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NCIS MODERATORS' BLOG 15
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AUSIELLO & NCIS
25th August
Thought it was time something was written about this person, the source of much angst among NCIS fans. I mean, just exactly, who is Ausiello? What do we know about him? Why are his opinions regarding NCIS not to mention those regarding other series, considered worthy of note? A priori, he's a self-proclaimed eminence regarding TV series, who spouts his opinions to be read by all and sundry along with his only weekly Q&A. Very few of these opinions appear to be contrasted, but seemingly based solely on conjecture. Although, there's no denying the man has the gift of the gab but lacking in substance, what might vulgarly be termed as being "all mouth and trousers"
He's also something of a turncoat, as no doubt those of you who follow Ausiello will recall his opinions regarding NCIS not so long ago were anything but favourable, and if anything were inclined to be condescending, as if the series were not worthy of his opinion. However, not he purportedly has access to "inside information" has attitude has changed. So, are his opinions to be trusted / believed, if he changes his mind at the drop of a hat depending on who's greased his palm? I think not. In fact, I'd be more inclined to classify him as a wooden spoon, given the way he loves to stir.
Whether he displays this same whimsical attitude towards other series aired on US television, I honestly have no idea, since I only follow NCIS. Nevertheless, given the fact a leopard cannot change its spots, I'm inclined to think he will treat other series likewise.
Admittedly, this entry may read like an "I hate Ausiello" rant, I assure you it is anything but, since the majority of TV critics work the same way, whether they're American or any other nationality, the majority rarely opine / write an article worth their salt. Perhaps, when Ausiello started out his opinions where honest but today I wonder, since TV critics, not to mention critics in general, rarely read / watch what they give their opinions on, much less know the people / work / series targeted by them. Undoubtedly, many of Ausiello's opinions will be the result of gleaning information from the taxi driver / next door neighbour / mother, etc., to whom he's talked / exchanged polite conversation with; or office minions instructed to find out; thus the resulting opinion isn't even first hand.
However, to give credit where credit's due, Ausiello's good at throwing the cat among the pigeons, and stirring up unrest among NCIS about forthcoming episodes, as we have seen him do regarding previous episodes. Since although the information revealed by Brennan may be obscure, I do believe Ausiello wilfully misinterprets to accentuate the angst to give his opinions more importance than they actually deserve. In fact, I feel we should take the majority of what he says with a pinch of salt.
[blog entry continues below this article]
FOR YOUR PERUSAL THE WIKIPEDIA ENTRY ON AUSIELLO
| Michael Ausiello From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ausiello penned two columns at TV Guide: The Ausiello Report, a weekly print column that expands into a regularly-updated blog online, and Ask Ausiello, an exclusively online weekly Q&A. Ausiello contributed to the website's weekly podcast, TV Guide Talk and the weekly TV Guide Channel program The 411 with a five-minute segment entitled "The Big Five", where he commented on the top five entertainment industry stories of the week. Ausiello also had a vodcast version of The Ausiello Report. Ausiello has also contributed commentary to media outlets outside of TV Guide, such as Today, Good Morning America, Fox & Friends, American Morning, Inside Edition, Extra, Access Hollywood, and Entertainment Tonight. He is a regular guest every Friday morning on Sirius Satellite Radio's popular morning show, "OutQ in the Morning" (Channel 106) with host Larry Flick, where they converse with callers about all things television -- shows, stars, and plot lines, including scoops and spoilers. Having garnered a number of connections with actors and producers such as Amy Sherman-Palladino, Ausiello has appeared in a few cameo roles on episodes of such television series as Gilmore Girls,Veronica Mars, and Scrubs. Ausiello purportedly is "frenemies"with E!Online columnist Kristin Dos Santos and TV Guide columnist Matt Mitovich. Ausiello is a pesca-vegetarian and is openly gay. He currently resides in New York City. | ||||||
As you can see from the above he's made quite a career given his age, in one report on Google it stated that his opinions were "greatly feared" - who's trying to kid who I wonder? Probably something he's bandied about himself no doubt.
Anyhow, getting back to the matter in hand, this gent purports to be in the know regarding what will or won't happen in the various TV series aired in the US, since said information comes straight from the horse's mouth or a "reliable" source.
However, with regards to NCIS, this claim tends to be dubious, since he often seems to be the artifice of misinformation as opposed to information.
