Cote de Pablo, who plays Ziva David on the top-ranked show NCIS, is leaving after eight seasons. CBS says they offered her a boatload of money to stay.
At least in a couple minutes of trolling the Internet, no reason jumps out. Still, it's interesting to note that NCIS has a track record of burning through its female characters. While Jethro Gibbs, Tony DiNozzo and Timmy McGee keep going on, Jenny Shepard and Kate Todd were killed off and now Ziva David is leaving (we'll have to wait for the series premiere to see if she got whacked).
As for what happens to de Pablo's career and the wisdom of her decision, lets just say that there is no shortage of actors who left hit series (and millions of dollars in pay and syndication deals) only to find their careers cratering for either years or forever.
I've watched the show because the characters have been intriguing. What has been less interesting is that the characters themselves operate in a Constitution-free zone, engaging in acts from illegal searches, illegal interrogations, arrests without probable cause and even murder. Last season, when an attorney from the Department of Justice attempted to enforce the law on Gibbs's team, political favors were called in and that investigation was shut down. To the extent that TV shows like NCIS routinely show law enforcement treating the Bill of Rights like a piece of scrap paper, they are basically evil, for they are desensitizing millions of viewers to their own civil rights.
As for the real NCIS, let's just say that I have little regard for them.
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5 comments:
I can see where she might be tired of the eternal sameness of that show. The writers' checklist seems to include:
1) Ziva fractures an English-language metaphor.
2) DiNozzo acts like a horndog fratboy around one woman or another.
3) Palmer says something cluelessly insensitive and Ducky slaps him down.
4) OK, proceed with the crime...
Contrast that with the Big Bang characters...everything that's wrong with them shows some signs of fading away over time.
I've often wondered how much deliberate influence there is over social and political issues worked into the entertainment industry.
When I was young, I could see the ham-handed work of propaganda in war movies made during the war. More subtle but continuous work seems to be done on other issues. The show "24" for instance... started with a terrorist plane crash, and began to glorify the hero doing absolutely anything to save America. Productive torturing became a standard plot fixture, from the earliest episodes.
And, of course, we keep hearing over and over and over again about the "liberal media."
"24" was outrageous. It was even moreso when Justice Scalia cited the show as a justification for torturing people.
I think an argument can be made for the point that this country has gone adrift of its moorings and shows like "NCIS" are a reflection of that.
Deadstick, I don't see DiNozzo growing up or becoming less of a horndog.
I remember it being said a few years back (guess it was in the aftermath of the Iowa investigation) that NCIS agents were those that couldn't make it to the FBI. The FBI certainly had a great PR arm (and wasn't Efram Zimbalist Jr a better frontman than J. Edgar).
You all forgot 'Walker Texas Ranger'.
I always thought (giving credit to Mr. Norris fine skills as a martial artist) that he was extremely wooden.
And each week I thought which collections of the Bill of Rights will be violated THIS week!
gfa
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