When NCIS: Origins was first announced I was admittedly skeptical because I figured they had pretty much covered the Gibbs backstory within NCIS, and honestly neither the Gibbs or Franks characters seemed like they could carry a series. I was wrong, very wrong – It’s so good, probably my favorite of all the NCIS shows.
It’s got a very different feel than the other shows, maybe because of the retro timeline, but it feels grittier, not as polished or slick as the original or something like Los Angeles. All the characters and stories just feel a little rough around the edges. Even with a known future, it presents things in a fashion that still leaves room for some mystery and the deep dive into the characters is really compelling and well done, especially with Franks. Last week’s episode about Veterans showed a whole different side to Franks and was a standout of the season so far. Kyle Schmid who plays Franks is particularly good.
We have a pretty standard collection of things we record and watch on a regular basis and this is the show I look forward to the most, I am so glad it has been picked up for a 2nd season.
Another newer show I am really enjoying is Elsbeth. It’s quirky and fun and the nod to Columbo is wonderful – down to the big name celebrity guest who is always the murderer.
We fill in our viewing when shows are on hiatus and such with stuff from Hulu or Prime and right now we are watching A Million Little Things from 2018. We’re still in Season 1 but I like it so far. It’s got a weighty premise which could easily fall in to overly sappy or manipulative soap opera-ish territory but the cast is so good, and so far it seems to be avoiding the obvious pitfalls. David Giuntoli from Grimm and James Roday from Psych are just a couple of the stars in a wonderful ensemble cast.
There are a couple of disappontments in our present viewing though. Matlock started out pretty strong but it is struggling with a sameness issue – all the episodes sort of feel the same and it just isn’t holding my interest like I had hoped. Kathy Bates is good though and we’ll probably keep watching just because we started.
Watson is the other show I am struggling with. I thought Elementary was brilliant but this just isn’t grabbing me like that did. It’s early on still so I’ll give it a few more episodes to see if it catches on but I am disappointed so far.
Other than that, we still watch Law and Order, SVU and the original NCIS but all more out of routine than anything. They are fine I guess but when I see something as good as Origins, it’s obvious that something is missing from them.
We do like The Irrational though – that’s another standout in our weekly viewing.
What do you watch that you would recommend to us?
Your thoughts?