Of course, this misinformation may be due to his difficulties with understatnding / interpreting what Shane Brennan tells him, such as in the case of the recent Ausiello NCIS spoiler for Season 7, where he stated "Gibbs would be measuring his BASIN in a future episode", turns out it should have been "Gibbs would be measuring his BASEMENT in a future episode". Apparently the confusion is due to the fact Shane Brennan has one of those "STRANGE ACCENTS"!!!!! Brennan's accent is Australian, but by no means is it a thick accent, quite the contrary in fact. Of course, Ausiello may have led a sheltered life and only heard certain US accents, so when faced with a foreigner, albeit a native English speaking one, the poor chap was flummoxed (this is where you're all supposed to say "ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"). Nevertheless, this in no way explains how he managed to confuse BASEMENT with BASIN, I for one am gobsmacked, particularly as apart from translating, I tutor English for foreigners (and have done so for nigh on 30 years), so obviously I'm familiar with rabbit punches the English language receives; and that was like the All Blacks losing hands down to the Barbarians (impossible in this lifetime believe me!). Methinks, that perhaps Ausiello should take an interpreter with him next time he talks to Shane Brennan, to prevent any more faux pas of this nature. And while we're about it, we'd better remind David McCallum not to use a Scots or English accent should he ever talk to Ausiello, otherwise anything he says might be misconstrued, since a Scots accents would no doubt be synonymous of an "alien" accent for Ausiello.
Y con esto y un bizcocho se acabó lo que se dió :-)
Anyhow, getting back to the matter in hand, this gent purports to be in the know regarding what will or won't happen in the various TV series aired in the US, since said information comes straight from the horse's mouth or a "reliable" source.
However, with regards to NCIS, this claim tends to be dubious, since he often seems to be the artifice of misinformation as opposed to information.
Of course, this misinformation may be due to his difficulties with understatnding / interpreting what Shane Brennan tells him, such as in the case of the recent Ausiello NCIS spoiler for Season 7, where he stated "Gibbs would be measuring his BASIN in a future episode", turns out it should have been "Gibbs would be measuring his BASEMENT in a future episode". Apparently the confusion is due to the fact Shane Brennan has one of those "STRANGE ACCENTS"!!!!! Brennan's accent is Australian, but by no means is it a thick accent, quite the contrary in fact. Of course, Ausiello may have led a sheltered life and only heard certain US accents, so when faced with a foreigner, albeit a native English speaking one, the poor chap was flummoxed (this is where you're all supposed to say "ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"). Nevertheless, this in no way explains how he managed to confuse BASEMENT with BASIN, I for one am gobsmacked, particularly as apart from translating, I tutor English for foreigners (and have done so for nigh on 30 years), so obviously I'm familiar with rabbit punches the English language receives; and that was like the All Blacks losing hands down to the Barbarians (impossible in this lifetime believe me!). Methinks, that perhaps Ausiello should take an interpreter with him next time he talks to Shane Brennan, to prevent any more faux pas of this nature. And while we're about it, we'd better remind David McCallum not to use a Scots or English accent should he ever talk to Ausiello, otherwise anything he says might be misconstrued, since a Scots accents would no doubt be synonymous of an "alien" accent for Ausiello.
Y con esto y un bizcocho se acabó lo que se dió :-)
LAST UPDATE ON 25th August 2009 19:25 PM
SUBMITTED BY Sorgiña
LEON VANCE - REVISITED
24th August 2009
I got such a great response to my blog about Leon, that I thought revisiting the subject would be a good idea. Whilst a lot of people told me why they do indeed dislike him, I was surprised and pleased to discover many people do actually like Leon Vance.
HardKore71 pointed out that Vance is the perfect foil for Gibbs. Vance is equally as strong as Gibbs and willing to challenge Gibbs if he believes Gibbs is out of line. He won't brook insubordination, but is willing to give Gibbs his head because he trusts Gibbs' gut instincts.
NCIS_rules rightly pointed out that Gibbs is a maverick, and a weak director that Gibbs is buddies with would do the show a great disservice. Another disservice I should say. We saw in season 4, with Jenny losing her grip on reality, how she lost her grip on NCIS, and the show nearly jumped the shark.
I believe that Vance is going to be pivotal to season 7. The character has been written in such a way as to make us distrust him. A cryptic past - was he or wasn't he a Marine? Why did the corpse in "Knock Out" have a detached retina, like that which invalided Vance out of the Corps? Why did SecNav go out of his way to reassure Gibbs that Vance was trustworthy? So many questions about Leon Vance. Maybe some of them will be answered in season 7.
Let's hope that darn toothpick goes AWOL however. Sorry, elinor29, you are definitely in the minority liking that toothpick.
LAST UPDATE ON 25th August 2009, 6.26AM Australian Time
SUBMITTED BY MargyW
TRENT KORT - HERO OR VILLAIN?
23rd August 2009
It must be villains week for moderators' blogs. My blog for today is on the enigmatic Trent Kort.
