Meredith "Merri" Brody

[Lisin]

Zoe McLellan!

[willow2tree]

What was up with the "history" between her and Gibbs in the back door pilot?  I know she has guested on the series before (also maybe JAG, the mothership?) but I don't  usually watch NCIS Original Flavor so I missed what had happened.

Edited May 14, 2014 by willow2tree

[Kromm]

What was up with the "history" between her and Gibbs in the back door pilot?  I know she has guested on the series before (also maybe JAG, the mothership?) but I don't  usually watch NCIS Original Flavor so I missed what had happened.

I only watched like a season and a half of NCIS, and two episodes of NCIS: LA, but I saw most of JAG, and the actress was indeed on that show (on the last few seasons). But clearly this is "Love Boat casting", where someone comes back as a different character, because on JAG she was an enlistedwoman named Jennifer Coates.

 

She's the one on the far left in this cast picture.

 

Edited May 14, 2014 by Kromm

[willow2tree]

Wow!  Thanks for the picture, Kromm.  I never would have recognized her!  She seems so short in that picture.  Then I realized, anyone would look short standing by David James Elliot (6'4") as compared to, say Lucas Black (5'8").  I think I like her better with the shorter hair she has now.

[kassygreene]

That's Nanci Chambers, David James Elliott's wife.  I can't tell if that cast picture pre-dates Zoe's time on the show (IMDB has her in JAG for 63 episodes, 2001-2005).  Chuck Carrington is in the picture, and he was on the series through 2003.  Her character (Coates) replaced his character (Tiner) as the Admiral's Yeoman.  Nanci Chambers' character (Singer) wound up getting murdered and the investigation into that was the pilot for NCIS.

[formerlyfreedom]

You're right, @kassygreene - I looked Nanci Chambers up, and even the height difference matched in her pictures with DJE.

 

A picture of Zoe McClellan from her JAG days (still a pretty significant difference from today, if I may say!);

 

[Raja]

What was up with the "history" between her and Gibbs in the back door pilot? I know she has guested on the series before (also maybe JAG, the mothership?) but I don't usually watch NCIS Original Flavor so I missed what had happened.

She, the actor playing Petty Officer Coates was in the JAG office when Special Agent Gibbs arrested CMDR Rabb in LT Singers death. It turned out that Harm was massaging the truth to cover for his brother a Russian Army helicopter pilot. A man also innocent of murder

Any back story with the characters may be used at a later date

Edited May 22, 2014 by Raja

[kassygreene]

Happy to help!

 

That picture has to be at least 10 years old (eek!).  If I recall correctly, Coates had very very long hair, worn while on duty in a nice tucked up twist, or sometimes a french braid.  Brody has very short hair, which really suits her (and also the climate - the Gulf coast is very very muggy).

 

Part of my delay in ID'ing her in Crescent City was how much better she looks nowadays (I hate the word perky, but it kinda fits).  I had to check IMDB to get her name, and then see if she'd been in NCIS before, and try to identify what episode that was.  

 

To be clear, Brody's case/history with Gibbs was not in any broadcast episode.  Perhaps someone is doing fanfic on it?

 

kassy

[Geillis]

While this is reviving and old thread, I just have to say that since the beginning of NCISNO, and the introduction of Brody, I have wondered why she couldn't have been the same character, since this show is a spinoff of a spinoff of JAG.  Coates could have taken investigative and police training.  Remember that in JAG she eventually became a paralegal.  It would have been an ice tie-in the Mother Ship, and given us some follow-up on the former JAG characters with little snippets of news once in a while in the incidental banter that goes on in the show.

[kassygreene]

While this is reviving and old thread, I just have to say that since the beginning of NCISNO, and the introduction of Brody, I have wondered why she couldn't have been the same character, since this show is a spinoff of a spinoff of JAG.  Coates could have taken investigative and police training.  Remember that in JAG she eventually became a paralegal.  It would have been an ice tie-in the Mother Ship, and given us some follow-up on the former JAG characters with little snippets of news once in a while in the incidental banter that goes on in the show.

It would have been very nice, especially since Gibbs apparently knew Brody from a case, and some of us spent some time tracking through 11 seasons of NCIS to see if it had been part of the on-air series (it wasn't).

 

I strongly suspect the real reason we have Brody instead of Coates is legal - Coates was a character belonging to JAG; NCIS New Orleans is a grandchild of that series, and there is weirdness about who is in a pilot and therefore must forever credit someone or something (it's the reason neither Carter nor Teal'c were in the pilot for Stargate Atlantis (but were in later episodes) as they belonged to SG-1, but O'Neill and Jackson belonged to the entire franchise and thus could be in it...  legal stuff bends the mind into unnatural positions).

