NCIS (TV series)
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| NCIS | |
|---|---|
| Image:Ncis cast main.jpg Informal cast photo </small> | |
| Genre | Drama |
| Running time | approx. 43 minutes |
| Creator(s) | Don McGill |
| Executive producer(s) | Donald Bellisario |
| Starring | Mark Harmon Michael Weatherly Cote de Pablo (2005–present) Sean Murray (2003–present) Pauley Perrette David McCallum Lauren Holly (2005–present) Sasha Alexander (2003–2005) |
| Country of origin | Image:Flag of the United States.svg United States |
| Original channel | CBS |
| Original run | September 23, 2003–present |
| No. of episodes | 80 (List of episodes) |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
NCIS is a CBS network television series about a team of special agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service of the United States Navy. The concept and characters were initially introduced in a two-part episode of the CBS series JAG (episodes 8.20 and 8.21). The show premiered on September 23, 2003. Its executive producer is Donald Bellisario.
Contents |
[edit] Overview
NCIS follows a team of Naval Criminal Investigative Service Major Case Response Team (MCRT) special agents, headquartered at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, D.C.
As NCIS is a federal law enforcement agency with jurisdiction on crimes involving persons and property associated with the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps, the team is frequently assigned to high-profile cases such as the death of the President's nuclear missile aide, a bomb situation on a U.S. Navy warship, the death of a celebrity on a reality show set on a USMC base, terrorist threats, and kidnappings.
[edit] Characters
[edit] Current main characters
- Supervisory Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon)
- An experienced former US Marine Gunnery Sergeant and sniper, Agent Gibbs is a highly skilled investigator and interrogator endowed with seemingly infallible intuition. Gibbs reports directly to the NCIS Director who, as of Season 3, is his former professional and romantic partner Jenny Shepard. While being a man who "gets the job done," it has been frequently shown that Gibbs has little patience with bureaucracy. Gibbs' personal life is rarely spoken of; he is building a boat he names Kelly (after his late daughter) in his basement, and there have been many references to his three ex-wives — his first wife and their daughter were murdered while he was serving in the Gulf War. The end of the third and beginning of the fourth seasons deal with Gibbs' retiring from NCIS and his subsequent return; during his time away, the team was headed by Agent DiNozzo (see below).
- Senior Special Agent Anthony "Tony" DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly)
- A streetwise former Baltimore homicide detective with expensive tastes in clothing and automobiles, often seen flirting with any attractive woman he meets. Tony is an avid cinemaphile and often refers to movies during the course of investigating a case and expresses dismay when others have not seen the movie; his tastes run the gamut from classics to modern trash. While seemingly aloof and inattentive, Tony has moments of deep thought and investigative intuition, but the seriousness of these moments tends to be underscored by his sense of humor; of note is that Dr. Mallard has observed that Tony is much like Gibbs was a decade ago. As senior agent, when sometimes put in charge, he attempts to mimic Gibbs' style of command. In conjunction with Gibbs' departure at the end of the third season, DiNozzo was promoted into his position. Showing great potential in this position, DiNozzo is offered his own team when Gibbs returns to NCIS as the Supervisory Special Agent; Tony declined, saying he's not yet ready and his desire to keep an eye on Gibbs.
- Officer Ziva David (Cote de Pablo, Season 3 – present)
- A Mossad agent assigned to Gibbs' team by Director Shepard after she assisted NCIS in locating and terminating a rogue Mossad agent (Ari Haswari, her half-brother). David is an aggressive and fast driver and speaks five languages, which often leads to malapropisms and funny mistaken clichés. Over the course of season three, she has been shown to be a capable member of the team especially in combat situations due to her vast experience in the Mossad; despite her recent introduction to the team, NCIS and Gibbs especially have shown great trust in her.
