Jump to content

NCIS (TV series)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 121.214.138.243 (talk) at 06:14, 25 November 2008. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

NCIS
File:NCIS title.jpg
NCIS interart title
Created byDon McGill
Donald Bellisario
Starringsee below
Country of origin United States
No. of seasons8
No. of episodes121 (list of episodes)
Production
Running timeapprox. 42 minutes
Production companiesBelisarius Productions
Paramount Television
Original release
NetworkCBS
ReleaseSeptember 23, 2003 –
present
Related
JAG

NCIS, promoted as Navy NCIS in its first season, aka Navy NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service or NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service, is an American police procedural television series revolving around a fictional team of special agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which conducts criminal investigations involving the U.S. Navy and 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, a spin off from JAG, premiered on September 23, 2003 on CBS and, to date, has aired five full seasons. Donald Bellisario, who created JAG, as well as the well-known series Magnum P.I. and Quantum Leap, executive produces NCIS.[1] NCIS was originally referred to as “Navy NCIS”. However "Navy" was later dropped, as it was redundant. NCIS returned for its sixth season on September 23, 2008........................................................................................

Overview

NCIS is a television show that follows a real team of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service Major Case Response Team (MCRT) special agents, headquartered at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, D.C. It is described by the actors and producers (on special features on DVD releases in the USA) as being distinguished by its comedy elements, ensemble acting and character-driven plots.

NCIS is the primary law enforcement and counterintelligence arm of the United States Department of the Navy, which includes the United States Marine Corps. NCIS investigates all major criminal offenses (felonies)—those crimes punishable under the Code of Military Justice by confinement of more than one year—within the Department of the Navy. This can be seen when the “NCIS 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.

The “NCIS team” is lead by Special Agent in Charge Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon). Gibbs’ team is comprised of Special Agent and Senior Field Agent Anthony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly), Special Agent Timothy McGee (Sean Murray) and Mossad Liaison Officer Ziva David (Cote de Pablo). The team is assisted in their investigations by Chief Medical Examiner Donald “Ducky” Mallard (David McCallum), Forensic Specialist Abby Sciuto (Pauley Perrette) and Assistant Medical Examiner Jimmy Palmer (Brian Dietzen). NCIS is headed by Director Leon Vance (Rocky Carroll).

Cast

Main article: List of NCIS characters
Name Portrayed by Occupation Character Status
Leroy Jethro Gibbs Mark Harmon Special Agent In Charge // Major Case Response Team Supervisor, NCIS Regular (2003–Present)
Anthony DiNozzo Michael Weatherly Special Agent // Major Case Response Team Senior Field Agent, NCIS
Reassigned as an Agent Afloat in Season 5 ("Judgment Day")
Transferred back to the Major Case Response Team in Season 6 ("Agent Afloat") [2]		 Regular (2003–Present)
Timothy McGee Sean Murray Special Agent // Major Case Response Team Junior Field Agent, NCIS
Transferred to Cybercrimes Division in Season 5 ("Judgment Day")
Transferred back to the Major Case Response Team in Season 6 ("Last Man Standing") [2]		 Regular (2004–Present)
Ziva David Cote de Pablo Mossad Liaison Officer, NCIS
Liaison position was terminated in Season 5 ("Judgment Day")[2]
Liaison position reinstated Season 6 ("Last Man Standing")		 Regular (2005–Present)
Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard David McCallum Chief Medical Examiner, NCIS Regular (2003–Present)
Abby Sciuto Pauley Perrette Forensic Specialist, NCIS Regular (2003–Present)
Leon Vance Rocky Carroll Director, NCIS
former Assistant Director, NCIS		 Regular (2008–Present)
Michelle Lee Liza Lapira Special Agent // Lawyer, NCIS Recurring (2006–Present)
Jimmy Palmer Brian Dietzen Assistant Medical Examiner, NCIS Recurring (2004–Present)
Tobias Fornell Joe Spano Senior Special Agent, FBI Recurring (2003–Present)
Mike Franks Muse Watson Retired Supervisory Special Agent, NIS; Mentor to L. Jethro Gibbs Recurring (2005–Present)
Jenny Shepard Lauren Holly Former Director, NCIS
Killed during a gun fight. Season 5 ("Judgment Day")		 Former regular (2005–2008)
Caitlin "Kate" Todd Sasha Alexander Special Agent, NCIS
Killed by Ari Haswari in Season 2 ("Twilight")		 Former regular (2003–2005)
Dr. Jeanne Benoit Scottie Thompson Doctor, Monroe University Hospital Former recurring (2006–2008)
Paula Cassidy Jessica Steen NCIS Special Agent, NCIS
Killed in Season 4 ("Grace Period") by a suicide bomber		 Former recurring (2003–2007)
Hollis Mann Susanna Thompson Lt. Colonel, U.S. Army, CID retired Former recurring (2006–2007)
Cassie Yates Tamara Taylor NCIS Special Agent, NCIS Former recurring (2005–2006)
Thomas Morrow Alan Dale Former Director, NCIS
Deputy Director, DHS		 Former recurring (2003–2005)
Gerald Jackson Pancho Demmings Assistant Medical Examiner, NCIS Former recurring (2003–2005)

Production

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,[citation needed] 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.

