Review - NCIS: Los Angeles Season 1 Episode 21 Found

I wasn't planning on watching or reviewing any more episodes, but after reading that it would resolve the Dom storyline, I decided to give it a shot.

The episode wasn't terrible at all and gives me hope for future episodes which I may or may not watch. Killing off Dom and Moe was a bold move, albeit a rather convenient way to end two underlying plots simultaneously. The characters still aren't distinguishable and I rarely find any of them funny.

Score: 8.3/10

Review - NCIS: Los Angeles Season 1 Episode 20 Fame

This will probably be my last NCIS: Los Angeles review before the season finale and I may not even review the season finale. There's hardly anything I like about the show and I feel like I'm watching the show out of obligation, which is definitely not the purpose for watching television.

The part I hate most about Los Angeles is the constant playing up of the club/Hollywood scene. LA is a huge city and there's some places that are definitely not so nice. Apparently, the writers think LA means "hip" and "hot." Well, there's more to the city, but the writers are content to bring the fake, uppercrust of Los Angeles to the viewers.

"Fame" focused on a Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian celebrity, who is famous for no reason. To make a boring, tedious story short, the murderer turns out to be some Iraqi/Iranian. By the end of the episode, I was really paying attention to the case.

Score: 7.4/10

Revisiting NCIS: Los Angeles

I felt guilty about quitting NCIS: LA after 7 episodes, because I've watched all episodes of JAG and NCIS, so I've been considering watching the show for a while, but with a packed schedule on Tuesday, there was no time. Since there were virtually no new shows this week, I watched the remaining episodes I hadn't watched.

I'm surprised at the gap between Los Angeles and the original. Without NCIS, LA would surely be canceled by now. Shane Brennan can make NCIS work based on the framework set by Donald Bellisario, but the low quality of Los Angeles is a testament to Donald Bellisario and his amazing ability . He has the x-factor to make a show work. Shanne Brennan doesn't have it.

The concept of LA is the same with a slight deviation towards undercover work, but the comedy is a few steps below. The chemistry between the characters is uneven and the comedy is very forced, so they are just awkward moments. Hetty serves for no purpose other than mediocre comic relief, and the occasional expansion of backstory. The departure of Macy (Louise Lombard) after the backdoor pilot gives the rest of the team greater autonomy than the team on NCIS. The lack of a clear, strong leader makes the investigation unorganized.

It would be wrong for me to completely dismiss the show, so I do have a few positive comments. Dom getting kidnapped was a bold move so early in the series although it did come out of the blue. Daniela Ruah is the most consistent in both the dramatic and lighter scenes. She's a pretty face, but she can act as well.

Going forward, I'll probably keep watching when I have time, but I won't be reviewing any episodes.

Weekly Television Roundup 10/11/09-10/16/09

Dexter Season 4 Episode 3 - 9.0/10 - Lundy and the Trinity Killer are very interesting, but Dexter and the neighborhood watch was kind of boring. Seeing Dexter deal with Astor was great.

Castle Season 2 Episode 4 - 9.1/10 - The crime was good this week, and Beckett playing around with Castle was a nice change.

NCIS: Los Angeles Season 1 Episode 4 - 8.6/10 - The crime was solid again and we got to see more of G. It was better than the previous episodes in terms of character development. I'd like to see that more often.

Criminal Minds Season 5- 8.7/10 - The episode started off really great with the crazy pack of killers, but slowed down and eventually ended blandly.

Bones Season 5 Episode 5- 8.5/10 - Enough of the Bones-Booth madness already. We've seen it all before, so another rehash was stupid. I actually don't hate Daisy so it was fun to see her back.

The Mentalist Season 2 Episode 4- 8.7/10 - Average episodes with a couple confrontations with the bikers. More Red John please...

Psych Season 4 Episode 9 - 8.7/10 - Cool episode overall. Not that many funny moments, but far more compelling than most episodes.

Weekly Television Roundup 10/04/09-10/09/09

Weekly Television Roundup 10/04/09-10/09/09

I watch a few more shows than I review, so I'm going to say one or two lines about the episode along with an score (scoring may be off since I watched the episodes days ago).

Dexter - 9.5/10 - Very interesting episode with Dexter trying to cope with memory loss. The Trinity Killer continues to be a creep. This season looks like it's shaping up to be very good.

Castle - 9.2/10 - Once again a weak crime, but Castle made up for it. His treatment of the model who was once Alexis'x babysitter was so heartwarming, and his mother continues to be a hoot.

NCIS: Los Angeles - 8.4/10 - While the crime was cool albeit unbelievable, I found myself disliking a lot of the funny things. It was all very unnatural and painful to watch.

Criminal Minds - 8.8/10 - Reed + Garcia = FUN. I wish there could have been more scenes with them and I think Matthew Gray Gubler was on crutches for a while so hopefully we get to see more of them. I really disliked Rossi in this episode who is normally fine.

