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CBS‘ NCIS: Origins is about “a story I don’t tell,” narrator Mark Harmon’s Leroy Jethro Gibbs tells us midway through the prequel spinoff’s premiere. Specifically, “This is the story of–“
Actually, the end of that sentence is a major spoiler, and the onset of a provocative mystery. And Gibbs’ full declaration, as the forever-analog former NCIS agent puts this story to paper in front of an Alaskan campfire, is bound to figuratively ignite your interest in what lies ahead.
Launching this Monday at a special time (9/8c) with a double-episode premiere, NCIS: Origins is set in the year 1991 — not long after a young Gibbs (played by Austin Stowell) returned from serving in Operation Desert Storm, only to bury his tragically killed wife and young daughter. The series follows Gibbs as he begins his career as a newly minted Special Agent at the NIS Camp Pendleton office, under the tutelage of the legendary Mike Franks (Big Sky‘s Kyle Schmid).
But we already know this story, some NCIS fans have contended, citing bits and pieces scattered across Mark Harmon’s 19 seasons on the mothership and a smattering of flashback episodes featuring Harmon’s son Sean as a young Gibbs. NCIS: Origins, though, is here to fill in blanks you weren’t expecting (including about the aforementioned story he mysteriously has never told), and bring to life seminal, never-before-seen moments from Gibbs’ past. (How do you think Jethro reacted when he first was told the Shannon/Kelly news?)
Because Gibbs is new to his job at NIS — and because he is still shellshocked by his personal loss to a greater degree than he might admit — “Probie” is understandably reserved upon claiming his desk at Camp Pendleton. He holds back on hunches. He’s more laconic than even his older self. That low-key vibe may give a viewer concern, out of the gate, given that this is Gibbs’ story. I, for one, had some reservations coming out of the premiere, for that very reason. But there is a “Gibbs first” in Episode 3 that excitingly activates the character and imbues the rookie agent with a confidence that will be warmly familiar to NCIS fans.
While Gibbs feels his way around NIS and his duties, the ensemble cast shines, and there are some real winners among this lot. Schmid already detailed for TVLine his process for becoming a young Franks à la NCIS guest star Muse Watson, and it is a growling, chain-smoking, mustachioed portrayal to behold. Mariel Molino (Promised Land), as Special Agent Lala Dominguez is a tremendous find, giving confident and fearless Marion Ravenwood in nearly every scene.
Caleb Foote (Made for Love) and recurring guest star Bobby Moynihan (SNL) serve up comic relief as gung-ho Special Agent “Randy” Randolf and overworked forensics lab boss Woody. Diany Rodriguez (The Blacklist) is a bit of an enigma thus far as Special Agent Vera Strickland, though she and Molino have a powerful scene together early on. Similarly, Tyla Abercrumbie (The Chi) as Field Operation Support Officer/”Head Secretary in Charge” Mary Jo Hayes doesn’t get much focus until Episode 4, but when she does, she absolutely brings the goods as NIS’ warm beating heart.
In recurring roles, Patrick Fischler (Mad Men) finds just the right level of officious as SAC Wheeler, and it’s very easy to see how Robert Taylor (Longmire) might age into NCIS‘ Ralph Waite, as Gibbs’ father Jackson.
Now, you ask: What about young Gibbs himself?
As noted above, series front man Austin Stowell — of Peacock’s A Friend of the Family and much more recently Starz’s Three Women — is tasked at the start with having to lie low and give us a Gibbs who is a bit unsure of himself, and is (too?) often distracted by tragic memories. And looks-wise, he is more “Jack Reacher” than “Sean Harmon.” But the nature of the character at this very specific point in his life does call for gravitas — this is Gibbs like you’ve never seen him before — and Stowell does well with that material, including to heartbreaking effect in Episode 4. (There are also times when Stowell’s voice eerily sounds just like Mark Harmon’s, or when he’ll cock his head just as Boss would when getting an update from DiNozzo.)
