Posted on 09/19/2009 11:20:45 PM PDT by Saije
Chris O’Donnell seems pretty robust for a guy who went down in a hail of gunfire a few months ago.
Between takes on the set of “NCIS: Los Angeles,’’ the actor looks relaxed, if a little gruffer and buffer than in his “Scent of a Woman’’ days...he admits, he was a little concerned that CBS wasn’t actually picking up the “NCIS’’ spin-off when he saw how many hits he was taking in a two-part episode of the original series...
“I was a little shocked,’’ he says with a chuckle, “because that was a lot of bullets.’’
O’Donnell lived. And if there is a bulletproof new series this fall TV season, it’s “NCIS: Los Angeles.’’
Premiering Tuesday at 9 p.m., the crime drama literally has a built-in audience since CBS has decided to air it directly after its mothership show. The two-parter, which attracted 16.7 million viewers, introduced the Office of Special Projects, an undercover unit of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. The unit is led by O’Donnell’s dark and mysterious agent “G’’ Callen and his more jovial, yet intense, ex-Navy SEAL partner Sam Hanna, played by jovially intense rapper-actor LL Cool J. Oscar winner Linda Hunt is the “M’’-like Henrietta Lange, who oversees the team’s gadgets and budgets...
In an effort to distinguish the two shows from each other, and other procedurals like the “CSI’’ franchise, executive producer Shane Brennan decided to focus on surveillance technology. “I don’t think people want to sit down to watch another show where someone collects fingerprints or blood samples,’’ he says. “The surveillance technology that’s used in our everyday life that we don’t know about is pretty astonishing. You can walk across London and they can track your every step via camera. And that’s beginning to happen here.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
I saw the NCIS:LA preview with NCIS and they’re dealing with high tech crap instead of character development. Fail.
In Louisiana?
I just watched episode 21 and 22 of last season and Louise Lombard who used to be from CSI LV is head agent Macy who also has a connection with Gibbs. What I simply cannot believe is LL cool J as an NCIS agent. Bring back the UNIT.
NCIS:LA won’t make it.
When it is pulled, get back to me and I will tell you why it didn’t work.
One of my favorite lines from SVU came in an episode where Munch (Richard Belzer) and Fin (Ice T) were hanging out in the squad room discussing deep, dark secrets:
Munch: "Come on, don't you have some deep secret?"
Finn: "I'm a Republican."
Ummm... It's set in Los Angeles, thus the NCIS:LA, not Louisiana...
the infowarrior
NCIS last season felt like they were going through the motions and it was very weak. Most of the chemistry that made it memorable is long gone. Unless they introduce some new agents or good story lines (major overhaul), this show is in it’s last season. NCIS:LA looks cast badly and won’t last long either. LL Cool J as a NCIS agent? What’s he going to do? Lick his lips all episode long and wink.
I was kidding around, but maybe it would be better in Louisiana.
Undoubtedly so, but I agree with others that this isn't going to become a smash hit. I watched the two-part "pilot" on Fancast, and wasn't really all that impressed. Back to not watching TV for me...
the infowarrior
I still love NCIS Its 1 of only 2 not to miss programs for me...I think the team is still great. Don’t know about the new one, like was said earlier on this thread, its the character chemistry that counts...
How about if they go back in time and solve cases before detectives on other shows solved them?
Especially if Agent Ziva makes numerous guest appearances. :-)
Lets see...it will probably be the histrionic female half nuts director and that weird behaviorist metrosexual group guru that will drive people out of their gourds!...the Christ O’donnell character needs to transfer to the Washington branch to protect his acting career!
I loved JAG (although most of the Navy does not. lol). I absolutely love NCIS and hope that NCIS LA is good. Law and Order is outstanding. I think that people here forget that the show takes their stories from the headlines of the year so if you get a lefty story it most likely happened in real life.
Its been one of my favorite shows as well. But there were few bright spots in the past season and I get the sense the plan was that NCIS:LA was going to takeover as NCIS was phased out. The only episode that I thought really stood out the past season was when Gibbs went back to his hometown and you finally learned about his past. The rest of it was pretty awful. Everything is highly overacted now. Closeups and soft mood lighting. Confusing plot lines all over the place. No real development of the other characters. The new director, Vance, is about as interesting as watching paint dry.
Again, I can’t see how the show is going to survive past this season without a serious commitment to develop new characters and better scripts. Most of the Naval and military aspect of the show has been removed. Sad, but it appears the show is being purposely driven into the ground.
Apparently you haven't noticed that every episode allows McCoy to push a leftest agenda. I quit watching the original Law and Order after Jerry Orbach died because Lennie Briscoe was the only reason to watch. The spinoffs are not so tainted. Even Munch, the lefty conspiracy nut is loveable. I love the way they continued his character from Homicide:Life on the Streets to SVU.
Apparently you haven't noticed that every episode allows McCoy to push a leftest agenda. I quit watching the original Law and Order after Jerry Orbach died because Lennie Briscoe was the only reason to watch. The spinoffs are not so tainted. Even Munch, the lefty conspiracy nut is loveable. I love the way they continued his character from Homicide:Life on the Streets to SVU.
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