‘NCIS’ season 13, episode 15 video: Is Gibbs in danger … again?
There are times with “NCIS” that we consider Leroy Jethro Gibbs one of the strongest investigative minds in the entire world … and then there are also times that we find him completely reckless and with a little bit of a death wish. For the sake of Tuesday night’s new episode “React,” we have to say he’s more of the latter.
We appreciate with Mark Harmon’s character that he wants to do everything that he can to help others, especially with a case as high-profile as the one we’re about to get: A kidnapping that puts the Secretary of the Navy’s daughter in serious danger. He wants to help, and is willing to put himself in the line of fire to do so. Here’s the problem with that: The guy nearly died a little under a year ago, and we thought that experience would change him in terms of his approach a little bit.
To a certain extent, we start to worry about realism when you continue to put Gibbs in as many near-death experiences as he’s been in as of late, and since this is meant to be a realistic show, these issues are problematic. Maybe someone needs to give Gibbs some sort of danger-intervention, since at this point there are many other agents more than capable of being in the line of fire. Yes, we know that Tony’s leaving, but we’re assuming that Gibbs doesn’t know that quite yet.
Our realism complaint aside, who knows? Maybe this will be a very entertaining case! We do love the work that Leslie Hope has done in between this show and her current run on “Suits,” so it’s nice to see her back again.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1Hghx61STc
Karen Janczy
February 16, 2016 @ 11:58 pm
Gibbs should be so seriously brain damaged after so many head injuries he shouldn’t be able to function. But whoever said TV was realistic? Because this show sure isn’t.
LSilvaxx
February 16, 2016 @ 4:37 pm
I’m not sure why anyone thinks he did get hurt on purpose. He’s been in the back and only got out after the child’s father has been shot. And it wasn’t clear to see from the preview if they knew about the bomb or not (at least I didn’t hear them talking about one!) so saying that he’s getting hurt on purpose to help others is wrong. But it seems that Gibbs bashing is the latest trend so I’m not really surprised here.
FLCheesehead
February 15, 2016 @ 10:36 pm
I think we’ve learned over the years that previews seldom represent what actually happens on episodes. Scenes are cut together to make people tune in to see what REALLY happens. If it turns out that Gibbs is indeed re-injured, but that leads to a multi-episode arc for Tony, then isn’t it worth it? What I saw in the preview was Gibbs down, and Tony in charge. Looks good to me so far.
NCIS was originally written as a show about Leroy Jethro Gibbs and his team. Not about a team of people who just happened to include a guy named Gibbs. Gibbs has been the focus since day one — for better or for worse. To get mad about that now, in S13, is kind of pointless. I love Tony DiNozzo and I look forward to how they tie up his story. And really … no matter what the show does, the second Tony’s final episode is over, people will be all over social media saying how much they hated it and how the writers got it wrong.
No one deserves their perfect plotline as a “reward” for watching all these years. If that were true, then all the Tiva people should get what they want, because they watched. The people who want Abby & McGee together should get what they want, because they’ve been faithful to the show. I watch because I enjoy the show, not because I’m entitled to a plot line that matches what I want to happen. My reward is a show I’ve enjoyed watching on Tuesday nights for over a decade. They don’t owe me anything else.
liz laughlin
February 16, 2016 @ 5:41 am
I’m not mad about Gibbs being the main guy but the show was actually written as the team as family. That isn’t my idea, Donald Bellisario, the creator of the show, said as much. Throughout the history of this show, Gibbs was always the main guy but individual episodes focused on individual characters and the writers let Gibbs kind of step back and let those characters have center stage. For example, in season 2, the episode, SWAK, was focused on Tony. He had become infected with Y Pestis. The story also featured Kate in a prominent way. The episode where Director Shepard, Lauren Holly, went down in a blaze of gunfire featured Mike Franks and a lot of Ziva and Tony. Gibbs didn’t come in to play until the story was at it’s end. There are plenty of other examples. Truth or Consequences was another. I won’t bore you with any more. Some of those episodes like SWAK and Truth or Consequences are considered by many to be some of the best.
