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Attention, NCIS fans. The show that introduced us to Leroy Jethro Gibbs and the world of naval crime investigators is coming to Prime Video. 

‘JAG’ streaming on Prime Video starting July 1

Catherine Bell with her arms around David James Elliott in 'JAG'
David James Elliott and Catherine Bell in ‘JAG.’ | CBS via Getty Images

JAG, a legal drama that ran for 10 seasons between 1995 and 2005, lands on Prime Video on July 1. 

All 227 episodes of the show, which stars Catherine Bell and David James Elliott, will be available to stream, according to TVLine. 

Currently, some, but not all, JAG episodes are available on Paramount+, which is also home to NCIS and its various spinoffs, including NCIS: Sydney and NCIS: Hawai’i. Select episodes of JAG also stream for free on Pluto TV. 

How is ‘JAG’ connected to ‘NCIS’?

Linda Hunt and Catherine Bell sitting on a couch in front of windows in 'NCIS: Los Angeles'
Linda Hunt and Catherine Bell in ‘NCIS: Los Angeles’ | Erik Voake/CBS via Getty Images
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Like NCIS, JAG is a drama set in the world of the U.S. Navy. It focuses on judge advocates, or military lawyers, as they work on various criminal cases. The show debuted on NBC, which canceled it after one season. CBS then picked it up, and JAG became a hit. That, in turn, led to the creation of NCIS. 

“Because JAG was so successful and had gone nine seasons, the network and other people were saying, “Don [Bellisario, JAG and NCIS creator], you should really spin it off into something else.” Charles Floyd Johnson, executive producer on JAG and NCIS, recalled in The Hollywood Reporter’s oral history of NCIS. 

Two episodes of JAG Season 8 – “Ice Queen” and “Meltdown” – served as a backdoor pilot for NCIS. They introduced several now-familiar characters, including Gibbs (Mark Harmon), Abby Sciuto (Pauley Perrette), and DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly). 

‘NCIS’ soon took on a life of its own 

Originally, the idea was to have NCIS agents and judge advocates working together on the same show. But that idea was soon abandoned. 

“The show was originally pitched as Law & Order in the Navy,” ​​Mark Horowitz, JAG director and NCIS executive producer, said. “First, there’d be some crime, and the NCIS agents would investigate it — the cops of the Navy — and then the JAG people would come in and try the case. Don played with that idea for a little while, and then he just said, ‘We’re not going to do that. It’s going to be two completely separate shows.’”

Although NCIS evolved into its own distinct show, it didn’t completely forget its origins. Bell and Elliott reprised their roles as Sarah MacKenzie and Harmon Rabb in the NCIS: Los Angeles Season 10 finale and the first two episodes of NCIS: Los Angeles Season 11. That story arc revealed what had happened to the pair (whose will-they-or-won’t-they relationship ended in an engagement in the JAG series finale) after the end of JAG. 

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