Fall TV Preview: Can ‘NCIS: New Orleans’ be a great addition to the franchise?

We really enjoyed the backdoor pilot for “NCIS: New Orleans,” even if the characters were all mixed and jumbled up with the original “NCIS” people when it aired a little earlier in the spring.

Since we have already seen the original show, though, it’s easier to have a firm opinion on this edition of our Fall TV Preview than most of the others that are out there. It has a defined tone and style already, and it also has the name of one of TV’s most successful franchises. Regardless of whatever you feel about the state of “NCIS” right now, the fact that it has been on the air for more than a decade is astounding.

Logline – Set at the NCIS New Orleans office, which handles cases from Pensacola through Mississippi and Louisiana to the Texas panhandle.

Cast – Scott Bakula, Paige Turco, Lucas Black, CCH Pounder, Zoe McLellan

Producers -Mark Harmon, Gary Glasberg

Timeslot – Tuesdays at 9:00 p.m. Eastern. Obviously, a great spot in that “NCIS: Los Angeles” had it for six years with great success. Even with lower numbers for season 11 “NCIS” is one of the best lead-ins out there, and the competition at 9:00 is not such that this show will get overshadowed by something else.

Our take – As we said earlier, it looks fun. We really like Bakula and Pounder as actors, and the setting here should make for a lively atmosphere that is far and away distinct from the other two editions of the show. We do worry about viewer fatigue with the franchise, though, and if the cases are not interesting right out of the gate, we could see people bailing on it early and not giving it a chance.