The popularity surrounding NCIS has made it almost impossible to believe that it is, in fact, the spin-off of a 1990s crime procedural drama. The parent series, titled JAG (or, Judge Advocate General), premiered in 1995 and ran for 10 seasons before the spin-off took shape with Mark Harmon in the lead.
However, NCIS had one advantage that JAG lacked at its time of conception – the popularity of the crime procedural genre. With shows like CSI and Law & Order becoming the order of the day in every American household, NCIS took off amid high ratings and never looked back. Now, 22 seasons later, the show is still going strong, with more stories to tell and audiences to entertain.
JAG character gets recast in NCIS for being too soft
Contrary to popular belief, NCIS was not the first series where Mark Harmon debuted as the long-time beloved FBI Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs. His first appearance was in JAG, where the series creators tested the waters for Harmon’s spin-off series with the help of a two-episode backdoor pilot in Season 8.
However, unlike the characters whom the fans have all grown to love over the years, the original NCIS team was not comprised of Sasha Alexander‘s Kate Todd, David McCallum’s Ducky Mallard, and Pauley Perrette’s Abby Sciuto. Instead, Michael Weatherly‘s Anthony DiNozzo reported to the scene alongside Gibbs and Robyn Lively‘s Vivian Blackadder.
Going into the spin-off, Lively’s character was recast by series creator Donald Bellisario, who deemed Blackadder as being too soft. Sasha Alexander then replaced Blackadder and remained as Special Agent Caitlin Todd until her exit after 2 seasons in 2005 on account of a demanding work schedule.
Donald Bellisario addresses Robyn Lively recast
As a member of the NCIS Major Case Response Team, Robyn Lively’s Vivian Blackadder is driven by revenge after her brother, Rex Blackadder, becomes a victim of a grave terrorist attack that ends in tragedy. This later has an impact on Blackadder, who almost blew a serious terrorist operation in Season 8 of JAG while working a case alongside Gibbs and DiNozzo.
In episodes titled Ice Queen and Meltdown, Robyn Lively’s character failed to impress the test audiences, who responded negatively to her role and arc in the series. Consequently, Donald P. Bellisario wrote her off from NCIS, saying in an interview that Lively was too “soft” for the role (via The NCIS Database).
However, over the years, fans have attempted to decode the reason behind her exit by giving it meaning and purpose. The most sensible reason points toward Vivian Blackadder nearly ruining the terrorist operation, and as a result, given Gibb’s low tolerance for such mistakes, she either resigned from NCIS MCRT or was fired before the events of NCIS Season 1.
NCIS is currently streaming on Prime Video.
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