NCIS (TV series): Difference between revisions
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Revision as of 20:31, 25 May 2007
NCIS | |
---|---|
File:Ncis cast main.jpg | |
Starring | see below |
Country of origin | United States |
No. of episodes | 94 (so far) (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Running time | approx. 42 minutes |
Original release | |
Network | CBS |
Release | September 23, 2003 – present |
Related | |
JAG |
NCIS is a CBS network show about a team of special agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service of the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps. 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. On May 16, 2007 CBS renewed the show for a fifth season [1].
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.
Characters
Main Characters
Name | Portrayed by | Occupation |
---|---|---|
Jethro Gibbs | Mark Harmon | Supervisory Special Agent, NCIS |
Tony DiNozzo | Michael Weatherly | Senior Special Agent, NCIS |
Ziva David (2005-) | Cote de Pablo | Mossad Liaison Officer, NCIS |
Tim McGee (2004-) | Sean Murray | Junior Special Agent, NCIS |
Abby Sciuto | Pauley Perrette | Forensic Specialist, NCIS |
Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard | David McCallum | Chief Medical Examiner, NCIS |
Jenny Shepard (2005-) | Lauren Holly | Director, NCIS |
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 has a secret relationship beginning on season 4 with Agent Lee.
- Senior 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.
- FBI Special Agent Ron Sacks (Don Franklin)
- Sacks is the FBI equivalent of NCIS Agent Anthony DiNozzo. His sense of humor, natural disregard for policy, fierce love of his job, and being a slight 'movie-buff' all contribute to making him the near perfect image (and, thus, natural enemy) of DiNozzo. Sack's name is often parodied by DiNozzo who calls him "Special Agent Slacks". Tony also harbours a resentment for Agent Sacks as he was the leading investigator in the episode "Frame Up" (Season three, ep. 9), where Agent DiNozzo was framed for murder. Tony and Sacks also both enjoy making life difficult for each other.
- 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 a doctor and that Tony is trying to make his relationship with her a success. Her prior relationship was with a D.C. policeman whom Tony worked and bonded with in season 4. He was shot and killed in the line of duty, but not before formally making a final break with her. The season 4 finale ends with the revelation that Jeanne is in fact the daughter of La Grenouille, an arms dealer.
- 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 inventive locations related to the medical lab, including a refrigerator, the medical examiner's van, and on the autopsy table itself.
- Army Lt.Col. Hollis Mann (Susanna Thompson)
- Works for Criminal Investigation Division (CID), the U.S. Army's version of NCIS, and recently romantically involved with Gibbs after working together on two investigations. Once starting their third investigation together, Jenny began recruiting her to transfer to NCIS once her tour of duty with CID is finished.
Former characters
- Special Agent Caitlin "Kate" Todd (Sasha Alexander, Season 1-2)
- 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 — including 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.
- Dr. Ari Haswari (Rudolf Martin, Season 1-2)
- 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.
- Director Thomas "Tom" Morrow (Alan Dale, Season 1-2)
- Was director before Jenny Shepard. Left the agency to take a Deputy Director's position with the Department of Homeland Security. He didn't have a big role in the series but he stepped in when "inter-agency turf wars" were going on and was referenced on multiple occasions.
- Special Agent Vivian Blackadder (Robyn Lively, JAG episodes "Ice Queen" (8x20) and "Meltdown" (8x20))
- Appeared in the pilot episodes of NCIS (as a part of the JAG series). NCIS then continued into it's own series, replacing her with Caitlin Todd. She is the only character that appeared in the piolt episodes from JAG, and not in the series NCIS.
- 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. In the season 4 episode "Grace Period" after losing two team members in a terrorist attack, she helps with the investigation of their deaths, and dies stopping another attack (on Muslim clerics, who were signing fatwās to promote peace in the Middle East) by the same terrorist who killed her team members.
Naming the show
Prior to the launch of the first season, advertisements on CBS identified the show as "Naval CIS." By the time of the launch of the first episode, NCIS was airing under the name Navy NCIS, the name it held for the entire first season. 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. (The original title, for instance, was often misquoted as Navy CSI.”)
After its successful first season, the name of the series was shortened to NCIS.
Episodes
For an overview see List of NCIS episodes.
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) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Tuesday 8:00PM | September 23, 2003 | May 25, 2004 | 2003–2004 | #25 | 11.84 |
2 | Tuesday 8:00PM | September 28, 2004 | May 24, 2005 | 2004–2005 | #22 | 13.57 |
3 | Tuesday 8:00PM | September 20, 2005 | May 16, 2006 | 2005–2006 | #16 | 15.27 |
4 | Tuesday 8:00PM | September 19, 2006 | May 22, 2007 | 2006–2007 | #18 | 14.5[2] |
5 | Tuesday 8:00PM | Fall 2007 | Spring 2008 | 2007–2008 | TBA | TBA |
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.
Changes
It was reported in May 2007 that NCIS creator and producer Donald Bellisario would be stepping down from the show[3]. Bellisario's duties would likely be taken over by longtime show collaborators, including co-executive producer Charles Floyd Johnson and series writer Shane Brennan.
