As humans living in a changing world, we crave continuity and reliability. Before entering a room, we want to be sure we know what we are going to find – the walls, the floor, the furniture, not hot coals or a cloud of poisonous gases. Hence the popularity of the franchise. It may not lead to great, revolutionary art, but when you kick off your shoes and sink down on the couch at the end of a long day, you might not feel like eating “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” or dolls. A goat with a tire in the middle.
“NCIS,” short for Naval Criminal Investigative Service, is a theoretically open-ended series about a high-level military police team that investigates cases involving military personnel. You might think the drawers are too shallow to fill with multiple series over the years, but you’d be wrong, especially considering how thin the writers are willing to stretch their connections.
The series offers a full-course meal packed with mainstream theatrical possibilities. It’s a police procedural, a metaphorical family comedy, a workplace comedy, a soap opera, a melodrama, and a low-budget action-adventure. You get a handsome hero, a bit of a dork, a quirky coroner or two, a bit of romance, and more. It’s certainly the amino acid of many such procedurals, but “NCIS” is especially adept at combining the lean with reactionary entertainment. – Anterior tension. The military association adds a patriotic element, which I think some viewers will appreciate, even though the premise of the series itself suggests that the military is not clean. These aren’t shows I watch out of habit, but it’s easy to see why people do.
The franchise includes repeat settings in Los Angeles, New Orleans, Hawaii and Sydney, each applying local color and flavor to the tried-and-true formula. Some have come and gone, some haven’t been around long enough to go, but they’re unlikely to have the staying power or global penetration of the original, which is scheduled to begin its 22nd season on Monday.
Following its premiere on CBS, home of all “NCIS” series, the series’ latest installment, “NCIS: Origins,” has been added. But instead of settling in a new city, we’re transported back to 1991 by “new special agent” Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Austin Stowell), played by Mark Harmon in the original and narrated here. I joined the team he would one day lead. (This is a team that hasn’t yet added the C to its abbreviation, and although it looks odd in windbreaker jackets, it barks at suspects quicker.)
We’re in Oceanside, a new town on the site of Camp Pendleton. The most overtly sexy setting in the “NCIS” collection is Oceanside, not to mention the ocean itself. This is also reflected in the team’s drab Quonset-hut headquarters, a stark contrast to their bright, modern, high-tech hideout. of modern shows. Here we are in a world of phone booths, pagers, bulky computers that no one knows how to operate, Walkmans and video tapes. This both simplifies and complicates the task. It’s a kind of relief and a vacation from now.
Kyle Schmid as Mike Franks and Tyla Abercrumbie as Mary Jo Hayes in a scene from “NCIS: Origins.”
(Sonja Fleming/CBS)
Harmon, who left the series after the 19th season and was replaced by Gary Cole, established the model for “NCIS” team leaders. A firm but supportive surrogate parent, time-worn and time-tested, ready to take on hidden authorities at any moment. necessary. Young Gibbs, a Marine Corps sniper just recalled from Iraq after killing his wife and child, is not that guy (yet). But we get a few hints that he might be: his numbered “rules,” his “gut feelings.” Now he’s deep in trauma, getting into bar fights and failing ‘psychological assessments’. Although he’s no unstable, “Lethal Weapon” crazy Mel Gibson, there are concerns that he could potentially be a danger to himself and others.
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The team leader is Mike Franks (Kyle Schmid), Gibbs’ Cowboy predecessor and mentor. With his horseshoe mustache, dark glasses, and cigarette, he looked like a 90s cop dressed in 70s cop uniform. (Older Franks, played by Muse Watson, has appeared in some dramatic episodes of “NCIS.”) Hotshot agent Lala Dominguez (Mariel Molino) is competitive and wary of Gibbs. (Gibbs says this upon meeting her: “No, you’re on my team,” she replies, reasonably.) Agent Vera Strickland (Diany Rodriguez), who appeared briefly in the original series, has been underused thus far. (Only four episodes were available for review.)
Dark emotions and internal conflict characterize the first episode, full of high-pitched voices, clenched jaws and steely stares. The needed diversion is provided by Agent Randy Randolf (Caleb Martin Foote), who is friendly, chatty, and the only person who wears a suit to work. “Secretary in Charge” Mary Jo Hayes (Tyla Abercrumbie); and Granville “Granny” Dawson (Daniel Bellomy), who after a few episodes is promoted to the K-9 team and placed in the care of a dog named Special Agent Gary Callahan. (“It’s just one dog, but he’s every dog you need.”) Bobby Moynihan (main comic relief), Lori Petty and Julian Black Antelope provide forensic backup.
As for Stowell, he’s square-jawed, broad-shouldered, and although his casting sparked much discussion, he’s not thought of as the man who would later become Mark Harmon. (Harmon’s son Sean, who had the original idea for “Origins,” developed by franchise vets David J. North and Gina Lucita Monreal, played the young Gibbs in “NCIS” flashbacks.) He could relax a little. . But maybe that’s the point.
