Post by Deleted on Oct 15, 2006 23:29:09 GMT -5
I originally checked it out because of it being a DPB show, hearing that it was a spin-off of JAG (which I loved), and since it was a JAG ep that piloted it, I kind of didn't have a choice:)
When I heard Mark Harmon was going to be in it, I was really excited. At the time, I had him confused with Mark Hamil and was interested in seeing the guy from Star Wars doing something new. I also remembered him vaguely from Presidio and then my mom had told me about his role on West Wing. I figured this was my second chance to see him since I'd missed that (and he died anyway) and maybe a second chance for his character to survive.
Initially, I was really impressed, especially by seeing Gibbs with the boy. Then I started getting ticked off with Gibbs because of how he was treating Harm, who I was very much interested in at the time. And I found Ducky creepy and some of the stuff a little too gross. (The viewpoint from the body shots were kind of creepy too) By the end of the two-parter, I'd decided that the show was revolting, and Gibbs was a jerk.
My aunt really wanted to check the series out when it came out though, and I decided to give it a shot too - and Yankee White totally won me over. I loved the humor and I downright fell in love with Gibbs. I didn't know whether they'd toned him down or whether I'd just overreacted before (after rewatching the JAG eps, I've since learned it was the latter and I was just too biased towards Harm and JAG to realize that it was actually Harm who was out of line), but as far as I was concerned, this was a great character. Plus initially he'd seemed too strict, especially I thought towards Viv. (Now I realize Viv needed the correction - she had an attitude problem that I had missed the first time around) While watching Yankee White I saw the strictness, but also a sense of fairness, humor and also a warmth I'd somehow missed the first time.
What hooked me the most was usually a male lead character is a guy who you love watching, but you'd never want to date in real life. They're usually too cocky or too much of a rogue or something. Here was a character who seemed like a person of integrity, was kind, warm, had a great sense of humor, and was the kind of ideal guy a girl dreams about. To add to that, my mother and a good friend of ours had just been coming out of marriages to seriously controlling jerks. Seeing Gibbs when I did was wonderful, because here was a guy who actually knew how to respect people. (This experience had also contributed to my bias, because Harm had called him a control freak on one ep. As someone biased towards JAG, I immediately figured Harm had to be right, which put an automatic resentment up towards Gibbs – since I hated, and still really have a problem with controlling guys. Unfortunately I neglected to take into account that said comment was from someone who was a little biased given their situation)
The finishing touch for me came the following week and seeing Gibbs with the little boy, and the way he talked to the mother. I was hooked as a regular viewer. Then in February came Enigma and Bete Noire. My favorite character in emotional angst, followed by a hostage situation (I love shows with hostage situations) and a H/C moment for my favorite character. Plus Enigma was so darn funny – I still consider it one of the most humorous eps of the entire series. Those two put me from being a diehard viewer to an obsessed viewer – collecting fanfics, writing fanfics, collecting all photos and pictures I could find, collecting any Mark Harmon shows I could find, typing transcripts for myself to take to work so I could obsess during breaks, and spending tons of time on the discussion boards.
When I heard Mark Harmon was going to be in it, I was really excited. At the time, I had him confused with Mark Hamil and was interested in seeing the guy from Star Wars doing something new. I also remembered him vaguely from Presidio and then my mom had told me about his role on West Wing. I figured this was my second chance to see him since I'd missed that (and he died anyway) and maybe a second chance for his character to survive.
Initially, I was really impressed, especially by seeing Gibbs with the boy. Then I started getting ticked off with Gibbs because of how he was treating Harm, who I was very much interested in at the time. And I found Ducky creepy and some of the stuff a little too gross. (The viewpoint from the body shots were kind of creepy too) By the end of the two-parter, I'd decided that the show was revolting, and Gibbs was a jerk.
My aunt really wanted to check the series out when it came out though, and I decided to give it a shot too - and Yankee White totally won me over. I loved the humor and I downright fell in love with Gibbs. I didn't know whether they'd toned him down or whether I'd just overreacted before (after rewatching the JAG eps, I've since learned it was the latter and I was just too biased towards Harm and JAG to realize that it was actually Harm who was out of line), but as far as I was concerned, this was a great character. Plus initially he'd seemed too strict, especially I thought towards Viv. (Now I realize Viv needed the correction - she had an attitude problem that I had missed the first time around) While watching Yankee White I saw the strictness, but also a sense of fairness, humor and also a warmth I'd somehow missed the first time.
What hooked me the most was usually a male lead character is a guy who you love watching, but you'd never want to date in real life. They're usually too cocky or too much of a rogue or something. Here was a character who seemed like a person of integrity, was kind, warm, had a great sense of humor, and was the kind of ideal guy a girl dreams about. To add to that, my mother and a good friend of ours had just been coming out of marriages to seriously controlling jerks. Seeing Gibbs when I did was wonderful, because here was a guy who actually knew how to respect people. (This experience had also contributed to my bias, because Harm had called him a control freak on one ep. As someone biased towards JAG, I immediately figured Harm had to be right, which put an automatic resentment up towards Gibbs – since I hated, and still really have a problem with controlling guys. Unfortunately I neglected to take into account that said comment was from someone who was a little biased given their situation)
The finishing touch for me came the following week and seeing Gibbs with the little boy, and the way he talked to the mother. I was hooked as a regular viewer. Then in February came Enigma and Bete Noire. My favorite character in emotional angst, followed by a hostage situation (I love shows with hostage situations) and a H/C moment for my favorite character. Plus Enigma was so darn funny – I still consider it one of the most humorous eps of the entire series. Those two put me from being a diehard viewer to an obsessed viewer – collecting fanfics, writing fanfics, collecting all photos and pictures I could find, collecting any Mark Harmon shows I could find, typing transcripts for myself to take to work so I could obsess during breaks, and spending tons of time on the discussion boards.