Filming location

NCIS is set in Washington DC area but is filmed in Santa Clarita, CA [3]

Crew changes

It was reported in May 2007 that NCIS creator and producer Donald Bellisario would be stepping down from the show.[4] It turns out, due to a disagreement with series star Mark Harmon, that Bellisario's duties as show runner would be taken over by longtime show collaborators, including co-executive producer Charles Floyd Johnson and series writer Shane Brennan, with Bellisario retaining his title as Executive Producer.[5]

Ratings

Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of NCIS.

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 #26 11.84[6]
2 Tuesday 8:00PM September 28, 2004 May 24, 2005 2004–2005 #22 13.63[7]
3 Tuesday 8:00PM September 20, 2005 May 16, 2006 2005–2006 #16 15.3[8]
4 Tuesday 8:00PM September 19, 2006 May 22, 2007 2006–2007 #18 14.5[9]
5 Tuesday 8:00PM September 25, 2007 May 20, 2008 2007–2008 #10 15.65
6 Tuesday 8:00PM September 23, 2008 TBA 2008–2009 #3 18.2

NCIS has become a top 10 program in its fifth season, averaging 15.65 million viewers, despite a writers' strike. Notably, the show is one of the few that has actually increased in viewership as it progresses, as opposed to most shows, which decrease in popularity as they fade, and has even been able to finish a strong second to Fox's American Idol, a time slot seen by many as a "death slot" for most series.

NCIS, as well as repeats of old episodes, also constantly appear in the top-20 in Australia.

NCIS delivered its largest audience to date, in the sixth season episode Collateral Damage, soaring to 18.8 million viewers.[10][11]

Episodes

Main article: List of NCIS episodes

Five seasons of NCIS have been aired, with a sixth season which started September 23, 2008.[12] A total of 121 episodes have aired.

DVD releases

Main article: NCIS DVD releases

All five seasons of NCIS have been released as full-season boxed sets in Region One DVD format. Seasons One to Four have also been released on Region Two and Region Four DVD format for sale in the United Kingdom and Australia. Note also that the first season DVD release omits the two-part introductory episode that aired as part of the eighth season of JAG.

DVD Name Region 1 Region 2 Region 4
Season 1 June 6, 2006[13] July 24, 2006[14] August 10, 2006[15]
Season 2 November 14, 2006[16] October 16, 2006[17] October 12, 2006[18]
Season 3 April 24, 2007[19] June 25, 2007[20] March 15, 2007[21]
Season 4 October 23, 2007[22] May 19, 2008[23] July 10, 2008[24]
Season 5 August 26, 2008[25] TBA TBA

References

  1. ^ Adalian, Josef (2007-05-06). "Bellisario to leave 'NCIS'". Variety. Retrieved 2008-05-22.
  2. ^ a b c Posted by DarkUFO (at Saturday, August 09, 2008). "Spoiler TV: NCIS - Latest from TV Guide". Spoilertv.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2008-11-16. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); line feed character in |date= at position 3 (help)
  3. ^ ""Navy NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service" (2003) - Filming locations". Imdb.com. Retrieved 2008-11-16.
  4. ^ The Hollywood_reporter: "Creator-producer Bellisario exits 'NCIS'"
  5. ^ Exclusive: NCIS Boss Exits! from the TV Guide Editor's blog
  6. ^ "I.T.R.S. Ranking Report". June 2, 2004. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |source= ignored (help)
  7. ^ "Hollywood Reporter: 2004-05 primetime wrap". May 27, 2005. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |source= ignored (help)
  8. ^ "Hollywood Reporter: 2005-06 primetime wrap". May 26, 2006. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |source= ignored (help)
  9. ^ "Hollywood Reporter: 2006-07 primetime wrap". May 25, 2007. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |source= ignored (help)
  10. ^ Gorman, Bill. "TV by the Numbers". TVbytheNumbers.com. Retrieved 2008-11-12.
  11. ^ By. "'NCIS' hits series high in ratings - Entertainment News, TV News, Media - Variety". Variety.com. Retrieved 2008-11-16.
  12. ^ Franklin, Garth. "CBS's 2008/2009 TV Schedule". DarkHorizons.com. Retrieved 2008-08-11.
  13. ^ "NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service - Season One", TVShowsOnDVD.com. Retrieved on October 24, 2007.
  14. ^ NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigative Service) - Season 1, Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved on October 24, 2007.
  15. ^ NCIS: Complete Season 1: 2003 (Naval Criminal Investigative Service), Sanity. Retrieved on October 24, 2007.
  16. ^ "NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service - Season Two", TVShowsOnDVD.com. Retrieved on October 24, 2007.
  17. ^ NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigative Service) - Season 2, Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved on October 24, 2007.
  18. ^ NCIS: Complete Season 2: (Naval Criminal Investigative Service), Sanity. Retrieved on October 24, 2007.
  19. ^ "NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service - Season Three", TVShowsOnDVD.com. Retrieved on October 24, 2007.
  20. ^ NCIS Season 3, Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved on October 24, 2007.
  21. ^ NCIS: Complete Season 3: (Naval Criminal Investigative Service), Sanity. Retrieved on October 24, 2007.
  22. ^ "NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service - Season Four", TVShowsOnDVD.com. Retrieved on October 24, 2007.
  23. ^ NCIS Season 4, Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved on September 11, 2008.
  24. ^ NCIS: Complete Season 4: (Naval Criminal Investigative Service), Sanity. Retrieved on October 24, 2007.
  25. ^ "NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service - Season Five", TVShowsOnDVD.com. Retrieved on September 11, 2008.
Wikiquote has quotations related to NCIS (TV series).
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=NCIS_(TV_series)&oldid=253956586"