Since being introduced to us in season 4, CIA operative Trent Kort has polarized fans of the show. Some love him, some hate him, some love to hate him. Any which way, you simply can't ignore him.
From the beginning Trent Kort has been painted as a villain. But is he? What makes an obviously educated man become an operative for an intelligence agency? And an intelligence agency for a country not his own at that. Cambridge University in England was the KGB's recruiting ground for many years. I am sure many of you are familiar with the names Philby, Burgess, McLean and Blunt. Unlike them, Kort doesn't espouse socialism, but the freedom implicit in a democratic country. Somewhere in Trent Kort lurks an idealist.
Trent Kort goes out of his way to assist Gibbs when Ducky is in trouble. Any favor he could call in from Gibbs would not equal or outweigh the level of trouble he would be in if his superiors discovered he had taken CIA files. That's another thing. A CIA file on Dr Donald Mallard I can understand. He was a foreign national working in their sphere of influence, but not a file on Leon Vance. The CIA's charter of operations forbids missions on US soil and against US nationals. I could understand the FBI having a file on Vance, but not the CIA. I can only think of two reasons for the CIA having a file on Vance. One, they are disregarding their charter of operations, or two, Vance isn't an American citizen. The former is likely; the later impossible. To work for NCIS you must be an American citizen.
I'm digressing worse than Ducky! Anyway, back to Trent Kort. Tony is convinced that Kort is responsible for blowing up his car, though this has never been proved. I don't think Kort was responsible. If Gibbs for one moment believed Kort had tried to kill one of his people, Kort's life expectancy would be extremely short. Gibbs respects Kort, even if he does not admire him. Remember he covered for Kort in "Dead Reckoning". He knew Kort was responsible for the deaths at the building site.
Kort doesn't approve of torture either. His comments during "Broken Bird" about how much he loathed one of his CIA instructors showed that clearly. That instructor was the one torturing people to break Ducky's spirit.
On the whole I think the balance sways towards Kort being on the side of the good guys. Not necessarily a hero, but definitely not a blackhearted villain.
LAST UPDATE ON 24th August 2009, 6.30AM Australian Time
SUBMITTED BY MargyW
Likeable/Charming Baddies
23rd August
Following the theme of baddies in NCIS, this time it's the turn of those I liked or found charming, of whom I could find only two in that category to date, i.e. Ari and René Benoit.
Why these two you might ask? Ari - A rather attractive looking chap, well-educated, enigmatic smile whose eyes mesmerised Kate. To cap it all, he was 100% cold-hearted a kind of James Bond figure but on the side of the baddies. His educated manner attracted the women yet riled his male opponents - we all remember Gibbs' attitude towards him. And poor Kate, not only was she unable to stab him in the autopsy room, when she had a chance, but when he kidnapped her, she still seemed a little in awe of him despite her cockiness. And of course poor Kate suffered the same fate as Ari's female accomplice Marta, a bullet between the eyes, although with more distance between them.
The other likeable/charming baddy was of course René Benoit, because he was very much an old school baddy in that he was the negotiator/strategist while somebody much lower down in the pecking order of his organisation got their hands dirtied, whilst his own remained unsullied. He also tried to keep his daughter ignorant of his wrongdoings, which in a way endeared him to a certain extant. Of course, it could also have been Armand Assante's wonderful French accent :-)
And that's all for today.
LAST UPDATE ON 23rd August 2009 5:10 PM - CET
SUBMITTED BY Sorgiña
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| Started By | Thread Subject | Replies | Last Post | ||
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| Sorgiña | AUSIELLO & NCIS | 9 | Aug 31 2009, 1:30 AM EDT by MargyW | ||
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Thread started: Aug 25 2009, 1:28 PM EDT
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My entry today is about Ausiello in relation to NCIS, and about TV critics in general. Your input is welcome
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| MargyW | Leon Vance Revisited | 7 | Aug 26 2009, 4:57 PM EDT by MargyW | ||
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Thread started: Aug 24 2009, 4:29 PM EDT
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I got such a fantastic response to my original blog, I thought I'd revisit the subject.
http://cbsncis.wetpaint.com/page/NCIS+MODERATORS%27+BLOG+15 Thanks to everyone who responded the first time.
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| MargyW | Trent Kort - Hero or Villain | 7 | Aug 24 2009, 4:52 PM EDT by MargyW | ||
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Thread started: Aug 23 2009, 4:32 PM EDT
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My blog today is on Trent Kort:
http://cbsncis.wetpaint.com/page/NCIS+MODERATORS%27+BLOG+15 Any feedback/discussion would be great
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