"Old school still works in Louisiana."
While fan favorite shows like Almost Human and Community have gotten network axes, your grandfather’s favorite CBS drama, NCIS, is getting a brand new spinoff, as the action will now travel down to party city New Orleans. But it's not all fun and games...well, maybe it is, as the first look trailer above delivers lots of bright lights and bolstered confidence.
In a city of endless music, endless food and endless partying, NCIS: New Orleans is looking to keep most of its focus on investigating military-based criminal cases. (That’s like going to an orgy to see the wall decorations.) Scott Bakula triumphantly returns to TV as trustworthy NOLA native Special Agent Dwayne Pride, who is teamed up with the sometimes easygoing Special Agent Christopher LaSalle (Lucas Black) and the displaced northerner Special Agent Merri Brody (Zoe McLellan). Assisting them will be coroner Dr. Loretta Wade, played by The Shield’s CCH Pounder, who needs a meaty role here to make up for her wishy-washy character on Sons of Anarchy last season.
And don't look now, but that's Mark Harmon's Leroy Gibbs taking a trip down to the Big Easy, presumably for a first episode crossover, letting us know beyond a shadow of a titular doubt that the NCIS universe is one and the same. Gibbs and Pride first got together on NCIS last month for two episodes of the series' 11th season, which in turn led to this offshoot getting the greenlight. After all, everybody loves New Orleans, right? Well, maybe not if you've having to spend all your time there solving disturbing cases, as these guys are doing.
As a South Louisiana native, I can't help but laugh at how extremely corny this trailer is, with its shoehorned references to New Orleans Saints tailgating and use of the phrase, "Laissez les bons temps rouler." Plus, Lucas Black sounds as if he only took the first 15 seconds of a course on southern accents and just filled the rest in with what he remembered from working on the Texas-set Friday Night Lights. But still, it's nearly impossible to knock Bakula's charisma, which will go a long way in making these cases more enjoyable to watch. Especially if all of them involve drunkard strangers unfamiliar with the way things work around here. The way you can point them out is if they're on Bourbon St., which locals tend to avoid like a puke-ridden plague.
You can expect to find the NCIS: New Orleans crew taking down booze-breathed bad guys when the new series follows NCIS on Tuesday nights this Fall. Check out the full CBS 2014-2015 lineup here.
