NCIS: Los Angeles is an American television drama that aired on CBS from September 22, 2009 to May 21, 2023. This was a spin-off series of NCIS.
Summary[]
In the first spin-off of "NCIS," the show is about undercover surveillance agents at the Office of Special Projects division of NCIS apprehend dangerous and elusive criminals that pose a threat to the nation's security.
Cast[]
Main[]
- Chris O'Donnell as Special Agent G Callen
- LL Cool J as Special Agent Sam Hanna
- Daniela Ruah as Special Agent Kensi Blye
- Barrett Foa as Eric Beal
- Eric Christian Olsen as Marty Deeks (Season 2-14)
- Renee Felice Smith as Nell Jones (Season 2-14)
- Linda Hunt as Henrietta "Hetty" Lange
- Miguel Ferrer as Assistant Director Owen Granger (Season 5–8, recurring previously)
- Peter Cambor as Operational Psychologist Nate "Doc" Getz (Season 1, recurring thereafter)
- Adam Jamal Craig as Special Agent Dominic Vail (Season 1)
- Nia Long as Shay Mosley (Season 9-10)
- Medalion Rahimi as Fatima Namazi (Season 11-14)
- Caleb Castille as Devin Rountree (Season 12-14)
- Gerald McRaney as Hollace Kilbride (Season 13-14)
Extended / Recurring[]
- Claire Forlani as Lauren Hunter (season 3)
- Rocky Carroll as Leon Vance
- Andrea Bordeaux as Harley Hidoko
Season overview[]
| Season | Episodes | First air date | Last air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intro | 2 | April 28, 2009 | May 5, 2009 | |
| Season 1 | 24 | September 22, 2009 | May 25, 2010 | |
| Season 2 | 24 | September 21, 2010 | May 17, 2011 | |
| Season 3 | 24 | September 20, 2011 | May 15, 2012 | |
| Season 4 | 24 | September 25, 2012 | May 14, 2013 | |
| Season 5 | 24 | September 24, 2013 | May 13, 2014 | |
| Season 6 | 24 | September 29, 2014 | May 18, 2015 | |
| Season 7 | 24 | September 21, 2015 | May 2, 2018 | |
| Season 8 | 24 | September 25, 2016 | May 14, 2017 | |
| Season 9 | 24 | October 1, 2017 | May 20, 2018 | |
| Season 10 | 24 | September 30, 2018 | May 19, 2019 | |
| Season 11 | 22 | September 29, 2019 | April 26, 2020 | |
| Season 12 | 18 | November 8, 2020 | May 23, 2021 | |
| Season 13 | 22 | October 10, 2021 | May 22, 2022 | |
| Season 14 | 21 | October 9, 2022 | May 21, 2023 | |
This two-part series finale "New Beginnings" became the feature-length episode of NCIS: Los Angeles when the 14th and final season was released on DVD.
Production[]
Development[]
Special Agent G. Callen was initially a CIA operative created by Shane Brennan for a series that was never produced. After taking over show runner duties previously held by Donald P. Bellisario on NCIS, he used the potential of a spin-off to bring his story to fruition.
Brennan intended for the series to hold a Miami Vice-esque vibe through its two co-leads, Callen and Agent Sam Hanna. However, the character of Lara Macy was written to serve as a parallel for Gibbs, the lead of the original NCIS team. Macy was portrayed by Louise Lombard in the backdoor pilot, but she was not featured in the actual spin-off, and Brennan was able to produce the show as he originally envisioned it.
The show was known as NCIS: Legend while in production (referring to the episodes of NCIS in which the spin-off was introduced), and other names considered included OSP: Office of Special Projects, NCIS: OSP and NCIS: Undercover. Filming started in February 2009, with the characters being introduced in the two-part NCIS episode titled "Legend", the first part of which aired on April 28, 2009. This episode served as a backdoor pilot for the series, in a manner similar to the way NCIS was introduced by way of a two-part episode of JAG.
Reception[]
Critical response[]
"Identity", the series' first episode, garnered 18.73 million viewers with a 4.4/11 share in the 18- to 49-year-old demographic and therefore won its timeslot. It was the second most watched show of the week, behind only the original NCIS.
Reviews for the show have been mixed. It has a score of 59/100 on Metacritic. According to Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times, "The crime is intriguing and multifaceted, its resolution requiring a nice balance of street smarts and lots of gunfire. But as with the original "NCIS", the emphasis is on the characters of the team... Los Angeles, meanwhile, looks fabulous, a pleasing mixture of noir and gridlock, and there's an air of stability that's comforting in these uncertain times." The New York Daily News reviewer, David Hinckley, was more critical of the show saying that although "It all adds up to an hour of decent entertainment, and there's room for enough character development to give "NCIS: Los Angeles" a personality of its own, ... a premiere episode shouldn't feel even a little like something we've already seen."
Tom Shales of The Washington Post felt that, "NCIS: Los Angeles gets the job done ... It's a procedural that follows strictly the established procedure, but it has likable characters, dislikable bad guys and the occasional flabbergasting shot of L.A." Robert Bianco of USA Today summarized it as a "serviceable hour that takes the NCIS formula—a light tone and a lot of banter wrapped around a fairly rudimentary investigatory plot—and transfers it to a special, undercover NCIS division in Los Angeles. Nothing more, but also nothing less." The Hollywood Reporter compared the show to The A-Team with "the same lighthearted approach to life-or-death situations. Maybe the biggest change is that 'NCIS: L.A.' achieves its inevitably favorable outcomes with a little more intellect and a little less testosterone." IGN stated that although "NCIS: Los Angeles doesn't exactly reinvent the police procedural... it's another above-average entry, aided by the fact that the people behind the show know what they're doing" and ultimately gave the episode a 7.7/10.
External links[]
- NCIS: LA Database on Fandom
- NCIS: LA on Facebook
- NCIS: LA on Wikipedia
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