For Veteran's Day, 'The View' (weekdays, syndicated on ABC) brought on Tom Selleck, a veteran of the California Army National Guard before becoming an actor. Elisabeth Hasselbeck thanked him for his service, and the ladies oggled at an old photo of Selleck in his uniform.

Selleck was on his way to Washington to help promote an education center at the Vietnam Memorial Wall that, as he said, "tells the stories of all the fallen from all our wars. While there, he can go visit some old mementos from his past. The Smithsonian houses his Hawaiian shirt, Detroit Lions hat and ring from 'Magnum P.I.' "They recognize this as the first show that really recognized Vietnam vets in a positive light," Selleck explained.

It may have been the Me Decade.

But in TV land, the sisters were doin' it for themselves and finally getting respect as cops, war nurses and working moms; iconic shows like 'Hill Street Blues,' 'St. Elsewhere' and 'L.A. Law' would forever change (for the better) cop, medical and legal dramas; and no idea was too high concept to fill a primetime spot (time-travelling physicist? check; housewife-turned-CIA op? check; New York City beauty in love with a subterranean monster? check).

The bottom line: They all add up to 10 years of fine channel surfing -- and our awesome list of the 40 best series of the 1980s.

Something amazing has happened recently in the TV media: the critics have discovered CBS's stealth ratings champ, NCIS, and it's now cool to come out of the closet and declare your fandom. Articles in USA Today, the Los Angeles Times and The New York Times have reported the fact that not only is NCIS consistently in the top five of the weekly Nielsen ratings, but it's also a smart, well-acted and compelling TV show.

There are reasons to admire NCIS, and if you haven't been watching, here's five really good reasons to check out the show. I know that before I got coerced into giving NCIS a try, I didn't think I'd like it, but boy, was I wrong.

Back in May -- remember that far back -- Isabelle wrote about the fact that David Shore, creator of House, was contemplating a new show. It was a spinoff of House, but not a medical show. It was going to be in the private eye genre.

Newark Star-Ledger columnist Alan Sepinwall (with Dan Feinberg) did an interview with David recently and found out some more information about the spinoff.

"We brought in a character, partway through the year, [actor] Michael Weston as this private investigator House goes to. The spinoff would be less of a spinoff, it would be more us using House to launch it. It would be an independent world. A character out of the House mold, but definitely different."

Whitney Matheson has an interesting topic over at the Pop Candy blog. She lists her 10 favorite props from the movies, and includes some items like Indy's hat from the Raiders of the Lost Ark movies, Darth Vader's light saber, and many items from Steve Martin's The Jerk. This got me thinking, what props from TV shows would I like to own? I have a few from Ed, including a name plate from the courtroom and a drinking bird, but I'd like more. My list is below, in no particular order.

Anything from The Dick Van Dyke Show: In particular, the typewriter in the office or anything from the Petrie's kitchen. Or maybe the ottoman Rob trips over!

Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores today.

• Captain N: The Game Master - Complete Series
• DaVinci's Inquest - Season 1
• Dog The Bounty Hunter - Best of Season 3
• The Doris Day Show - Season 4
• The Flip Wilson Show - Best Of Flip Wilson
• Ghostbusters - Vol. 1
• Girlfriends - Season 1
• The Immortal - Complete Series
• Magnum, P.I. - Season 6
• Reno 911 - Most Wanted Uncensored
• The Rockford Files - Season 3