NCIS: Los Angeles is ENDING?! SHUT THE FRONT DOOR!!

Had to come out of hiatus (even if no one else reads this) to talk about NCIS: Los Angeles ending at the end of this current season. IIRC, this show historically tend to get last minute renewals, so at least this time they know this is gonna be their last hurrah. 

Rumour has it among the fandom that there's a Sydney (Australia?) version in the works. 

To be fair, like the show, everyone who has been on it since the beginning are getting long in the tooth to still be FIELD AGENTS. At this point, they could have been higher up the command chain by now. 

My guess as to why it's not getting renewed is the same reason for why a lot of long-running shows don't get renewed: MONEY. You can more or less tell that the budget for this show wasn't as huge as it was earlier in the run.

1. For an office that's always short-handed, you haven't seen all 4 OG characters (O' Donnell, LL Cool J, Ruah and Olsen) in too many episodes together probably in the last few seasons, with one or more of them written out of an episode in some fashion of late. 
2. A lot fewer explosions. Don't tell me no one else has noticed the pyro budget for this show earlier on was bananas. 
3. Hiring the younger people (to both be working on the field and/or ops) probably didn't cost them THAT much? I also cannot imagine how much the main 4 are paid per episode at this point cos at least 3 of them have been there since the beginning, all those years ago. OMG the residual payments they must be getting at this point. Maybe they can help O' Donnell gets his kids through college? Dude's got FIVE KIDS, who's been on the show in some capacity. 

What I will miss:

• Someone asking their involvement in "case of the week", which is a fair point, but kinda funny. 
• Because the OSP is forever short-handed it's stupid hilarious, the rolodex of recurring characters. Sabatino's been in a bunch of agencies by this point - CIA, US Marshals, FBI...?
• The banter. For a show that's more about dealing with national security threats (or threats to anyone in the cast, let's be real) and less about dead sailors (they haven't had a ME character for awhile), this is the more light hearted one of the franchise.

What I won't miss:

• Thinking about Daniela Ruah and Eric Olsen, who are IRL brother and sister in-law, playing a married couple, with HIS brother (her husband, who met on this show) as his stunt double. Is he still? I not sure. How is that NOT AWKWARD?!

My pet theories as to how it might end...

• Callen and Anna's wedding? 
• The main 4 either getting reassigned higher up the chain, or quitting/retiring while they still can?
• OSP getting shut down, giving the Admiral something to cheer for?
• Hetty showing up for aforementioned wedding? 
• How many of the recurring characters will we see again? 

The end of Major Crimes

Major Crimes didn't get renewed and last week's major shocker was killing off Sharon Raydor 4 episodes before the end of the series (some people guessed that the character wouldn't last till the end but I wasn't one of them, the TV watching cynic that I am). It's not often that the protagonist gets killed off before the end of the series. I wasn't sad, but it was an interesting turn of events. Now I want to see the aftermath. Considering that the character was hated on The Closer all those years ago and people getting upset about this says a lot about people's feelings about the character. 

You also kinda have to feel bad for the new cast members who just joined in the past season and a half, only to be at the death knell of the show. 

At least Provenza now has control of the division, but for how long? And will he finally retire? 

At this point, I also just want to see the Stroh storyline resolved; it's been going on too long. But I don't think it's a coincidence that he's finally surfaced just as Sharon kicked the bucket. Now the only thing between him and Rusty is the LAPD or at least the division? I hope Chekhov's gun is at play and that Rusty would have to shoot a gun in self defence at some point during these last 4 episodes.

Also, I don't know why people are still complaining about the show; it's done and dusted, there's not much else they can do about it either. Just watch the last 4 episodes and go on that final journey with them. 

Jennifer Esposito leaving NCIS

Unlike Criminal Minds, news of cast departures on NCIS are few and far in between.

So the announcement that Jennifer Esposito won't be returning in the coming season left me feeling like..

via GIPHY

Not surprised, since they conveniently wrote and shot last season's finale in such a way that there's more than one way for her to plausibly leave Gibbs's team in the coming season. If nothing else, her character was pretty hilarious: I still haven't forgotten how she would rather run back to the car to chase someone than to do any actual running. 😁😂

Criminal Minds Annual Cast Changes

At this point in the year, news of cast changes in the Criminal Minds lineup is to be expected. 

So who's in and who's out this year? 

Well, Damon Gupton is out of the coming season, which apparently was a "network decision". I'm not complaining, because the guy's character didn't add much to the show. He won't be hard to write out if they resolve Mr Scratch quickly. 

