‘NCIS’ season 13 debate: Should the Tess Monroe debut wait?
Is it the right move to bring this character in this season, given everything else that we have to go through story-wise this season? That’s something we at least wanted to spend a minute discussing today, since we are getting closer to this Tony story heating up.
The case for introducing Tess now – In some ways, it’s realism. If Tony put in his notice that he is leaving the team, doesn’t it make sense to go ahead and bring in his eventual replacement for some training? Tess is already experienced per some casting notices, but she may want to get accustomed to how Gibbs and company do things at this particular NCIS office.
Also, just like this is an adjustment period for her character, it’s also an adjustment period for the show and for fans. Tony was a beloved character, and for the most part the sentiment is bittersweet about Weatherly leaving. We assume that fans of course want him to move on and be happy, but it’s hard to be as excited about the show without him. Therefore, bringing Clarke in this season is a way to show that this is an interesting character, and someone worth watching in season 14.
The case for waiting – The biggest one is simply making sure that you have enough time to tell Tony’s goodbye story, and it’s not crammed in there in the way that Cote de Pablo’s exit was. Granted, these are a little bit different situations, since producers have had a lot more time to prepare in this case than they did when writing out Ziva. Still, you don’t want to start to give the show too much to do, and you also don’t want to introduce Tess just to have her be overshadowed by a variety of other stories. You want her first appearance to make an impact so that people like her and want to see more of.
Basically, we’re trying to say that this is a delicate tightrope. It’s probably a smart move to introduce Tess this season, but you want to do it early enough in the season so that she can have an impact, but then be more of a supporting player in Weatherly’s farewell so that nothing overshadows the big story that fans want to see play out.
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liz laughlin
March 28, 2016 @ 9:16 pm
When both Kate and Ziva left, TPTB gave the team and the fans some time to grieve (or for some fans a time to take a victory lap.) The new girl was not introduced before the chair was empty and had time to cool off. Now, they are in such a rush to get rid of Dinozzo that the new girl may have to sit on his lap or at least ask him to please get out of her chair. I think that Matt is correct and this is a plan to minimize the damage caused by the loss of Michael Weatherly. You will tune in to see DiNozzo’s last days and you will have to watch his replacement at the same time. You will immediately fall in love with her and show up to watch season 14. You won’t even notice that Tony is gone. It’s sheer genius! After all, the problem with Bishop was that because of bad CdP, they didn’t have enough time to get that great character on the screen fast enough.
Joan Diane Elizabeth Asselin
March 29, 2016 @ 12:01 am
Yes…that great BISHOP Character.. they should have waited FOREVER to bring her on……I laughed at the new girl sitting on Tony’s lap…OMG..but you are not wrong !! I got all of your sarcasm ..well done !
I like how they pick the new names….TESS has to sound like TONY…ZOE has to sound like ZIVA..
ELLIE has to sound like ABBY…oh that NCIS audience….they have to have EVERYTHING spelled out for them and smacked on the head before they notice all the similarities…OMG…they really ARE sheer GENIUSES on that show….
sadtonyfan
March 29, 2016 @ 2:25 am
The way they’ve diminished Tony for the last several years I think you’re on to something. If they shove his replacement at us maybe we won’t even notice that DiNozzo has left. Perhaps they can give Gibbs a terrible new personal trauma to deal with to minimize DiNozzo’s importance and screen time even more. The new character is scheduled for the last TWO episodes so there’s some more time and attention not on DiNozzo. Perhaps McGee’s wedding will be included in the finale and Ellie will begin dating again. Maybe DiNozzo will just show up long enough to be snarled at by Gibbs in the bullpen in the first 2 minutes and then McGee will find a sticky note on his computer at the end of the GIbbs centric episode informing him that Tony has decided to join the circus. McGee will take it over to Boss. End phoof: Gibbs and McGee high fiving.
CJ
March 28, 2016 @ 7:51 pm
Ziva wasn’t introduced until Kate got her finale. Bishop wasn’t introduced until well after Ziva got written out. I think it’s a little insulting to Tony fans that a character who has been on the show longer than either of them has to share airtime with his replacement. I imagine Glasberg will also be trying to tell some other story too that he can carry into next season. Would it have killed him to keep the primary focus on Tony just once now that the character is leaving?
