# Does "NCIS" try too hard? Or not hard enough? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 24, 2008, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-ncis-try-too-hard-or-not-hard-enough/478481 "2008-12-24T00:44:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2008, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-ncis-try-too-hard-or-not-hard-enough/478481/1 "2008-12-24T00:44:12Z")
I mean, with the quirky, eccentric characters. Lots of successful shows have based their appeal on quirky, eccentric characters, but with [_NCIS_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCIS_(TV_series)) – with Abby’s goth-perky genius, and Ducky’s Old World ways, and Gibbs’ hardedged crustiness, and DiNozzo’s shallow studhood, and Ziva’s deadliness and malapropisms, etc. – it all has a kind of clumsy, paint-by-the-numbers feel. And I wonder whether any of it belongs in a purportedly serious cop show. The _Law & Order_ shows play around with the characters’ personal lives but they still manage to bring them off as entirely human and believable. ---
**Author:** ![Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bites_when_provoked/32/18073_2.png) [@Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bites_When_Provoked)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2008, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-ncis-try-too-hard-or-not-hard-enough/478481/2 "2008-12-24T03:19:32Z")
Yeah, I know what you mean. Most people have quirks, but these people are just 100% quirk. It makes them seem pretty one-dimensional. It doesn’t come off as believable - at least, not en masse. You can have one or two characters being 100% quirk without it distracting from the immersion factor, but not all of them. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2008, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-ncis-try-too-hard-or-not-hard-enough/478481/3 "2008-12-24T07:20:05Z")
You forgot McGee’s earnest good nature and unlikely geek skills. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2008, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-ncis-try-too-hard-or-not-hard-enough/478481/4 "2008-12-24T14:04:32Z")
I don’t think it _is_ a “purportedly serious cop show.” The eye-rolling over-the-topness is precisely the charm of the show for those of us who love it – check any of the periodic _NCIS_ threads for a slew of us chiming in on this point. Well, the over-the-topness – and the oppty. to ogle Mark Harmon for an hour. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2008, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-ncis-try-too-hard-or-not-hard-enough/478481/5 "2008-12-24T14:42:22Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > And I wonder whether any of it belongs in a purportedly serious cop show. I don’t know anyone who watches NCIS and thinks it’s a serious cop show. It can have serious dramatic _moments_, sure, but a big part of its charm is the humorous tongue-in-cheek attitude it has. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2008, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-ncis-try-too-hard-or-not-hard-enough/478481/6 "2008-12-24T19:23:04Z")
> [@zweisamkeit](#): > > I don’t know anyone who watches NCIS and thinks it’s a serious cop show. It can have serious dramatic _moments_, sure, but a big part of its charm is the humorous tongue-in-cheek attitude it has. Well, I think of it as being in the same genre as _Law & Order,_ not _Barney Miller._ ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2008, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-ncis-try-too-hard-or-not-hard-enough/478481/7 "2008-12-24T19:57:41Z")
well, if those are the only two options, sure, NCIS is closer to Law and Order. But I really think of it as a separate category. L&O is straight up drama where NCIS is more light-hearted. It’s not quite a dramedy, since I’d give it a bit more serious weight. The comedy is definitely there; they just don’t use a laugh track (thank god). ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2008, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-ncis-try-too-hard-or-not-hard-enough/478481/8 "2008-12-24T20:00:44Z")
I always have one thought when I see _NCIS, CSI, The Mentalist…etc_ “_Man_, that’s a lot of people working on one case!” Either they have a LOT of resources or they have very little crime there… ---
**Author:** ![Fir\_na\_tine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fir\_na\_tine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fir_na_tine)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2008, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-ncis-try-too-hard-or-not-hard-enough/478481/9 "2008-12-25T03:12:56Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > Well, the over-the-topness – and the oppty. to ogle Mark Harmon for an hour. Some of us just ogle Ziva. USA just reran the episode where she and Tony are faking sex while on assignment and she is one h-o-t actress. ---
**Author:** ![vison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e47774/32.png) [@vison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vison)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2008, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-ncis-try-too-hard-or-not-hard-enough/478481/10 "2008-12-25T17:45:57Z")
If some kind terrorist would remove that fake-Goth creature from the show it might be bearable. She utterly and totally makes me want to chew my own arm off in an agony of misery. My husband watches the show and I just leave the room, but sometimes I have to endure 4 or 5 seconds of her and it wrecks my whole evening. Mark Harmon, OTOH, gets a pass from me for one thing: many long ages ago he was a guest star on Moonlighting, and the scene in the restaurant when he tells Bruce Willis he’s an astronaut remains one of my favourite TV moments. ---
