NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Services Season 4

Rating NR Formats DVD Genre television series Starring Mark Harmon, Michael Weatherly, David McCallum, Sean Murray, Pauley Perrette Directed by Various Publisher CBS External Links Official NCIS Website

“Ok guyes, here is a genius idea… let’s make a criminal investigative drama! We can have an eclectic team come together to investigate crimes, always saving the day! It will be great!”

“No way! That is a GREAT idea! No one has EVER done that before!”

After the success of CSI, the crime investigation genre took off. Since then, it seems as if each year there is a fresh crop of new entries in the genre. CSI alone has two spin-offs, and then there is Bones, the original criminal investigative drama, Law and Order, and its two spin-offs, Numb3rs, and numerous others. In such a crowded genre, it takes something special for an entry to stand out.

Well, NCIS not only manages to stand out it in many ways surpasses its competition. NCIS offers a different spin on the genre by following a group of Naval criminal investigators, as opposed to standard city crime scene investigators. The team works to solve crimes involving Naval officers around their home base at the Washington Naval Yard. The team consist of Gibbs, the leader who has been around for far too many years, DiNozzo, the hotshot investigator who is smarter than his brash exterior would make you think, Abby, the forensic specialist with a goth side, Ducky, the eccentric mortician, McGee, the nerd, and Ziva, the ex-Massad team member. The characters do fit the normal stereotypes, but the show rises above these to offer characters with some real depth.

This is because NCIS, unlike many of the entries in the criminal investigative drama, relies more on character development and quality storytelling than slick production values to draw viewers in. This is a show with heart. While the characters do fit the normal mold for an eccentric cast- the nerd, the grizzled guy who has seen it all, the odd mortician-they use the stereotypes as a foundation on which to build characters. Each character is given an individual personality and a background. For example, Gibbs is not merely the grizzled leader who has been through far too much. The show provides specific details on his background- his past daughter, his marriages- that help give him context and make him more than a mere stereotype. With better developed characters, the show is able to rise above the criminal investigative drama genre to offer a far more substantial show.

NCIS also works to tell great stories by using the crimes as a framework for its stories, rather than using the crimes as the primary draw. Unlike CSI, which shows the crime in all its gritty detail for each episode, NCIS shows the crime briefly to let the viewer know what happened but then quickly moves into following the characters as they track the crime. The episodes are more about character development, and character drama rather than “oh, that was disgusting” or “wow, that is crazy” moments. There are no huge leaps of logic, no points where the show just seems to get silly. Everything is centered in the real world.

Finally, the point which best illustrates NCIS’s different approach to the genre is its presentation. NCIS is shot very simply- there are no picture-in-picture moments, no fast-paced montages with intense music playing, no quick cuts. The show attempts to emphasize the plot and characters on the show more than the slickness of the presentation. This aspect, combined with character development and an emphasis on quality storytelling, makes NCIS one of the most compelling shows on TV today. It most certainly lacks the slickness of some of the other entries in the genre, but for anyone looking for something more substantial NCIS is definitely a must-buy.