Okay, you Criminal Minds folks, how long was Gideon on medical leave before the first episode of the series?

Why you ask?

I can't believe I'm doing this.

My NCIS serial killer fic stalled. The whole time I was working on it before it stalled out, I kept hearing Hotch in my head. (That's in the normal writerly way of hearing voices, not the creepy, call the guys in the white coats, way. Just back away from the telephone, folks. ;-) As has worked in the past when something's stalled, I went back and tried to figure out where I'd taken a wrong turn. What I finally *did* figure out was that this needs to be a crossover. It's pretty much demanding it. I've just got to work out the time line. I'm already going AU in that Kate's alive, but I was hoping to place it not long after SWAK, which happened in May of the year that CM started in September. Also, does anyone remember when Reid started at the FBI? I know he was 23 when the series started (since we saw his 24th birthday in an early episode), but I don't recall if they ever said how old he was when he joined up. Oh, and wasn't he Gideon's prize student at Quanitco?

The lovely and talented dhae_knight made this icon after perving on the phrase I used in a comment about the ludicrous Tony/Ziva faux romance crap that's ruining NCIS. :-)

I have the best flist/circle. :-)

I'm still depressed over last night, but several people have helped talk me down. :-) I'm not giving up just yet and maybe the show can recover from plotlessness.

That said, over on the CBS forums, one of the moderators has opened a thread asking if people want to see Tony and Ziva as a couple. Most likely this is going to be seen by TPTB. Please, folks, go, speak up. Even if you love Tony/Ziva in fic and in subtext (and I know there are a few of you here), consider what it would do to the show to take it *out* of subtext and make it text and do you *really* trust these writers to handle it in a satisfactory manner.

http://www.cbs.com/forum/posts/list/88638.page

You do have to register and log in, but it's trivial and doesn't result in masses of spam. :-)

It's always hard to see a show you love jump the shark, but that's what we got tonight with the Season 7 opener, "Truth or Consequences". The script was one bad!fic cliche after another that not even Michael Weatherly's excellent performance could manage to elevate higher than somewhere between Attack of the Killer Tomatoes and Plan 9 From Outer Space. Take that back, Killer Tomatoes was at least nicely camp. I think "Truth or Consequences" is about on par with watching Tom Delay lip-sync "Wild Thing" (there is not enough brain bleach on the planet).

Next week's looks just as bad. I don't know if I'll bother. I think I *will* avoid watching first run out of principle. I'm not to the point of boycotting sponsors, and might not ever get to that point.

I'm not sure I care enough any more.

The mods over at spoilersforncis have shown their true colors. This post seriously crossed the line for civil discourse. Below I offer the first line and the last line of the entry. Needless to say, people are bailing on the comm right and left.

This is the slightly extended post that Joey made a few days ago about Tony/Ziva
...
Oh, and if you don't like Tony/Ziva, do not comment on this post, we get it, you hate it, we're tired of the same argument.

I get the feeling they're starting to realize that not only do Shane Brennen's "spoilers" not really mean what they want them to mean but they're also feeling the backlash from the rising tide *against* making *any* ship canon on that show. Between online polls and just about every forum and comment page I can find, the folks who want to see Tony/Ziva move from subtext to text are in the minority (a generally less logical and literate minority as well). (Even some fans of the ship are stepping up and agreeing that they want it kept to subtext.)

Does anyone have current contact info for Sequitur? As in, something other than her ff.net address or livejournal address? The NCIS Awards folks are trying to reach her (I'd nominated one of her stories, but they haven't been able to reach her).

For those of you who haven't yet seen the two JAG episodes that first introduced NCIS, Ice Queen and Meltdown will be on USA on July 1 starting at 10:00 AM CDT, followed by the first episode of NCIS (Yankee White) and the next few episodes of S1. Get your DVRs and VCRs set to record.

If you're new to NCIS, this is the time to start watching, just keep in mind that Ducky isn't creepy like he was in the spinoff episodes. ;-)

While the characters are amazingly well 'set' during even the first few episodes, just keep in mind that this is the only time you'll see Tony in glasses (Michael Weatherly had laser surgery at some point and Tony's eyesight suddenly improved ;-) and Gibbs spouting off about movies. :-)

Watching some S1 eps, my kid says:

"Gibbs hears *everything*. He's like *Mom*. Mother of the team."

Truer words were never spoken.

Look over Jackson's shoulder and check what's hanging from the top shelf...




