CBS Renew/Cancel FINAL PREDICTIONS: 12 Shows Renewed, 3 Cancelled and 6 More On The Fence

 NCIS: Los Angeles picked up a renewal last week (surprise).  

No surprise indeed as this entry in the franchise has been a sturdy player with an appealing cast.  Very aged indeed, like a great scotch.  Where NCIS: Los Angeles contributes higher value this year is NCIS: Hawaii was picked up to order, so having a trifecta of shows may present higher value for the franchise.  This leaves 5 shows now hanging in limbo as 12 were picked up and 3 hour long dramas were culled.  Prior history shows networks need more space than that when housing shows at 10:00, and there needs to be ample space for comedies and dramas.  So let's break down the shows in between the bright green and red zones:

All Rise

Pros: The legal eagle drama brings a touch of class to CBS' predictable drama lineup.  It holds the same niche and vibe Madam Secretary and The Good Wife did years ago.

Cons: It sits in a rich development bed between a successful sitcom block and a star-lined sturdy player, and somehow cannot catch a break even during up weeks.  And unlike Madam Secretary and The Good Wife, All Rise cannot catch a break with the same critical attention.

Where The Show Would Fit if Picked Up: Sunday at 10:00 may be a nice niche depending on whatever show CBS chooses to place behind The Equalizer.  Beyond that, All Rise will remain a weak player.

B-Positive

Pros: The show is peppy, upbeat and holds Linda Lavin.  Even after tested in the dreaded 9:30 Thursday timeslot, B-Positive managed to match The Unicorn late in season when ratings are softer.

Cons: Losing nearly a third of their audience after a timeslot move indicates B-Positive is lead-in dependent.  Hardly what CBS needs as prior Thursday tentpole Mom is leaving the lineup, potentially indicating that hour may be up for sale for a drama or comedies shall be shifted back to Mondays.

Where The Show Would Fit if Picked Up: Depending upon if CBS decides to keep 2 hours of comedies on Thursdays or move them back to Mondays, B-Positive may stand a sliver of a chance if CBS chooses Monday at 9:30.

Clarice

Pros: Like All Rise, Clarice delivered an updated entry in CBS' boiler plate of procedurals.

Cons: Check out the ratings.  'Nuff said!  Screwing the pooch on weak nights and hemorrhaging 55% of an already weak lead-in (as well as losing 61% of its premiere audience fast) spells high risk for CBS.  Unlike Evil which was dark yet delicious, Clarice left the sour taste of vinegary chicken in viewers' mouths.

Where The Show Would Fit if Picked Up: Summer perhaps?  Or scheduled against The Superbowl?  Or after The Lat Late Show?

SEAL Team

Pros: The series has been a sturdy player on Wednesdays and David Boreanaz can carry a show.  Delays in a renewal announcement lead folks to wonder if negotiations and production costs are holding up a renewal.

Cons: The 4th Season has delivered softer and below CBS' average.  However, the weaker SWAT was picked up, indicating great odds of SEAL Team coming back.

Where The Show Would Fit If Picked Up: Among the 4 dramas discussed among this batch, SEAL Team would mesh beautifully on several nights of the lineup.  It could even make a great contender for the vacant 8:00 Friday slot.

The Unicorn

Pros: A stylish cast, crisp writing and a lack of canned laughter leave the series as standout against the common Chuck Lorre platform known to CBS.  And the series may hold its own on Paramount Plus.

Cons: Like All Rise, just check the ratings.  The Unicorn managed to rise in up weeks but indicated the show rides the wave.  It simply does not fit the tempo of CBS and squandered the opportune times for a sitcom to shine.

Where The Show Best Fits: Sadly, The Unicorn is a misplaced jewel that cannot fit in among CBS' successful comedies.  Pray for a pickup at Paramount Plus as it may locate a suitable audience.

United States of Al

Pros: Lead actor Adhir Kalyan is stellar, and some cultural expansion is welcome considering the Afghani culture experienced nasty prejudice 20 years ago.  And the show is holding in line with B-Positive's in-seasonal ratings.

Cons: The remaining portion of the cast is poorly written and the premise is a tad dated.  United States of Al is holding decent retention, but fails to soar above outgoing tentpole Mom.

Where the Show Best Fits: If CBS chooses for 6 comedy timeslots (whether the 9:00 hour on Monday or Thursday), United States of Al would need to prove its weight holding down the 9:30 timeslot.  Hardly a breakout hit or sturdy to launch a hit, United Stated of Al fits the back end of the schedules.

