NCIS Articles
'Navy' Recruits Alexander for CBS Spinoff (posted to the JAG list by Kathy--6/19/03)
Thu Jun 19, 4:19 AM ET
By Nellie Andreeva
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Sasha Alexander (news) has been tapped to star in CBS' new drama "Navy CIS," a spinoff of the network's veteran military legal drama "JAG."
Alexander will play a tough, competitive Secret Service agent who joins the Naval Criminal Investigative Service team in the center of the show and butts heads with the team's leader, played by Mark Harmon.
The series is slated to air in "JAG's" Tuesday 8 p.m. slot and extends the actress' relationship with CBS. This spring, she starred in the network's drama pilot "Expert Witness." She also co-starred on CBS' medical drama "Presidio Med" this past season. Her credits also include the WB Network's "Dawson's Creek" and the feature "All Over the Guy."
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From Cynthia Turner's Cynopsis: (posted to the JAG list by KatRose--6/25/03)
Joining the cast of Navy CIS on CBS next fall (Tuesdays at 8pm) is Sasha Alexander, starring opposite Mark Harmon. Alexander's character makes the move from the Secret Service to the Naval Criminal
Investigative Service team, and she doesn't get along too well with Harmon's character.
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Daily Variety
June 25, 2003 (posted to the JAG list by KatRose--6/25/03)
Name game for 'JAG' spinoff
by Michael Schneider
Follow the bouncing name: CBS has once and for all settled on a title for its upcoming "JAG" spinoff.
The series, which revolves around special agents who investigate crime connect to Navy and Marine Crops personnel, was originally developed as "NCIS."
But execs at the Eye - which already boasts "CSI" in addition to "JAG" - had been wary of scheduling yet another show with initials in its title. What's worse, "NCIS" even sounds like "CSI."
So when the net announced its fall schedule, "NCIS" had turned into "Navy CIS." One problem: The show revolves around the real-life _Naval_ Criminal Investigative Services, which doesn't just handle Navy cases.
CBS, along with Paramount Network TV and producer Don Bellisario, then changed the title to "Naval CIS." Another problem: Eye execs thought the show sounded like it was set inside a belly-button - or revolved around a juicy orange.
With deadlines for long-lead magazine ads and stories looming, CBS finally settled on (drum roll, please) ... "NCIS." That's right. Viewers and critics who confuse it with "CSI" be damned.
Eye execs aren't the only ones pondering title changes: UPN has changed the title of its Warner Bros TV/Greenblatt-Janollari laffer "The Opposite of Sex" to reflect the name of its lead, hip-hop star "Eve."
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'Naval' Intelligence
by Michael Schneider
Daily Variety
July 27, 2003 (posted to the JAG list by KatRose--6/27/03)
This sounds like a case of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.
Testing the patience of anyone keeping an eye on the fall schedules, CBS has changed the name of its upcoming "JAG" spinoff yet again.
In other words, when CBS said earlier this week it has finally settled on the title "NCIS" (Daily Variety, June 25), it hadn't actually settled on the title "NCIS."
The show had already been known as "NCIS," "Navy CIS" and "Naval CIS" before the network went back to the old "NCIS" title earlier this week.
Uh, never mind.
The network, Paramount Network TV and producer Don Bellisario now plan to jazz up the title by calling the show "Navy NCIS."
That's right: Spelled out, the show's name is now "Navy Naval Criminal Investigative Service."
But at least it's final - until CBS and Paramount change their minds again. But both parties promise _this_ time they'll stop renaming the show.
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Per his website, the new JAG from the NCIS pilot, has signed with NCIS. (posted to the JAG list by Peggy)
"NCIS - It's Official! CBS has picked up this new drama that features the Naval Criminal Investigative Service forensics team, starring Mark Harmon. The show will air on Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. Eastern as JAG moves to Friday nights.
In this new show Michael is the JAG prosecutor, Marine Major Jack McBurney. You'll be seeing Michael in JAG this fall as well as some episodes of NCIS."
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TVGuideOnline, "RoushRoom," 6-28-03. (Posted to the JAG list by Peggy--6/28/03)
"Question: I'm a big fan of JAG (although I thought it lagged in the story department somewhat this season), but I have serious reservations about its prospective spinoff show, Navy CIS. I don't know if you watched the two-part JAG episode incorporating the Navy CIS cast, but it seemed to me that, aside from Mark Harmon, the cast was nothing more than paper-thin, cardboard caricatures. Not one of them were compelling and some of them were downright annoying. That female second-in-command, for example, is supposed to be like the Marg Helgenberger character in CSI, but is just plain shrill and whiny. I would hope there might be major cast overhauls before the real show starts. Based on what was seen in its JAG episodes, it's nothing more than a 10th-rate knock-off of CSI. Having vented my opinion, I would like to know what you think of its prospects. - Patrick R.
Matt: Its prospects look fine to me. I doubt I'll ever list it among my favorites, but I'm betting it will be successful. As with CSI: Miami, which often comes up short in discussions with fans of the original, Navy CIS is always likely to be compared negatively to "classic" JAG, but I would be surprised if the show's fan base doesn't turn out for it. It may also be unfair to judge the show's potential from that two-parter, in which the investigators were accusing Harm, of all people, of murder. Duh. When they're able to tell their own stories, this might turn out to be an acceptable if formulaic procedural. Personally, I kind of liked David McCallum (blame my nostalgia-TV leanings; I grew up on The Man From U.N.C.L.E.) as the quirky coroner. And Mark Harmon has perfected that Gary Cooper quiet-man-of-strength persona. He's a CBS star, through and through."
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