Bones - 8.4/10 - The stuff with Booth needing a girlfriend was fun for about 10 minutes, and then it got lame. The part about Arastoo's accent was absurd an continued down the path of unreality that Bones should be staying away from.

The Mentalist - 9.0/10 - I was expecting a crazy, epic episode from the promo, but instead I was handed a decent episode that ended a little too conveniently. I liked how Rigsby, Van Pelt, and Cho all stuck up for Lisbon. I am hoping that the Red John is advanced soon. The show needs some kind of arc which is currently nonexistent.

Psych - 8.3/10 - I continue to watch Psych for the cast. The writing has gotten stale and the crimes much the same. James Roday continues to be funny no matter what he does. My brother seems to hate him, but whenever he opens his mouth, it tickles me.

Flashpoint - 9.2/10 - I'm not really sure if i should be reviewing this since it hasn't aired in the United States, but if anyone stumbles upon this, this episode is season 3 episode 3. Great scenes between Greg and Ed and a really good plot.

Review - NCIS: Los Angeles Season 1 Episode 2 The Only Easy Day

I'm only going to do a cursory review of this episode since I probably won't be reviewing NCIS: LA next week and I might not even watch it. For someone who has never watched NCIS, this show is fine, but why would someone spend an extra hour when there is a much better show that airs before?

Linda Hunt's character Hetty didn't really grab my attention this week, but this week I think she became my favorite character about of a pretty boring group. There were some awful clichés, but for the most part, I was amused by her and wanted to see more of her. The only problem is that she's supposed to be in charge of the whole operation yet we never see her give out any orders.

The episode was all about SEALs which Agent Hanna was part of. The whole time, I couldn't get a few things out of my head. LL Cool J as a SEAL is ludicrous, this isn't as funny as NCIS, and why this show is different from NCIS. There seems to be more autonomy by the field agents, but other than that, the crimes are of the same nature - naval - and they get solved by a shootout and never in a courtroom.

I watch a lot of television, much more than most people, and I could continue to watch NCIS: LA if I wanted to, but there isn't much that would pull me back. Other than the location, cool cars, and gadgets, there hardly seems to be anything dramatically different than NCIS other than that is worse at doing the same things. When the show was first pitched, the team was going to do primarily undercover work. So far we have seen none of that, but unless there is an arc that everyone is raving about, I don't think I'll do anymore reviews.

Score: 8.3/10

NCIS: Los Angeles more of the same - quality television

I'm trying to finish reviewing the new CBS shows before I move onto ABC's The Forgotten and then to old shows, so please bear with me.

Imagine NCIS. Transport it all the way to the West Coast. Imagine bikinis and palm trees. Replace the characters. Now you have NCIS: Los Angeles.

This isn't necessarily a bad thing, NCIS is the best crime procedural on television right now, but do we need a copy? Or more pertinently, do we want a copy? That's up for the viewers to decide, but I'm here for the review. If you haven't watched NCIS and don't want to catch up on 6 season and want to watch something similar from the start, here's your chance.

After a dead Navy intelligence officer is found after a shootout between the police and cartel members, Callan (Chris O'Donnell) comes in to the new headquarters which is much better than the grimy warehouse that was used in the 2 NCIS episodes. It turns out that he was in some business with Mexicans. After some digging around the team finds out that his daughter was kidnapped and the officer had to help them access satellite imagery before a joint US-Mexico operation along the border. There is a twist that wasn't particularly shocking. It turns out that the daughter's father, the officer's wife's ex-husband "kidnapped" her. How's that for apostrophes? I had a sneaking suspicion he was up to something after I heard his Spanish name.

Callan and Hanna (LL Cool J) walk into the house posing as people with access to satellites. The father already knows NCIS is involved, so the situation quickly escalates into a fight. The good guys win and the bad guys die. Not particularly original but it was still good. The thing I liked about NCIS being spun off of JAG is that the 2 shows were fairly different. In the case of NCIS and NCIS: LA, they are pretty much the same.

LL Cool J and Chris O'Donnell have great chemistry and we'll probably be seeing them together for most of the episodes which is a plus. The other characters took a back seat as Callen and Hanna did most of the legwork. There wasn't anything particularly interesting about them, but if anyone catches my attention in later episodes, I'll be sure to bring it up. Linda Hunt's character Hetty was a new addition replacing Louise Lombard's Macy. I'm not sure why everyone had so much problems with Macy. I rewatched the 2 episodes featuring them, and found nothing wrong with the acting or the character. Hetty is eccentric and really short. If you've seen the Disney movie The Incredibles, she looks almost exactly the same as Edna Mode, the gadget lady.

I thought the addition of Vance was useless since he'll be on a little screen all the way in DC. I don't like Vance anyways and a double dosage of him is even worse. Depending on how much time you have, it might be better spent watching NCIS. I have lots of time, so count on me for another review next week.

Score: 8.6/10