NCIS is officially the most popular one-hour drama in America and has been the ratings champ for some time. Originally a spin-off from JAG, the series has gone on to produce NCIS:LA and earlier this year there was a special two-part story that introduced a 'RED' on-the-road team of operatives with the idea of spinning them off into yet another incarmation. In a packed schedule, the proposed NCIS: RED series, perhaps unexpectedly, did not get picked up for the 2013-2014 season.
Howver the CBS network knows NCIS is not a franchise to be ignored and another attempt to creative a third NCIS incarnation is being considered for next year. The concept for the next sister show is to set it in New Orleans, otherwise known as The Big Easy, The City that Care Forgot or 'Nola'... thus making it possible that we'll have an acronym party along the likes of NCIS:NOLA...
Once again, according to various reports, the premise will be launched off the back of a two-part story in the main NCIS show (probably during the advertising-bonanza that is the 'Sweeps' season around February/March) and will detail the division of NCIS that deals with the areas around Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas with New Orleans being seen as a rich environment for drama with its cultural mix and reputation for music, romance, sex, tourists, partying etc... ideal for shore leave drama for military personnel misadventures.
The eleventh series of NCIS begins broadcast tonight (Tuesday 24th September) in the US and will see the departure of regular Ziva David (played by Cote de Pablo) as the climax to a story begun last season and as a result of the actress deciding not to renew her contract past the first two episodes of the new run. The controversial cast-change comes at a time when the show will find itself up against one of the most anticipated pilots of the season, Marvel's Agents of SHIELD, which is being shown on ABC in the US and will debut in the UK two days later. With the two existing NCIS shows on air, ...SHIELD and the returning Person of Interest, Tuesday nights have become the battleground for many of the networks.