That's one progressive little town. :-)

ETA: This should be a better image.

ETA the Second: kaylashay81 got us some even better screen caps.

( Must be hanging over the porn section )

The NCIS Fanfiction Awards are still accepting nominations! If you've read some kick ass NCIS fic, go forth and nominate. This is the first year for these awards and their team is all about doing it up and doing it right.

Get your nominations in before Gibbs' slaps you upside the head. :-)

ETA: Updated the link to the Awards' comm because I'd put in the wrong one. :-)

I tossed this off over on the CBS forum in response to someone calling me on my constant harping about Ziva. Yeah, what can I say, I know I harp on it. I copied my response and here it is, with a few fairly minor edits for clarity. One of these days I need to do my "characters as people vs. characters as story elements" meta.
( It is the writer's job to engage the audience. )

But that could have been great fun. :-)

The Eastmans has been picked up for the fall! This is the show where MS will be a recurring character.

In other MS news, he won the Leo for Best Lead Performance by a Male in a Feature Length Drama for Continuum. Anne Wheeler won for 'Best Direction in a Feature Length Drama' for Living Out Loud which MS starred in. It was a good movie, too. You can find a brief write up on MS's Leo win here

ETA: It's been pointed out that I may have jumped the gun on The Eastmans. I thought the list given was shows picked up. It could be that only the ones that specifically say in their blurbs that they've been picked up have been and the others are still probables. My bad.

---

The untitled NCIS spinoff has also been slotted into the Fall schedule. Shane Brennen will be the show runner for both.

Frankly, I'm not sure how I feel about that. SB is pretty much to blame for the crap we've been seeing on NCIS (specifically all the Tony/Ziva ship anvils being tossed around like confetti). I can only hope that with two shows to run, he'll delegate more and someone with more sense will be able to keep him from giving us concussions every week.

Primetime Pilot Panic: New CBS Hot List; Dramas 'The Good Wife' & 'NCIS' Spinoff Get OK; Jenna & Jason Sitcoms Look Good

And I *so* need an animated icon for my bi-fandomness. :-)

Check out as524's post. It contains the name and address we need to write to and ask that they kill the soap opera and get back to the team and the cases. We need to flood the producer's office with mail.

Wow! I was not expecting this. I won Round 3 with my "back of the book" teaser for 'Thom E. Gemcity's' (aka, Tim McGee) latest novel, Knife's Edge.

I got sucked into some Stargate Awards business and even forgot to post a reminder about the voting here. Thanks to everyone who voted for my entry!

Here's the full prompt:

"When you go into your favorite bookstore, do you go right to the department knowing what you want or do you stroll through, sipping your coffee and browse the shelves, idly picking up a book on the table and reading it back cover? McGee's latest book was just released, telling the adventures of L.J. Tibbs and the crew. Your mission, should you choose to accept it... Is write that back cover to sell that book. This is an AU challenge. You are not writing Gibbs, Abby, Ziva or Tony, but you are writing about Tibbs, Amy, Lisa and Tommy. You may select any title for the novel, and your word limit is a maximum of 500."

Looking forward to Round 4.

I ended up using one of my skips for this round. Real Life ate my brain. What's left of it has been committed to the Stargate Fan Awards. So, no me story this time, but it's time for voting!

http://community.livejournal.com/ncis_lfws/

Go. Read about how Tony and Abby might have gotten together between the JAG episodes and Yankee White. I might even finish the story I started in a show of solidarity with my fellow-slashers who bit the bullet and wrote het. :-)

But not tonight. :-)

WOW! My story, Meeting Gibbs won the first round of the new NCIS Last Fic Writer Standing thingy. The prompt was Yankee White, Fornell's POV. Thank you to everyone who voted for my entry. ;-)

Since I've been having some trouble getting words on the page of late, when I saw this pass through my flist, I decided to take a stab at it. I've never done anything like this before, but it should be an interesting experience, if nothing else. :-)

New NCIS Challenge Community!


ncis_lfws ncis_lfws ncis_lfws

ncis_lfws ncis_lfws

ncis_lfws

But just in case, I will stick it behind a cut. It's more a matter of speculation about a really, REALLY, minor mystery that we may finally get the answer to during the two spin-off episodes.
( just in case )

There's an NCIS pairing poll in the spoilersforncis comm. Only het pairings are mentioned, but "none" is also an option. There is an "other", but I just went for "none". Tomorrow I might change my mind and see if I can edit it. :-)