Season Two of JAG premiered on CBS from January 3 1997 – April 18, 1997 totalling only 15 episodes, the shortest season of all. It was a mid-season replacement for Mr. & Mrs. Smith.
Plot[]
Following in his father's footsteps as a Naval Aviator, Lieutenant Commander Harmon Rabb, Jr. suffered a crash while landing his Tomcat on a storm-tossed carrier at sea. Diagnosed with night-blindness, Harm transferred to the Navy's Judge Advocate General Corps, which investigates, defends, and prosecutes the law of the sea. There, with fellow JAG lawyer Major Sarah MacKenzie, he now fights in and out of the courtroom, with the same daring and tenacity that made him a top gun in the air.
Don LaFontaine
By-the-book Major Sarah "Mac" MacKenzie USMC is now partnered with Lieutenant Commander Harmon "Harm" Rabb Jr., a former United States Naval Aviator, working at the Headquarters of the Judge Advocate General, the law firm of the Department of the Navy. Now based at Falls Church, Virginia, they prosecute, defend and investigate a plethora of cases including the theft of the United States Declaration of Independence by a right-wing militia , another brig-break, superstition in a flying squadron as planes crash supposedly due to the bombing of a mosque during the first Gulf War and a sexual harassment allegation by a female fighter pilot. Meanwhile, Harm finds himself in hot-water when he fires a machine gun during a tense courtroom battle, Mac hones her Farsi and Russian language skills and Rear Admiral A.J. Chegwidden becomes the target of a serial killer from his past. Also this season, Lieutenant Junior Grade Bud Roberts joins JAG at the behest of outgoing Lieutenant Junior Grade Meg Austin, Mac confronts her past and Harm goes undercover as a Gunnery Sergeant.
Production[]
For its second season, JAG moved from NBC to CBS. The former network never told creator Donald P. Bellisario that they cancel JAG; they instead told Paramount which produced the series.[1] Another story was that then-NBC president Warren Littlefield told show creator Don Bellisario that he didn't think JAG would make it through another season.[2]. David James Elliott was disheartened hearing NBC's cancellation while filming Skeleton Crew.[3].
Donald had previously received offers from CBS and ABC to pick up the series which was reworked to be one of both "legal [drama] and action". CBS called him hearing NBC's cancellation but didn't confirm a pick up while ABC was looking for Donald's series to follow Monday Night Football. When he was flying to New York City in First Class, he got another call from CBS offering us a mid-season replacement for 13 episodes and they needed an answer quickly. Donald accepted yet disappointed CBS didn't put JAG on the fall schedule. He predicted 17 episodes but that wasn't the case and main star David called it "kind of lackluster" when Donald called him from the plane. Nevertheless, CBS gave Donald creative freedom, allowing courtroom cases while NBC wanted action.[1][3] Initially, then-CBS President Leslie Moonves aired Season Two on Friday nights and later moved Season Three to Tuesday nights, due to CBS's slightly older audience. Like the Navy jets on screen, JAG took off: It was soon beating time slot rivals including World's Scariest Police Chases on Fox, ABC's Home Improvement and NBC's big bet Mad About You.[2]
Co-star Tracey Needham left mainly due to apparently just a series of disagreements that turned into a behind-the-scenes tsunami of changes. The JAG producers also wanted Harm's partner to be equal rank to him.[4][1][5] . Fan do fondly miss Meg Austin. Following the departure of Tracey , Catherine Bell was cast in the lead role of Major Sarah "Mac" MacKenzie. Donald and Leslie Moonves "cast Catherine Bell, and (Donald) never heard another word from Leslie - who took great delight in the fact that it was part of the building block that started the CBS turnaround". On her casting, Catherine Bell stated that she "guest starred on the season finale in the first season and there was another girl playing the female lead opposite Harm [...] One of the days when I was working, he announced that the show had been canceled, but CBS picked up the show and they decided to recast the female lead. I went after the role and wrote Don a letter after I had read the breakdown for Mac and they brought me in. Six callbacks later, I got the role."[6] Another source says Catherine impressed Donald when he directed her in Skeleton Crew. She formally read for the role with three finalists who impressed Donald and Paramount. The three were tested and approved by CBS and Catherine was chosen. Actress Sibel Galindez also competed for the character of Mac and was a finalist. Sibel would recur as Lieutenant Elizabeth "Skates" Hawkes.[5]
Cast and characters[]
Main[]
- David James Elliott as Lieutenant Commander Harmon "Harm" Rabb Jr., USN, JAGC
- John M. Jackson as Rear Admiral A. J. Chegwidden, USN, JAGC
- Catherine Bell as Major Sarah "Mac" MacKenzie, USMC, JAGC
- Patrick Labyorteaux as Lieutenant Junior Grade Bud Roberts, USN
Recurring[]
- Karri Turner as Ensign Harriet Sims, USN
- Steven Culp as Clayton Webb, CIA officer
- Chuck Carrington as Petty Officer Jason Tiner, USN, JAGC
- Harrison Page as Captain Stiles Morris, USN, JAGC
- Claudette Nevins as Porter Webb
Episodes[]
| # | EPISODE |
|---|---|
| 1 | We The People |
