I know what Tim-Tams are because my brother lives in NZ and I think he lives on them! However, I had to resort to Google, so I don't get them!
Cheap laughs are just cheap. I have a friend who is a DS on the Major Crimes team in Cambridgeshire. She hates cop shows because they never stick with real procedure. She says that her life is plenty dramatic enough without having to up the ante! She tried reading a Morse once and found two errors in the first chapter!
I hate watching actors as teachers - if they tried that in a school the kids would revolt or just leave and go home/shopping.
So I haven't even tried to watch NCIS since Tony left (oh God - now Ziva's back eurgh!).

But there is always Jim... sorry Tom Morrow!
My main reason for not watching much NCIS (selected and pre researched eps only) is that everything is played for cheap laughs. Procedure, justice for victims, general human behaviour is all dropped just so we can all laugh at DiNozzo. I loathe Gibbs and his stupid white teeth - I'm a teacher - hitting people is not allowed - ever. Thank you so much for these. I was afraid that you would stop writing them once you got to the end of Season 1.

A great fun collection but I hope someday to see Gibbs getting a demonstration that there is always someone better. He seems so proud of his marine skills, but surely someone else could be better.

Yay you are these stories,need you to post more .. .PLEASE.

Very good, I'm delighted you updated this again. I enjoy seeing the way you give those arrogant a**es a kick in the butt. God knows they deserve it.

I love reading your stories, especially this one! GREAT!

A very good chapter

Robert Alda, his son Alan Alfa and a yellow and pink parrot on the Muppets. I had to Google it though.
I agree wholeheartedly. A police procedural should follow the rules.

Loved Tom putting Gibbs in his place finally at the end. Letting deal with his two "green as grass" probies. Glad he sent Tony off as a TAD all over the world. I would love to see Tony stay TAD. Gibbs and those two brats Tim and Cate deserve each other.

I like it.

Yeah you are back! This one was great, you were so right on target. I like that you put in some consequences for Gibbs. In other stories you left those to our imaginations. You know quite interestingly, in the finale show of season 13 , Gibbs was still threatening Tony's job. I remember saying to the tv, it's a good thing you are leaving Tony, won't have to put up with that any longer!

Love these stories and I am glad you have started writing them again.

Absolutely love seeing a different perspective of the group. So glad you updated. Always a joy to read.

Initially I thought the “banter” between Cate and Tony was funny, but it quickly devolved into mean spiritedness. Sometimes I would just cringe. And they rarely let the character fight back in any significant manner. As far as following protocol...that was obviously a lost cause. I remember, lo these many years ago, thinking how unfunny it was when Tony was shoved onto a freeway in the body bag. I know it’s just a TV show, but I couldn’t help thinking of possible consequences. They often went for the cheap laugh with his character. I truly enjoy this series where Tom Morrow steps in and the team learns to appreciate what they have.

I fully agree with your comments in Notes. The early seasons were often difficult to watch and I really couldn't imagine how the agents functioned as a team when they were so disagreeable to each other. I don't actually understand why NCIS was so cruel, as the neither of the two spin-offs (NCIS LA and NCIS New Orleans) feature bullying, mindless sexism and general unpleasantness, and are all the more enjoyable for it.

Re the tasteless jokes, regarding a team member's lack of a social life or the running gag of Tony sleeping with a transgender suspect (which was particularly unfunny given that Voss butchered poor Chris Pacci), regrettably I think this is actually what passed for humour in a 1990s male dominated workplace, where the emphasis was on being macho. However, making fun of someone because of their sexual preferences, or spreading a lie throughout the workplace that a team member is gay, is a dreadful thing to do, especially at a time of DADT, when homosexuals were persecuted - being dismissed from their jobs and/or in danger of queer-bashing by bigoted individuals. That was very sloppy writing; the scriptwriters could have treated it seriously and written an episode about equality - instead the issue was treated as a joke. Actually, the one gay character on the show is the extremely likeable and endearing Ned Dorneget, who may be a geek (like Tim and Jimmy), but is certainly not stupid. He may have been bumbling at first, but that's only because he was green and nervous. He must be brainy, because he worked in Cyber Operations before becoming a field agent.

I have watched other crime series where they don't break the rules and do follow police procedure, and there has been nothing boring about them. The trouble with Gibbs' way of working is that he was taught by Mike Franks, a notorious rule breaker when it suited him. Gibbs' lack of respect for authority (curious in an ex-marine) was probably also learned from Franks - although perhaps I'm being too generous and it is down to Gibbs' natural rudeness and arrogance.

BRAVO! Kudos to Balboa and Director. Took Gibbs long enough to figure out Morrow was doing - so much for the infamous Gibbs gut!