The Pitt Creator’s 227-Episode NCIS Predecessor Is Still The Gold Standard For Military TV Procedurals

Image courtesy of MovieStillsDb Published Oct 24, 2026, 4:30 PM EDT Cathal Gunning has been writing about movies, television, culture, and politics online and in print since 2017. He worked as a Senior Editor in Adbusters Media Foundation from 2018-2019 and wrote for WhatCulture in early 2020. He has been a Senior Features Writer for ScreenRant since 2020. Sign in to your ScreenRant account While R. Scott Gemmill is now best known for the urgent, acclaimed HBO medical drama The Pitt, his NCIS predecessor set the gold standard for military procedural shows over three decades ago. With an ingenious premise that blends 24 and E.R., HBO’s The Pitt is a medical drama with a difference. Set entirely inside the confines of the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center’s overrun, understaffed emergency department, The Pitt’s real-time storytelling makes the series a standout in a crowded genre. Most conventional medical dramas balance insight into the home lives of their characters with workplace action, and even medical sitcoms like Scrubs and St. Denis Medical feature scenes outside their hospital settings. However, The Pitt’s lone-location specificity is arguably the show’s defining strong point, making its story feel more intense and giving viewers only a glimpse into the lives of the main characters outside their workplace. A Trauma Medical Center’s E.R. department is no ordinary workplace, and The Pitt effectively conveys this reality in the show’s innovative approach. However, this shouldn’t come as a huge surprise, since one of the show’s co-creators has years of experience bringing extraordinary workplaces to life on the small screen. While a lot has been made of the links that The Pitt star and co-creator Noah Wyle has to E.R., co-creator R. Scott Gemmill’s earlier hits JAG and NCIS are also a major influence. JAG Is Still The Blueprint For Military Procedurals On The Small Screen Credit: MovieStillsDB Airing for ten seasons between 1995 and 2005, JAG moved from NBC to CBS after its first season, but this was far from bad news for the military procedural. Not only did JAG last another nine seasons, but Gemill’s military procedural also spawned the entire sprawling NCIS franchise. Set in the department of the Navy’s Judge Advocate General, which provided the show with its titular acronym, JAG essentially took the police procedural format and applied it to the Navy’s jurisdiction. Gemmill was lead writer of JAG across seasons 1–4, and producer in seasons 3–4. The show’s creator, Donald P. Bellisario, was also the mind behind the classic ‘80s cop show Magnum P.I., but JAG used an ensemble approach rather than relying on a lone antihero. While hits like Tracker and the Bosch franchise ensured the lone wolf cop trope remained a mainstay on TV and streaming for decades afterward, one of Gemmill’s biggest contributions to the JAG franchise was doubling down on the ensemble cop show format. In 2003, JAG spawned the spinoff NCIS, which borrowed the show’s ensemble style to focus on another NAVY-based law enforcement team. NCIS has lasted a staggering 24 seasons so far, with 510 episodes to date, but even this longevity doesn’t hint at the actual size of the JAG franchise. First, NCIS spawned the 12-season spinoff NCIS: Los Angeles, which lasted 14 seasons. Then, the success of NCIS: Los Angeles was followed by NCIS: New Orleans, which managed to last 155 episodes and seven seasons, NCIS: Sydney, which lasted three seasons and 38 episodes, and NCIS: Hawai’i, which managed a 54-episode run across its three seasons. This rundown doesn’t even mention the one-season 2024 spinoff NCIS: Tony & Ziva and the prequel show NCIS: Origins, which reached its third season in 2026 and is still ongoing. Without JAG, The NCIS Franchise Wouldn’t Exist Rivaling the sprawling Stargate franchise, JAG turned itself from a fun ensemble ‘90s hit into a genuine pop culture phenomenon thanks to the sheer reach of NCIS and its spinoffs. The show’s original run had likely been overshadowed by NCIS, but Gemmill’s role in the history of the franchise didn’t end with JAG. After leaving JAG to work on E.R., Gemmill returned to the franchise for NCIS: Los Angeles. There, The Pitt’s co-creator crafted the longest running NCIS spinoff, with a memorable cast that some critics called stronger than NCIS’s original lineup. Gemmill left NCIS: Los Angeles in 2023 to work on The Pitt, but returned when the JAG franchise managed to spawn yet another spinoff in 2026. Starring LL Cool J’s NCIS: Los Angeles hero Sam Hanna, the spinoff NCIS: New York premiered in September 2026 with a pilot episode directed by Gemmill. Gemmill’s triumphant return to network TV and the world of the JAG franchise was a monumental success, with NCIS: New York becoming the most-watched new series premiere of the 2026/7 TV season so far with an audience of 6.49 million. Fittingly enough, given the sheer size of the JAG franchise, the only show that outdid this ratings feat was, of course, the season 24 premiere of NCIS itself. Will JAG Ever Return? In theory, it might seem like now is the perfect time for a reboot of JAG. After all, the NCIS franchise is still going from strength to strength and its many spinoffs prove that there is no shortage of interest in new shows from the franchise. However, this is, ironically, also the reason that a JAG spinoff is not so likely. Most of the classic cop shows that have been rebooted, from Magnum P.I. to Hawaii Five-O to Walker: Texas Ranger to the small-screen version of Lethal Weapon to the upcoming version of The Rockford Files, brought back shows that had been off the screen for well over a decade at that point. In contrast, because the ever-growing NCIS universe has so many shows to its name, the JAG franchise has never left the screen since the original show began. This point may seem pedantic, but it has a pretty major bearing on the appeal of a reboot. For a new version of JAG to work, many major characters would need to be recast, the show would need to establish a new canon and continuity, and viewers would need to get accustomed to an updated version of the show’s central premise. However, NCIS and its spinoffs make that difficult. Since the characters from the NCIS shows exist in the JAG universe, rebooting JAG would mean messing up the franchise’s continuity. When Scott Caan’s NCIS: New York recasting caused so much controversy, it seems fair to suggest that The Pitt’s co-creator bringing back his first big hit JAG would be more confusing than exciting for fans of the NCIS universe. Release Date September 23, 2003 Network CBS Showrunner Steven D. Binder Cast Sean Murray Timothy McGee Michael Weatherly Tony DiNozzo Directors Dennis Smith, Terrence O'Hara, Tony Wharmby, James Whitmore Jr., Thomas J. Wright, Michael Zinberg, Arvin Brown, Rocky Carroll, Diana Valentine, Leslie Libman, Tawnia McKiernan, Colin Bucksey, William Webb, Bethany Rooney, Alrick Riley, Jeff Woolnough, Alan J. Levi, Lionel Coleman, Martha Mitchell, Peter Ellis, Michael Weatherly, Edward Ornelas, Stephen Cragg, Tom Wright Writers Donald P. Bellisario, Don McGill, Steven D. Binder, David J. North, Gina Lucita Monreal, Christopher J. Waild, Scott Williams, Frank Cardea, George Schenck, Jesse Stern, John C. Kelley, Jennifer Corbett, Christopher Silber, Reed Steiner, Nicole Mirante-Matthews, Jack Bernstein, Scott J. Jarrett, Matthew R. Jarrett, Kimberly-Rose Wolter, Gil Grant, Frank Military, Nell Scovell, Steven Kriozere, Brian Dietzen, Kate Torgovnick May, Jeff Vlaming, Sydney Mitchel, Katie White, Richard C. Arthur, Laurence Walsh Franchise(s) NCIS Creator(s) Don McGill, Donald P. Bellisario