FLCheesehead
March 28, 2016 @ 8:52 pm
Neither Sasha nor Cote were working on a pilot for a new show, shooting on the other side of the country, at the same time their final few episodes were being shot. I can’t imagine it would be easy to have to be on set in California for the majority of every day to get a focused arc rehearsed and shot, and then fly to NYC for a few days to rehearse and shoot a pilot for which you are the star, and then fly back to California and do it all again for the next episode. A guy can only do so much. Besides … every NCIS episode has an A plot and a B plot. The A plot is Tony leaving. Even if Michael wasn’t filming a pilot, there’d still be a B plot. In this case, it’s the introduction of new agents who may or may not stay on.
CJ
March 29, 2016 @ 6:13 pm
But you are so certain Tony’s exit will be the A plot. I know Glasberg’s writing too well by now to expect that. There will be an A plot, a B plot, and a C plot. The A plot will most likely revolve around Gibbs – probably single-handedly solving whatever season ending crime they come up with. If we’re lucky the B plot will be Tony’s exit, and the C plot will be the introduction of this new characters. If we’re not lucky B and C will be reversed. And in my opinion, the current regime does not do well when they try to focus on more than one thing at a time, much less three. I don’t expect much, honestly.
FLCheesehead
March 29, 2016 @ 7:41 pm
Yup. I am. I think all the fans who are whining and moaning about poor Tony and what he’s not getting are upset because the show isn’t saying good-bye to Tony they way they have it written in their heads. The season finale is still several weeks away, and you’re already disappointed. You don’t even have to WATCH the episode at this point. And there’s really nothing the show can do that will have you walking away thinking, “That was a really nice episode.” Nothing. You’re predisposed to not like it, no matter what they do. BUT … you’re going to watch anyway, and because you’re expecting to be disappointed you will be.
I’m looking forward to seeing how they write Tony out. New team? Spending time with senior? Secret mission? Going back to school? Moving to Antarctica? Freak accident? Maybe I’ll watch the final “phoof!” and be smiling, watching Tony head off into the future as life goes on in the bullpen. Maybe I’ll be throwing things at the TV. No idea. But I sit down for every episode interested to find out what these characters will do this week. And when an episode comes up that I don’t like (and there have been many of them over 13 seasons), I look forward to the next one anyway, because I ultimately enjoy the show enough to do that.
liz laughlin
March 29, 2016 @ 9:26 pm
We’re not saying that they can’t do Tony’s send off well. We are all hoping that they will. It is a definite possibility but after the last three years, of how they treated the character, Tony., I would not bet on it.The odds I would give is about 1:9 or about a probability of 1/10. (10%). They could surprise me and I hope that they do. He or she who expects nothing will never be disappointed.
FLCheesehead
March 29, 2016 @ 10:02 pm
Yes. But he or she who expects nothing also has nothing to look forward to.
liz laughlin
March 30, 2016 @ 3:18 am
If you expect nothing, then if you get something, you are happy about it. As I said. I don’t expect much from TPTB on this show. So, if they give me something in the least that is good, I can be happy. If I’m expecting something good, it is likely that they will disappoint me. You love this show exactly the way it IS. So, You can’t see my point of view. The show fulfills your needs and expectations. I liked the show the way it WAS. Two different perspectives we have.
sadtonyfan
March 30, 2016 @ 1:33 pm
Agree with Liz. I’m not expecting much but hope to see a Tony centered finale arc that portrays Tony as THE hero instead of Gibbs just this once. I don’t believe Mr. Glasberg will allow this to happen though. Tony as hero has been taboo for a couple years now. Everything that matters in every episode has pretty much been done to or by Gibbs. I’m glad MW is leaving. They took away a certain part of Tony’s male anatomy and IMO never had any intention of giving them back. It has been sad to see what Glasberg and company, (starting with Shane Brennan actually) have done to DiNozzo. The show was far more interesting when it featured the entire team instead of week after week of more Gibbs drama.
