NCIS: Los Angeles -- too little NCIS, too much LA?

I enjoy CBS TV show "NCIS". There's a spark, an energy, that makes it appealing even after several years on the air. The NCIS characters are intelligent, the dynamics are interesting, and it is well-played by strong actors, The storylines are usually engaging and often quite clever. But I'm not sure the new spin-off "NCIS: Los Angeles" has any reason to have "NCIS" in its title.

So far, "NCIS: Los Angeles" is an enjoyable show on its own terms -- well acted, well produced, entertaining. The question is, what is its relationship to the original that justified the name? It's more like the fashion-forward buddy cop show "Miami Vice", or "24" at at the beach, or maybe "Baywatch" with more guns.

Based on the shows aired so far, NCIS: Los Angeles is the opposite of the intensity and structure of the original NCIS. Yes, it can take some time for a show to get its groove, so I'm still watching and hoping NCIS: Los Angeles finds its sea legs. But there's much to wonder about...

A big problem is the show's name -- or, two names, "NCIS: Los Angeles".

Scheduled just after the original "NCIS", a show that is also named NCIS implies it is "more NCIS". Nope, not more, much less. I think if they didn't shout "NCIS" once or twice an episode, it would come across as another buddy cop show.

The second half of the name is the second problem: Los Angeles. The N in NCIS stands for Navy. NCIS exists to deal with bad stuff somehow related to the U.S. Navy. So wouldn't it be useful to put the NCIS team somewhat near where Navy-related things happen?

The Navy is almost non-existent in Los Angeles; the real west coast NCIS is based in San Diego. Is the setting just an excuse to hang in Venice Beach, famous for a curvy sidewalk and curvier people? Having a nearby ocean does not equal "Navy".

Note that Los Angeles has an actual port, but it has very light military presence -- and it is an hour south at Long Beach/San Pedro (where CSI: Miami often films). And there's a small Navy facility up the coast at Port Hueneme, but not likely to need hot-shot Navy enforcers. Setting the show in Los Angeles seems like a gimmick just to explain why everyone is so "cool"

The real NCIS is in San Diego because it is loaded with Navy ships and facilities and sailors and Navy Seals and submarines and much more. Naval Base San Diego is the largest U.S. Navy base on the west coast, and HQ of the Pacific Fleet. Plus there are multiple Marine Corp facilities -- plenty of sources of interesting stories. Note to TV show makers: San Diego has beaches too.

In the NCIS episodes that were the spin-off's pilot, the good guys were in the Office of Special Projects. A series named "NCIS: Special Ops" would have provided wide story flexibility.

Unfortunately, bolting "Los Angeles" onto the name narrows the show's scope and might be a dead-end. Based far from the real Navy, what important role could NCIS possibly play in Los Angeles? If there's some kind of big problem, wouldn't it be handled by all the other federal agencies that are more legitimately based there? Or does the show want to ape the adventures of Jack Bauer at CTU Los Angeles?

Since Los Angeles is not a natural place for major Navy-related crimes, I fear they'll soon be stretching the concept with ridiculous plots. How many stories can there be about beach parties and Hollywood showbiz and Beverly Hills glamour and nasty street gangs ... AND a sailor?

Besides, no one in Los Angeles ever says anything but "LA".

Speaking of place names, the show casually tosses them out as if maps and reality don't matter. It's like the writers have a list of towns and military base names (not just Navy, oddly) and pick one at random when the script has a hole. How else to explain an episode where the Air Force operating at March Field Air Reserve Base remotely controls drone aircraft for practice flights at Marine Camp Pendleton. Marine friends tell me such training is more likley at the Marine's 29 Palms facility in the desert, which looks much more like the scenes claimed to be at ocean-front Camp Pendleton. And March Field is called Reserve because it is not active. Then there's the LA vs. San Diego factor: Camp Pendleton is in San Diego County, while March Field is in Riverside County just up I-15 from San Diego (my neighbor commutes there). Both sites are far from the NCIS office at the beach in LA. Maybe I'm nit-picking but how hard would it be to choose reasonably feasible locations for the show's plotlines?

Then there's the show's foundation -- the characters and their office. The principal actors Chris O'Donnell and LL Cool J (James Todd Smith), plus Linda Hunt, do a fine job and have some good moments. But the other team members are cliches: the psychiatrist who apparently can read minds, the hot chick agent, the tech geek in horrible Hawaiian shirts (apologies to Hawaii). No one comes across as a real person, but how could they since the plots are also packed with cliches?

The original NCIS is populated by very smart people. They usually do very smart things, so we respect and care for them. Having "smart" characters behave stupidly is not a way to build a bond with the audience.

Consider the LA scene where the heroes chase down a terrorist suspect who shot at them: They knock him down, then get up and point guns and make a speech while the unrestrained suspect puts his hand in a bag and sets off a bomb. What ever happened to handcuffs?

Or, how about the episode in which the heroes enter a house, find a trail of blood, check the rooms, and declare "clear" -- THEN find a bloody body on the floor? If they didn't notice the dead body, they would have overlooked a live person in the same spot -- with a gun! What part of "clear" do they not understand?

Another curiosity: Why is the office of NCIS in Los Angeles at a "secret" location? Because star Chris O'Donnell used to live in the Bat Cave? In both series, NCIS agents do their jobs in plain-clothes and plain-cars, useful when out and about, but is it really necessary to hide their desks too? The pilot had O'Donnell's "G" actually undercover, and CBS.com describes the show as being about undercover agents.

But the show is quite different from the pilot, and working undercover is barely evident in the episodes I've seen. In fact, G drives around in a "look at me" car, hardly under-the-radar. And with the number of people and vehicles coming and going, anyone would notice that the abandoned water department building is not.

Even the inside of the office is odd. If it is a former water department office why does it look like a former Mexican restaurant? NCIS is a criminal investigation agency -- the "CI" part of the name. Would the government and especially the Navy ever organize an office like this?

Organize might be too strong a word, since there's no evident boss, supervisor, manager, boss, no leader -- no Gibbs. Except when Director Vance pops up on a screen remotely from NCIS in Washington, usually to pontificate about policies, there's no hierarchy or structure, no leader, and that weakens the show. However, after a few episodes of Linda Hunt's character seeming to be little more than the office manager, she has behaved a bit more like a boss, but not like the leader the show needs.

Because of this hole, one episode had Rocky Carroll's character Vance coming to LA to personally handle a case -- barking orders as Mark Harmon's Gibbs would do (and has done). So, the entire LA operation is run by the office manager and the Director who commutes from the East coast?

This show has good ratings, so obviously it is acceptable to many viewers. Even with my concerns, I'm watching it. So maybe the producers don't feel it needs "fixing". But perhaps the ratings success arises from the sweet spot on Tuesday night just after NCIS -- and those magical four letters in the name. CBS will eventually contemplate moving the show to another slot, hoping its strength will then boost another evening and support another new show. Will it be able to stand on its own?

An audience can't be fooled for long. It is obviously not "more NCIS" or even "similar to NCIS". So, the show must become strong in is own right, possibly with a different name/city. And maybe it should present what the title promises: more NCIS.

What do you think?

HAWK'S HOLLYWOOD

Curious where the original NCIS is shot? Hint: It's NOT in Washington DC. See my story Where They Film: Santa Clarita Valley, California.