{"id":1558,"date":"2025-01-16T16:26:56","date_gmt":"2025-01-16T16:26:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/?p=1558"},"modified":"2025-01-16T16:26:56","modified_gmt":"2025-01-16T16:26:56","slug":"21-years-later-i-think-ncis-pilot-is-still-its-best-episode","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/?p=1558","title":{"rendered":"21 Years Later, I Think Ncis\u2019 Pilot Is Still Its Best Episode"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The NCIS pilot celebrates its 21st anniversary, and after all these years, I still think it is the best episode in the show. As one of the longest-running scripted shows on TV, NCIS is already an institution. It has birthed several spinoffs, including a new Leroy Jethro Gibbs prequel in NCIS: Origins, as well as Michael Weatherly and Cote de Pablo\u2019s NCIS: Tony & Ziva on Paramount+. I know that other shows from the NCIS franchise have their own fans, but I personally prefer the flagship series, even after more than two decades on the air.<\/p>\n

CBS\u2019 hit franchise recently celebrated a milestone, with NCIS\u2019 overall 1000th episode. The accolade includes outings from all other shows in the universe, but the celebratory offering was done via the mothership, considering that it has around 450 episodes from the bulk. As someone who has watched them, I admit that not all of them were created equally. That\u2019s inevitable, however, considering the changes that NCIS faced over the years \u2014 from cast shuffling to behind-the-scenes personnel changes. Out of everything that NCIS has come out thus far, I still believe that its very first episode remains its best one.<\/p>\n

NCIS\u2019 Pilot Celebrates Its 21st Anniversary<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cYankee White\u201d Was Released On September 2004<\/p>\n

Ahead of NCIS season 22\u2019s premiere in October 2024, the show is celebrating its 21st anniversary of the release of its premiere episode. Debuting on September 23, 2004, NCIS season 1, episode, \u201cYankee White,\u201d properly debuted Mark Harmon as Leroy Jethro Gibbs and his Major Case Response Team based in Navy Yard. I was reminded of this milestone when NCIS\u2019 official Instagram posted a carousel of stills from the said outing, making me realize that after all these years, I still think that it\u2019s the best NCIS episode.<\/p>\n

For those who don\u2019t know, however, before \u201cYankee White,\u201d Gibbs and the MCRT first made their on-screen appearance in JAG season 8 episodes 20 and 21, \u201cIce Queen\u201d and \u201cMeltdown.\u201d While I acknowledge the existence of these stories, I still think that NCIS as we know it didn\u2019t start until its actual proper premiere episode, primarily because it featured the official inaugural cast. Gibbs\u2019 JAG team looked slightly different from what we eventually got in the main series because there was some cast shuffling that happened behind the scenes.<\/p>\n

\u201cYankee White\u201d Has All The Best Elements Of An NCIS Episode<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It Represents What Makes NCIS So Successful After All These Years<\/p>\n

NCIS has done many great episodes in over 20 years. That said, what I think sets \u201cYankee White\u201d apart is the fact that it has all the best elements that make it the TV institution that it is today. For context, it features Gibbs and his only field agent then, Anthony DiNozzo Jr., responding to a mysterious death aboard Air Force One, which was part of an assassination plot against the president. The pair, with the help of then-Secret Agent Caitlin Todd, successfully apprehended the culprit just in time before he could execute his crime.<\/p>\n

I argue that \u201cYankee White\u201d is the best representation of NCIS. For starters, it features a great case. It is tense and keeps the viewers guessing until the end. Its stakes are also high, considering that it involves the safety of the president and the attack on Air Force One. Back then, it felt like NCIS was just a fringe government agency \u2014 something that other people made fun of. Since then, doing the work and not being credited for it has become its motto, and \u201cYankee White\u201d establishes that when Gibbs allows FBI\u2019s Tobias Fornell to handle the press.<\/p>\n

Finally, and perhaps the most important aspect of NCIS\u2019 premiere is how it handles its characters. As a pilot, there\u2019s pressure on efficiently establishing its ensemble, and I knew right after watching the episode the quirks and signature traits of Gibbs\u2019 inaugural team. The banter is also superb, a storytelling aspect that endures and arguably what makes watching NCIS so much more enjoyable even after hundreds of episodes.<\/p>\n

NCIS\u2019 1000th Episode Paid Tribute To Its Pilot, Making It Better<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cYankee White\u2019s\u201d Case Was Properly Closed More Than 20 Years Later<\/p>\n

It was already more than 20 years since \u201cYankee White,\u201d and yet, it was still recently able to pay tribute to it. The case was revisited in NCIS\u2019 1000th episode when MCRT discovered that the new threat they were facing was the daughter of the suspect in the pilot named Leonard Riche. While there was no inaugural NCIS character that returned to help work the case, Fornell was around to provide the information about the Riche family. Apparently, after the events of \u201cYankee White,\u201d the FBI\u2019s investigation led them to discover Leonard\u2019s manifesto, which was eventually found by Lindsey Riche.<\/p>\n

Ideally, I would have wanted NCIS\u2019 1000th episode to bring back someone from the team that worked on the original Riche case. Unfortunately, that wasn\u2019t possible, with Gibbs retired, Abby Sciuto in London, Ducky Mallard and Todd dead, and DiNozzo just returning in the David McCallum tribute outing. Nonetheless, this retroactive way of adding to the story of \u201cYankee White\u201d only further convinces me that it is indeed the best episode in the show.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The NCIS pilot celebrates its 21st anniversary, and after all these years, I still think it is the best episode in the show. As one of the… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1559,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1558"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1558\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1560,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1558\/revisions\/1560"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncisnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}