If CBS could get the rating system changed, I’m sure they would. Thank goodness for the system. I was just talking to two male co-workers about The Game of Thrones. One had just discovered it; the other was a fan. I told them that the only episode I ever saw was the one with a graphic rape scene in it and that was it for me. To quote Groucho Marx,” When I heard about [the Broadway play] “Hair”, I was kind of curious about the six naked primates on stage. So I called up the box office and they said tickets were $11 apiece. That’s an awful price to pay. I went into the bathroom at home and took off all my clothes and looked in the mirror for five minutes. And I said, ‘This isn’t worth $11’.”

I would like to see them return to the “agent afloat” storyline. I know that usuually the “agent afloat” is a younger agent but stories that showed team members on a sub, carrier etc. were ones that I really liked. Polls show that about 80% of Americans have a favorable opinion of the military. Showing more positive stories about the military it seems would sell. The show is called the NCIS, Naval Criminal Investigative Service. I would like to see more emphasis on the Navy and Marine Corps. I think that is why I liked the last episode more than the others this year. I’m not high on Bishop but I liked to see Gibbs and Bishop in the Middle East. I suspect that the expense of paying Mark Harmon’s big salary may cut into the budget for creativity. I read in the past that it is more expensive to go off the lot and onto a ship for filming. I really miss the shipboard stories I have ten years of JAG and old eps of NCIS. That will have to to do I guess.

I think that CBS could fix this show and stop the drop. Getting rid of Harmon would not be an option but they could make him the director and cut his number of episodes in half. That would let him semi retire and save $ for tptb. Promote Tony to team leader. Let McCallum retire and let Jimmy be the pathologist. Bishop either has to evolve into a competent agent or get someone new. They could hire two new actors and still be under their salary cap. The writing would have to tick up quite a bit but it could be done, in my opinion. If they keep doing what they are doing, then they will get less than what they got. The demo has been dropping each year since season 8 and total average viewersip has been dropping about 800,000 per year since season 10.

Actually, it wasn’t that bad. It was one of the better episodes this year. It was pretty balanced as far as screen time for the characters. Gibbs did take Bishop to Afghanistan. But this time when she started to whine about the danger and that she didn’t think she could do it, he told he to obey orders and he would have her back. He was very firm with her, FINALLY. Anyway, it wasn’t excellent but It was okay.