The 1991 setting, as you can imagine, lends itself to not just Asteroids and Galaga machines in the NIS break room, but all manner of “retro” technology and crimesolving methods. (Do not ask Franks how to start up the newly delivered PC, and do not expect fingerprint analysis back from Woody inside of two days!) A trip to a mall in Episode 3 doesn’t distract with ’90s fashion, but there are occasional needle drops — including a use of a Bangles tune that took me a second viewing to truly appreciate.
THE TVLINE BOTTOM LINE: Both young Gibbs and NCIS: Origins take a minute to find their bearings, but once they do, this latest NCIS offshoot shows promise.
Want scoop on NCIS: Origins, or for any other TV show? Shoot an email to InsideLine@tvline.com, and your question may be answered via Matt’s Inside Line!
Beautiful review! Looking forward to seeing this show becoming a huge success, (and bringing forth more prequels!).
So he’s 6 inches taller and 60 pounds heavier and doesn’t have blue eyes. I’ll pass.
I think I read somewhere, probably here, that he wears blue contacts. Would be full of muscles after being in the military but not maintain it. As for the height, well we all shrink but 6 inches is a stretch.🤷♀️
Hawaii isn’t coming back no matter how much you rag.
A lesson for all disappointed fans. When a show is gone, it isn’t coming back. Even Firefly, the patron saint of “canceled unfairly/too soon” shows, had a decent follow up film that set money on fire. Which served as a lesson to every studio on earth. Don’t resurrect.
.
Not watching this won’t bring back Hawaii. Heck, if this hadn’t been picked up, it wouldn’t have saved Hawaii. It committed the Original Sin in forensic crime shows: Bad Lead. The lead character on Hawaii was poorly written, and the actress’s portrayal couldn’t save it (actually made it slightly worse). The supporting cast was pretty good, and the scenery is magic. But the show just didn’t get right. Frankly, if not for the inevitable strike/shutdown, Hawaii probably doesn’t sniff a second season.
I’m not even sure where to start replying, given how wrong you are about so much. The show already had a second season before the strike and was a legit ratings success even after it. But to say that Jane Tennant was poorly written is ridiculous, as she was a complex character without the morose and depressing baggage that Gibbs carried for almost two decades worth of the original. Vanessa Lachey killed it in the role, so much that CBS used her for marketing every chance they got. But why give characters, actors, and stories a chance to grow when we can have more of a character whose story we already know from twenty years, right?
Ditto a female lead does not make up for poor writing. As for Mary Sue Tennant doing espionage work right out of high school? Seems the creators were trying to recreate Sydney Bristo minus the charm. Gibbs’ past may be dark grim but it makes him human. In their attempt to make Tennant flawless they got a caricature instead of a character.
Her name was Jane not Mary Sue. You obviously watched the show. Guess you don’t like your women strong
Ziva David was strong, Rita Devereux was strong even Abby Scuito was stronger than NCIS answer to She-Hulk and The Marvels which Mary Sue Tennant was why need a team at all if she was so OP?
It’s fine if you didn’t like NCIS: Hawai’i, but millions of people did. It was one of only two shows on CBS’s roster that actually saw an increase in linear viewership—a rare accomplishment, especially given the ongoing shift of viewers to streaming platforms year after year. Hundreds of entertainment journalists worldwide have commented on NCIS: Hawai’i’s surprising and unwarranted cancellation, so it’s not just us fans raising the alarm. Of note, Michael Schneider, 25-year veteran TV business journalist at Variety, said, “CBS, you get stink eye” for cancelling the show, “even though it ranks No. 16 in total viewers,” and “there should have been a way to make this work.” Entertainment Strategy Guy, a respected media analyst and streaming executive, characterized CBS’s decision as “weird” and noted that NCIS: Hawai’i —if it were a streaming original— would easily be among the top streaming shows of the year. Even Stephen Binder – one of the NCIS showrunners- said it should’ve been cancelled.
** shouldn’t have been cancelled **
Hi, Patrick.
Thanks for mentioning NCIS Hawaii! Gives me a chance to say #SaveNCISHawaii here!
