NCIS Los Angeles ‘An Unlocked Mind’ Picture Review by Mogorva

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Oooooh. Scary… Is that a zombie apocalypse?

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They sure act like zombies…

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Niiiiice. There’s something for everyone. At least looking…

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Focusing on the wrong intention and enjoying the yoga, are we?

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So they _were_ zombies… just another kind.

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Brainwashing and selling the gathered intel? That’s a nice combo.

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She’s clearly in shock, but where does all that tear quantity come form?

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Ewwww.

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„Awkward.” Yes, it is. Brr.

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I’m sorry, how open she is? Open to what? #rhetoricalquestion Right about the beautiful part though.

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It _is_ espionage. Wonderful.

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„Very subtle” interrogation for A-list blackmailing material.

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Well, that sucks. Hands up, who’s surprised?

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Our typical deskjockey, nosy, goodfornothing lawyer makes the big appearence.

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Target zombie acquired.

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„I’m not the guy you cross like that.” Wow. Granger _is_ a teamplayer now.

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Interesting, but effective interrogation tactics. He’ll break soon enough.

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Uh-oh. That doesn’t look good…

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So, the best part of her life is getting drugged and put into a harem? Cults…

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And the zombie horde is gathering for an attack…

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One angry Kensi, two broken noses.

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That’s not good.

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„Welcome to my reality, and welcome to the worst part of your life.”

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Someone throw this guy from the roof, please.

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„I threatend agent Hanna with physical bodily harm.” Little pixie, huge power, huh?

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Jackass lawyer screwed up again, our heroes saved the day.

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So, happy end for the weary family.

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Who cares about rules? Love conquers all. Hetty told you so.

NCIS LA Ratings Seasons 1-6 and Monday 2200 2014-2015

// #comment: Since Acces does not offer a trendline and in Excel the graph is a little less good looking with only episode ID-s, I put both types of graphs here, and I also added a graph with both ratings and viewers, but I think it’s a little overcrowded, just illustrates the together running of the curves. If someone wants to obtain the whole ratings DB or Excel sheets of NCIS:LA, I can share it. #end comment //

NCIS: Los Angeles       

In every year there are higher rated and more watched episodes and ratings lowpoints. None of my statements address the quality of the episodes, only the ratings.

NCISLAS06

NCIS:LA S06 18-49 demo ratings and total viewers

The first graph above contains the total viewers and rating of every episode of our favorite show. The trendlines are telling an interesting story. As the trendline equasions show, the demo trendline is in decline, but the steepness is only -1,1 %, that is a lot less, than most shows have (NCIS: -3,04%, NCIS: NO: -3,31 % for example). The total viewers trendline on the other hand is almost flat, ascending with +0,52 % steepness (only for comparison: NCIS: -12,28 %, NCIS: NO: -13,94 %).

A few fun facts: S06E12 had the biggest audience and rating, while S06E22 had the smallest audience and S06E23 the lowest rating, both series minimums. The average 18-49 demo rating in this season is 1,59625. The total viewers average is 9,2755 million.

I had a little time and had fun with Access and a little data mining, so the next 2 graphs show the ratings since the show’s premiere.

First one is the 18-49 rating, the two outstanding entries are glitches, these were double episodes on the same day, and the graph creator summed them because it is based on air date, not season-episode number. Cutting them in half will give a good average for those two. The descending trend is obvious even without a trendline, but that is normal for almost every show. The trendline is descending, but only with a -1,56 % steepness.

Rating

18-49 demo ratings

The same graph with trendline and episode ID:

Rating_Excel

18-49 demo ratings

Opposed to the 18-49 demo, the total viewers graph seemingly had very little decline on Tuesday nights along the years (the same 2 glitches are present here too, cutting them in half puts those days in line too), and as was mentioned above, it was stable at a lower level after moving to Monday nights too, but the nearly 40 % drop after the move means a -4,51 % steepness for the descending trendline.

Viewers

Total viewers

And the same graph in Excel with trendline:

Viewers_Excel

Total viewers

18-49 rating and total viewers in one graph. Rating on the left axis, viewers on the right axis. Please mind the 1.0 starting point for the rating axis and the 5 million starting point for total viewers.

All_ratings_viewers

18-49 demo and total viewers with trendlines

Season 7 is in progress, and unfortunately the numbers went down a little bit. Let’s hope the best, I’d like to see double-digit season numbers, and I’m pretty sure, I’m not the only one.

