This site is about TV, opinions and logically…opinions about TV! Much has been made in the off season about the changes behind the scenes at NCIS, namely the furor between Mark Harmon and Creator/Producer Donald P. Bellasario who is now toast and out of the picture. Reports from TV Guide and the like detail how calm, peaceful and happy the set is now that Bellasario is gone. I am glad for them, I truly am, but what does this mean for the viewer?

I ask this because in this week leading up to Tuesday night’s season premiere of the “new and improved, peaceful, calm and happy” NCIS, I decided to take in the season finale of last season’s NCIS which leads up to next week’s episode. As I watched the opening credits I noticed the “written by Donald P. Bellasario” credit and remembered that Bellasario not only created and produced the show but wrote a great deal of the episodes (much like he did previously on J.A.G. and Quantum Leap.) Yes, he had a fine writing staff (who thankfully are now caretakers of the show) but it is evident that for all the frustration he created with hodge-podge management and late scripts, Bellasario did steer the storyline week to week.

Then, watching that very season finale, I realized what an engrossing and carefully crafted storyline had been played out through season four, a storyline that is intended to come to its resolution in the season five premiere. And there is the red flag! It’s impossible to know whether the original intention was to wrap everything up in the season premiere or if this is just a way to clear up last season’s cliffhanger so we can move on without Bellasario’s input. I’d like to think that everything we had built up to last year would have some lasting impact on the characters and not be something so simple as to be able to conclude it all in an hour. NCIS pulled itself up to Top 20 show status in the last 4 years and I hope that a “Bellasario-free” version retains what made the show click with viewers.

I am hopeful and I’ll be tuned in next Tuesday, but it had better be good…there’s a lot of stuff to watch on Tuesdays!!!

This post was Authored by Rob Walley, Our Resident Authority on all things NCIS and Kitchen Nightmares