'NCIS' spin-off built for success with ready-made fan base, high-profile cast
'NCIS' spin-off built for success with ready-made fan base, high-profile cast
by Dave Walker, TV columnist, The Times-Picayune
Saturday August 08, 2009, 5:00 AM
Courtesy of Danny Feld / Production
In a scene from "NCIS: Los Angeles" Sam (LL COOL J, left) rushes to Callen's (Chris O'Donnell, right) side after he is shot by an unknown gunman.
HOLLYWOOD -- Other hour-long series will debut this fall to bigger buzz -- Fox's "Glee" and CBS's "The Good Wife" come to mind -- but the best bet for early and long-term success is "NCIS: Los Angeles."
The new drama has a big-profile cast, ranging from Oscar-winner Linda Hunt ("The Year of Living Dangerously"), Chris O'Donnell ("Batman & Robin") and pioneer-rapper-turned-actor LL Cool J.
It also happens to be spinning off of one of TV's most durable dramas.
Click to viewhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MxIchtg56s
For most of this reality soaked summer, reruns of "NCIS" -- itself a "JAG" spin-off -- have been the top rated scripted drama each week.
"It just delivers a big audience no matter where it plays -- (reruns on) USA, CBS, Italy, France, virtually everywhere," CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler told TV critics in Hollywood this week for the networks' annual fall-preview press tour. "In our mind, 'NCIS' is the most underrated success story on television."
So successful, in fact, that Tassler was asked by a critic if "NCIS" and "NCIS: Los Angeles" together "might be the two-hour block that finally knocks off 'American Idol.'¤" (And this was before the news that Paula Abdul was leaving "Idol.")
"I love the way you're thinking," Tassler said. "Maybe that could happen. 'NCIS' (is) 'Idol'-proof. 'Idol' comes and goes, and 'NCIS' pretty much holds its place. So if that's the case, I'm with you."
The spin-off's lead characters were introduced during the past regular season of "NCIS," which went so far as to set the hook with a cliffhanging conclusion for O'Donnell's character.
Spoiler: He lives.
"NCIS: LA" will get a further assist from a couple of characters in its sister series, including Rocky Carroll (Leon Vance on "NCIS," he'll have a recurring presence on the spin-off) and Pauley Perrette (quirky-cool Abby Sciuto on "NCIS," who will crossover guest-star in the spin-off's second episode).
And "NCIS: Los Angeles" gets "NCIS" as its Tuesday night lead-in.
While nobody on the show believes it's too big to fail, they're all aware of the Nielsen stimulus package they've been handed in advance of their Sept. 22 premiere.
"I think the NCIS brand is the star" of "NCIS: Los Angeles," LL Cool J told me during a visit to the show's new set. "Obviously, we want to maintain the current 'NCIS' fanbase (along with) all of those people that are joining the show. We don't want to make them have an allergic reaction to what we are doing onscreen.
"I don't think anyone here is being arrogant. We are not making any guarantees or predictions for the playoffs."
"I've had the whole summer to have people come up to me (and) I was overwhelmed by how many people were watching the show," said O'Donnell of "NCIS." "Everywhere I've gone this summer, I'm overwhelmed. People that I don't even think watch TV are coming up to me. 'What's going to happen? I love her. I love him,' and blah, blah, blah.
"I've got to tell you, so many people are watching 'NCIS,' it's amazing."
Pauley Perrette's Stop Making Friends - FEAR video
The new show is about frequently undercover national-security operations as executed via frequently high-tech means by an Office of Special Projects unit working out of the title city.
O'Donnell plays a master-of-disguises special agent. LL Cool J is a former Navy SEAL.
They and the other characters work out of an old Spanish mission rehabbed to house cutting-edge technology that will help the team in their tasks, including a giant touch-screen display that would make CNN's John King drool.
Hunt's supervisor character apparently does the gadget hook-ups for all the others, a la James Bond's Q, and it's fitting that the "NCIS: Los Angeles" mission set is housed in the Paramount Studios soundstage where most of the post-original series "Star Trek" TV episodes and movies were shot.
So, cool gear and geography -- filmed in southern California, while "NCIS" is set in the Washington, D.C., area -- are two ways the shows will be different. There are many more ways they'll be similar.
"We want to keep it familiar rather than similar," said Shane Brennan, executive producer of both shows. "What we have on 'NCIS' is a show that's now in its seventh season. It has an amazing fan base. It's got an outstanding cast. And at its core is that wonderful mix of drama, emotion and humor. And for us to attempt to do 'NCIS: Los Angeles' without those three key ingredients would be crazy.
"The similarities, the things that we want to keep, we believe are the things that the audience will love. They will fall in love with those characters. They will love their humor.
"What the audience will see is this bunch of characters working together under the intense pressure of doing what they do, and finding the humor in doing that. So to my mind, I think the audience is going to say, 'Yes, this is familiar, but these characters are different and we love them in a very different way.' And it's my very strong belief that that's what's going to happen."
TV columnist Dave Walker can be reached at dwalker@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3429.
source: http://www.nola.com/tv/index.ssf/2009/08/ncis_spinoff_built_for_success.html