PC vs TV

I haven't completed Fable:TLC yet, but I did escape from prison (in the game!!!), and rescue my mother at the same time. That was a fun little scenario that had me replaying it when I tried to get creative. Eventually I followed the linear path the game wanted me to follow and I completed that scenario.

My W101 Necromancer is stuck in his mid-40s after doing the first couple of Dragonspyre quests.

I also restarted the GCN's Final Fantasy:Crystal Chronicles. It looks real pretty played via the Wii in progressive scan mode on a 50" plasma TV.

I haven't played Harvest Moon since getting the Wii, but it's been known to make my evening hours disappear, too.

What I have been doing is catching up on NCIS episodes, and the number of episodes on our DVR is down from maybe 15-20 (from two weeks ago) to just three. I still have (I think) 37 episodes to go, in order to be fully caught up.

There aren't many TV shows for which I'd consider buying the boxed sets but NCIS is one of those for which I'd be willing to do just that. I love the interaction between the characters, and it seems the actors are having a lot of fun with their roles. Either the writers are fething brilliant (actually, I think they are) or Bellasario gives his team a lot of creative license, because there have been quite a few times where I'd swear the actors improvised and added their own personal touch to the scene. Michael Weatherly seems to do this a lot, or perhaps he's just really captured the essence of DiNozzo.

I love the way the characters have evolved over time, too. McGee, while still the butt of many of DiNozzo's jokes, now stands up to his senior partner a lot more. In Stakeout (which I watched last night) DiNozzo sends McGee out for breakfast and he returns with DiNozzo's eggs, sunny side up.

"I wanted scrambled," whines DiNozzo. "This is the fourth time this week you've messed my order up."

"You want scrambled?" asks an indignant McGee. (Indignant? Where's apologetic McGee?) He walks over, grabs DiNozzo's tray of eggs, shakes it rapidly then slams it down. "Now they're scrambled!" He returns to the window to continue surveillance.

DiNozzo holds up McGee's foil-wrapped burrito. "I bet your burrito is exactly the way you want it," he says, then he throws the burrito and hits McGee in the back of the head with it.

McGee turns and glares at DiNozzo (a glaring McGee? o_O) who returns his stare. An unspoken "Let's do this!" passes between the two men and it's on, baby! MORTAL KOMBAT!!!

There is no way McGee would have stood up to DiNozzo like that in the first couple of seasons, and that character growth is part of what (IMO) makes NCIS such a great show. Maybe that's why I find myself sitting at my PC, unsure what to play, before finally turning on the TV.