Also, smart show runners want to keep their fans happy. Happy fans watch the show which in turn keeps the ratings high. High ratings mean you can charge more for advertising time which brings in more money for CBS. More money coming in means that you can give yourself a raise if you are at the top of the food chain. NCIS is a commodity. It is entertainment sold in the market place to make money. Making money is what it is all about.
sadtonyfan
February 16, 2016 @ 12:54 pm
I just don’t think the current creative powers on the show care what anyone but Harmon fans want. They have diminished Tony over the last several years to the point that he serves no discernable purpose except to make his obligatory McNickname and a movie reference, perhaps be the butt of a joke. I’m honestly not expecting much of a send off for Tony, even though a character like Mike Franks whose portrayer was obviously favored by the current powers, got a huge send off. The current ptb obviously don’t like Weatherly/DiNozzo and won’t allow him to in any way shape or form threaten Gibbs status as macho man hero to all. Somehow Tony’s good bye will wind up being another angsty danger filled GIbbs fest.
LSilvaxx
February 16, 2016 @ 4:33 pm
Ugh, I haven’t seen Harmon fans asking for storylines in which Gibbs gets hurt or almost killed. You’re just again bashing everyone who’s working on the show and Harmon’s fans as well this time.
sadtonyfan
February 16, 2016 @ 11:39 pm
Gibbs fans don’t have to ask for anything. They get all Gibbs all the time without ever having to lift a finger. I’m not bashing Gibbs fans. I’m just claiming that they are obviously the only fans who matter to the current showrunner and producers. If this agenda continues to be enjoyed by viewers, so be it. As a Tony fan I’ve been sorely disappointed at the blatant diminished role my favorite has been dealt since Mr. Glasberg and his producers came into power. Even now with Weatherly only having a handful of episodes left, we still have Gibbs as the only character in danger or displaying selfless heroism. They can’t even cough up one episode for saddened Tony fans. Heaven forbid Tony be given any excitement or drama when we must only be allowed to see Gibbs in compelling situations.
LSilvaxx
February 16, 2016 @ 4:40 pm
The show is still written with the team as a family. Of course the dynamic has changed over the years with actor’s departures and other changes. Everyone has their favorite or least favorite characters and episodes.
NCIS has millions of happy viewers. The unhappy ones might be louder but that doesn’t mean they’re the majority. CBS has a lot of other shows and sources of income, not only NCIS.
Jadeite
February 15, 2016 @ 10:11 pm
This show is just getting old and repetitive. Gibbs should have been fired over his actions years ago. Everyone kills whomever they feel does them wrong. I don’t know maybe I am just over the shows inability to make anyone happy and Gibbs being a selfish jerk with his rules that keep people in love apart. Not sure why this man everyone thinks of as a father figure wants everyone to be alone , old and bitter like him.
FLCheesehead
February 15, 2016 @ 10:39 pm
Everyone on the show — back to Kate and Jenny — should have been fired and brought up on charges by now. Multiple times!. From sexual harassment to information theft to hacking to entrapment to murder … and who knows what else. Can’t pin that totally on Gibbs. LOL!
liz laughlin
February 15, 2016 @ 10:04 pm
You just described what many fans have complained about. NCIS was originally written as an ensemble or team show. Yes, Gibbs was always the team leader but the team functioned well when Tony briefly led the team. All of the team members got the spotlight from time to time. For several years now that team effort has suffered. The focus is now squarely on Gibbs. Instead of NCIS maybe they should call it Leroy Jethro Gibbs, Special Agent. I’m hoping that TPTB will give Michael Weatherly’s fans a reward for their faithfulness to the show by giving Tony a multi episode arc. They did it for Lauren Holly and she wasn’t an original cast member.