’NCIS: Los Angeles’ Renewed For 13th Season, ’NCIS: Hawaii’ Ordered to Series

 

CBS has gifted 'NCIS' fans with a double dose of good news. 

The cast of 'NCIS: Los Angeles' from Season 3, Episode 11. Credit: CBS

After leaving it out of last week's mass renewal, the CBS network has opted to renew crime drama 'NCIS: Los Angeles' for a thirteenth season. On top of that, they have ordered drama spinoff 'NCIS: Hawaii' to series. 'NCIS: Los Angeles' is a police procedural that currently airs at 9pm on Sunday nights. The 12th season currently averages a respectable 0.61 rating in the Adults 18-49 demographic. 

'NCIS: Los Angeles' was left out of the week-ago renewals due to cast deals not being complete, but those matters have since been settled. The series stars Daniela Ruah, Eric Christian Olsen, LL Cool J, Chris O'Donnell, Linda Hunt, and Renee Felice Smith. The renewal of this long-running crime drama was a correct prediction by the TV Ratings Guide. 'Hawaii' will be the third spinoff of the popular 'NCIS' franchise, following 'NCIS: LA' and 'NCIS: New Orleans'. 'NCIS' itself was a spinoff of the late-90s drama 'JAG'. CBS released the announcement through their Twitter account.

****BREAKING NEWS****
We have officially renewed @NCISLA and ordered #NCISHawaii for the 2021-22 broadcast season. Get ready! pic.twitter.com/FUtucK7SIb

— CBS (@CBS) April 23, 2021

What do you think of this news? Will you be watching the upcoming season of 'NCIS: LA' and the first season of 'NCIS: Hawaii'? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below. 

NCIS: Los Angeles S11E03 'Hail Mary' Review

A Hail Mary is either a traditional Catholic Prayer or, if the word 'pass' is added, it's a very long forward pass in American football, typically made in desperation, with only a small chance of success (thanks Wikipedia).  There isn't too much in the way of religion in NCIS Los Angeles, unless it is associated with Muslims so a reference to Catholicism seems unlikely. And knowing what many of the team's operations are like, this Hail Mary relates to a long shot, which may even be a metaphor for this episode itself.

On the face of it, there is a lot going for this episode. It's light, humorous and most importantly the team (sans Hetty) are all together in the same city and working the same case.  That in itself is a novelty after the last four episodes.  There is also the return of Admiral Kilbride, who lit up the screen early last season with his rather sardonic wit and attitude.  Unfortunately this also works against the episode to a certain degree. There is nothing wrong at all with injecting a healthy dose of humour in to NCIS Los Angeles, in fact it is the banter between characters, the ability to find the wry laugh amongst the tension and drama which makes the show endearing.  In Hail Mary, this goes just a tad too far.

The episode is written by showrunner Scott Gemmill and master of darkness Frank Military.  Both are capable of writing extremely dark and dramatic episodes and both have written their share of humour, notably Gemmill who penned the crossover featuring very special agent Anthony DiNozzo (which was ridiculous but with scenes that left you crying with laughter).  He was also responsible for the cringe-worthy humour in Choke Point (S10). Frank Military wrote Black Budget which capitalised on Chris O'Donnell's comedy skills, but counter-balanced that with the over-the-top cringy-humour in SEAL Hunter (back to back season 6 episodes). This one is clearly played for laughs and generally falls shy of the mark.

Somewhere between the earlier seasons and now, Eric Beale has turned in to a blabbering idiot.  He used to be a cool, geeky tech nerd and the introduction of Nell seems to have been his downfall. By the closing scene of this episode he is embarrassingly babbling in front of the Admiral, a man who repeatedly shot him down last season. In fact the very presence of Eric in this episode is surprising (if you didn't know this was actually filmed at the end of last season).  Last week, Eric was absent and Nell was complaining about their lack of contact as he was consulting part time in San Francisco. Although Nell did say he was expected back next week, there was no reference at all to explain his full and engaged presence back in LA.  In contrast, Hetty was announced as AWOL having assigned the team the case via Eric.