- Special Agent Timothy McGee (Sean Murray)
- McGee was originally a computer technician employed with NCIS and frequently assisted Gibbs and his team when they needed technical and computer-related expertise, later requested by Gibbs as an addition to his team. He attended M.I.T. and enjoys online gaming. In season 4, he has been promoted to a full field agent and even served as Senior Field Agent while DiNozzo was in command; despite this DiNozzo still refers to McGee as "Probie" in reference to his formerly lower-echelon position as a probationary agent.
- Forensic specialist Abigail "Abby" Sciuto (Pauley Perrette)
- A technogeek in the mold of The Lone Gunmen, Abby is probably best known for her gothic style of dress (to include tattoos) and happy-go-lucky attitude. Abby is seemingly fueled by 'Big Gulp' stylized caffeinated sodas, called Caf-Pow!, which are perpetually provided to her by Gibbs and other members of the team as a motivational tool. Abby is extremely well-versed in her field of study although often works in conjunction with Agent McGee. Rarely stumped by the evidentiary puzzles which Gibbs' team presents her, she has been shown to exhibit an almost religious zeal for the field of criminal forensics.
- Doctor Donald "Ducky" Mallard (David McCallum)
- NCIS' Scottish Chief Medical Examiner, who often accompanies Gibbs' team into the field for the collection of bodies and body parts. With a habit of talking to the corpses upon which he performs autopsies, as well as his penchant for excessive exposition on vaguely-related topics, Dr. Mallard proves very qualified to both assist and entertain the agents for whom he works. Early in season four, Ducky gets his Masters in Forensic Psychology, which has quickly come in use more than once. Mysteriously after what was indicated to be a long and respecting friendship with Gibbs, recent events seem to have caused a rift in this friendship since Gibbs' decision to return to NCIS. Their friendship is restored after each express their feelings about the rift at the end of episode 4x10.
- Director Jennifer "Jenny" Shepard (Lauren Holly, Season 3 – present)
- The Director of NCIS after her predecessor, Thomas Morrow, takes a job at the Department of Homeland Security. In the past, she was Agent Gibbs' partner and became romantically involved with him, but now will only act in the purview of being his superior officer. She and Tony appear to have become good friends during Gibbs' absence, something Gibbs questioned when Tony called her "Jenny".
[edit] Recurring characters
- Gerald Jackson (Pancho Demmings, Season 1)
- Dr. Mallard's assistant until being incapacitated by Ari Haswari after being held hostage in the morgue. While recuperating, his position was filled by Jimmy Palmer. Approximately a year and a half later, he was again captured by Ari Haswari in an effort to secure Dr. Mallard's audience. Gerald cannot drive a manual transmission, much to the dismay of Ari and Ducky.
- Jimmy Palmer (Brian Dietzen, Season 1 – present)
- After Gerald was incapacitated, Mr. Palmer became Dr. Mallard's medical assistant both in the field and in the morgue. Jimmy is frequently nervous, but very proficient in his field of study. He is also particularly clueless when it comes to women, although in Season 4 he appears to have a relationship with Agent Lee.
- Paula Cassidy (Jessica Steen)
- A criminal profiler for NCIS. An expert on Middle Eastern terrorists, she once worked as an interrogator at Guantánamo Bay. She and DiNozzo were intimate with each other in the past (according to the Season 2 episode "Heart Break"), but by season 3 she was significantly more antagonistic to his characteristic constant advances.
- Special Agent Tobias Fornell (Joe Spano)
- A senior FBI agent who is often involved in "inter-agency turf wars" with Gibbs' NCIS team. He was framed for revealing the identity of an undercover agent to the Mafia, but was cleared with help of Gibbs. He married one of Gibbs' ex-wives, despite warnings, and is now divorced from her too. He and Gibbs consider each other very good friends, despite their arch-rival business association. Their friendship is close enough for Gibbs to delay his retirement in the second episode of Season 4 in order to come to the aid of Fornell and his daughter.
