I’m proud to say that I went into last night’s premiere episode of NCIS: Los Angeles with absolutely no preconceived notions, or with my mind made up one way or another. Yes, I saw and did not enjoy the two NCIS spin-off episodes last season, but my feelings there were mixed in with the fact that I felt it was detracting from the original. But this stand-alone show will make its own survival decisions from now on.
In fact, the only thread back is Director Vance, who is of course the director of all of NCIS, so were he not to be included it would make no sense. Nice work by Rocky Carroll collecting two paychecks! The show added a number of additional cast for the premiere, including Linda Hunt as Hetty, quirky wardrobe master/guru/house mother/who knows what, and Adam Jamal Craig as a cooler version of NCIS’s McGee.
And away we go!
With all due respect to our fearless leader Debbie (sorry!), Chris O’Donnell was probably the worst thing on this show. I have actually enjoyed some of his work, but his Gibbs impression (and, you’ll excuse me, but each of these characters is a mutant child of NCIS characters, no question about it) actually hindered his ability to explore himself. Also, he always looks like he should be chewing gum — I don’t know what that means. Oh yeah, and apparently he survived the shooting from the last time we saw him.
So the unit is moved into a new set of offices … am I remembering incorrectly, or weren’t there like ten people working with them last time? Now it’s like a mini-city. I get it — last time they were little more than a set, now they’re an entire series, but it was weird. By the way, anyone else get a Private Practice vibe when Callen (O’Donnell) was looking around the space? Something about the colors, the sounds … not a good thing, my friends.
LL Cool J (Hanna) was trying to be good, but he had little to work with. The team chemistry, an integral part of NCIS, is rather lacking here. Yes, this is the first episode, but unlike in real life, a series doesn’t have the luxury of letting that develop in real time. We’ll only be interested if the right components are there from the get-go. Eric’s (Barrett Foa) everybody’s work-monkey, Nate (Peter Cambor) is some inexplicable guru who knows everything about everyone after a moments observation, Kensi (Daniela Ruah) is … still open for classification, and Vaile (Craig) will probably be fun, but in a supporting role. And Hetty’s just creepy.
The cases won’t save this show, because the NCIS franchise isn’t built on criminal investigation; it’s built on character. The above group of people need to really step up their game to get me hooked. Considering the spin-off episodes as halves, I feel like I’ve seen them all in action twice; I will definitely be watching next week, but what grabbed me about NCIS the very first time I saw it is not here.
They did take a leap from NCIS in the way they begin and end segments … flashing photographs instead of freeze-frames. Might be cool, if they flashed slow enough to decipher.
Of course, the writing had its moments:
“It doesn’t describe him as ‘Mad’ in the SEC filing.” – Eric, talking about “Mad” Manny Cortez to the team
We’ll see what happens next week. For now, I’m assuming my 9PM slot may very well be open this year (was it even wise to pair the shows up?)
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Sep 23, 2009 @ 15:00 EST5EDT
the problem that I see is that the LA office looks/acts like the older James Bond movies whereas the original looks/acts like a police station
did they do/say anything to justify the LA office being so “different”?
*POST AUTHOR*
I assume it’s partially due to the undercover nature of their work, although that explains the non-descript outside more than anything else. I read somewhere that the show intends to use a lot of technology now available , so that explains why the gadgets were futuristic and aplenty. But, yeah, no idea why it still couldn’t look like an office, at least somewhat. That may also be why I got the Private Practice vibe; like their set, this one looked new-agey and inappropriate for their business.
I would venture the guess that the OSP changes locations every so often in order to hinder discovery and surveillance of its personnel. It looked like all their equipment could be packed into trucks and hauled away in a few hours–even the large monitors and clothes racks were kept portable rather than mounted to the walls.
I actually liked the NCIS episodes better. It felt like an ensemble then rather than a buddy cop series with a high-tech support staff. The small staff felt reasonable for an undercover unit. Now they seem to have twice as much staff as Vance’s office.
(It’s sort of silly, but the most objectionable part for me was the clean yet casual dress of all those agents, like they’re working in a coffee shop or a bookstore. On 24 the techs/analysts wear office clothes and the field ops wear shabby, slightly dirty street clothes. The differentiation helps to sell it as a working agency rather than a set.)
If Mace didn’t work out, they should have brought on a similar team leader. I think Hetty has that position, but she seems to be a combination of Ducky and Q, advisor rather than commander. When the team is running the op at the Cortez home, Nate and Eric are bouncing ideas back and forth between them, while Hetty chimes in with what sounds like a suggestion rather than an order. I have no idea who was in charge in that scene.
Kensi was pretty cool in the previous episodes. As she’s an agent and not support staf, I hope she’s not merely relegated to babysitting distraught women or children in future episodes and actually gets out into the field with the menfolk.
So I mostly agree with Aryeh, except I don’t have a higher opinion of LL Cool J as an actor than I do of Chris O’Donnell. They seemed well-matched here.
*POST AUTHOR*
Maybe they do shift headquarters often, but the impression was that they found a new home, and I’m assuming it was because last season’s was makeshift for the two episodes. It sounded like just a means of introducing what will be home base for the team from now on.
My problem with the crossovers last season was how they ruined two good NCIS episodes. And I think it’s difficult to define the NCIS: LA portions of those episodes as anything, because it was more a bunch of other people jumping on the original’s bandwagon, as opposed to a series’ flavor.
Not sure on the wardrobe; it didn’t stand out to me, one way or another, save for Hetty’s hocking clothing.
Yes, when Hetty offered her opinion mid-conference, I was like “why is the wardrobe lady butting in?” It was totally unclear that she was meant to be anything else.
I guess I just like LL Cool J better? :) Probably, but I also thought he was head and shoulders above a disappointing O’Donnell – an opinion I’m willing to concede is relative. ;)