March Makeovers: Can ‘NCIS’ change things up for season 13 and beyond?
So how do you do all of this? That is something that we’re hoping to dive more into right now in the latest chapter of our March Makeovers article series.
What is going wrong – The big thing this season is that the show needs to pump on the brakes with a few things. Realism should remain a top priority. We’ve enjoyed part of the Gibbs storyline this season, but don’t quite understand why someone who has been shot and injured so many times is out in the thick of the action when he doesn’t have to be. We’d prefer to see him in an advisory position, especially given the real strength of having Mark Harmon on the show at this point is the acting.
Also, another critique is simply that some of the supporting characters simply are not being given enough to do. We want more from Jimmy Palmer, or larger moments for people like Abby and McGee to shine. Obviously Tony deserves a worthy send-off and there are many things we’d love to see (including a Ziva return), but we’re trying to think more long-term than this for the sake of this article. Balancing out the characters and staying innovative with the cases is a top priority.
How to fix it – For the first part of season 14, there are going to be some new characters presumably on the show. Rather than delivering some enormous case with huge action set pieces, why not just keep things simple? Create a fun introduction to these people and a new era at NCIS, and make it almost feel in some ways like a new pilot. We know the show has at least two more seasons beyond this one, but you don’t want it to feel like a complete dinosaur by the time we make it to the end.
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Lisa Liscoumb
March 7, 2016 @ 3:01 pm
What I would like to see going forward is more emphasis on what made NCIS great in the first place – the crimes and the camaraderie – NOT romance – among the team. The episodes like Call of Silence, Meat Puzzle, Probie, and more recently, Grounded and The Admiral’s Daughter, where the crime was the ‘A’ story, and was an interesting and compelling one, and where every member of the team got to shine.
Subtext instead of being hit over the head with everything. Seasons 1 and 2 were great for that – people could see what they wanted to see rather than being told what they should see. Unfortunately somewhere along the line NCIS got twisted into something where the crime became the ‘B’ story, secondary to hitting viewers over the head with “relationship” anvils, and became the poorer for it.
Don’t get me wrong – it’s still a good show, as the ratings prove, but for me it’s not what it once was, and hopefully with the changes coming in Season 14 they can take the opportunity to “re-pilot” themselves and really return to their roots.
liz laughlin
March 7, 2016 @ 8:01 pm
Don Bellisario, the creator of the show, said at the end of season 4 that there were two things that set NCIS apart from the rest of the forensic procedurals. Those two things were the humor and the interrelationships between the characters. I don’t know why some fans want to make it just another crime show. There is a gazillion crime shows. This one was special.
If you want to know where Bellisario was going to take NCIS, watch JAG, the show from which NCIS was spun off. JAG also had humor, interrelationships (and some were romantic), team as family, lovable characters, patriotism, a father figure, as well as crime stories with a twist. In other words, DB wrote for a broad audience. He put in something for everyone. That is how he built his huge fan base. If Sasha Alexander stayed on the show, there would eventually have been a romance between her and Tony or maybe Gibbs, in my humble opinion. That is what DB did, He knew what sells.
Live ratings (average viewership) by season (rounded to .5 million.) I used live numbers instead of live+7 because live+7 was only available starting with season 9. Showrunners–seasons 1-4 Bellisario, seasons 5-8 Brennan, seasons 9-13 Glasberg. (In season 8, Glasberg may have been doing most of the job of showrunner. He did write the first and last episodes which was usually done by the showrunner on this series. He did not become showrunner officially and publicly until a few months before season 9 began. Brennan’s first year of NCIS-LA coincided with season 7 of NCIS)
s.1— 12 mil
s. 2—14 mil
s. 3—16.5 mil
s. 4—15 mil
s. 5—16 mil
s. 6—17.5 mil
s. 7—19 mil
s. 8—19.5 mil
s. 9—19 mil
s.10—19 mil
s.11—18.5 mil
s.12—17 mil
Lisa Liscoumb
March 8, 2016 @ 2:56 pm
Did you not read where I said I wanted a a return to the crimes AND THE CAMARADERIE? I never said I wanted it to be “just another crime show”.
liz laughlin
March 8, 2016 @ 6:17 pm
Yes, I read what you said and I read very well. However, you did not read what I wrote. I’m probably wasting my time writing this because if you didn’t read the first one, you probably won’t read this either.. Don Bellisario wrote two series that were very much related. The first was JAG.. In JAG there was a long time “will they won’t they” between the two main characters, Harmon Raab Junior and Colonel Sarah MacKenzie. They were both Navy lawyers and worked out of the same office. They were co-workers. By military law, they were not allowed to have a romantic relationship. That was one of the main things that kept them apart. Finally in the last episode of the last season they flipped a coin to see who would give up their commission. We never got to see who won the flip. The show ended with the coin in the air. The fans had to finish the story.
