New Orleans is known around the world as a party city. The Big Easy’s Mardi Gras celebration the place to be right before Lent. And the French Quarter doesn’t shut down after that day. But the city has plenty of dangers lurking around the fringes of the Super Dome and Bourbon Street. The port city can turn deadly. Having a NCIS spin-off located in New Orleans was a perfect place. There’s plenty of things to investigate along the Mississippi river and further down the coast to Florida’s panhandle. NCIS: New Orleans got its first notice when it became the focus of two NCIS episodes. A Congressman is murdered in New Orleans so Gibbs (Mark Harmon) and his crew fly down and meet up with the local unit run by Dwayne “King” Pride (Quantum Leap’s Scott Bakula). The introduction of the new unit was a hit and now we have CSI: New Orleans – The Complete Series with all seven seasons of the show that mixed homicide with gumbo.
When the show started, Pride’s main unit consisted of his right hand man Christopher LaSalle (Slingblade’s Lucas Black), newcomer Meredith Brody (Dirty Sexy Money’s Zoe McLellan), forensic specialist Sebastian Lund (Cloverfield‘s Rob Kerkovich) and Medical Examiner Loretta Wade (Avatar‘s C.C.H. Pounder). Like the previous cast of CSI, they are a tight unit with a few quirks to keep the investigations interesting. The opening episode “Musician Heal Thyself” has Pride run into an old pal’s leg. He’s got to find the rest of his friend. As a further crossover element Dr. Donald “Ducky” Mallard (Man From U.N.C.L.E.’s David McCallum) offers some advice on how to handle a partial victim case. There is a bit of local flavor in the cases including “Love Hurts” where they find a dead Petty Officer inside the warehouse where they stash Mardi Gras floats. Did he get over-beaded?
The unit gets more members in the second season with Patton Plame (Galaxy Quest’s Daryl ‘Chill” Mitchell) given a desk for his computer skills and Sonja Percy (Search Party‘s Shalita Grant) coming over from a gig at ATF. Brody split before the third season and Tammy Gregorio (CSI: NY‘s Vanessa Ferlito) gets to be the new newbie. Things stayed sort of stable for season four, but Season Five had the addition of Hannah Khoury (24’s Necar Zadegan) when Sonja left. Quentin Carter (The Originals‘ Charles Michael Davis) stepped in for season six. For the final season, Pride gets engaged to U.S. Attorney Rita Devereaux (Chelsea Field) so she becomes a regular character during the shortened final season.
The final season reflected the COVID-19 reality with “Something In The Air.” The two party episode has Pride investigating a murder on a ship while doing his best not to catch and die of the Coronavirus that’s infected many of the people onboard the ship. The season wraps up with his worst nightmare: his wedding might get ruined by an investigation. CSI: New Orleans new this was the final season so don’t worry about an unsolved cliffhanger keeping you in too much suspense.
NCIS: New Orleans was able to swing the military investigation with the flavor of operating out of New Orleans. Scott Bakula kept his unit in the same shipshape as found in the original NCIS (which was a spin-off of JAG). Now you can sit back and enjoy all 155 episodes including the crossover action with NCIS in NCIS: New Orleans – The Complete Series. By the time you’re done with the boxset, you’ll know all the places to avoid in The Big Easy if you go down for Mardi Gras.
The video is 1.78:1 anamorphic. The details brings out the location work. The audio is Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Digital Stereo. You’ll hear all the deductions clearly along with a few bullet shots. The episodes are subtitled in English with the first two seasons also giving you Portuguese.
Audio Commentaries are featured on several episodes with guest Mark Harmon and other cast and crew members taking turns.
Launch Promos
Starting Up In New Orleans
A Big Easy Success
How Rob Got the Job
Touring The Sets
The Write Angle
Strike Up the Band
Bullets and Beignets: Exploring New Orleans
Percy and Plame
Crossover: A Look at Sister City
Deleted Scenes
Now You See It
All the World’s A Stage
NCIS: New Orleans Season 3: Let the Good Times Roll
The New Girl In Town
Propping It Up
It Takes A Video Village
Season Four: Easy Does It
Mardi Gras: The NCIS Way
“Chill” Out
#1 Fan Questions
Scott and Chelsea: Double Date
Pilot Episodes of Star Trek: Discovery and SEAL Team.
Cast and Creole: A Look At Season 5
Who Dat? Hannah Khoury – Off Subject
Six of One
The Demise of Christopher Lasalle
Season 7: Pride and Joy
The Best of Times
The Perfect Pair
CBS DVD presents NCIS: New Orleans – The Complete Series. Starring Scott Bakula, Lucas Black, Zoe McLellan, Rob Kerkovich, CCH Pounder, Daryl “Chill” Mitchell, Shalita Grant, Vanessa Ferlito, Necar Zadegan, Charles Michael Davis and Chelsea Field. Boxset Contents: 155 episodes on 39 DVDs. Release Date: August 31, 2021.