FLCheesehead
March 30, 2016 @ 3:54 pm
Thank you for finally putting some of the onus on Brennan! The “slide of Tony DiNozzo” began under his watch, not Glasberg’s. Granted, Glasberg didn’t help it at all, but it started with Brennan. He didn’t seem to know what to do with Tony other than pair him with Ziva. And that, unfortunately continued. Then when Cote left, it’s as if the entire writing staff couldn’t write Tony without her. He’d been half of Tiva for so long that no one knew how to write Tony any more.
You can see the same thing happening on NCIS:LA with Densi. Shane is so intent on that pairing that he’s at a loss how to write either of them individually. Deek’s “dark past” that they’ve been building to & playing with for 2-3 seasons got resolved in a single episode so that they could get back to cute Densi dialogue. Kensi’s past and her abilities as an agent have been hidden beneath couples banter and impending relationship problems. I used to love both of those characters, but Densi? It’s grating on me like Tiva used to. Which is a shame, because I loved the first couple of seasons of LA. Not as much now.
FLCheesehead
March 30, 2016 @ 3:54 pm
That is very true.
CJ
March 29, 2016 @ 11:05 pm
I pretty much think that with Gary Glasberg involved in the writing of it, they can’t do it well. I think as a writer he is one of the least capable of writing for Tony that they currenly have on their staff. I’m hoping for some decent stuff at least in the lead-up to the finale hopefully written by other people. But it would be foolish to expect something different from Glasberg than what we well know by now that he delivers, as you say, at least 90% of the time. Is he going to miraculously change in the next month? Highly doubtful. I wish for once Glasberg would have stepped aside and allowed one of the veteran writers who has been around longer than he has and knows how to write for Tony at least write his send-off. I don’t think a writers who doesn’t really “get” a character and hasn’t in four or five seasons alreadyhas a prayer of getting his last episode right.
Sandi Brooks
March 28, 2016 @ 11:41 pm
Every season finale since ToC (which is when MH took control) has been Gibbs centric. I am doubtful the finale won’t somehow end up being made Gibbs centric in the end. LIke the way Tony Ziva’s story was twisted to make her exit about Gibbs ( “Stop this for HIM” ended up ridiculously being about Gibbs).
FLCheesehead
March 28, 2016 @ 7:49 pm
So many people are angry about bringing in new people to take the focus off Tony, and then in the next breath they clamor for bringing in Ziva, which will just … take the focus off Tony. I get the whole Tiva argument, but face it … if Ziva shows up and Tiva becomes the storyline, Tony will get shoved to the background or, at the very least, be forced to play second fiddle to ZIVA RETURNS. Because, once again, we’ll never see what Tony wants. We’ll only see what Tiva wants. And that didn’t work at all last time. As much as I still enjoy NCIS, I have no real confidence that the show has learned to write Tiva any better in the past three years than they did in PPF. And, judging by the constant barrage of insults tossed at the show’s writers by the Tiva faithful … the Tiva people don’t either. I don’t understand why so many people are campaigning so passionately for an endgame that they know, going in, is not going to meet their expectations.
Sandi Brooks
March 28, 2016 @ 9:12 pm
Michael shines in scenes with Cote they are magic together. Michael will not be magic with Tess. Today Michael posted an interview with Sophia Loren talking about working paired with Marcello Mastroianni and how they just understood each other. Many quotes were very similar to quotes from Cote talking about Michael. Sure seems that HE hankers to work with Cote again, and has said so on more than one occasion. The Tony/Ziva story wove through all eight years in which they appeared together. An actual conclusion to their shared story indeed makes sense. Tony spoke of wanting to “fill his two cups”, and has been unhappy and wanting MORE than just work. A mere promotion story won’t give us more than Tony moving further toward ending up like Gibbs. (BLECH!). I want to see him to get some professional growth, but especially see him finally get the life this season has been alluding to: the more, the family, the happy ever after. He deserves that. He’d be the FIRST exiting MCRT member to achieve that. All other exits were horizontal or they were broken emotionally or physically. Happy would be a nice change. Michael has had say in his exit story, perhaps his pre exit meetings with LM resulting in Michael at least controlling a chunk of his exit story.
liz laughlin
March 28, 2016 @ 10:08 pm
Sandi, I think that Ziva was one of the most misunderstood characters in television drama. She was Tony’s soul mate. The fact that she was a strong capable woman intrigued some of the male fans but I think that some men found her scary. Bishop is more their style.