Monday 22:00 18-49 demo

Monday night’s winner in the demo was undoubtedly The Blacklist. But it was there only for 8 episodes, and later collapsed on Thursday. The Blacklist’s demo trendline has a descending steepness of -11,6 %, which comes from the very high premiere, later it levelled out around 2,5 rating. Average 18-49 demo rating on monday: 2,6875.

Second place goes to NCIS: Los Angeles with it’s average of 1,59625 mentioned above.

Castle had it’s premiere together with NCIS: LA and they had similar demo ratings in average. In 2014 Castle had more demo, in 2015 the table turned. The 18-49 demo rating average for Castle is 1,575, slightly lower than NCIS: LA.

State of Affairs arrived in the timeslot after The Blacklist was moved, but it couldn’t keep up with the competition – this show had the worst demo ratings in the season in this timeslot. It’s trendline has a decline steepness of -7,73 % and averaged 1,25 rating in the 18-49 demo.

The Night Shift was the last show to arrive, and it did a little better than State of Affairs. It’s trendline is declining as usual, but the steepness is only -1,77 %. Also it had a little better 18-49 demo rating average than it’s predecessor: 1,31.

Monday2200demo

Monday 22:00 18-49 demo (2014/2015)

Monday 22:00 Total viewers

The total viewers graph is similar to the demo ratings. The Blacklist had the biggest audience with it’s premiere in the timeslot, and also the best average: 10,0973 million. The trendline is very similar to the demo trendline, it’s declining steepness is -32,62 %(!), but that comes from the very high premiere, it levelled out between 9 and 10 million viewers.

The silver medal goes once again to NCIS: LA with it’s average of 9,2755 million.

Castle has a decline steepness of -4,42 % in it’s total viewers graph, and it averaged a 8,47 million audience earning the third place in the timeslot. For some reason the viewers fled from the show in december and only a part of them returned later in the spring.

State of Affairs premiered to a large audience, but it quickly fell into a gorge with a decline steepness of -28,21 %, and just like in the demo rating, this show has the smallest audience, with an average of 5,2609 million viewers.

The Night Shift had a much more stable audience than State of Affairs, with an average of 5,3814 million viewers, and with only a -4,68 % steep decline in its trendline.

Monday2200viewers

Monday 22:00 total viewers (2014/2015)

NCIS Los Angeles ‘Internal Affairs’ Picture Review by Mogorva

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Right where we left off. Kinda cold collegues. Go figure.

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Wanna bet, the killer is on this picture?

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Bates wants to impersonate Tom Selleck? That mustache is ridiculus.

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„I should probably cut her loose.” Yeah, that’s not an easy decision to make. Almost feel sorry for Callen.

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Private briefing? WTF?

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Briefing no2. Why keep the first one private?

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„The truth doesn’t take sides.” Wait, is Hetty present pretty much since the first scene?

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Oh, what a coincidence.

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I’m sorry, does Deeks really talking about coffe?

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That went well…

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What, broad daylight? No dark back alleys and steaming drain covers? Maybe some enlightenment in this case.

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Whoops. Not good.

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Nice talk, but his mother is more than a little overprotecting.

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Why do they always run?

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Back to Quinn again.

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„He was the one guy, and the only cop I could trust.” OK, he’s a walking angel…

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Whole team (well, more or less), whole picture.

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„That’s not good.” Wow, understatement of the episode.

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„I’m pissed!” Never would’ve guessed. Wait, the debt wasn’t considered repayed in Blye K.?

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Uhmm, yes… no… what?

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„Shut up, Deeks!” Did he really just told him to run? Not suspicious at all.

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LOL.

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Gone. Or practicing dumpster diving again?

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I should be doing palm readings, or future telling…

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„Smart boy.”

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At least Granger is still thinking with a cool head.

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Hmmm. What the hell is he up to?

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Whoops.

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The cavalry to the rescue. Just in time, as always.

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„Just give me a reason.” You wanna know the secret of a long life? Don’t mess with the lioness.

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What the…?

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Awwwww.

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What? No hug?

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A smooch for a stop on the way?

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„You could have lost all of this.” „You or me?” So, Hetty organized the whole theater again? #rhetoricalquestion

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I’m sorry, what? Now _that_ is a surprise.

