In the Navy

I was never much of a fan of the now-deceased Word magazine, whose last issue recently came out. It always seemed a slight read, didn't offer much that Uncut and Mojo didn't already feature and the covers were usually wretched.

However, its final breath did bring up an important point: why does NCIS not get the credit it deserves? Its had nine series, has high ratings but is rarely mentioned by the mainstream press. I, for one, am a huge fan. Yes, its plots aren't anything new and at the heart, it's just another crime drama. So what makes it work?

Well, 90% of that for me is Mark Harmon and how he plays Leroy Jethro Gibbs, a former Marine sniper turned investigator for the Navy. Along with Shawn Spencer from Psych and Abed from Community, he's my favourite character on the box right now. He takes no shite from anyone, kicks arse when  needed but also knows the right words to say when one of his team has a moment of crisis.

Let's be frank, Agent Gibbs is fuckin' awesome. I'd love to have a boss like him. Yeah, so OK, he might give you a slap on the back of the head when you do something dumb, but on the other hand, when you've been kidnapped by international terrorists, he can snipe them from half a mile away. I'd also like to point out I don't have any kind of affinity with him based on our mutual admiration of female redheads. No way.

However, NCIS has more than just that. A show like this lives and dies on the strength of the chemistry between the team: luckily, it's strong here. A major highlight is David McCallum as Ducky, the pathologist, who is possibly the only character who isn't somewhat of a cliché: you have the computer geek (McGee), the  action girl (Ziva, who also has daddy issues) and the smooth lothario (DiNozzo). I guess Abby is a tad unusual in being a very upbeat goth. And, of course, there's the usual unresolved sexual tension between various characters, as is always going to be part of such shows.

Yet, I cannot help but watch it. There's something oddly compelling that I can't quite put my finger on, and I suspect this is why it never gets much coverage in the media. Plenty of people are probably in the same boat as me: avid watchers without quite knowing why. I can only think it's the absolute charisma of that silver-haired fox Gibbs - it's the only explanation I have that I am very annoyed that the series finished and I have to wait till the new year for my next NCIS fix.