The case itself saw Admiral Kilbride order Sam and Callen as his bodyguards whilst Kensi and Deeks babysat a bound and gagged man - in his undies - in the adjoining hotel room. No explanations were given which seems ludicrous, and not in the funny way.  All Kilbride did was repeatedly complain about the younger generation and say he had no time to explain. For an old guy who (in Hail Mary) just loved to boast about how great things were in the good old days, he certainly had no respect for anyone else. He simply came across as a cantankerous old man. Sure it was amusing at first but as this continued throughout, it became quite wearing. Similar was Deeks. In much the same way he didn't stop talking in the premiere, he continued to pull out one liners, and getting in the last lines. Some were amusing, some were not. In fact the biggest smile possibly came from Kilbride's rather astute question to the team:

Kilbride: Conklin is an arms broker. He puts people and weapons together, and he was rumored to have access to a Tsirkon.

Deeks: Zircon? The evil master of the universe, Zircon?

Kilbride: What is wrong with him?

The look Callen gives pretty much sums up the episode!

The plot itself doesn't really fare much better, particularly with the Weekend At Bernies play. If not before, at this point it is just stupid that NCIS would take a dead body to a golf course, pretending he is alive so his father will exchange a kidnapped intelligence officer for his son.

Despite all of this, the episode was actually sort of enjoyable. Comedy is a difficult thing to get right, to please the majority. There were moments of fun, such as Deeks saying Callen was a great cowboy name, with which Callen agreed. The jump off the balcony in to the pool by Kensi and Deeks was a fun action scene and it was great to see Sam and Callen's banter in the firing range at the start. Likewise the gun fight in the warehouse was actually funny when a bullet went through the wall and narrowly missed Callen, who was sitting on a chair, and took out the bad guy standing in front of him - although was that supposed to be funny? The return of Deeks' homeless man to aid their escape and Callen casually taking a golf club and wrapping it around a bad guy's legs were more great moments.

This won't go down in the history of NCIS Los Angeles as one of their best, although it not quite the worst they've done. It is a shame though, as by toning down the absurdity a notch in terms of plot, Eric and to a certain extent Deeks and Kilbride, the episode would have been much better. At least next week's looks like a return to the intensity, as the team tackle a possible Ebola outbreak, which probably won't see any belly-laughs... 

A Virtual Scrawl

NCIS: Los Angeles Review S10E18

After such an amazing wedding episode last week, NCISLA returns for a mediocre outing at best, which focuses on Nell Jones and her sister Sydney, who has turned to Nell for help after her high school crush becomes mixed up in a Russian plot to steal DOD intelligence. It's been a while since Nell was in the field and it is good that Eric and Nell, as support staff (and cast), get their moments to shine each season. These should be chances for them to showcase their skills and talents outside of the confines of ops, or to show them overcoming a personal obstacle which is still NCIS / case related. Either way, the essence of their character must remain true, lest the audience is alienated.

Unfortunately, the latter has occurred in ‘Born to Run’. Nell is a very intelligent woman, in fact one episode made repeated references to her extremely high IQ. She is a resourceful intelligence analyst and has demonstrated her capabilities on occasion, to embark on undercover operations as well as handling herself competently in the field as a fully-fledged NCIS agent. There have been moments where Nell’s confidence has failed professionally and she experienced self-doubt in the field and then personally, when her sister Sydney was introduced. Sydney works for the Department of Homeland Security in their Field Intelligence Group, generally bullies her younger sister and is small-minded and petty. A very negative person. And here lies the rub of this episode. These two intelligent women spend most of the episode behaving like dumb teenagers, not trained agents. In addition, Sydney has no redeeming features and pouts, sulks and is jealous of Nell throughout. The lack of intelligence seems to be catching. At no point does anyone on the team seem to consider investigating the link between suspect Andre Martinez and Sydney and Nell Jones. Also curious was that Martinez’s employee, Commodore Cindy Kang, only knew him from his resume as a naval engineer prior to meeting him the previous week when he started worked for the DOD.

