 pm
  
  so true! the writers have endless possibilities for her return. i mean she was only close to EVERY member of the team!!
- Carol
  June 7, 2014 @ 12:12 am
  
  There is one huge problem – rule # 12.