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„Even if it’s the truth?” That is going to come back to haunt him, does it?

NCIS:LA Familia Meet-up 2015

The NCIS:LA Familia Meet-up 2015 started with a bang. Better yet, a boom. A BOOM worthy of a season premiere or finale episode. What was it?

A tour of one of where the show is filmed.

Yeah. You read that right.

For those who couldn’t be there in person, allow us to be your guide. We started at the front of the Paramount Studios where we were met by the lovely Katie Barker, one of two publicists for the three NCIS shows. She led the group through the property to Stage 8, one of the two stages where the show is shot. It consists of ‘swing’ sets (those that are built for a few scenes and then taken down) and a few permanent sets.

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Look closely and you will see…

Those permanent sets include the boathouse interior, which was our first stop. Unfortunately the interrogation room is not included in this area and the door was locked, glued shut and/or not a real door (it was checked). This set has so much to look at – the set designers have sprinkled the area with nods to boating and the beach and eclectic finds. At one point, Katie said something about ‘our first surprise’ (this should have been a clue as to how the rest of the tour would go but we were too distracted to process that little bit of information). Then our first surprise came in:

LL Cool J, the man who brings Special Agent Sam Hanna to life.

He welcomed us all, posed for pictures, and thanked us for watching. It was a lovely stretch of time spent with a lovely gentleman.

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A collection of toys and not-toys.

In a bit of a daze, Katie led us to our next stop: the gym. We learned that the rock climbing wall was installed with the understanding that it was not to be played on (boo), but that the basketball net is used not just for filming. The room also hosts scripting readings, other smaller sets can be built in the center of the room, and the hallways that lead to the bathroom go nowhere.

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To the left of the firing range is the gym and to the right is the armory.

However, the short staircase does lead somewhere – to the firing range. After gathering in there and learning about how guns are fired indoors and during shooting, we moved on to the armory. The set designers put much thought into this room as well; there were tools, fake guns, actual weapons hidden behind the grates, and files filled with papers that looked as though they belonged.

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Wonder if the onsite electricians ever want to borrow tools?

The tour moved back into the gym where questions were asked until Surprise #2 appeared.

Chris O’Donnell, the man behind Special Agent G. Callen.

He chatted with the group, took time to take pictures with everyone, and made sure to tell us how appreciative he is of the show’s fans. Katie seemed to be enjoying herself, springing these surprises on us. We moved into the section of the tour where we all got a little more comfortable and started peppering her and Justin, one of the production assistants, with questions about the show, filming process, marketing aspects, Los Angeles, and life in general. Everyone was quietly wondering why Katie was hoping we wouldn’t mind waiting a bit longer (wait? on the NCIS:LA set? Somehow we found a way), when the third surprise walked through the door.

Hats! NCIS:LA 150th episode hats!

What did you think was going to happen? Did you think something else was coming? Because you’re right, someone else came through the door a bit later.

It was Monty.

No, it wasn’t.

It was Eric Christian Olsen, who plays Monty’s side-kick, Detective Marty Deeks.

He also took time with us to take some pictures, drop some hints, ask some questions and answer a few. With that final guest appearance past, Katie led the tour back out into the sunshine and around to the outdoor sets where exterior scenes can be filmed along different types of buildings. The tour wound through the studios and ended back in the parking lot. With a final group picture and a chorus of thank yous, the group left the studio.

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The next day we gathered again, wondering what could top the previous day. After chatting about the experience, it was revealed that Katie hadn’t just arranged for a tour. She also sent along scripts, signed, from the season premiere which allowed the group to do a table read of the episode. It was, of course, followed by a viewing of that same episode. Presents from those who were there and those that couldn’t also had found their way to the group.

Overall, it was a lovely time for all. The cast and crew of NCIS:LA clearly appreciate the fans and are proud of what they produce and are happy to share it with them. A big thank you to sindee for all her work organizing the event, she did an amazing job. Another one goes to Katie for her enthusiasm and willingness to shepherd around a group of fans.

PS…we also learned things:

  • That hatch in the interrogation room leads to a real tank under the floor. No one knew it was there until the idea was hatched for an episode and someone checked the building plans.
  • A back alley in Mexico was actually a small space between a building and the back of a façade that had some decorating.
  • A sunken parking lot painted blue can be filled with water to be used for aquatic scenes.
  • Even the sitting area outside the on-studio coffee shop is used as a set.