This could have been a much better episode if Nell had ignored her sister and contacted the team from the start. She showed a distinct and uncharacteristic lack of trust, which was something of a theme this week as there was also a lack of trust between the team and Rogers. This is nothing new, particular with Deeks’ comments and Callen’s behaviour; neither react well to authority figures, the latter in particular. The team deliberately kept Rogers in the dark about Neil's absence and Commodore Kang's involvement, causing Rogers to inadvertently relay information to Kang that puts Nell and co in danger. In scenes reminiscent of Mosley at the end of S9, Rogers yells at Kensi and Deeks about their actions however Rogers is concerned about Nell’s safety whereas Mosley was purely self-serving. The message clearly gets through to the team and he is invited to Deeks’ bar and welcomed to the team - although Callen at least has ulterior motives. Rogers is growing as a character, developing idiosyncrasies and quirks and it will be interesting to see if he leaves at the end of the season (he did say his audit would finish in June). There was a missed opportunity with his mandatory reviews.  As always, Deeks took the fall with the team and kicked off the talks before escaping.  It must be noted that Callen is an expert at avoiding such events and it would be a twist and potentially very humorous to see Rogers interviewing Callen for a performance review.  Rogers is no longer there to split up the team but seemingly there to understand and keep a bit of a leash on them - good luck with that!

There is an innate amount of weirdness from the outset which is characteristic of episode writer Jordanna Lewis Jaffe. The pre-credit opener features a bizarre rich LA lady who is ridiculously over the top, later is an odd male receptionist.  Kensi’s Malibu honeymoon clearly addled her brain with her peculiar reaction to Rogers call for mandatory review, not to mention Eric calling Callen ‘Grisha Callen’ (although he’s the only other team member to ever call him ‘G’ - back in the first season). Throw into the mix the juvenile behaviour of Nell and Sydney, the unspoken question of why Nell and Eric travel separately to work and the obviously suspicious Commodore...Kensi is also overly enthusiastic and merciless in shooting the Russian motorcyclist (without shouting a warning - Anna Kolcheck was jailed for a similar action), and gutted Sam and Callen beat her to taking out the second guy.

Deeks made a comment that Nell could be channelling her inner Kyser Soze in a reference to 90s film The Usual Suspects, and even a five minute dive into the possibility, examining her life, would have lifted the episode. There were some good elements such as continuity from last week’s wedding, with conversations between Kensi and Deeks, and Callen’s ongoing teasing of Sam and his dancing, which lead to Eric bravely dancing behind Sam’s back. Countering this was painfully notable discontinuity about Hetty. After her spectacular return, she is once again absent and even worse - she is not even mentioned. Not once. Overall this was a disappointing episode, primarily due to an inferior level of writing for the characters, and an over the top dose of weirdness, which does not equal funny.  Let’s hope the only way is up for the remaining six episodes.

Loved it, loathed it or indifferent?  Leave a comment and let me know your thoughts on Born To Run.

NCIS: Los Angeles S10E08 Review

Written by the master of darkness Frank Military, this week’s episode revisits the secret right wing extremist faction within the military, whose end game is to violently rid the world of Muslims.  This group is known as the Patton Project and was introduced last season in The Silo. This week, the team is farmed out to contact Tobin Shaked (the ex-Mossad agent - the team saved him and his daughter’s life in Home Is Where The Heart Is, S8).  Their mission is to stake out Venice Beach for any one of over one hundred potential senior members of the Patton Project.  Undertaking their own investigations into Shaked and which Government agency he is working for, the wonder twins discover he was part of an elite group responsible for wet work in the Middle East.  The agents then have to decide if and how they will assist in an operation in which they could become complicit to assassinations on US soil, sanctioned by their own Government.

Instead of delivering a darkly intense and dramatic episode centring around the emotional complexity of one of the field agents, Military thwarts expectations.  The darkness is something discussed by the team who demonstrate they have moral standards, discussing them with emotion and also objectively. This allows them to arrive at intelligent solutions, enabling them to circumvent the dubious actions they’re possibly expected to perform.  This follows on nicely from last week, where vigilantism is a core theme, a topic which has its own moral debates.  Due to the nature of the storyline, there is not an emphasis on action or on keeping the viewer on the edge of the seat. There is ongoing drama which centres mostly on how the team try to stay true to their oath as law enforcers.  This allows for active debates at various points, ranging from outright refusals, challenges to authority and consideration of whether they could actually be doing the right thing to safeguard the innocent.

