randian

Are they back full time next season?

aintnosin

As far as I know, tonight was the start of a normal season.

As far as the episode and Ziva's return, it seems like a retread of storylines they've done before. It's sure nice to see Cote back, but without Michael Weatherly, it's not as fun as it could be.

DJariya

Alright, I know NCIS isn't exactly a hot bed for discussion, but some big things happened in this week's season finale. There was also a multi-episode arc that featured Harmon's wife Pam Dawber.

Well, that was officially the end of Emily Wickersham on the show. Ellie went off on a secret covert mission and professed her feelings for Nick. They kind of hinted they had a thing possibly coming up. Wickersham confirmed on Instagram that was it for her.

Gibbs is still suspended indefinitely after his attack on the man who was drowning and murdering dogs. He finally finished his boat after all these years and then the boat explodes leaving him for dead, but they showed in the cliffhanger he was still alive. There have been hints that Harmon will be working a reduced schedule next season and it will be his last on the show. If Harmon decided to finally retire, they should end the show on a high note rather than forcing a season 20.

With Wickersham off the show now, it seems like Katrina Law will be the new female lead as she was introduced in episode 15 and there are reports she has a contract option to be a regular in season 19. I liked her in H50 and I think she will be a good addition here.

DJariya

https://deadline.com/2021/06/ncis-ga...it-1234779225/

Alright, not sure if anyone here is watching NCIS anymore, but some more news.

Mark Harmon is going to be in limited episodes in season 19. Report says single digits.

Gary Cole and Katrina Law were hired as series regulars. Law was in a few episodes last season. Cole is a new character. Cole is not replacing Harmon as this report says.

I've watched this show since season 2 and will keep doing so until it wraps up for good. I have to think they will try to get to season 20.

Noonan

Glad Cole found a new gig so quickly. Only a few weeks since Mixed'ish got cancelled.

Gizmo

Cole goes from Fam, to Mixedish to NCIS with like no break. Damn.

morriscroy

Wonder how the writers on all three NCIS shows will portray the recent pullout from Afghanistan.

DJariya

Tonight is apparently Mark Harmon's final episode on NCIS.

TV Liine already posted the story about his exit, but it hasn't aired on the West coast yet.

morriscroy

Heh.

Wonder if the remaining episodes will end up resembling the "rudderless" final two seasons of The Mentalist.

Inhumans99

I have not watched the show in quite some time (I have missed at least the past 3-4 seasons), but was Harmon's exit actually a surprise? If so, wow...that is a shocker. I will read up on his departure soon. I wonder, why not let this show wind down and have the other two NCIS's absorb some of the main characters from this show? I am sure some folks would love to spend time in Hawaii, and even Los Angeles is nice, hot as hell at times but still a nice city to work in. I get that the other two shows can only absorb so many new castmates but still. Of course, Law and Order had a nice long run even with multiple main cast replacements over the years, so I guess NCIS will do just fine without Harmon.
ETA: I did not notice that DJariya had posted about Harmon's impending departure back in June, like I said...it has been a while since I paid much attention to this show.

morriscroy

Not really. It seemed like Harmon was already "phoning it in" over the past few seasons.

At this point with the ever revolving door of faceless cast members, it resembles a "tired" ensemble procedural type of show like what happened with the CSI franchise in its later seasons.

morriscroy

If this was done, it would likely be a sure sign of weakness in the remaining shows.

Past precedents of this, was stuff like:

- Alana de la Garza shifting from the final season 20 of the original Law & Order, to the mid-series reboot of Law & Order: Los Angeles.

- Ted Danson shifting from the final season 15 of CSI, to the second season of CSI: Cyber.

DJariya

I finished Harmon's final episode as a series regular last night. I thought it was a decent end to his legacy on the show. His goodbye to McGee was pretty moving. I always felt like McGee looked to him as a father figure. I guess McGee since he has the most seniority will be the new leader of the team and likely will be the 1st one on the opening credits.

I think they sorta left it open that he could come back in some form, but as of right now, he's just chilling in Alaska and finally at peace.

and we got a rare David McCallum appearance. He's really only appeared a few times per season now that his character has retired. McCallum is in his 80s as well.

I guess Gary Cole will now join NCIS starting next week since his character was fired by the FBI.

(for those of you completely out of the loop on this show. I don't recommend just watching Harmon's final episode as a standalone. It was part of a serialized arc over the past 2 years. So it would make no sense as a standalone.)

DJariya

I watched the season 21 premiere last night. This season will be only 10 episodes.

If you don't watch NCIS anymore, you would be completely lost. It picked up off the season 20 cliffhanger ending and there was a lot of story elements that carried over.

Next week is the episode on Ducky's death. David McCallum was in the opening credits for the premiere. This episode ended up with a cliffhanger on Parker getting a dreaded phone call.

McCallum greatly reduced his appearances in the last few years, but he looked "off" in season 20. He sounded and looked frail.

DJariya

I guess no one here watches NCIS anymore.

That was a nice sendoff for Ducky. I liked that a lot of it was based off Jimmy and Ducky's friendship and you could see that because the episode was co-written by Brian Dietzen (Jimmy). And it was a good use of flashbacks.

Nice cameo at the end from DiNozzo. I read the producers didn't think it would be right to do a quick cameo from Harmon and opted not to write him in the episode.

jjcool

I highly doubt that Gibbs would not have come back for Duckys funeral though. Their friendship was always more prevalent on the show than a relationship between Tony and Ducky. I get that they are saving a Gibbs return for possibly the final episode, but I think they missed the boat on this one.