International Broadcasters
NCIS has been shown by the following stations around the world:
Region | Alternate title/Translation | TV Network(s) | Series Premiere | Weekly Schedule |
---|---|---|---|---|
United States | CBS Television (First run) and USA Network (Re-runs) (starting in 2008) |
September 23 2003 | Tuesday 8:00pm | |
Canada | CH (premiered on Global), and also on [NTV]. | September 23 2003 | Tuesday 8:00pm ET | |
Asia | Star World | |||
Arab World | Showtime Arabia Season 4 MBC Action Season 2 |
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Australia | Network Ten (first run) TV1 (syndication) |
Tuesday 8:30pm Sunday 8:30pm AEST | ||
Belgium | Navy NCIS NCIS : enquêtes spéciales |
VT4 RTL-TVi |
Sunday 19:30 CET Friday 20:15 CET | |
Brazil | AXN | Friday 9:00pm | ||
Bulgaria | Военноморски Специален Отдел ("Naval special service") |
Nova Television | ||
Chile | AXN | |||
Croatia | Navy CIS | Nova TV | Thursdays 11.15 pm | |
Czech Republic | Námořní vyšetřovací služba | TV Nova | February 21 2007 | Wednesday 22:30 CET |
Denmark | Navy CIS | TV3 | Sunday 20:00 CET | |
Finland | NCIS Rikostutkijat ("NCIS crime investigators") |
Nelonen | September 2 2006 | Saturday 8:00pm EET |
France | NCIS : enquêtes spéciales ("NCIS : special investigations") |
M6 | March 3 2004 | |
Germany | Navy CIS | SAT.1, SAT.1 HD | March 17 2005 | Thursday 9:10pm , Sunday 8:15pm CET |
Hungary | NCIS - Tengerészeti helyszínelők ("NCIS - Naval Investigators") |
TV 2 | Monday 9:15pm CET | |
Iceland | NCIS | Stöð 2 | Tuesday 8:55PM GMT | |
India | Star World | |||
Ireland | Channel 6 | Saturday 7.00pm | ||
Israel | אן-סי-איי-אס | The Hallmark Channel | ||
Italy | Navy N.C.I.S. or NCIS: Unità Anticrimine | Rai 2, FoxCrime | Sunday and/or Monday 21:00 CET | |
Japan | NCIS: Navy Crime Investigation Team | FOX | ||
Lithuania | Specialioji jūrų policijos tarnyba | LRT | ||
Macedonia | Нејви | Sitel | Mondays 8:00PM | |
Malaysia | NCIS | Star World, 8TV | 8TV: Mondays 9:30PM | |
Netherlands | NCIS | Veronica | Wednesday 20.30 CET | |
New Zealand | NCIS | TV3 | Not Currently Screening As Season Three Has Concluded. | |
Norway | Navy CIS | TV3 | ||
Philippines | RPN 9, Star World, Crime/Suspense | |||
Poland | Agenci NCIS ("Agents of NCIS") | TVN | ||
Portugal | Serviço Naval de Investigação Criminal ("Criminal Investigation Naval Service") |
TVI, AXN | August 2005 | Wednesday 9.30 PM GMT |
Romania | NCIS: Ancheta Militara ("NCIS") | Prima | January 7 2007 | Sunday 9:30 PM |
Quebec (Canada) | NCIS: Enquêtes spéciales ("NCIS : special investigations") |
Historia | ||
Serbia | Маринци (Marines) | RTV Pink | Monday to Friday 12:00 PM | |
Slovakia | NCIS : Námorny Vyšetrovací Úrad ("NCIS : Navy Investigation Service") |
Markiza | ||
Slovenia | Preiskovalci na delu: NCIS ("Investigators on work: NCIS") |
TV3 | ||
South Africa | SABC 2 | |||
Spain | Navy: investigación criminal ("Navy: criminal investigation") |
La Sexta, AXN | ||
South Korea | XTM | |||
Sweden | Navy CIS | TV3 | June 20 2004 | |
Switzerland | NCIS : enquêtes spéciales ("NCIS : special investigations") |
TSR | ||
Taiwan | NCIS 重返犯罪現場 ("NCIS - Return to the Crime Scene") |
PTS(Now under TBS) | Not Currently Screening Cover Story (Episode 20 of Season 4) will be aired on June 21st 11:00pmCST, with the rest of the season following shortly. | |
Thailand | True Series | |||
Turkey | Dizimax | |||
United Kingdom | NCIS | FX (First run and repeats) and Five (Re-runs) |
January 16 2004 | 8:30pm Saturdays (usually) and Fridays 9:00pm on Five, Weeknights 8pm on FX |
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 | April 24 2007 | June 25 2007 | March 15 2007 |
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 the eighth season of JAG is eventually released on DVD.
References
- ^ http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117964967.html?categoryid=14&cs=1
- ^ "Hollywood Reporter: 2006-07 primetime wrap". May 25 2007.
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