NCIS: Los Angeles: Reviews

If these reviews are anything to go by, NCIS fans should be kept happy enough with NCIS: Los Angeles. And under Aussie showrunner Shane Brennan that’s gotta be good news. Brennan is even dubbed by USA Today “the hardest working man in showbiz.”

The series premieres at 8:30pm next Wednesday on TEN, but you can also catch the two crossover eps replayed tonight at 8:30pm.

The Hollywood Reporter said:
NCIS: L.A.,” like its parent, relies on a sturdy, mostly youthful cast, sporadic action, and sprightly dialogue. It courts younger-adult male viewers, and in that vein, the spinoff is a chip off the old block. Chances are, it will enjoy some serious audience flow. Also, a similar dearth of Emmy noms. Looked at in isolation, though, “NCIS: L.A.” is little more than an updated version of “The A-Team” of the 1980s, with more high-tech gadgetry and fewer explosions. There is the same lighthearted approach to life-or-death situations. Maybe the biggest change is that “NCIS: L.A.” achieves its inevitably favorable outcomes with a little more intellect and a little less testosterone.

LA Times said:
Although much is familiar — is it me or has the whole team-shrink-insta-diagnosis gotten old? — that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The crime is intriguing and multifaceted, its resolution requiring a nice balance of street smarts and lots of gunfire. But as with the original “NCIS,” the emphasis is on the characters of the team. O’Donnell and Cool J are the big draws of the spinoff, and they are promising leads, both displaying the necessary shape-shifting tendencies. O’Donnell especially can easily go from steely-eyed to sympathetic and back again, which creates the sort of shattered toughness that keeps viewers, particularly women, coming back for more. More important, the two have enough chemistry between them that the writers don’t have to burden the characters with too much Felix/Oscar or good cop/bad cop nonsense. Los Angeles, meanwhile, looks fabulous, a pleasing mixture of noir and gridlock, and there’s an air of stability that’s comforting in these uncertain times. Writer and executive producer Shane Brennan has worked on “NCIS” for years; he knows what he’s doing and how to do it well; the casting is solid, the crimes international. What’s not to like?

NY Daily News said:
The plot starts out feeling familiar and after two sharp left turns still feels familiar, which is a mark of just how many investigation shows we see these days. Like all its kin, “NCIS: L.A.” also flashes enough high-tech surveillance gadgetry that we have to wonder how crimes ever got solved at all before seeing-eye GPS systems. It all adds up to an hour of decent entertainment, and there’s room for enough character development to give “NCIS: Los Angeles” a personality of its own. But a premiere episode shouldn’t feel even a little like something we’ve already seen.

Washington Post said:
“NCIS: Los Angeles” gets the job done and without, indicators indicate, flooding the streets with gore. It’s a procedural that follows strictly the established procedure, but it has likable characters, dislikable bad guys and the occasional flabbergasting shot of L.A. excess at its most opulent. Other than songs and dances, there really doesn’t seem to be much that could reasonably be added.

USA Today said:
It’s a serviceable hour that takes the NCIS formula — a light tone and a lot of banter wrapped around a fairly rudimentary investigatory plot — and transfers it to a special, undercover NCIS division in Los Angeles. Nothing more, but also nothing less. If you saw the NCIS episode that introduced this series last season, you’ll notice a few important improvements, mostly made to lighten the load. The team has moved out of a warehouse and into an airy old mission, and has hired a few new members: Adam Jamal Craig as a new agent who spouts facts when he gets nervous, and best of all, Linda Hunt as an eccentrically tough-but-loving new boss.