- Lt. Cmdr. Faith Coleman (Alicia Coppola)
- A prosecutor for the Judge Advocate General's office, Coleman first appeared in an episode of JAG and went on to make several appearances (to date) on NCIS, assisting Gibbs and his team. Her "neat freak" mannerisms — such as keeping a holder full of finely sharpened HB pencils on her desk — amuses Tony.
- Jeanne Benoit (Scottie Thompson)
- Introduced in the fourth season as DiNozzo's new girlfriend, Jeanne has appeared in several episodes. Not much is known about her yet, except that she is in the medical profession and that Tony is trying to make his relationship with her a success.
- Special Agent Michelle Lee (Liza Lapira)
- Joined NCIS at the start of the fourth season in the "probie" position after Gibbs' resignation resulted in DiNozzo and McGee moving up in the team hierarchy. She was later moved over to the legal division when Gibbs' return resulted in the hierarchy reverting. Lee has subsequently appeared in several episodes, most notably in "Once a Hero", when she went undercover to help break an Asian sex slavery ring. The character is currently part of a running joke involving a clandestine sexual relationship with Jimmy Palmer; the two have been shown making love in a number of inappropriate locations related to the medical lab, including a refrigerator, the medical examiner's van, and in the autopsy room itself.
[edit] Former characters
- Special Agent Caitlin "Kate" Todd (Sasha Alexander, Season 1 – Season 2)
- A former Secret Service agent who often questions authority, Gibbs included. Kate was frequently an object of DiNozzo's interest, although no action was ever taken by either; Kate was usually disgusted by Tony's habits — to include his chauvinism, his interest in the trivial, and his eating habits. She was killed in the line of duty at the end of season two by Ari Haswari who was alleged to be on a personal mission to assassinate Gibbs.
- Ari Haswari (Rudolf Martin)
- The terrorist who wounded both Gibbs and Gerald Jackson when he infiltrated the NCIS morgue during the first season, causing Gibbs to become obsessed with discovering his identity and capturing (or killing) him during the second half of the season. NCIS initially identified him as an undercover Mossad agent; he was, in fact, a rogue agent and working for Hamas. After his murder of Kate Todd, and several further attacks on NCIS members (including Gibbs), he was killed by his half-sister, Mossad officer Ziva David.
- Charles "Chip" Sterling (Michael Bellisario, Season 3)
- Abby's unrequested lab assistant, whom she nicknamed Chip against his wishes. Chip is socially awkward, a condition exacerbated by Abby and Gibbs as a result of his unrequested status in the lab. Much like McGee was when he started, Chip too, is harassed by Tony as "the new guy." It was eventually discovered that Chip took the job at NCIS to implement revenge on DiNozzo by framing him for murder — he was found out and summarily incapacitated by Abby after he threatened her with a knife.
[edit] Naming the show
During its first season, NCIS aired under the name Navy NCIS. Since the "N" in NCIS stands for "Naval", the name Navy NCIS was technically redundant (an example of RAS syndrome). The decision to use this name was reportedly made by CBS, over the objections of Bellisario, in order to:
- Attract new viewers (particularly those of JAG), who might not know the NCIS abbreviation.
- Disambiguate between NCIS and the similarly-themed and similarly-spelled CBS series CSI and its spinoffs. (Initially, some had erroneously referred to the series as "Navy CSI".)
After its successful first season the name of the series was shortened to NCIS.
[edit] Trivia
- In the second season episode "The Meat Puzzle", Gibbs tells Kate that Ducky looked like Illya Kuryakin when he was younger; this was the name of the character that David McCallum (who plays Ducky) played on the television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E.. A similar metafictional reference occurs part 1 of the 2005–06 season finale "Hiatus" in which Michael Weatherly's character remarks (when referring to an unlikely event) that he'd have a better chance of hooking up with Jessica Alba. In reality, Weatherly was romantically involved with the actress and co-starred with her on Dark Angel.