| A band of rogue patriots hijack the Declaration of Independence during a transfer. Major Sarah MacKenzie USMC and Lt JG. Bud Roberts join the JAG gang and they and Harm investigate. They find the thieves make a deal, then defend the leader in court. | |
| 2 | Secrets |
| An enlisted Marine escapes from a Navy brig and he takes the admiral, Bud, and Mac as hostages. At his direction, they conduct a mock trial, retrying the same matter. Bud judges, Mac prosecutes and the admiral defends, as he did originally. | |
| 3 | Jinx |
| Harm must prove that an F-14 squadron that accidentally bombed a mosque during Operation Desert Storm is not 'jinxed' after a mid-air accident kills his best friend. | |
| 4 | Heroes |
| Harm and Mac engage in a tense courtroom battle when a Navy SEAL is accused of murdering his friend during a mission. Harm goes way overboard to prove a point about firearms, by firing an MP5 in the courtroom. | |
| 5 | Crossing the Line |
| Harm, Mac and Bud are sent out to the USS Seahawk and face political pressure when a female F-14 Tomcat pilot, Lieutenant Marilyn Isaacs, accuses the CAG, Captain Thomas Boone of sexual harassment. The CAG says she is simply a bad aviator, gender notwithstanding and prominent Congresswoman Adele DeLong intervenes in the investigation. Bud meets his successor as the public affairs officer, Ensign Harriet Sims and they eventually form a bond. | |
| 6 | Trinity |
| The infant son of a female U.S. Navy officer, the daughter of CINCPAC, is kidnapped from Holy Loch Naval Base in Scotland and the evidence implicates the boy's father, an Irish Republican Army leader. Harm and Mac are assigned to work with the Royal Ulster Constabulary in Belfast to help get the child back, but the local cop is hiding a vengeful secret. | |
| 7 | Ghosts |
| Rear Admiral Chegwidden's life is in danger when the last surviving members of his SEAL team from the Vietnam War are killed and it appears someone is eliminating the witnesses to an atrocity committed 30 years earlier. | |
| 8 | Full Engagement |
| When Harm's Stearman biplane, nicknamed Sarah, runs out of fuel in the Appalachian Mountains, he and Mac must avoid trigger happy poachers who killed a game warden and do not want to leave any witnesses. | |
| 9 | Washington Holiday |
| Harm is assigned to escort Romanian Princess Alexandra while her father, the King of Romania is in Washington D.C. to request Romania be admitted to NATO as an assassin closes in on all of them. | |
| 10 | The Game of Go |
| Harm and a Colombian drug lord play a high-stakes game of Go, with the prize being a Marine that was left behind during a covert mission, as Webb and the JAG team once again butt heads. | |
| 11 | Force Recon |
| Harm goes undercover as a Gunny for a Marine Force Recon Squad at Camp Pendelton, while Mac and Bud investigate whether their Captain Koonan, known as The Duke like in John Wayne, is using unsafe techniques as a means of hardening his men for unexpected combat conditions. | |
| 12 | The Guardian |
| Three thugs try to rob a convenience store, but a homeless former SEAL intervenes and kills them then he runs into a nearby church while Bud prays there. A standoff develops and resolves. Harm successfully defends the SEAL in a civilian criminal court. | |
| 13 | Code Blue |
| Harm and Mac are out running and Harm saves Mac from getting hit by a car by taking the blow himself. When Hamas takes over the DC hospital where an Israeli diplomat is undergoing a heart transplant, an injured Harm becomes the inside man of the FBI hostage negotiator to thwart the terrorists. | |
| 14 | Cowboys & Cossacks |
| A joint exercise between American and Russian naval forces in the Black Sea becomes deadly when the two captains decide to settle their Cold War grudges, trapping Harm, Mac and Bud in the middle. | |
| 15 | Rendezvous |
| Mac's personal past clouds her judgment while she defends an abusive Chief Petty Officer accused of killing his wife's boyfriend. | |
Goofs[]
- Actually, the law that JAG does prosecute and defend criminal cases is only under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The law of the sea, on the other hand, is actually a United Nations convention, which the United States has decided not to ratify due to sovereignty issues.
- In real life, Romania has not restored its monarchy; but it did join NATO seven years after Washington Holiday's airdate.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Scott, Vernont (January 3 1997). Producer Donald P. Bellisario learned the hard way that.... UPI.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lavender, Natasha (September 22 2022). The Untold Truth Of JAG. Looper.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Manwaring, Kurt (September 16, 2019). David James Elliott: Would He Return for a ‘JAG’ Reboot?. From the Desk.
- ↑ Vincent, Brittany (May 15 2020). What Happened to Short-Lived 'JAG' Season 1 Favorite Tracey Needham?. distractify.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 JAG FAQ. Stephan Lerchegger. “One of those two was revealed (by Kerin Steele) and confirmed by KIP: It was Sibel Ergener who played Lt. 'Skates' Hawkes in 'Crossing the Line'.”
- ↑ Catherine Bell Interview - an Interview with Army Wives Star Catherine Bell.
| v - e - d Seasons of JAG |
|---|
| ● Season One ● Season Two ● Season Three ● Season Four ● Season Five ● Season Six ● Season Seven ● Season Eight ● Season Nine ● Season Ten |