Didn't they start NCIS in a similar way through a 2 parter on JAG where the character played by David James Elliot's wife was found under ice?
Yes. Both NCIS series as well as both of the CSI spinoffs were backdoor pilots produced as episodes of other series before they were given series orders.
Yep. It would be great to see an episode that takes place here in Pensacola, even if it isn't filmed here (though it would be awesome if they would). Awesome. I love CCH Pounder.
I highly doubt Bakula's character will have a Cajun accent. LaSalle is the only character who's been consistently described as a Louisiana native. Based on that and the last name I'm expecting him to be Cajun, but that's obviously not guaranteed.
I don't remember ever hearing about CSI: London. The way you describe it would have been crap; a better approach would have been for them to franchise it out to the Brits the way Law & Order UK was, and then CBS agreeing to pick it up on the back end and air it over here (rather than it going to BBC America). CSI is pretty much tapped out at this point, though, so not gonna happen anyway. As for NCIS: NO, I might watch if it's going to be closer in tone to NCIS rather than NCIS: LA.
But that's a miniseries. That's a big difference from a show who has to spend 7 or 8 seasons in that location Even "Elementary" went to London but that was for 1-2 episodes and then they're back in New York. The only way a CSI: London would work is if BBC made their own show.
It's CSI, it was already going to be crap. This was like 10 years ago, and it didn't lead anywhere. They were thinking about where to do spinoffs and London came to mind.
Keen Eddie was totally shot in London...before FOX killed it after 13 episodes...the same year they also killed Firefly.
To be fair, his character is a cop who's on loan to the NCIS unit (I'm still not quite clear how that works, or why they haven't made him a full agent yet, despite hinting at it in the series). Reading over the posts here, I appear to be the only one that enjoys Los Angeles over NCIS. While yes, it's a silly show, I enjoy the chemistry between LL Cool Jay and Chris O'Donnell and the show always finds contrived ways to get the characters into shoot-outs.
I can't speak for the others, but for my part I just think it veers too much toward the over-the-top action spy thriller side rather than the investigative crime thriller side. It just feels more like Shane Brennan wanted to do a CIA show while also capitalizing on the popularity of the NCIS brand. Granted, Vanilla NCIS does its fair share of spy stuff (though it seems like most of it revolves around Ziva and Mossad, so with her gone maybe they'll tone that down a bit), but I've always found the investigative side of it far more interesting.
^^^Every one of your points is spot on. NCIS: LA does play up the action/adventure angle more than the spy angle, but that's what I enjoy about the show. If I want to watch investigative stories I'll watch NCIS (which I do), I enjoy LA for it's casts chemistry and the entertaining stories. As for future spin-offs, I was actually quite disappointed that NCIS: Red wasn't picked up as a full series. Even though I hate back-door pilots in general and would have rather just watched NCIS: LA be NCIS: LA, I did like the chemistry of the new team and felt John Corbett could have been a credible lead.
Lucas Black will play Agent Lasalle. Looks like that completes the main cast of the New Orleans office.
They always refer to Bakula as 'the Quantum Leap star' and never the 'Star Trek Enterprise' star. I understand ENT wasn't that much, but why the snub?
Bakula is still best known for Quantum Leap, and there's no reason for them to rattle off his whole CV. Similarly, most articles about William Shatner still refer to him as the star of Star Trek, even though he's had bona fide hits with T.J. Hooker and Boston Legal.
Paige Turco to play Linda Pride, wife of Bakula's Agent Pride. Having the lead character be married ought to be an interesting change of pace from the other two shows.