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Tag: NCIS: Los Angeles (1-5 of 5)

May 28 2010 12:52 PM ET

Cops rock: Ranking this week's procedurals

Tags: NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles, Television, Television

csi_miami Image Credit: Ron P. Jaffe/CBSThe seasons have ended for the cops on ABC, NBC, and Fox, leaving only the CBS procedurals as the last men standing. This week, we saw the season finales of NCIS and its West Coast kid brother, CSI: Miami and its brooding Manhattan cousin, and Criminal Minds. How times change. Long ago, in the early ’90s, NBC was the Cop King, with the original Law & Order, Homicide: Life on the Street, and JAG. In hindsight, NBC’s choice to cancel JAG after just one season, which led to its pick-up at CBS, has turned out to be the broadcast-TV version of the Red Sox trading Babe Ruth to the Yankees. By my estimate, NBC has another 70 years to go before the curse wears off.

You couldn’t miss the symbolism. In the same week L&O 1.0 left television with quiet grace, CBS threw five cliffhanger finales in our fat faces and demanded we watch until our eyes bled with happiness. To extend the baseball analogy, this week was like watching Cal Ripken walk off the field, instantly replaced by five steroid-pumped reptile mutants with .400 batting averages.

Still, one reptile-mutant stuck out from the rest… and it wore a handsome pastel suit.

READ FULL STORY »

Feb 2 2010 04:36 PM ET

'Lost' alternatives: What will you watch instead?

by Annie Barrett

Tags: Bitchery, Hell to the No!, Lost, NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles, The Biggest Loser, To Care or Not to Care, TV Traffic Jam, Lost, To Care or Not to Care

The sheer volume of Lost-related content on the Internet today (and perhaps in your office — maybe your nerd coworkers, like mine, are LARPing around ‘The Island’ of Conference Room B while projecting Dharma Initiation videos onto the big screen from YouTube right this second) is enough to make a non-Lost viewer want to pop off Gordon Ramsay-style on these freaks. Why don’t they open their minds, man? There are other things on TV! Sorry, shocked Locke (pictured), some people desire to spend 9-11 p.m. ET not re-submerging into an Island-based state of confusion, and this is not a sign of a deficiency in character. Consider this your place to vent.

If you’re not watching Lost tonight (REALLY? Are you sure?) — what’ll it be instead? The Biggest Loser? Kitchen Nightmares? NCIS: LA and The Good Wife? A double-header of your favorite CNBC reruns, Marijuana Inc. and Porn: Business of Pleasure? The Caribbean World Series on the MLB Network (Mexico at Venezuela)? Here’s your chance to tell all those crazed Losties why your choice is superior to their beloved saga.

Just don’t say you’ll be reading a book. No one believes you.

Annie on Twitter: @EWAnnieBarrett

Nov 13 2009 06:00 PM ET

Super Bowl 2010: What CBS show deserves the post-game slot?

by Tanner Stransky

Tags: NCIS: Los Angeles, Sports, Survivor, Television, The Big Bang Theory, The Mentalist, Television

There was a time — like, in the era of NBC’s Friends — when the post-Super Bowl spot was the most-watched telecast on broadcast television besides, well, the big game itself. (Can you believe Friends drew 52 million in its post-Bowl performance?) And while the spot isn’t quite as lustrous as it once was (the American Idol finale seems to be a the lead-in du jour), let’s get real: Everyone wants a piece of the nearly 100 million viewers the Super Bowl draws. So this year the Super Bowl is on CBS, and the Hollywood Reporter has identified four potentials for the plum programming: The Big Bang Theory, The Mentalist, NCIS: Los Angeles, and Survivor.

Basically, we’ve got a youthful sitcom option, two procedural drama options, and a reality-stalwart option. From where I’m sitting — as a rather young person, which the networks want to draw — the only remotely appealing of the four is The Big Bang Theory, which has become one of TV’s great comedies in its three seasons on the air. While it’s definitely doing well in the ratings (Bang drew 12.7 million viewers last week), the show could use the bump in exposure — even more folks need to discover this show and help it take down Two and a Half Men as TV’s top comedy!

But that’s just my opinion. PopWatchers, who should get the super post-Super Bowl spot? Answer in the poll below! (And please tell me in the comments if you’ve got other ideas about what other CBS show should fill the slot — and why!)

Sep 23 2009 01:23 PM ET

'NCIS: Los Angeles': Loving Chris O'Donnell's Callen (and the buttkicking)

by Mandi Bierly

Tags: NCIS: Los Angeles, Television, TV Recap, Television

The first time NCIS/NCIS: Los Angeles mastermind Shane Brennan told me that Chris O’Donnell’s character, NCIS Special Agent G. Callen, a man born to go undercover, didn’t know what the “G” stands for, that he has no idea who is family is, I gasped. Yes, I’m slightly excitable, but that’s the kind of character development you’re hoping for on the spin-off if there’s any hope of it matching the quality of the original. (It’s holding up its end of the bargain in the ratings, at least: According to overnight ratings, it held on to roughly 90 percent of NCIS‘ audience, which was a series high for that seven-year-old drama). READ FULL STORY »

Sep 22 2009 04:01 PM ET

'NCIS: Los Angeles' video: Chris O'Donnell, LL Cool J chemistry definitely growing

by Mandi Bierly

Tags: EW.com Video, NCIS: Los Angeles, Survivor, Television, Television

NCIS: Los Angeles (premiering tonight at 9 p.m. ET on CBS) is an ensemble drama. But let’s get real: It stars Chris O’Donnell and LL Cool J, and the show’s success is going to depend on their chemistry (at least in the early weeks). If the video below, shot at our Fall TV Preview issue photo shoot, is any indication, the boys are on their way to a beautiful friendship. Note LL’s superior giggle when Chris confesses that he’s still addicted to Survivor (LL prefers The Tudors). Look at Chris, showing more personality than I would have given him credit for and retroactively validating the crush I had on him circa 1995, cracking a joke about how LL’s been blaring the Loggins and Messina. (Click here, LL, to find out who they are).