An Exercise in Perspective

[Gerald So]

This morning I caught the two-part, 8th season episode of JAG that served as a back-door pilot for NCIS. I believe this is the first time it's been shown in syndication; it is the first time I've seen the episode in four years.

When Gibbs and crew were introduced in the backdrop of JAG, they seemed like slick intruders. How could they possibly suspect Harm of murdering office harpy Lt. Loren Singer (played to ruthless perfection by David James Elliott's wife Nanci Chambers)?

In hindsight, one can view the episode as just another case for NCIS. Of course Gibbs would suspect Harm. Of course Tony would banter with his squared-away female teammate. Of course Ducky would go off on tangents. Of course Abby would squirm in her "court clothes." Bellisario's vision for the show and the team's dynamic was in place from the beginning and hasn't flagged.

[Karen Meek]

I'm hooked on NCIS. The fourth series will be showing over here (in the UK) in a couple of weeks. It's been a long wait. I've never seen Jag proper but did tape and watch the NCIS episodes when FX was having a Jagathon!

[crystalmariebratcher]

i am hooked on ncis,too.i recently started watching it.

[Sunnie Gill]

Me too. I know the plot is often weak and predictable, but hubby and I watch every week wondering when deNozo will get smacked across the back of the head or will someone else cop it this week? Love the show and those quirky characters. Definitely a show that's in my guilty pleasures category.

I have to admit I lost interest in JAG very early on. Nowhere near as entertaining as NCIS.

[Gerald So]

On JAG Harm's client was usually not guilty and the show proceeded rather methodically to prove it, All the facts had to come out before Harm's closing argument almost by necessity. Gibbs and his his team have no such bias going in. Their job is to discover the truth of how someone died, whatever it may be. In four seasons, I've only been able to predict the outcome of NCIS twice. The plot often twists up to the last minute. Compare NCIS to SMALLVILLE, a truly weaker series where the outcome is usually known by the second-to-last commercial break and the last fifteen minutes is melodrama. SMALLVILLE is my guilty pleasure.

[Dave White]

I don't watch the show (I find the haircut and the goth girl highly unbelievable for some reason) but I love when shows are able to stay consistent. Where you can say "of course so and so would do that." I think THE SOPRANOS does that as well, with mentions of characters in season 2 in a throwaway line that actually show up in season 5.