In the past, I've alluded to the fact that I grew up on and still enjoy certain police procedural/mystery/detective programs--one of my mother's lasting influences on me. When the fall TV season starts, I try to not watch too many new shows just because I already watch too much and don't want to get hooked on anything new. Each season, however, there's usually one program that looks intriguing enough to warrant my attention. This past year, it was a spinoff of a long-running, beloved franchise. Actually, it was a prequel.
I
was excited by the concept of "NCIS: Origins" for a number of reasons.
First of all, it features the return of one Leroy Jethro Gibbs, the
legendary NCIS special agent who led a team of other agents for nearly
20 seasons of the flagship "NCIS" program. However, here we see Gibbs
at the start of his career as he joins what's then known as NIS. He's
just come back from Desert Storm after nearly getting blown up in Iraq
after finding out his wife and daughter had been murdered by a Mexican
drug cartel leader. Longtime fans of "NCIS" know this part of Gibbs's
story, but now we get to see it played out. Because the show is set in
1991, obviously Gibbs is played by a younger actor (Austin Stowell), but
we still get to hear Mark Harmon narrate his past in a voiceover.
Given
the fact that it is not just a period piece, but a period in which I
lived and remember vividly, it's kind of humourous to see pieces of that
time that are now antiquated, especially from a technological
perspective. In the first episode, we get to see the man who would
become Gibbs's boss receive a page (and yes, I'm referring to Mike
Franks, played here by Kyle Schmid). At which point he pulls over his
car at the nearest pay phone and calls his office to respond. (If
you're under the age of 25, feel free to Google the term "pay phone.")
What's
also fun for those of us who have been watching the original "NCIS" for
more than two decades, is that we get to once again enjoy beloved
characters (albeit much younger) who passed away during the course of
the original series, specifically Gibbs's father, Jackson, and of course
Franks. At one point we even get to meet a much younger Tobias Fornell,
who I hope we'll get to see more of next season. At some point, I'm
really hoping we'll get to see a younger "Ducky" Mallard.
The
one thing that makes this particular "NCIS" series special for me is
its use of music. And I'm not saying music hasn't had a place in the
other series, but it was more of a special occasion type of thing--like
the use of Warren Zevon's "Keep Me In Your Heart" during Jackson's
funeral in 2014. But in "Origins," it's practically another character.
I assume part of this is due to the "period piece" nature of the
show--after all, we have to be reminded that it's 1991 somehow. And
while it would obviously be a mistake to use songs that were recorded
later, the show's writers and producers can get away with using songs
that were recorded before 1991. Not only does the music provide
background ambience, but it also becomes part of the story. For
example, in one episode we find out that not only was Officer Mary Jo
Sullivan married (at least on paper), but her ex was a big fan of Ray
Charles. What a great excuse to feature "Georgia On My Mind" and "Hit
the Road Jack" in your program!
I actually started putting together a playlist of some of these classic songs from the show--everything from Bob Dylan to
Mötley Crüe, from Carly Simon to U2 (hey, that rhymes!). By the end of the season, I actually had enough songs put together to fill an entire CD.
I don't know if they ever intend to release a soundtrack
album--and they should--but I've already assembled my own just based on
what I already had in my music collection. It's been great hearing some
of these songs again. Some I hadn't heard in a long time. Some I
didn't really know, but I knew and liked the artist, so that gave me an
excuse to track down the original album and fall in love with something
new--or, at the very least, new to me (more on this next week). I also have to say that (spoiler alert!) I never would have guessed Mike Franks was a Bangles fan. He always seemed like more of a Johnny Cash kind of guy to me--not that I'm judging, since I'm a fan of both.
I
even revisited this week's album which I hadn't listened to in its
entirety in awhile. It's featured (cover art and all) in an episode
titled "Blue Bayou," in which Gibbs befriends his landlady. They listen
to the album on her portable turntable while assembling jigsaw
puzzles. And even though we only hear one song from the album during
the episode, the album itself is treated almost as a pseudo-maguffin.
I'm
often amazed by how frequently I have to remind myself what a great
singer Linda Ronstadt was. What has always fascinated me is how she
interprets and performs a song. Unlike so many of her contemporaries,
as far as I know, she didn't write any of her own songs. Instead she
covered--and had some pretty big hits with--other people's material. On
this week's album, she covered the likes of Buddy Holly, Warren Zevon
(twice), and Roy Orbison, whose song lent its title to that particular
episode of "Origins." * Originally released in 1977, the album climbed to
the top of Billboard's Pop AND Country Album charts. Featuring harmony
vocals from Dolly Parton on "I Will Never Marry," please enjoy the great
Linda Ronstadt with Simple Dreams.
Until
next week, stay safe, be good to your neighbours, and please remember
that if at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for
you.
Yours in peace, love, and rock and roll!
The Reverend Will the Thrill
*
GEEK NOTE: On this album, Ronstadt also covers "Tumbling Dice" by my
beloved Rolling Stones, written (of course) by Mick Jagger and Keith
Richards. The slide guitar solo was performed by the great Waddy
Wachtel, who actually played on most of the album. Wachtel would later
go on to play in Richards's solo band, The X-Pensive Winos. SUPER GEEK
NOTE: Wachtel also played guitar for Warren Zevon during the time this
album was released. As stated, Ronstadt covered two of his songs on
this album. Wachtel played not only on those covers, but on the
original recordings of both songs as well.
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