Yup. You and me both agree on this. Sigh. I like the format of the show as it is - they solve a mystery and in so doing have angst and merry banter. Sometimes one of them gets hurt or too personally involved and the others react, usually sympathetically. I don't need any romance thrown into that mix. I don't need to see their personal lives beyond glimpses of Gibbs's boat and Tim's typewriter and nice little flashes of back story. I don't want any of them to sleep with each other except in my own head. I want lots of subtext between all the characters - not just one specific pairing.

Having rewatched the show several times now, what bothers me is the perception that there's somehow UST between Ziva and Tony. Honestly, I can't see it between them in any greater degree than between the other characters. They all have a certain amount of chemistry with each other but the Tony/Ziva stuff is actually one of the relationships with the least chemistry - along with Tim/Ducky which also doesn't sparkle much *g*.