ll cool j

I love military style series. I haven't missed one episode of JAG or its spin-off NCIS over the years -- I even watched reruns, including airings dubbed in French! -- and have watched all NCIS: Los Angeles since it began.

What I like most about NCIS: LA is that they do undercover missions, taking different personae and using gadgets, and that it stars one of my movie crushes when I was a teen, Chris O'Donnell, as well as the talented Linda Hunt.

Sadly, there are small things that I don't get about the series. These small issues are sort of bugging me and making me not enjoy the show as much as I would like as I keep asking myself these questions every episode.

Do you share the same issues? Do you have answers for me so I can enjoy the show as I want to? The list of things I don't get about NCIS: LA coming up!

LL Cool J's fan club just got a lot bigger -- by about 18 million people.

That's how many viewers tuned into last week's series premiere of 'NCIS: Los Angeles.' The spin-off of 'NCIS' looks on track to be one of fall's hit freshman shows. Of course, the spotlight of success brings pressure, too.

"It represents a big challenge, because the original was so loved," the rapper/actor said when he stopped by AOL recently. "[But] I'd rather have this problem than the problem of coming out with a show that no one ever heard of and none of this pressure."

'No Crew Is Superior' to the one in tonight's premiere of 'NCIS: Los Angeles,' at least according to star LL Cool J.

The rapper/actor/entrepreneur recorded a special track just to promote his new series. "I met with NCIS agents, marines, went down to Camp Pendleton and had some great meetings with behavioral analysts and it just really inspired me," he told AOL TV in an upcoming exclusive video interview. "So I wrote a song, put it together, called my man Tricky [Stewart, a producer] up, did something just to promote the show ... help people get into the mindset of my character."

Check out the rap video, with clips from the show, after the jump ...

I don't think of LL Cool J as a rap star anymore, I think of him as an actor. But this video below showcases both of his talents. It's for the new NCIS spinoff NCIS: Los Angeles, which I'm sure will be shortened to NCIS: LA at some point.

The song is called "No Crew Is Superior" and goes on waaaaaaay too long, but it does show a lot of clips from the show.

This Wednesday, CBS will make its official announcement for the 2008-09 season, but word has already leaked out that there will be three new drama series in CBS's new schedule. The NCIS spinoff, which I would have nixed, is in there, as well as a Julianna Margulies show called The Good Wife, and an Alex O'Loughlin vehicle set in the medical field and dealing with organ donors called Three Rivers. The latter may not have the sex appeal of Moonlight, but how much you want to bet the O'Loughlin fans will be tuning in?

All three of these shows are one-hour dramas, so that means the rumors about Without A Trace, Cold Case and The Unit all being on the bubble were true. Cold Case had a strong finish with a two-parter that performed very well in the ratings, so it could be safe, but the other two are likely to be ending their runs.

Next Wednesday, CBS will be announcing its schedule for the new season, and while rumors have swirled that Cold Case or Without A Trace might be on the chopping block -- despite good ratings -- one sure thing seems to be the spinoff from NCIS.

Well, now that I've seen the two-part NCIS episode that served as a pilot for the show, I'm hoping that CBS gives this new series a thumbs-down. I don't expect that to happen, but if it were my decision, I wouldn't dump a solid series with a loyal viewership like Cold Case or Without A Trace, for the hope of LL Cool J and Chris O'Donnell's overly fussy, overly procedural NCIS derivative step-child.

This was the second part of "Legend," the episodes that are acting as the NCIS spinoff starring Chris O'Donnell and LL Cool J. It looks like a sure thing for the fall, though CBS will make it official at their upfront on May 20.

What did you think of this two-parter? Can you imagine following O'Donnell and LL Cool J for as many seasons as you've followed Mark Harmon and Michael Weatherly?

So ... what did you think of the first part of NCIS' big spinoff episodes? "Legend" is the episode that serves as the spinoff launch for a new series starring Chris O'Donnell and LL Cool J. Maybe this is the first step in an NCIS franchise, a la CSI. Let's hope not.

May sweeps has officially arrived. For TV fans that means a full month of explosive season finales, jaw-dropping cliffhangers and -- best of all -- a long list of famous guest stars from both the big and small screens.

Among the A-listers you'll see this season: a daytime TV queen (Elisabeth Hasselbeck), a 'Star Trek' icon (Leonard Nimoy) and a two-time Oscar winner (Jodie Foster) who will finally let Maggie Simpson do the talking.

Check out our guest stars gallery to see when all of Hollywood's finest will be sweeping their way onto your favorite TV shows.

This is what I call thinking out of the box. Instead of simply replicating NCIS, the producers seem to be envisioning a completely different show. Reports claim that the CBS spinoff of NCIS may star Chris O'Donnell and LL Cool J.

Could you find two more different actors to pair in a procedural? (Okay, Ice-T and Richard Belzer on Law & Order: SVU aren't a typical teaming either, but at that's supposedly a New York police squad.)

Anyway, it's still in the talking stages, but it's exciting nonetheless. O'Donnell, best known for playing Robin in two Batman movies, being Al Pacino's young charge in Scent of a Woman, and more recently hunked it up as Dr. Finn Dandridge on Grey's Anatomy, would be playing an investigator for the Navy who's a master of disguise. Apparently, he can fake out everyone around him.

Almost a year ago we reported that James Todd Smith aka Ladies Love Cool James aka LL Cool J was making his return to television. The rapper-turned-actor's new drama, The Man, even seemed to be heading for the fall season lineup.

Then it disappeared from the radar into the deep, deep depths of the TV pilot abyss.

However, according to the Hollywood Reporter, CBS is close to inking a deal to add The Man to the midseason schedule.

LL Cool J is set to star in a new show by CSI creator Anthony Zuiker. It seems that Zuiker is something of an LL fan, so when offered the chance to work with the rapper/actor, he jumped at it. The result is The Man. LL will play an undercover cop who deals with busting perps and running stings at night, and then works to raise his three adopted children by day. The formula is to have the crime stories as the weekly feature while the home life is serialized and takes place in longer arcs throughout the season.

I like to think of it as CSI: In the House, as this does vaguely resemble the plot for LL's previous TV role on that fairly successful sitcom. LL appeared in an episode of House last season, as well as the movies Last Holiday and SWAT. There is nothing official on when this all might come to fruition, but given that it is CBS golden boy Zuiker, things should move quickly.