Then Bellisario did a spin off called NCIS. Where he had two NCIS agents Tony DiNozzo and Ziva David in a “will they won’t they.” On Gibbs’ team they also were not allowed to “date a coworker.” Some fans hated this relationship between the two characters. Some blamed Shane Brennan or Gary Glasberg. If you knew what Bellisario did in JAG, you knew that this wasn’t a corruption of the story. It was an important part of the story. If it worked well in JAG, it would work in NCIS and it did. Romance was one of the things that Bellisario put in NCIS and it helped build up the fan base. Undercovers, episode 8 of season 3, was the big tease for Tiva. After that they let it cool. DB was brilliant. He knew how to suck in an audience.
Gary Glasberg seems to agree with you about the romance so now maybe you will get the show that you want but I’m sorry it will be without Michael Weatherly.
CJ
March 7, 2016 @ 1:24 am
The show has already changed under Glasberg’s tenure and not for the better. What was once a “special” show that was difficult to even classify – procedural/drama/comedy/workplace dramedy – has become just another procedural in recent seasons. Yes, procedurals can have very long lives and solid ratings. But I didn’t fall in love with “NCIS: Just Another Boring Procedural.” The writing had lost the pacing, the quick wit, and, sadly the depth of character in some cases, that was such a strength in earlier seasons. I’m hanging on to see Tony off, and then I’m gone. I don’t recognize most of the show that I’ve been watching any longer. Gibbs may as well be a completely different character than the one I used to like. If I wanted to watch a superhero show, there are plenty of actual shows in that genre to choose from, but that wasn’t why I watched NCIS.
Erin
March 7, 2016 @ 12:45 pm
Glasberg and company’s obsession with making absolutely everything about Gibbs has limited the show. It has become slow and dull because Gibbs knows and does everything that matters now. No surprises. Ever. I guess all the focus on Gibbs is supposed to make us care about him even more but really it’s just over exposure and at least for me, has the opposite effect. Now they’re losing Weatherly, who for me, was the most potentially interesting versatile character but they’ve squandered his talents so that he would never be perceived as out shining Gibbs. If Gibbs was really that shiny they wouldn’t have to hold others back to prove it. The show was much better when it was a true ensemble cast and not a Mark Harmon showcase. The show has lost this viewer at the end of the this season. I wish them well but I have no desire to see more Gibbs drama.
annsan
March 7, 2016 @ 12:47 am
SO nice of you to finally catch up with what the REAL NCIS fans have been saying instead of constantly plugging the non-existent tiva and whining over ziva/cote.
As far as S13 goes, there’s been more than enough of Abby, McGee and Gibbs. Time to concentrate on giving MW’s Tony an exit that makes sense and that honors a CORE cast member and original character. ziva does not need to figure into that by the way. That’s what fanfic is for.
Marla
March 7, 2016 @ 12:36 am
Even TVLine reported that the show was looking into hiring a film a film actress to create buzz for next season. Obviously the addition of Bishop after Ziva left didn’t work out as they hope it would. They also know that Michael leaving is going to hurt them. I do wish them luck for the next two seasons because once Michael leaves, they’ve lost two of the best reasons a lot of people tuned into this show on Tues. night.
Tre
March 6, 2016 @ 11:21 pm
My hopes for the future of NCIS:
1. Ducky finally finds the perfect woman (personally want Maggie to move from London).
2. Jimmy gets more to do. Especially with the possibility of Ducky retiring next season, I would hope Jimmy would fill his shoes…although the awkward timing jokes thing needs to stop.
3. Gibbs becomes a little less mopey. Watching seasons 1 & 2, Gibbs seemed to laugh a bit more, but since he got blown up, ended up in the coma and the whole memories of Shannon and Kelly dying happened, he’s been a bit more sombre. Granted, he’s had his moments and Mark Harmon as always, plays him brilliantly, but jeez he ain’t half becoming ‘the whispering man’ more often these days.
One thing I do applaud about this season was the whole thing with Tony and Jeanne. I really didn’t want to see them two get back together.
Karen Padecky
March 6, 2016 @ 10:07 pm
I think you’re all wrong..it’s made it this long..why change. .it would be a insult for the fans that have been there from the beginning.
Lisa Liscoumb
March 7, 2016 @ 4:31 pm
Sorry, I’m one of those fans who has been there since the beginning, and NCIS has always been about change; at least that’s what I’ve seen. The tone changed when first Shane Brennan and then Gary Glasberg took over. It changed when Kate died and Ziva came in, and then again when she left and Ellie joined. It changed when Jenny Shepard became the director of NCIS, and when she died and Leon Vance took her place. Change is inevitable, except from vending machines. And change doesn’t have to be bad or even big. NCIS doesn’t need to reinvent itself, but it does need to stop retreading over old ground so much.