NCIS: Los Angeles


NCIS: Los Angeles is an American action television series combining elements of the military drama and police procedural genres, which premiered on CBS on September 22, 2009. The series follows the exploits of the Los Angeles–based Office of Special Projects, an elite division of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service that specializes in undercover assignments. NCIS: Los Angeles is the first spin-off of the successful series NCIS.
The series originally starred Chris O'Donnell, Daniela Ruah, LL Cool J, Peter Cambor, Adam Jamal Craig, Linda Hunt and Barrett Foa. Cambor's character was demoted to a recurring character after season 1 and Craig's character was killed off in season 1. Eric Christian Olsen, who played a recurring character in season 1, joined as a starring character from season 2 onward as did Renée Felice Smith. Miguel Ferrer joined the cast for seasons 5 to 8 after playing a recurring character. Nia Long joined the cast as Shay Mosley for the ninth season after Miguel Ferrer's death. Medalion Rahimi joined the cast in season 11.
The show has received generally mixed reviews from critics, citing the generally by-the-procedural-book feel of the series that delivers a serviceable show based on the NCIS formula. NCIS: Los Angeles, like the other shows of the franchise, has been a solid rating hit for CBS. In May 2020, CBS renewed the series for a twelfth season.

Premise

NCIS: Los Angeles follows Special Agents Sam Hanna and G. Callen, undercover operatives assigned to the Office of Special Projects, a specialist branch of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Sam is a former member of SEAL Team Six and dedicated family man. Callen is a former foster child who became a "legend" under the watchful eye of Operations Manager Henrietta "Hetty" Lange. Over the course of the series, Sam, Callen, and Hetty, are supported by Special Agent Kensi Blye, a hand-to-hand combat specialist, trained sniper and forensic whiz, and her partner-turned-husband Marty Deeks, an LAPD liaison officer. Technical Operator Eric Beale, Assistant Director Owen Granger, and Intelligence Analyst Nell Jones complete the team, while Operational Psychologist Nate Getz and rookie agents Dominic Vail and Fatima Nazami offer support under the watchful eye of Executive Assistant Director Pacific Shay Mosley.

Characters

Main

Special Agent G. Callen was initially a CIA operative created by Shane Brennan for a series that was never produced. After taking over show runner duties previously held by Donald P. Bellisario on NCIS, he used the potential of a spin-off to bring his story to fruition.
Brennan intended for the series to hold a Miami Vice-esque vibe through its two co-leads, Callen and Agent Sam Hanna. However, the character of Lara Macy was written to serve as a parallel for Gibbs, the lead of the original NCIS team. Macy was portrayed by Louise Lombard in the backdoor pilot, but she was not featured in the actual spin-off, and Brennan was able to produce the show as he originally envisioned it.
The show was known as NCIS: Legend while in production, and other names considered included OSP: Office of Special Projects, NCIS: OSP and NCIS: Undercover. Filming started in February 2009, with the characters being introduced in the two-part NCIS episode titled "Legend", the first part of which aired on April 28, 2009. This episode served as a backdoor pilot for the series, in a manner similar to the way NCIS was introduced by way of a two-part episode of JAG.

Episodes

Crossovers

Reception

Critical reception

"Identity |Identity", the series' first episode, garnered 18.73 million viewers with a 4.4/11 share in the 18- to 49-year-old demographic and therefore won its timeslot. It was the second-most-watched show of the week, behind only the original NCIS.
Reviews for the show have been mixed. It has a score of 59/100 on Metacritic. According to Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times, "The crime is intriguing and multifaceted, its resolution requiring a nice balance of street smarts and lots of gunfire. But as with the original "NCIS", the emphasis is on the characters of the team... Los Angeles, meanwhile, looks fabulous, a pleasing mixture of noir and gridlock, and there's an air of stability that's comforting in these uncertain times." The New York Daily News reviewer, David Hinckley, was more critical of the show saying that although "It all adds up to an hour of decent entertainment, and there's room for enough character development to give "NCIS: Los Angeles" a personality of its own,... a premiere episode shouldn't feel even a little like something we've already seen."
Tom Shales of The Washington Post felt that, "NCIS: Los Angeles gets the job done... It's a procedural that follows strictly the established procedure, but it has likable characters, dislikable bad guys and the occasional flabbergasting shot of L.A." Robert Bianco of USA Today summarized it as a "serviceable hour that takes the NCIS formula—a light tone and a lot of banter wrapped around a fairly rudimentary investigatory plot—and transfers it to a special, undercover NCIS division in Los Angeles. Nothing more, but also nothing less." The Hollywood Reporter compared the show to The A-Team with "the same lighthearted approach to life-or-death situations. Maybe the biggest change is that 'NCIS: L.A.' achieves its inevitably favorable outcomes with a little more intellect and a little less testosterone." IGN stated that although "NCIS: Los Angeles doesn't exactly reinvent the police procedural... it's another above-average entry, aided by the fact that the people behind the show know what they're doing" and ultimately gave the episode a 7.7/10.

Ratings

Seasonal rankings of NCIS: Los Angeles on CBS.

Awards and nominations

Potential spin-off

On November 5, 2012, Deadline Hollywood reported the first news about a spin-off of NCIS: Los Angeles titled NCIS: Red. The new characters were introduced during a of NCIS: Los Angeles. The spin-off was to feature a team of mobile agents, who travel around the country to solve crimes. This would have been the second successive spin-off in the NCIS franchise. However, on May 15, 2013, CBS confirmed that NCIS: Red was officially passed on and would not be moving forward. Scott Grimes reprised his potential spinoff role as NCIS Red Agent Dave Flynn during the eighth season of NCIS: Los Angeles.

Home video releases

The first nine seasons have been released on DVD in Regions 1, 2 and 4, and Season 1 was released on Blu-ray Disc in Region A. The first season DVD release includes the two-part pilot episode that aired as part of the sixth season of NCIS, which were also included on the Season 6 DVD of NCIS. All releases are distributed by Paramount Home Entertainment.

International broadcast

In Asia, the series airs on AXN & ARY Digital. In the UK the series premieres its latest season first on Sky 1, with subsequent runs and repeats then also broadcast on Channel Five. In the Netherlands the series airs on NET5.NCIS: Los Angeles airs on Network Ten, ONE and TVH!TS As of December 2019, NCIS:LA airs on Fox Crime after TV H!TS was rebranded as Fox One in Australia.
In Portugal the series airs on Fox. and on M6 in France.

Adaptations

In August 2016, Titan Books published NCIS Los Angeles: Extremis, a novel by Jerome Preisler. Three months later, it was followed by NCIS Los Angeles: Bolthole, written by Jeff Mariotte. Both books contain original stories featuring the characters from the show.