his article is about the U.S. television show. For the federal agency, see Naval Criminal Investigative Service.
NCIS, formerly known as NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service, is an American police procedural drama 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 (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 seven full seasons and has gone into syndicated reruns on USA Network, Sleuth and Ion Television. Donald Bellisario, who created JAG as well as the well-known series Magnum, P.I. and Quantum Leap, is co-creator and executive producer of NCIS.
NCIS was originally referred to as Navy NCIS during Season 1; however, "Navy" was later dropped from the title as it was redundant. NCIS was joined in its seventh season by a spin-off series, NCIS: Los Angeles, starring Chris O'Donnell and LL Cool J.
On February 1, 2011 the series picked up its highest ratings to date, with the thirteenth episode of the eighth season drawing 22.85 million viewers.
On February 2, 2011 NCIS was renewed by CBS for a ninth season.
Premise
NCIS follows a fictional team of 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 United States) as being distinguished by its comic elements, ensemble acting and character-driven plots.
NCIS is the primary law enforcement and counter-intelligence arm of the United States Department of the Navy, which includes the United States Marine Corps. NCIS investigates all major criminal offenses (felonies)—crimes punishable under the Uniform Code of Military Justice by confinement of more than one year—within the Department of the Navy. The MCRT is frequently assigned to high profile cases such as the death of the U.S. president's military 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 MCRT is led by Supervisory Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon). Gibbs’s team is composed of Special Agent and Senior Field Agent Anthony "Tony" DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly), Special Agent Timothy McGee (Sean Murray) and Probationary Special Agent (formerly Mossad liaison officer) Ziva David (Cote de Pablo), who replaced Caitlin "Kate" Todd (Sasha Alexander) when she was shot by Ari Haswari (Rudolf Martin) at the end of season two. Ari was then killed by his half-sister Ziva at the beginning of season three. The team is assisted in their investigations by Chief Medical Examiner Donald "Ducky" Mallard (David McCallum), his assistant Jimmy Palmer (Brian Dietzen), who replaced Gerald Jackson (Pancho Demmings), and Forensic Specialist Abigail "Abby" Sciuto (Pauley Perrette).
It has been revealed through flashbacks that the 'original' head of the MCRT was Special Agent Mike Franks, who led the unit when it was part of the Naval Investigative Service (NIS), the predecessor agency of the NCIS. He recruited Gibbs shortly after Gibbs' retirement from the Marine Corps, eventually retiring himself some years later. After Franks' departure, Gibbs recruited DiNozzo from the Baltimore Police Department's Homicide Section. The two were briefly joined by Vivian Blackadder, whom Gibbs recruited from the FBI. In the second part of the NCIS pilot, Blackadder allowed her emotions to nearly derail an anti-terror operation in Spain. Gibbs is noticeably disappointed; Blackadder is not present in the series' first regular episode, replaced by Caitlin Todd, a Secret Service agent who joins Gibbs' team after resigning from the Secret Service. McGee first appears as a Field Agent assigned to the Norfolk Field Office. He uses his computer skills to aid the MCRT in subsequent investigations through the rest of the first season, until he is officially promoted with his own desk at the Navy Yard in the beginning of the second season.
NCIS is currently led by Director Leon Vance (Rocky Carroll). The first director seen in the series, Thomas Morrow (Alan Dale), left after being promoted to Deputy Director of DHS. Jenny Shepard (Lauren Holly) was appointed director after Morrow; she was killed in a shootout at the end of the fifth season, thus making Vance the director of the entire organization.
Main Cast
-Leroy Jethro Gibbs, portrayed by Mark Harmon (Seasons 1–present), is a Special Agent in charge of the Major Case Response Team. He was a Gunnery Sergeant in the United States Marine Corps until 1991 when his first wife Shannon and daughter Kelly were killed by a sniper while in the protection of NIS.[5] After Gibbs had taken revenge on the drug dealer who killed his wife and daughter, he came back to Mike Franks and asked to be an agent for NIS.
-Anthony "Tony" DiNozzo, portrayed by Michael Weatherly (Seasons 1–present), is a Special Agent and Senior Field Agent of the Major Case Response Team and former Peoria, Philadelphia, and Baltimore police officer before joining NCIS in 2001.[7] Gibbs considers DiNozzo to be a younger version of himself, using his "gut" to solve cases (e.g., in the episode "Collateral Damage").
-Ziva David, portrayed by Cote de Pablo (Recurring season 3, main cast seasons 3–present), is a Special Agent and Probationary Field Agent of the Major Case Response Team since season seven. For her first four years in the show, she was a part of the NCIS team as a Mossad Liaison Officer. Before joining NCIS, David was in the Israeli Army for two years. She replaced Special Agent Kate Todd, who was shot and killed in the Season Two finale, "Twilight".
-Abigail "Abby" Sciuto, portrayed by Pauley Perrette (Seasons 1–present), is a forensics specialist assigned to the NCIS Major Case Response Team. She has an affinity for Gothic fashion and the fictional brand "Caf-Pow", a caffeinated beverage.
-Timothy McGee, portrayed by Sean Murray (Recurring season 1, main cast seasons 2–present), is a Special Agent and Junior Field Agent of the Major Case Response Team. He has a degree in computer forensics from MIT and, along with Abby Sciuto, acts as the team's technology specialist.
-Leon Vance, portrayed by Rocky Carroll (Recurring season 5, main cast seasons 6–present), who was formerly the NCIS Deputy Director and right hand to Jenny Shepard; he became the Director of NCIS following her death at the end of the fifth season.
-Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard, portrayed by David McCallum (Seasons 1–present), is the Chief Medical Examiner assigned to NCIS; he spent some time as a Medical Examiner in Vietnam, Bosnia, and Afghanistan before working for NCIS. He was close friends with Jenny Shepard and is best friends with Gibbs.
-Jenny Shepard, portrayed by Lauren Holly (Recurring season 3, main cast seasons 3–5), was the second director of NCIS; she formerly worked under Gibbs in Europe and was his lover at the time. She was killed in "Judgment Day, Part 1" after a former NCIS target, Natasha, hired assassins to kill her. Shepard managed to kill all of the assassins with the help of Mike Franks but died from her wounds.
-Caitlin "Kate" Todd, portrayed by Sasha Alexander (Main cast seasons 1–2, guest starred season 3 episodes 1 & 2), worked as a Secret Service Agent until the beginning of Season 1 and was tasked with presidential protection detail. She resigned from the Secret Service and was offered a job at NCIS by Gibbs. She was killed by double agent Ari Haswari at the end of season two. Her death hit the NCIS team hard, with Gibbs leaving flowers on the roof where she was shot and, following her death, not letting anybody touch her desk or locker at NCIS.
-Jimmy Palmer, portrayed by Brian Dietzen (recurring seasons 1–present, credited as "Also starring" seasons 6–present), is the assistant Medical Examiner to Dr. Mallard since late season one. Although normally credited in a recurring role, Dietzen has been credited as "Also starring" since season six.
Production
Name
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. 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 and parodied as "Navy CSI", something the show itself referenced in the first episode).
After its successful first season, the name of the series was shortened to NCIS.
Filming location
NCIS is set in the Washington, D.C., area but is filmed in Santa Clarita, California. The sound stages are in Santa Clarita. The series is shot throughout southern California.
Crew changes
It was reported in May 2007 that Donald Bellisario would be stepping down from the show. Due to a disagreement with series star Mark Harmon, Bellisario's duties as show runner/head writer were to be tasked to long-time show collaborators, including co-executive producer Chas. Floyd Johnson and Shane Brennan, with Bellisario retaining his title as executive producer.
