NCIS (2003)
NCIS is a 2003 crime series created by Don McGill and Donald P. Bellisario. It stars Sean Murray, David McCallum and Mark Harmon.
A stolen submarine, a body with Navy ties, a case no other agency will touch: NCIS drops its team of Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents into any crime that brushes against the military, wherever the trail leads. Leroy Jethro Gibbs runs the squad by a private set of rules, backed by a forensic scientist, a wry medical examiner, and field agents who bicker like family between crime scenes. Spun off from JAG in 2003, the CBS series pairs a tidy murder-of-the-week structure with a long-running ensemble whose banter and loyalty became the real draw across its many seasons.
Where to watch NCIS
Stream: DirecTV On Demand, Hulu, Netflix, Paramount Plus, Paramount+ (Via Amazon Prime), Paramount+ (Via Apple TV), Philo, USA, YouTube TV, fuboTV
Watch free: CBS, Pluto TV, Spectrum On Demand
Buy: Amazon, AppleTV, Fandango at Home
Official site
Cast
- Sean Murray as Timothy McGee
- David McCallum as Dr. Donald 'Ducky' Mallard
- Mark Harmon as Leroy Jethro Gibbs
- Rocky Carroll as Leon Vance
- Brian Dietzen as Jimmy Palmer
- Pauley Perrette as Abby Sciuto
- Michael Weatherly as Tony DiNozzo
- Wilmer Valderrama as Nick Torres
- Cote De Pablo as Ziva David
- Emily Wickersham as Ellie Bishop
- Diona Reasonover as Kasie Hines
- Katrina Law as Jessica Knight
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A few thoughts on NCIS
If the case-a-week rhythm and dogged investigators are the appeal, several crime novelists deliver the same on the page. Elmore Leonard's City Primeval pits a hard Detroit cop against a killer with lean, quotable menace. Lawrence Block's A Walk Among the Tombstones trails an unlicensed investigator through New York's underside, and S.A. Cosby's All the Sinners Bleed hands a Southern sheriff a case that cuts close to home.
Ensemble crime procedurals with a fresh case each week
NCIS pairs a tidy murder-of-the-week with a squad that bickers like family. These series run on the same engine, from its own spinoffs NCIS: Los Angeles and NCIS: Sydney to the sunburned crime scenes of CSI: Miami, the missing-persons hunts of Without a Trace, and the Florida cases of The Glades.
Classic American cop shows led by a maverick
Gibbs runs NCIS by his own private set of rules, a lineage older than the show. These classics built their hours around one stubborn lead, from the wisecracking Rockford Files and sun-soaked Magnum P.I. to the street cops of Hunter, Baretta, and NYPD Blue.
Standalone whodunits led by a sharp investigator
Under the banter, NCIS is still a clean weekly whodunit. These series scratch that same itch with a keen investigator and a tidy solve, from the village murders of Midsomer Murders and Northumberland cases of Vera to Annika, the card-sharp instincts of Poker Face, and old-school Barnaby Jones.