'NCIS' season 11, episode 18 review: Scott Bakula makes great case for 'New Orleans' show
NCIS, NCIS: New Orleans, Scott Bakula	 March 25, 2014
There are already two "NCIS" series on television, and it is thanks to that that you really have to ask a worthy question: Is there any need at all in a third? This is something that is not particularly needed by any means, but Gary Glasberg and Mark Harmon obviously decided that it was going to be worth a try.
In this case, though, the one who really sold us on this was Scott Bakula as the "NCIS: New Orleans" lead Agent Pride. He was awesome, old-school, and someone worthy of that last name. It's a little hard to get to know all of the new characters in a pilot (especially one planted in another show), but so far, we dig them. We're also happy to see CCH Pounder on something else, even if it means a little less of her on "Sons of Anarchy" moving forward.
While there wasn't anything that necessarily happened in here, case included (save for how Pride chooses to handle a witness), there were still a number of nice little standout moments. The setting of New Orleans was appropriate for the show, and the writers made pretty good use of it.
Obviously, there are so many different ways that a spin-off can go when it gets to series, and we worry about having too much of a good thing. But for a backdoor pilot, this was one of the best ones we've seen. There was still stuff for most of the regulars of "NCIS" to do, we met the new team, and thanks to this being a two-parter, the writers didn't feel pressure to tie everything up. The unfortunate part of this is that this also means that there isn't much to talk about until the story concludes. It's tough to grade an incomplete case, but we'll start with what we saw so far. Grade: B.
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April 1, 2014	@ 10:27 pm
why do they need old actors ie wagner tomlin and bakula. ugh
Tess Scott
March 27, 2014	@ 6:59 pm
Scott Bakula was excellent, Bishop was silly. A junk-food machine? Lots of sugar? Can't get drunk? Is the floor clean? Probably can't get drunk because she throws up after two sips. Agent Pride's reaction to her was amusing and appropriate, like, "Who is this little twit?!" OK to give the episode a B for now, but Bakula deserves an A. Also, the NOLA NCIS office IS run by one agent, two at most. They assign agents as needed, but keep a bare-bones staff on-site. Don't know about the warehouse, but nothing is more ridiculous that the "office" on NCIS LA–looks like a courtyard with a roof slapped on top of it. I expect to see birds flying around in it.
March 26, 2014	@ 11:04 am
Apart from Bakula and Pounder the whole show was a farce!
Silly Bishop again and middle aged Tony thinking he is still young enough for "friends with benefits" which he is not!
whole attempt of the showrunner to make the characters "cool" for the
young viewers is more than embarrassing because he doesn't have a clue
what young viewers want to watch and it's neither classic NCIS
pretending to be cool nor NCIS NOLA beating suspects!
Spin off not worth watching!
Middle aged folks still have friends with benefits. He's still a good-looking guy. I'd be his friend. I didn't care much for the violence either, but they're not in liberal California on this show, or under the Washington DC microscope. (BTW, I'm in California, so I'm not dissing it.)
March 26, 2014	@ 8:41 am
Did not like the whole beating suspects thing. NCIS never did that because they never needed to.
They probably thought it was ok because the suspects were men. I doubt they'd ever beat female suspects like that, especially since there was so little evidence those men.
Definitely won't be bothering with this spinoff. If I wanted to watch a show which makes it ok to beat up men (innocent until proven guilty be damned) I'd watch SVU!
agentscully514
IMO, Lucas Black was the real standout of the episode. Scott Bakula fit perfectly into the Senior Agent role. No one else stands out. Hated Tony's stupid liaison with the secretary. Give it up. Bishop was as annoying as ever and please feed her to the gators.
Tonyfan Ncis
I hope they ship Bishop off to NOLA and get her out of DC! And like others, the fake accent of Scott Bakula was really distracting. Do we need that? Either get the dialect right- which admittedly would be difficult- or just use your real accent.
I noticed the accent sort of fading in and out. Not there so much when he was being serious or "professional." Definitely there when he was more casual or relaxed. I've noticed that in friends from different parts of the country. When a Rhode Islander is chatting with another Rhode Islander, I can barely understand what they are saying, but when my RI girlfriend talks to me she tones it down. Cajun guy I dated years ago was like that too. He sounded like the "Swamp People" when talking to his family members, but was much different in a business meeting or on a date!
DidoTwite
Bakula good, Lucas Black great, please kill Bishop.
Kevin Vela
Scott Bakula was ok but I didn't like any of the other New Orleans characters. CCH Pounder is typically a person of authority, she is wasted as a medical examiner, she should be the director. Also, I refuse to believe a federal agency has a staff of two guys working out of a warehouse. Could it be good? Yes, but changes need to be made.
Agreed about CCH Pounder. She is a heavyweight, wasted on this role.
She'll probably have a lot more to do if the pilot gets promoted to series.