And they decided to rescue (?) Daniel Henney from the now-cancelled, much maligned (especially in Singapore) Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders to join the mothership show. My guess is that they need a Pan Asian for the diversity quota (besides Aisha Tyler and Adam Rodriguez, that show is also mostly consist of white people; I don't think there's ever been a regular cast member of Asian descent on that show). I'm also guessing that they're hoping the Henney fanbase will also follow. I have my guesses as to how he'll join the BAU fold, but I'm sure they'll come up with some mildly plausible way to write him in. 

Also in are AJ Cook and Kirsten Vangsness who got their salary parity with both MGG and Mantegna (🎉🎆). Those two are gonna be interesting to write out if the negotations didn't work out. 

Watching Queer Eye in 2017

When a Netflix revival of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy was announced a few weeks ago, I had the same thoughts most people had, like...

• Who's gonna be the new Fab Five? Because those guys are busy these days, especially Ted Allen. 
• How much retooling is gonna be done to the show's format? 

Anyway, someone on YouTube uploaded episodes of the old show into a convenient playlist and I've been watching the odd episode or two when I felt like it for the last week or two. When the show first came out (haha) I was about college age, but there's some things then that when I watch the show now, made me go, "so THAT'S where I got that idea from...". 

Here's some thoughts I had watching the first season of Queer Eye in 2017...

• The opening credits are cheesy then, is still cheesy now.
• Why are they always running to the guy's front door? Have to give props to Ted for keeping up with the young 'uns, haha.
• This show predates the show Hoarders.
• Seriously, there's no way Thom did those guys' houses all by himself, and certainly not in a few days they had. Particularly the decluttering and purging stage. It's just as well that it's not always Thom doing the purging bit.
• Now wonder the black guy got the can. 
• Kyan has a real plum job: not only accompanying the straight guys to the massages, but also joining in on the fun as well. Must be nice, getting paid to get a massage on camera. 
• OMG Ted Allen still looks the same now as he did in the early 2000s... 😲

Some of the tips and tricks held up over time, others didn't... like Von Dutch. 

I don't know when the revival is coming out, but I'll watch it for nostalgia's sake. 

Adios, Hotch

In all my years following the comings and goings on Criminal Minds, the news about Thomas Gibson's dismissal from the show after an "on set altercation" was (you have to admit) more mind blowing than when they announced Shemar Moore was leaving, mostly because his character Hotch has been the backbone of the BAU for the entire run of the show. At this point the only OG cast members left are Matthew Grey Gubler... and maybe Kirsten Vangsness. 

Okay, he's had some prior incidents which all lead to what some would say was that last straw for the production. Also, I read someplace that the guy was kicked in the shin - if I knew there was a "three strikes" rule on the show, I would've gone all out and kicked the guy in the balls, but that's just me. We don't know what actually happened and we probably never will. 

With him gone, the show saved the money that would be his salary (which I imagine is pretty significant, given his OG cast member status) and bring in someone younger and/or cheaper. 

With a departure as abrupt as this, I can't wait to see how they write themselves out of this Hotch-sized hole: I don't think they can use "Hotch finally retired" as a write-out, I think they would have to kill him off at this point. Or maybe they could say Hotch got fired because of what happened in the last season, but the team still has to carry on. 

I don't know who can step in as BAU unit chief... I suppose Rossi could, but I don't think that was why he came back to the BAU in the first place. 

I'm with the rest of the fandom - here's to the beginning of the end of Criminal Minds. 

New NCIS muscle!

After they announced that Adam Rodriguez will be joining Criminal Minds in the upcoming season, over in NCIS-land they also announced last week that Wilmer Valderrama will be joining Gibbs's team, presumably to fill the DiNozzo-sized void from Michael Weatherly's departure. 

Like it is for Dr Reid on Criminal Minds, just because McGee is now senior agent that he's gonna be the one doing the takedowns from now on. And they certainly can't expect Bishop to do it either :P 

I haven't seen much of Valderrama since That 70s Show personally (I know he's done other things since, it's just that I haven't seen those personally), so it might take a little time for me to get over his lispy character from that show. 

I'm not sure what kind of series regular the English guy will be in the new season (MI6 liaison?), but I can't wait to see how this works out. 

Criminal Minds casting news - New BAU muscle!

When news broke that Adam Rodriguez (who, as far as I'm concerned, will always be that guy from CSI: Miami) will be joining Criminal Minds this coming season, I mean, with the BAU's staffing issues, you just have to. 

Anyway, considering that the previous season ended with the mass prison escape, and that the next season is starting with them attempting to recapture said prisoners, writing his character in as someone from the FBI Fugitive Task Force totally makes TV-sense. Also, the BAU's resident muscle had just left, and unless Dr Reid seriously bulks up, they still need someone to do UnSub takedowns.. #thereIsaidit

Long story short: Don't care, good for him, can't wait for Season 12 of Criminal Minds in the fall.