LSilvaxx
February 16, 2016 @ 4:45 pm
For several years, the main focus has been on Ziva and Michael’s character has been used as her punching bag or was shoven into the Background to make her look better. I don’t recall Tiva fans complaining about the lack of Tony stuff back then. The complaints started with CdP’s departure, as well as other complaints about the actors, characters, writers and so on. The big question regarding Michael’s departure is what do the real fans of him want and what the Tiva fans want. If anything at all, it should be Michael deciding which storyline would be the best but if he’d chose one that doesn’t include Tiva or Ziva then you can pretty much guess what’s going to happen. You and others are constantly blaming TPTB are mistreating him, but you Tiva fans don’t see you doing exactly the same and even worse. Using Michael’s departure to have Cote come back so you can get Tiva is mistreating him just as much if not worse because Michael is an excellent actor and Tony is more than the ‘T’ in Tiva.
liz laughlin
February 16, 2016 @ 6:28 pm
I wasn’t here to talk about TIVA. Cote de Pablo has been off this show for over 2 years. She is gone. I doubt that TPTB want her back. But some fans of the show, such as yourself, keep bringing her up. So, I’ll try to make this as short as possible. I wasn’t really a big Michael Weatherly fan in the beginning. I liked Tony much better when they let him grow up. The growth occurred when they allowed him to interact with Ziva. Tony previously was the over age frat boy. Oftentimes he crossed social boundaries such as stealing people’s food, breaking into their desks. or in one very funny time, he entered the bathroom to brush his teeth when Kate was taking a shower.
As time went on, he started to open up to Ziva. There was the very poignant moment where he showed her the picture of himself with his mother when he was eight years old. Knowing more about Tony’s background allowed me to understand the character more and find him likable. Now, as a guy, you may not appreciate what the writer’s were doing, but it was pure genius.
The success of this show is measured by it’s ratings. Ratings are the number of people who watch the show. The show is the number one drama because it has a big fan base. It has a big fan base because, for a long time, TPTB continued what DP Bellisario did so well. What he did was write with a broad base appeal. He wrote shows with something for everyone. There was action, interesting back stories, humor, romance, the team as family, and some interesting plot lines.
In recent years, for some unknown reason, the suits decided to eliminate some of the things that made the show so appealing and turn it into the Gibbs Show. They should have known better. Back around season 11 they did a survey of their fans on facebook about which episodes were the best.. #s 1, 2, 5 and 10 on the list were not Gibbs centered. (If you want to check out those episodes, they are Truth or Consequences, SWAK, Under Covers, and Detour. Only one, Detour, did not feature Michael Weathery) They centered on the other team members. If you take the attitude that you don’t need the fans, they will eventually walk away. If you want your show to remain #1 give your fan base what they want. That is just my humble opinion.
LSilvaxx
February 17, 2016 @ 6:43 pm
You should never forget the fact that NOT every single viewer uses the Internet as others do so just because an online Survey’s results fit perfectly to your posts you simply cannot assume that it is the result of asking ALL viewers of the show. That’s quite impossible and you should be aware of that. Seriously, it is not so easy to give the viewers what they want because viewers have different wishes for the characters so whenever you say they should give the fans want they want then you are saying that TPTB are supposed to ignore other sides of the fandbase in order to please one. And that’s just selfish.
liz laughlin
February 17, 2016 @ 8:00 pm
That is not what I said. What I said is that if you want to continue to be number one, you have to take care of the entire fan base. For some, what was important was the humor. Don’t throw out the humor.
For other fans, particularly the women, it was the romance. The romance was not just Tiva. It was Gibbs and Colonel Hollis Mann or one of his other sweeties. It was, at first, Abby and McGee. It was all of the romance that we actually saw on screen. Gibbs hasn’t had a sweetie in years. Tony, McGee and Abby recently had sweeties but we rarely saw them. Don’t throw out the romance.
I understand why CBS doesn’t want to show interactions with significant other.s If you show them on the screen, not a flashback, you have to
pay them. Harmon is now making a boatload of money as an actor on the show. John Cryer is supposedly one of the highest paid actors on TV. Every time we see him a big check is cut.
It was also individual characters. Tony has been standing around without much to do for about two years. While I am not a huge Tony fan, I understand his fans’ frustration.
As for the survey, I had no control over how it was done. That was the doings of CBS. It certainly was done on the cheap. It baffles me though why they would want to give the impression that some of the best episodes were the ones that featured Michael Weatherly. Since, as you say, this show is the Gibbs show why let fans say that they preferred the much fewer episodes where Michael Weatherly is front and center? I’ve got some ideas but I’ve already blathered on enough.