As in part one of the season finale (also penned by Military), Deeks takes the moral high road and becomes the voice of conscience.  This time there is no abrasive authority figure who has broken the law and Deeks’ impassioned words challenge the rest of the team.  In this scene in Ops, it is once again very apparent that Deeks is LAPD and not an agent.  Recurring character Arlo Turk has been summoned to join them on the case and as he says, if the team backs away, they’ll just find someone else.  A practical standpoint.  Kensi is the one who considers whether the right thing is for them to assist in the mission.  She was on-site in The Silo to prevent the launch of a number of nuclear missiles.  That episode also prompted an even more emotional reaction from Deeks as Kensi voluntarily placed her life on the line for the sake of the mission.  Harking back to The Silo, Kensi and Deeks had a very serious conversation on the rooftop, when Deeks admitted that he cannot lose Kensi like Sam lost Michelle.  It would have been a suitable episode for Kensi and Deeks to have that serious conversation about their future - post wedding.  That conversation seems to have been swept under the carpet as they are clearly focusing on the now and their immediate future with their continuing wedding talk.

There are also missed opportunities to really thrash out and explore how far over the line the team might go.  Mexico is somewhat tame in comparison to other examples. Kensi was sent to Afghanistan as a sniper to assassinate the White Ghost, leading to Deeks water boarding the cleric after Kensi went missing. Callen is former CIA and even if covert and black ops were not part of his remit, he would have been aware of such activities. And with Sam, Navy SEALS run special ops, and possibly some black ones. On a personal level, Callen's rogue activities are essentially black ops, most recently attempting to kidnap Kirkin and swap him for his father, knowing Kirkin would be tortured to death. He followed Hetty to Romania (S2/3) and after experiencing traumatic childhood flashbacks, impassively ordered the team to ‘kill them all’ (the Comescus). Sam too is not above reproach, tying up Tahir Kaled on his farmstead and threatening torture after they found his family under surveillance and Jada missing (S7).

The beauty of this episode is it lays down the fact the team are more than capable of running black operations. The Wikipedia definition quite accurately sums up many of the team’s missions.  A black op is a covert operation by a government agency that is secret and not attributable to the organisation carrying it out. The main difference between a black and secret op is the significant level of deception and concealing who is conducting it. At several points the team state they draw the line at torture and assassinations - or operations that make them complicit.  Ochoa and Turk both openly acknowledge the team does indeed have an aptitude for operations that go outside the lines.  And they do.  They just do not torture or assassinate people. 

Deputy Director Ochoa has so far been portrayed as a bureaucrat from Washington who is human with a sense of humour.  Now in no uncertain terms, he confirms to Callen and Sam that he sold the team to the devil (black ops) to save them from the legal and professional ramifications of Mexico.  His actions may have saved the team but he and other alphabet agencies will now potentially use the team’s reputation and abilities for more nefarious missions. However the OSP team prove that assassination is not the answer.  By running their own covert op, they arrest the suspect which eventually leads them to preventing a suicide bombing on a domestic flight that would have been blamed on Muslim extremists.  Maybe that was Ochoa’s play. He realises the team know how to walk the moral tightrope and where possible they will not cross the line but do actively operate in the darker shade of grey. 

The return of NCIS Special Agent Arlo Turk adds an intriguing dynamic to the team mix. In the finale he was non-committal, antagonistic, self-preserving and yet he risked his life to save theirs.  He assisted Mosley a few episodes ago and so is generally a good guy.  He has a dry sense of humour and a solid presence in terms of his physical size as well as the intensity he brings.  As in part one of the finale, he butts heads with Callen a little, as though there is an underlying power struggle.  It was revealing that at two separate points, Callen talks to Ochoa about his team, and later Turk stops Shaked assassinating the suspect whilst he’s being arrested, referring to the agents as ‘my team’.  He is certainly chummy with Ochoa as the two walk out together at the end of the day. The running joke is how Turk saved their lives, talking to Callen in particular (technically that was Sam...) and the closing line, spoken by Turk when the screen turns black, is very amusing.  He even gets the team’s banter, effortlessly joining in during the stakeout scene until the outsider Shaked, tells them all to stop talking.  And on an offbeat note, there seems to be a new trend this season of Eric wearing long trousers...

Although the guest characters were well drawn, there was not the emotional connection that Military usually creates. The wanna-be suicide bomber is a mentally ill and vulnerable woman with a baby, manipulated into fulfilling her suicidal desires with a big bang.  There is no development of any one character and the focus instead is on the team’s morals and the space in which they operate, which allows for many other facets to be investigated.  The story of the Patton Project seems very much in its infancy. The Silo only touched on three members, and this episode focused on one individual although over a hundred others had been identified.  This is a storyline that can be re-visited at any time, bringing with it the possibility of the team having to operate further just inside the shadows.  

A Virtual Scrawl