NCIS: Tony & Ziva

Tony and Ziva looked quite promising in the trailers, and I was looking forward to the first episode. I knew full well it would not be an NCIS- type of episode, and was fine with the tangential references. The weakness, however, occurred in the story execution. Much of the back-narrative is shown through an opening montage some of which did not take place in any NCIS episode. Then moving forward, the storyline also jumped back-and-forth in time, which is normally not a problem unless the dialogue is insufficient to fill in the blanks - which it was. Eventually, by the end of the episode, it all starts to pull together, but it was too little too late. Plus the added swearing. There's no need for that, and it degrades from the show's quality. Is that supposed to be edgy? It doesn't add anything and is often a cover-up for lazy writing.

During NCIS' golden era, fans became so emotionally invested in the will-they-won't-they relationship of NCIS special agent Anthony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly) and Mossad liaison officer Ziva David (Cote de Pablo) that the pair were nicknamed "Tiva." That ended when de Pablo left the show in 2013 (Weatherly left the show in 2016).

Now de Pablo and Weatherly are back in NCIS: Tony & Ziva, the latest spinoff in the NCIS franchise. Five years have passed since Ziva came back from the dead and reunited with Tony and their daughter Tali (Isla Gie). Tony runs a global security company Salus Mondiale and Ziva runs a language school. Both live in Paris and share custody of Tali. Tony and Ziva are forced to go on the run when they are framed for a crime they didn't commit.

When Tony & Ziva was first announced I expected it to be modeled in the style of the old Nick and Nora movies. What I and the rest of the audience received was a Ziva David who is still suffering from the trauma of almost dying and having to leave her daughter at the age of two and a Tony, who has poured all of his energy into his company daughter.

This undoubtedly ruined a lot of expectations of "Tiva" fans, but it portrays real-life concerns of people who had dangerous jobs and are readjusting to life outside of their former lives. According to the producers, there are no plans to bring back any of the characters from the original NCIS, however, since only two of the characters that would have worked with Tony and Ziva are still on the show, it wouldn't matter much.

The original NCIS used to be my go-to show when I was down and don't really care for all of the cast changes so Tony & Ziva is a chance to welcome back old friends.

Perhaps the writers only had an idea of an interesting well written 45 minutes. Unfortunately the series is a bit longer and this is starting to feel like a slapstick comedy , which is not nearly what you tune to these characters for.

I'm not against some humor with my procedurals and while I get this is not NCIS , it is a spinoff , but it's also not ace ventura or naked gun.

The siliness is undermining the integrity of the continually weakening story so far IMO.

There was a fall off after the first 2 episodes . It's because they're not together . Viewers want them together . I would rate it higher if that was the case. It's kind of sad - I was expecting them to be married and solving crime together . It's disappointing. I don't like the "unrequited love " vibe either .

This isn't Tony and Ziva from NCIS, I appreciate you expect people to change somewhat as they get older but they are shells of their former selves.

Tony has none of his zest for life and by comparison looks tired and fed up with life, it's painful to watch.

Ziva has obvious scars but has lost the strength and resilience and again looks tired and complacent.

If the characters were somewhat themselves this show would be great but watching these two imposters is tough.