LSilvaxx
February 17, 2016 @ 8:42 pm
You do know that all of the things you mentioned are a matter of what each viewer sees individually, right? It’s your opinion that the humor got lost, it is your opinion that the romance should be part of the show. Each viewer has their own wishes and opinions and it is simply impossible to please everyone. I don’t think that the characters need a significant others or romances to be interesting. I don’t know why you would say that CBS doesn’t want to pay other actors to appear every now and then. They did it with quite a bunch of recuring characters through the seasons and they do have to pay their Weekly guest stars as well. A lot of actors are busy with other projects so they’re not always available. It’s not always about the money and as I said, NCIS isn’t the only CBS show.
Tony has had his share of screentime and storylines in the past 13 seasons. I’m not his biggest fan either but past-Ziva Tony has become my favorite because he was finally working with a new agent who wants to learn from him. He’s not being used for anyone else’s breakdowns. He’s not being betrayed and used anymore and he does his job and takes his life more serious but still brings his Humor to the show. That’s my opinion and I honestly can’t see how anyone can claim to be his fan and constantly say he’s not being used properly on the show. In the years with Ziva he was used to make her look better.
I never said that you had any Control over the Survey. I just pointed out that a Survey that didn’t include each single viewer isn’t worth much and does not represent the opinion of the entire fandom.
liz laughlin
February 17, 2016 @ 10:29 pm
Surveys are rarely taken where they can reach each member of the group that they are trying to measure. It would be too expensive and time consuming. Surveys are done by what is called a representative sample. It is a careful selection of individuals who represent the larger group you are trying to find out about. I you want to know which foods you could introduce in the school cafeteria and there is only 1000 students at the school, a survey could be attempted to reach every single student in the school. If you want to know what toothpaste is the most popular in the USA, it would be almost impossible to contact every single person in the country. An unbiased sample of about 1,000-2,000 representative people will actually do quite nicely and . The results will be surprisingly close to the actual numbers you want. Your statement about having to survey everyone would send the nice people at Nielsen into uncontrollable laughter.
As for opinion, you are correct. Last Tuesday approximately 17 million people watched NCIS live. In their opinion, it was the best utilization of their time from 8:00-9:00 pm. The rest of the people in the country in their opinion either thought that it was better to watch something else or for the majority of the people in the county do something other than watch television. This is opinion and it’s consequences in action. Opinions do matter.
LSilvaxx
February 18, 2016 @ 5:48 am
I demaning CBS to do another Survey. I was trying to make a point for you to understand but from your comment, I don’t think you did.
It’s hard to see a problem with 17 million live viewers when other shows can’t even reach half of them. Times have changed and to simply assume that people didn’t watch live because in their opinion the show now sucks is childish. Could it be? Sure but there could be a thousand other, different reasons. And please, do not mention to me how certain episodes about a certain female character brought the highest Ratings. If people would have been really impressed with the focus on her and her acting performance, they would have come back for the next episode but they obviously decided not to. I wonder why? Could be thousand of reasons…
liz laughlin
February 18, 2016 @ 7:07 pm
Oh, I understood what you were saying. The survey of the facebook fans was not a scientific survey. What I’m saying is that CBS did the survey and then published the results. Why they did it, I don’t know. They must have thought that there was some value to their survey. What I’m pointing out is that the survey showed, for what it’s worth, that out of the top 10 episodes they listed Gibbs was not prominently featured. In fact, the two highest rated episodes by the facebook fan survey.were episodes that Michael Weathery had a major role.
NCIS is still the most watched TV drama. However, whether you look at Live viewership or Live +7, it’s ratings are slipping. No matter which numbers you look at, season 10 viewership is higher than seasons 11, 12 or 13 (through episode 15) For example,
season 9 19.23 mil 22.37 mil
season 10 19.28 mil (+50,000) 22.714 mil (+343,000)
season 11 18.5 mil (-780.000) 22.385 mil (-329,000)
season 12 17.23 mil (-1,27 mil) 21.184 mil (-1.21 mil)
season 13 17.02 mil (-210,000) 20.982 mil (-201,000)
(season 13 live through ep. 15, live +7 through ep.13)
Season 12 showed the biggest drop, about 1.2 million per episode or about 29 million for the year, Season 13 will soon be into the spring time slide. The most viewed episode is usually around episode 10-13. After that, the viewership slides down hill to the lowest numbers of the season. This season could be different because some fans may continue watching to catch the last of Michael Weatherly. If the usual happens then the viewership could drop down to about 14 or 15 million for some episodes.
