NORFOLK — NCIS fans have been waiting for this highly anticipated 3-hour crossover event. For the first time ever, the teams from "NCIS, " "NCIS: Hawaii" and "NCIS: Los Angeles" are uniting for a special crossover event.
It’s a triple treat for NCIS fans.
All three shows in one night—it’s never been done before! Fans have been excited about this for months.
On Monday, News 3 got a behind-the-scenes look at the NCIS Norfolk field office where we spoke to a real local agent about what the show gets right and wrong.
“Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery,” said Assistant Special Agent in Charge Matt Ashton from the NCIS Norfolk Field Office.
Ashton took us on a tour of their office and said he’s a fan of the show, and that they actually get a lot of things right.
“They get the camaraderie, we get to work with the same agents and share every day,” said Ashton. “And believe it or not, many of the episodes are based on actual cases.”
But, it is a tv show after all for entertainment. Some things are more dramatic, and just aren’t as accurate
“They never show the paperwork! And they always have us closing the case in 60 minutes,” said Ashton. “I wish we could get DNA evidence back in 20-30 minutes. Or even a day, but sometimes it takes months!”
But life doesn’t always imitate art.
But Ashton does say that they get the methodology correct.
“We want to make sure when they go to a crime scene that they're putting drugs on photographic evidence before they pick it up," Ashton said. "So those small details matter and the show does a really good job with getting those things right.”
That might be because former NCIS agents act as consultants for the show, including Norfolk’s own special agent Ashton.
“Many years ago, there was a case, I had some very minor role in. And then, about a year later, I happened to watch an episode. And I thought it was very similar to the case, when in fact, they used huge details from this real investigation to make to make this episode. So that was that was really exciting," Ashton said.
If you missed that big crossover event, you can still catch it on Paramount Plus.
They also told us if you’re interested in joining the team, or even just finding out more, you can follow them on their social media pages or at usajobs.gov for updates.