Regarding your dislike for the show, you’re certainly entitled to your opinion. However, millions of fans enjoy NCIS Hawaii, and criticizing Vanessa Lachey’s work feels unnecessary. There’s plenty of evidence showing the show’s success. It’s perfectly fine to campaign for a show you love, but if you don’t like it, you could mute or block us, and maybe just maybe, leave it alone instead of commenting on it.
The idea that “once a show is gone, it’s gone” isn’t true—many canceled shows have found new life later on. We’ll keep advocating because there’s nothing to lose. I hope you can find peace and let others enjoy what they love. Thanks! And #SaveNCISHawaii!
Yet you are here ragging on those who actually want to enjoy Gibbs’ beginnings. Follow your own advice.
Hi, Dean. I just read my comment again, and nope! No mention of Gibbs in mine. I’m not nagging on NCIS Origins. I’m wondering why there is constant hate towards the #SaveNCISHawaii movement because there is nothing wrong with what they are doing by fighting for their show. No one said you had to join them. But what you can do is not spew unnecessary hate towards the success of the show or the people behind it. Lots of data proves that this show had millions of fans. I can add some if you’d like. Thanks! #SaveNCISHawaii
They were not ragging on another show. They were simply stating facts.
#SaveNCISHawaii
So, just to be clear, Tennant was a Mary Sue? As opposed to Gibbs? The man who verbally and sometimes physically abused his subordinates, disobeyed orders on a regular basis, never once believed he was wrong about anything, never apologized to anyone, and committed murder but was essentially worshipped by everyone around him like he was the man they all aspired to be? So he wasn’t written as the idealized version of every male of his generation?
And please, since we’re obviously all too stupid to see it for ourselves, enlighten us and give us specific examples of how they made any of the women on NCISHI into superheroes. I’m sure you can as you seem to be an expert on the matter. Unless, like your hero Jethro, you think belligerence and being a tough guy is all that’s required to be right.
Hawaii died because of $ and LL CoolJ who was an unnecessary addition. Vanessa Lachey was excellent but they didn’t sufficiently flesh out Jesse or Kai to have viewers enjoy the characters.
Sal
No Hawaii was so desperate to match viewership of the other shows that they needed another franchise character to make quota. Didn’t matter who it was It could have been Gibbs who Mary Sue Tenant supposedly knew and it wouldn’t have saved that SNL parody.
NCISHI wasn’t desperate for viewers at all. #4 in STREAMING numbers, meaning millions sought it out post-broadcast for viewing (not just leaving the TV on after OG). You are free to dislike the show, but that’s your own opinion and not aligned with the facts of its performance.
In your opinion. You forgot that qualifier. We were waiting for more Jesse in Season 4 and Kai had some great stuff going on in Season 1, definitely. I personally love both characters- they remind me of my brothers. #SaveNCISHawaii
Yet another failure of Not-NCIS-Hawaii their attempt to hype up the women as comicbook superheroes they gave the same tried trope cliches to the male characters they avoided for the female characters what exactly were Jesse and Kai supposed to be there for? And Ernie was just a love potential interest for Knight until she hooked up Palmer on the OG show.
“When a show is gone, it isn’t coming back”
:
Lucifer and Manifest say “hello!” ;-)
NCIS HI was great, but I’m still looking forward to Origins
Last time I checked Stowell has blue eyes. Not as bright as Harmon’s but he’s got the blue eyes.
Austin Stowell is 6ft1 and Mark Harmon is 6ft. They also both have blue eyes.
From the trailers it looks like NCIS meets mind hunters. Its almost unheard of to see Gibbs at the bottom of guys more experienced than him at this delicate time in his life Shannon and Kelly weren’t the only demons he’s struggling with and this is set four months after his vacation in Mexico. I do wonder why he is telling this story I hope its not his memoir
Waiting for Monday night very impatiently! I need to see this for myself! I think Austin Stowell can be a very believable young Gibbs but no matter how well he does, Mark Harmon will always be the real Gibbs!