LSilvaxx
February 18, 2016 @ 7:13 pm
14 or 15 million viewers are still more than most shows will ever have. If CBS wasn’t happy with those numbers they would have cancelled the show already but they didn’t. There might be some Drops in the numbers but again, you cannot give the reason. We all could assume but people have different reasons. I personally don’t care much about numbers or Ratings about any show that I watch. If I like a show I watch it and if I don’t like it then I don’t watch. But if I’m unhappy with a show, or if I see more things that I don’t like on a show than things that I like then I simply change the channel and just leave it behind instead of going to places where I know that fans get Infos or Spoilers about given show. And I wouldn’t even are to constantly try to dismiss their happieness or discussions with my own negativity.
liz laughlin
February 18, 2016 @ 10:26 pm
Right now I can’t watch NCIS if I wanted to. My work schedule interferes with watching live and I have yet to figure out how to record it on my VCR. I know haw to program the VCR but I got rid of my analog TVs and now I have an incompatibility issue. I think that I know how get around it but I haven’t tried it yet.
Yes,14 to 15 million is still a lot of viewers.but it is sad to see it go down hill like this. I have all of the dvds for seasons 1-11. I still watch them from time to time. Also, I doubt that any fans would stop watching the show because of my posts. People watch what they like. I have been hoping that maybe some of my complaints might reach someone who has some influence. Hope springs eternal. I now watch NCIS-LA, Scorpion and a lot of British stuff on Acorn.
LSilvaxx
February 19, 2016 @ 2:36 pm
If you want to reach someone with influence then you should contact the writers or CBS but writing on the Internet where everyone can give their two Cents is hardly going to be recognized by anyone with influence. Sure, someone could have a look but it’s more likely to reach them if you write them a letter or use the CBS Website form.
liz laughlin
February 19, 2016 @ 6:57 pm
Contacting CBS by the front door would probably be the least effective. They likely have a bunch of low paid employees who respond with a, “Thank you for your concerns. They will be forwarded to the appropriate party.” Which means I just deleted your e-mail or your letter has just been placed in the recycle bin.
sadtonyfan
February 16, 2016 @ 11:48 pm
I was also unhappy and posted when it was the Ziva show. Now it’s the Gibbs show. Although I was quite unhappy when Tony was Ziva’s accessory he did get more screen time and at least got an occasional Tony centric episode. The Gibbs show has totally marginalized Tony and attempted to replace him with his new SIC McGee and other valued agent Bishop. When he acknowledges Tony at all it’s generally to sneer at him.
LSilvaxx
February 17, 2016 @ 6:50 pm
Neither Ziva nor Gibbs were/are my favorites but I rather watch the Gibbs show because 1. Harmon can act and convince me as a viewer. 2. The other characters are not going to be insulted/threatened or physically abused as they were with Ziva (especially Tony). Tony doesn’t need the treatment that McGee and Bishop still need. Yes, McGee has grown a lot but he still isn’t ready to 100% and Bishop will take more experience to get there. Tony doesn’t need to get ready. He’s ready so it makes sense for Gibbs to focus more on those who still need to learn more. And if I remember correctly, the screentime back then was maybe more, but he was usually treated horrible and I would rather have not seen Ziva insulting or abusing him. Gibbs respects Tony and he pushes him not to learn or anything. He wants Tony to see his own potential and Tony needs to figure out what he wants. It was easy to see in this season’s earlier episodes. Would I prefer to see more Gibbs/Tony scenes? Probably yes but we don’t know what’s going to happen. It was made clear that Michael told them when they started to shoot this season that he will be leaving so you can’t say if the ups and downs between Gibbs and Tony are going to be a part of Tony leaving.