Can NCIS go to the well one more time?
NCIS: New Orleans, the latest in the NCIS crime-busting franchise, debuts at 8 p.m. today on CBS following the Season 12 premiere of the mothership, NCIS. The network hopes you'll come for TV's No. 1 drama and stick around to sample the new guy.
In case you're an NCIS fanatic, the new season for NCIS: Los Angeles arrives at 9 p.m. Monday.
How many is too many? NBC was the franchise king with Law & Order, but the last two of the four spinoffs were two too many.
The original Law & Order ran for 20 seasons, 1990-2010. It begat: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, 1999-present; Law & Order: Criminal Intent, 2001-11; Law & Order: Trial by Jury, 2005-06; and Law & Order: LA, 2010-11.
Then there's CBS' CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. The original, which debuted in 2000, will premiere Season 15 at 9 p.m. Sunday. Spinoffs that came and went between 2002 and 2013 were CSI: Miami (10 seasons) and CSI: NY (nine seasons).
Waiting in the wings for a midseason shot is the fourth franchise, CSI: Cyber, starring Patricia Arquette (Medium) as head of the Cyber Crime Division.
America loves its police procedurals, but NCIS: New Orleans is going to need its lead-in to help it get off the ground. And that's even though the series stars fan favorite Scott Bakula (Quantum Leap).
New Orleans had its two-episode "backdoor pilot" last spring on NCIS when Special Agent Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon) and his team joined with the FBI to investigate the murder of a congressman in New Orleans.
We got to see Gibbs reunite with his old buddy, Special Agent Dwayne "King" Pride (Bakula). Trivia: Bakula's character is based on D'Wayne Swear, former head of the actual NCIS unit in New Orleans. Swear is a technical adviser on the series.
I never miss an episode of NCIS, but it was like fingernails on the blackboard listening to St. Louis native Bakula mangle a New Orleans accent, spout, "Laissez les bons temps rouler," and call everyone "my brothuh." Maybe he has gotten better at it over the summer.
OK. So Pride is our Gibbs character in the NCIS formula. The rest of the team includes the DiNozzo character, playboy and good ol' boy Special Agent Christopher LaSalle (Lucas Black, Sling Blade), "who plays hard but works harder"; and the requisite too-pretty special agent (NCIS' Kate Todd, Ziva David and Ellie Bishop) Meredith "Merri" Brody (Zoe McLellan, JAG), a "charismatic and tough interrogator who transferred from the Great Lakes office in search of a fresh start."
We need a "Ducky" character, right? Playing eccentric coroner Dr. Loretta Wade is the marvelous CCH Pounder (The Shield). She's worth the price of admission by herself.
Paige Turco (Person of Interest, The 100) will be recurring as Linda Pride, Dwayne's wife. They have a daughter.
The series is actually being filmed in New Orleans, so we'll see a lot of the flavor of the place. "My city, my way," Pride growls.
CBS tells us, "This colorful city that harbors a dark side is a magnet for service personnel on leave, and when overindulgence is followed by trouble, Pride's team is at its best."
The first episode deals with the murder of a petty officer who was a former gang member mentored by Pride.
NEW AND RETURNING
Here's a handy list of all the new and returning shows for today and Wednesday. New series are in bold.
Today:
7 p.m. -- NCIS (CBS).
8 p.m. -- Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D (NBC); NCIS: New Orleans (CBS).
9 p.m. -- Chicago Fire (NBC); Person of Interest (CBS); Forever (ABC).
It's the second episode for Forever in its special two-night premiere. The series stars Ioan Gruffudd as immortal New York medical examiner Henry Morgan. Oh, he dies fairly regularly, but he always comes back. He's not sure how he does that.
Wednesday:
7 p.m. -- The Middle (ABC); Survivor (Fox); The Mysteries of Laura (NBC).
7:30 p.m. -- The Goldbergs (ABC).
8 p.m. -- Law & Order: SVU; Modern Family (ABC).
8:30 p.m. -- Black-ish (ABC).
9 p.m. -- Chicago P.D. (NBC); Nashville (9 p.m.)
It's the "official" premiere for Debra Messing's The Mysteries of Laura, but it's actually the second episode following last week's double special preview.
Don't miss Black-ish. It made my must-see Top 10 list for this fall and stars the talented Anthony Anderson as a black father worried that his kids are being deprived of their black culture and heritage by living in the suburbs. Laurence Fishburne plays his dad.
Food for thought: Hayden Panettiere, 25, is very, very pregnant (due in December) by her longtime fiance, 6-foot-6 Ukrainian heavyweight boxer Wladimir Klitschko. How will that affect her storyline as Juliette Barnes on Nashville? Panettiere, by the way, is all of 5-foot-2 on a good day.
The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Email:
mstorey@arkansasonline.com
Style on 09/23/2014