OF all the Shows, NCIS: New Orleans was my favorite so I’m very interested in how they’ll do the Fed Five storyline when they get to it and who they get to play a young Dwayne “King” Pride that lives up to Scott Bakula’s portrayal later on in life.
I, a loyal NCIS watcher since Day One, will not watch Origins bc you cancelled NCIS Hawaii, a perfectly good drama and I’m still mad!
Hawaii was NEVER an NCIS show.
If it was never a ncis show than why have I read articles that say that Origins is following the same format of camaraderie and showing the team being there for each other outside of the bullpen?
It never was they just slapped on the NCIS name because if it was called anything else it would have been canned in episode 1. Also casting a reality show hostess as a lead is pretty much begging to be panned.
And yet they are doing the same with this show. It will never be a NCIS show they are just slapping the name to is because if they didn’t it wouldn’t attract the amount of attention they want. Also there are plenty of talented actors that got their start as a host, comedian, etc.
Wrong this show as Gibbs who is and always will be the staple of the franchise. From everything you just said you only jumped on the bandwagon when Hawaii was made and never knew what NCIS was before. No amount of your rants will bring back Never-was-NCIS Hawaii the punchline to the biggest joke of this franchise.
It is going to be interesting to see how people react over time to this show. I think there are going to be a number of people that are upset at Hawaii being cancelled and avoiding this show. I fall into another group of people that prequels don’t interest me for the characters are already established and just knowing how they got to be the way they isn’t something I find compelling. I will give the show the two hour premiere and judge it based on that, but I am skeptical I will watch beyond that. To those that are going to like the show more power to you, but with what has been presented so far I don’t think it is for me.
I’m generally with you on prequels, but there are enough new people who can take over the emotional stakes, if everyone lets them.
For example, I’m a white Anglo man, but the inclusion of two Latina women, one in power, intrigues me enough to see a dynamic I don’t usually get the chance to see. I hope I get new insights and a chance for new empathy.
Crap. Maybe I WILL bother watching this one after all.
Nope. Too many viewers remember the very young Mark Harmon who was iconic even then.
Yeah I don’t care how the writers try to spin this, prequels ruin the og characters they are based off of and I would rather hear new stories. Or heck bring Hawaii back, they were in the middle of telling a story we don’t know. I didn’t care for any of the ogirin stories/reboots on Disney and Paramount and I’m not about to start caring now just because it’s Gibbs. I’d rather keep what I know from the mothership and what headcanons I have. So with that being said I’m saying no to NO.
Hawaii is never coming back no matter what
Just watched NCIS: Origins and really enjoyed it. Stowell is totally up to the task of playing a younger Gibbs.
Why do they have a large screen monitor in the fire scene. They weren’t available in 1991
I think this will be a good show. Looking forward to more episodes. Only complaint so far is the actress playing LaLa. She speaks as if she has marbles in her mouth. I couldn’t understand what she was saying.
Disappointed.. not the class act of NCIS
Show sucked! I want NCIS Hawaii back! No more watching ncis
TOO MANY COMMERCIALS!!! 5 minutes of actual show and then 20 commercials!!! WE STOPPED WATCHING IT BECAUSE IT WAS SO ANNOYING!!!!!!!!
Forgive me for saying it, but, I found the first episodes boring. Too many stereotypical characters. The only characters I found interesting were Gibbs and Franks. The sets, to me, were very cardboard. I didn’t feel very much from the cast. I wasn’t drawn in. Hopefully the show will improve. I’ve been watching NCIS for 21 seasons. Good luck to Origins.
Jeff
Much too dark in comparison to NCIS Of Old. Even the mother show has lost its mix of humor and drama. If this Origins doesn’t lighten up I am out of here. Grade: C-
I agree. I was very happy to see Bobby Moynihan and his comic relief appear.
Usually first show I know if it’s a winner with me . Will watch it. But haven’t decided if I’ll watch it after second show . That will be the deciding factor is next week.
I have been a loyal NCIS viewer since the very beginning. I thoroughly enjoyed the series opener of NCIS: Origins. I can’t wait to get further into it.