- Whether by writing or by casting coincidence, some of the actors have attributes or skills that match their roles. Michael Weatherly's father is a Swiss Knife importer. In an episode in Season 1, "The Good Samaritan", one of the serial killers' victims, a Naval Aviator, was the heir of the Swiss Knife importer. Abby Sciuto was raised in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana; Pauley Perrette was born in Metairie, Louisiana, just outside New Orleans. Perrette also has a Master's Degree in Criminology, and has toured the real NCIS offices to meet with the real forensic specialist. McGee is a computer specialist; as a hobby, Murray has built computers from scratch.
- According to the behind-the-scenes featurette on the 2006 DVD release of season 1, McCallum took it upon himself to become an expert in forensics in order to better play the role of Dr. "Ducky" Mallard , including appearing at medical examiner conventions. Bellisario says McCallum's knowledge of the subject became so vast that Bellisario (at the time of the interview) was seriously considering making him a technical advisor for the series.
- Some of the producers are longtime fans of The X-Files. NCIS tips their hat to that series in season 1's "The Truth Is Out There", which featured a murder mystery involving sailors who were named for X-Files writers (as well as a bogus UFO scare). In season 3's "Head Case," one of the characters says "It's like we walked into an episode of the X-files."
- In the season 3 episode "Frame Up" Special Agent David L. Brant, the soon-to-be-former Director of NCIS, had a cameo appearance and joked with Gibbs about retiring.
- Michael Bellisario, who played the recurring character of Charles "Chip" Sterling in several episodes in season 3, is the son of Donald P. Bellisario, the executive producer of the show.
- Troian Bellisario, who played McGee's sister Sarah, is the daughter of Donald P. Bellisario. Originally, the nature of her role was kept ambiguous, as she was only known as a girl in McGee's room in episode 2x20, and of whom pictures are shown in episode 3x16.
- Mark Harmon and Lauren Holly had previously co-starred on Chicago Hope.
[edit] Episodes
For an overview see List of NCIS episodes.
[edit] U.S. television ratings
Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of NCIS on CBS.
Note: Each U.S. network television season starts in late September and ends in late May, which coincides with the completion of May sweeps.
| Season | Timeslot | Season Premiere | Season Finale | TV Season | Ranking | Viewers (in millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Tuesday 8:00PM | September 23, 2003 | May 25, 2004 | 2003–2004 | #25 | 11.84 |
| 2nd | Tuesday 8:00PM | September 28, 2004 | May 24, 2005 | 2004–2005 | #22 | 13.57 |
| 3rd | Tuesday 8:00PM | September 19, 2005 | May 16, 2006 | 2005–2006 | #16 | 15.27 |
The second season finale, ending with the Agent Todd murder cliffhanger, propelled the series to become one of the most-watched programs throughout the summer of 2005, which then led to a growing audience throughout its third season. The series has been a solid performer in the ratings, especially for the latter half of the television season when it airs opposite FOX's mega-hit American Idol.
[edit] International Broadcasters
NCIS has been shown by the following stations around the world:
[edit] DVD releases
| DVD Name | Region 1 | Region 2 | Region 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | June 6 2006 | July 24 2006 | August 10 2006 |
| Season 2 | November 14 2006 | October 16 2006 | October 12 2006 |
| Season 3 | TBA | February 5 2007 | TBA |
The first season DVD release omits the two-part pilot episode that aired as part of the eighth season of JAG; those episodes may be released when that season is eventually distributed on DVD.
[edit] U.S. Broadcast History
- September 2003 – present — Tuesdays 8:00pm/7:00pm
[edit] External links
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
- CBS official site for NCIS
- NCIS at the Internet Movie Database
- Pauley Perrette's behind the scenes blog at CBS.com
- NCIS at TV.comde:Navy CIS
es:NCIS fr:NCIS : enquêtes spéciales it:NCIS (serie televisiva) hu:NCIS – Tengerészeti helyszínelők nl:NCIS (televisieserie) no:NCIS pl:Agenci NCIS sv:NCIS zh:重返犯罪現場