Tony was never intimidated by her. Even when she didn’t believe him about what happened to Rivkin, he didn’t run away and hide. He confronted her. In Israel when she knocked to the ground, he knew she wouldn’t hurt him. He was sad when they left her in Israel. Yes, their relationship was sometimes volatile but, they understood each other. I can’t imagine that Tony would ever be happy without her, nor she without him. He has tried and it never worked out. I would like to see her show up with a little DiNozzo and the three of them ride off into the sunset together.
When JAG came to the end of it’s last season, Bellisario and crew finally let Harm and Mac be together. That wasn’t plan A. Plan A was to send Harm off to London and leave Mac in San Diego. They were grooming Vukovich to take over as the young male lead. They thought that David James Elliot was too old to play that role any longer. Bellisario himself said that they wanted to appeal to a younger audience. The last 7 or 8 minutes of the final episode had to be rewritten to pull it off but they did the right thing. I just hope that TPTB do the right thing on this one.
Sandi Brooks
March 28, 2016 @ 10:17 pm
Agreed . Watch him in scenes, he is incredibly proud that “Bonita can kick your Ass”. He’s often amused and pushes her buttons just hoping to rile her up. He enjoys her fire and that she’s not the typical
submissive easy one night stand he’s used to. She challenges him, she KNOWS him like nobody else, she helped him become a better man, not the overgrown frat boy he was when she started there. She was his match, they sizzled together. Viewers need to see that screen magic once more, because it’s rare and unique.
Joan Diane Elizabeth Asselin
March 29, 2016 @ 12:14 am
Liz, I agree with some of what you have said..I did not watch JAG but was told the HAPPY ENDING was about as long as ZIVAS ending…I think that Tony MUST end up with ZIVA but I do not feel that Ziva would have not told him about a child they shared …that would be hard to accept … However they plan on doing it…I am afraid that NO they will not do justice to a satisfying story for TIVA…they never have…the closest we got was maybe the ending on HOUSEKEEPING but to have ej push Tony in the right direction ? What the heck was that ?? A lotta lotta things do not make sense on thus show – they do not seem to care – I have no confidence that TONYS goodbye will be what I want…no matter what that liar GLasburg says…I can not take one more of his stupid ‘love letters to the audience’…he could have 3. Years notice and still not do it right !!!
liz laughlin
March 29, 2016 @ 4:49 am
They gave Ziva about 20 minutes on Past, Present, Future. On JAG Both Harm and Mac were on the show earlier but the part where they finally confess their love to each other and when they broke it to their friends was about 7 or 8 minutes. Like I say, it was a smart move on their part to reward the fans for 9 years of “will thy won’t they.” They could have just had Harm crash somewhere in a tomcat and have Mac start up a secret affair with Vukovich. Thank goodness, they did not go that way.
Sandi Brooks
March 29, 2016 @ 3:46 pm
It was actually about 9 minutes that Cote was in PP&F.
FLCheesehead
March 29, 2016 @ 8:02 pm
They’re not bringing in Tess to “make magic” with Tony. If she works out and stays into next season, he’ll be gone. So, whether he’s magic with her or not doesn’t matter. They may not even have any scenes together. Maybe Michael is dying to work with Cote again. And maybe she’ll be there. But the belief that Tony MUST leave with Ziva in order to be happy is the thing that annoys me.
Tony could finally be handed his own team, and that could make him happy. Running his own team his way doesn’t automatically turn him into Gibbs. He could decide to chuck the whole NCIS gig entirely and travel the world with his dad. That would also make him very unlike Gibbs and give him a very happy good-bye. A life with Ziva is one way it could end happily ever after. It’s not the only way.
Michael has had a say — as far as we know — in his exit story. But no one really knows what Michael wants but him. Maybe he wants Tiva reunited and walking into the sunset. Maybe … he doesn’t.
Rhosan
March 28, 2016 @ 6:41 pm
In actuality, the government doesn’t bring in people to train prior to the other person leaving. It would make sense, so that is not now it is done. First the person leaves, the opening is announced, the position is filled. This is about a month after the person has left, if the department is lucky.