the best imitation of myself

( NCIS(gay): 1.09: Random on Purpose (now with pictures!) )

So that was awesome. I'm now FOUR weeks behind on everything else though, including NCIS: Original Flavor, The Mentalist, FlashForward, Criminal Minds, Lie to Me, Castle, White Collar, and Community. I've given up on Bones and Trauma was canceled; is there anything fantastic out there that I'm missing out on?

I get the impression that more and more people are tuning in to NCIS: LA, hooray!

You may or may not have heard about this show called NCIS: LA? and you may or may not have positive or negative associations with the parent show from which it was spun off, I don't know; and maybe you've overdosed on law enforcement procedurals, or maybe you've never forgiven Chris O'Donnell for Batman & Robin; but here is what you need to know about this show: Chris O'Donnell is a Dickensian orphan, LL Cool J is a former Navy SEAL who folds origami cranes on stakeouts and spontaneously quotes Spock, and they are terribly, terribly gay for each other. There is banter, there are jokes about being married, there are long, meaningful looks, there is the immortal line "I COMPLETE YOU", and a declaration of love. LL Cool J has committed to his acting decision to always look at Chris O'Donnell with hearts in his eyes, it's AMAZING.

Also Linda Hunt is a ninja.

The plots are so ridiculous and predictable and riddled with holes that I've just started imagining them as MacGuffins to the show's real objective: the whumping of G Callen. G's manpain is not just epic, it's the epic that other epics pass down as legend from generation to generation. Take the most indulgent, unapologetically angsty, hurt-comforty, smarmy piece of fanfic you've ever written or read or printed out and put in a binder and kept under your pillow; and then imagine that binder was given to a major Hollywood studio with a giant budget who serialized it for television and then cast LL Cool J and Chris O'Donnell as the leads. Well, you no longer have to imagine it, because IT HAPPENED IN REAL LIFE. Sometimes we joke about making things up with our minds, but guys, I think this time it actually happened!

For more details, check out these awesome people:

From laceymcbain: 5 Reasons You Should Be Watching NCIS: Los Angeles

From gabriellemb: a primer with pictoral evidence of the slashiness.

And from drlense, hilarious weekly recaps SLASHCAPS, all under her "ncisgay" tag.

( Two things about last Tuesday's episode (1.07, Pushback) that only serve to highlight the OTT-ness of it all: )