Why NCIS Is Breaking Its Main Spinoff Rule Established 15 Years Ago?
CBS’ police procedural drama show NCIS has been a solid game player on TV for more than twenty years now, especially after the show cemented its position as an unyielding installment on the channel when it launched several spinoffs that also got everyone’s acclaim.
While all of the previous spinoffs followed quite the same pattern over the years of their television run, the new ones seem to be breaking the whole franchise’s most common code and thus expanding it even more.
Initially started back in 2003, NCIS was continuing its successful TV path accompanied by four spinoffs with each and one of them going into different geographical directions, quite literally.
The first series titled NCIS: Los Angeles kicked it off in 2009 and followed the Los Angeles-based Office of Special Projects, a separate division of NCIS. The same suit was followed by NCIS: New Orleans, NCIS: Hawai’i and NCIS: Sydney, with the latter being launched just a year ago.
It thus comes as something very obvious that till now NCIS’ spinoffs put their focus not on their characters, but rather on the geographical location where these characters would carry out their duties.
NCIS’ future expansion is seemingly going against this rule with two new upcoming spinoffs, whether it was made intentionally or not.
The franchise will soon welcome NCIS: Origins, revolving around the story of Supervisory Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs and starting back in the 1990s, and NCIS: Tony and Ziva, which this time will take the viewers further from the original series showing what happened to its characters Tony DiNozzo and Ziva David after they left their positions.
NCIS’ franchise is thus getting a big update in its long-standing history by shifting its spinoffs’ focus on the characters’ stories and their personal development throughout the plot.
What clearly indicates the original show’s tactics change once again is that most of the location-based spinoffs like NCIS: Los Angeles, NCIS: New Orleans and NCIS: Hawai’i were eventually canceled leaving NCIS: Sydney alone in the team.
Given that the latter wasn’t received quite well upon its release last year, the chances are that NCIS’ franchise will make a complete turn putting its characters in the spotlight rather than prioritizing the mere location.