**Author:** ![tavalla](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tavalla/32/89_2.png) [@tavalla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tavalla)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2008, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-ncis-try-too-hard-or-not-hard-enough/478481/11 "2008-12-25T23:30:09Z")
And yet Abby’s one of the reasons I enjoy watching the show. Go figure, huh? There’s no way I’d ever count NCIS as a ‘serious’ anything - it just isn’t. It does have its dramatic moments, sure, but it’s not aimed at being realistic or serious or deep. It’s just an hour of escapist fun, bearing only tangential relationship to the real world. It’s an enjoyable bit of fluff, that’s all - and, actually, that’s one of the things I like most about it (apart from Pauley Perrette, that is) - that it doesn’t take itself seriously at all. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2008, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-ncis-try-too-hard-or-not-hard-enough/478481/12 "2008-12-25T23:39:04Z")
It’s that whimsy with its characters that makes it unique amongst its contemporaries. And certainly seems to be working for it, as its ratings are way up at the top. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2008, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-ncis-try-too-hard-or-not-hard-enough/478481/13 "2008-12-25T23:50:27Z")
> [@zweisamkeit](#): > > well, if those are the only two options, sure, NCIS is closer to Law and Order. But I really think of it as a separate category. L&O is straight up drama where NCIS is more light-hearted. It’s not quite a dramedy, since I’d give it a bit more serious weight. The comedy is definitely there; they just don’t use a laugh track (thank god). I’ve never seen NCIS, but is it more akin to Bones, perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21825_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2008, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-ncis-try-too-hard-or-not-hard-enough/478481/14 "2008-12-26T01:30:16Z")
The show doesn’t take itself too seriously. Case in point - the episode where the team was protecting Ducky from an expected abduction. Kate was speaking to Gibbs about the good doctor and asked “What did he look like when he was younger?” After a beat or two, Gibbs replies “Illya Kuryakin.” Cracked me up. ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2008, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-ncis-try-too-hard-or-not-hard-enough/478481/15 "2008-12-26T02:56:29Z")
Pretty much perfect the way it is. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2008, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-ncis-try-too-hard-or-not-hard-enough/478481/16 "2008-12-26T12:47:39Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > After a beat or two, Gibbs replies “Illya Kuryakin.” That is the one line which turned me into a fan of the show. I had to explain to my daughters (with Googling) why I almost fell out of my chair. The writers cannot sustain that level of wit constantly, but the show is consistently fun. (Although I do not like that they have infantilized Abby over the past year or so.) ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2008, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-ncis-try-too-hard-or-not-hard-enough/478481/17 "2008-12-26T17:51:35Z")
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w42zWIp583E](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w42zWIp583E) - my favorite NCIS scene. I like whimsy. BTW, if you get TNT, Leverage has a similar sense of humor. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2008, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-ncis-try-too-hard-or-not-hard-enough/478481/18 "2008-12-26T18:05:01Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > The show doesn’t take itself too seriously. Case in point - the episode where the team was protecting Ducky from an expected abduction. Kate was speaking to Gibbs about the good doctor and asked “What did he look like when he was younger?” > > After a beat or two, Gibbs replies “Illya Kuryakin.” > > Cracked me up. I can’t believe I haven’t seen that episode! ROTFLMAO! 😃 For my money, the quirky characters are precisely why I watch this show. _Law & Order_[prime] does almost nothing for me, but _L&O: Criminal Intent_ I watch for Vincent D’Onofrio as Bobby Goren (and I am so jonesing for Jeff Goldblum this season!). _Without A Trace_ and _Cold Case_ similarly leave me cold. (I will say _Criminal Minds_ is okay, but I’m not as fond of that as I am of _NCIS._ Abbey rocks! ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2008, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-ncis-try-too-hard-or-not-hard-enough/478481/19 "2008-12-26T18:44:50Z")
I just started watching it this season. It’s ok but not great. The characters are sort of one-dimensional. I guess they have no life outside of NCIS? And the cases are usually a twist, and another twist, and a big twist at the end. And why do they pull a gun and identify themselves as “NCIS”? Who knows what that is? Usually they say “Federal Agent” as well, but sometimes not. ---
**Author:** ![vison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e47774/32.png) [@vison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vison)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2008, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-ncis-try-too-hard-or-not-hard-enough/478481/20 "2008-12-26T20:42:31Z")
I confess I didn’t realize it was meant to be cutesy and quirky. I thought it was just stupid. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-ncis-try-too-hard-or-not-hard-enough/478481.md?page=2)