[Lebanna]

Not really sure where to put this, but Zoe McLellan isn't coming back to the show next year. Apparently this is for 'creative reasons'. Which I assume means replacing her with new series regular Vanessa Ferlito. Pity.

http://tvline.com/2016/07/26/ncis-new-orleans-zoe-mclellan-leaving-season-3-brody/

Edited July 27, 2016 by Lebanna

[fifty8th]

Not sure if Vanessa Ferlito is so much a replacement because she isn't on the team, isn't she investigating them?

[secnarf]

That's really sad.

[JessDVD]

BOO! I shout at that, although I wouldn't have even been surprised if the actress chose to withdraw after that crappy season finale character assassination.

[brgjoe]

Honestly, when this spinoff first started, I did wonder if her character would survive another season.  She seemed just to be kinda "there".  Like, why did she request a transfer down there.  And what exactly was her job there?   Also they didn't seem to make up their minds what to do with her.  In one episode, she was easily taken hostage.  And in the next, she was a badass who can take down guys twice her size.  She was also saddled with that silly "oh noes, someone's sending photoshopped pictures to me!".

And as mentioned above, that final (horrible undercover) mission of hers pretty much spelled doom to her character.  Which is too bad.  I was really warming up  to her.  It would have helped too if they would have developed her character a bit more earlier. 

I really wish on either of the two NCIS's (this one and the Mothership) that Agent Borin would be made a regular.  I don't know if Diane Neal would be interested in being a regular character on a TV series again or not.  But I'd love to see her character on this one or the regular flavored NCIS.

[pally]

Quote

I really wish on either of the two NCIS's (this one and the Mothership) that Agent Borin would be made a regular.  I don't know if Diane Neal would be interested in being a regular character on a TV series again or not.  But I'd love to see her character on this one or the regular flavored NCIS.

Diane Neal tweeted some really bad complaints about the set of NCIS-NO.  She claimed it was unsafe and she was treated badly...tweets were later deleted but the damage with Mark Harmon and company was done.  She hasn't been on either show since.

[Trey]

1 hour ago, pally said:

She hasn't been on either show since.

And that is such a shame, since she fit in so well and had great chemistry with either lead.

[UncleChuck]

TPTB are commenting on the removal of Zoe Mc from the cast as necessary because she was so badly compromised on her final mission and by sleeping with the guy who turned out to be a traitor/mole.  BUT...that plot twist was not an accident--you producers and writers engineered that scenario for her.  Now you want to claim that "creatively" she has to be sacrificed because she screwed up?????

And on that silly undercover plot...why on earth did NCIS need to bring up an agent from the New Orleans team (leaving them with only 3 agents) to Washington when that is the home of NCIS and Vance surely had hundreds of agents who could have been plugged into that assignment?

[brgjoe]

Yep.  What is she supposed to do at that point?  It was the writers/producers who set up that plotline.  I suppose she could have refused to do it, saying that "No way would my character act so stupidly and recklessly". 

Then she probably would have been let go due to insubordination.  Sigh. 

[Emma]

Ugh. I hate this. So much.

I don't really care for the new actress coming in but maybe I'll like her here? I guess I'll look out the window and see pigs flying too.

It also means more Percy. She's best in smaller doses.

[laredhead]

I read somewhere that Zoe McLellan just went through a messy divorce and has been ordered to pay her ex $4,000/month in child support in addition to a $30,000 one time payment.  Now she doesn't have a job in a steady series.  Talk about bad luck.

[catray]

Ugh, I am currently watching last season's finale and this sucks! Brody hasn't been my favorite character, but I still like her! And now she's unceremoniously booted before the start season 3?! Boooooooo that sucks. Especially because I'm sure the actress didn't have a say in the whole "sleeping with the traitor" plotline so that's just pretty lame. They would have "suspended" her for a few episodes or something and then brought her back or something. Boooooooo!

[Trey]

I don't know why Merry is being blamed for letting the mole infiltrate NCIS - hadn't he already infiltrated the FBI or whatever agency he was in? So they should get the blame.

[Skycatcher]

If they had to get rid of someone, why not Percy.  She's annoying, such a bitch, and has added nothing new to the team.  I've never liked her and would have been dancing the house down if they got rid of her.  She's the reason I don't watch more.  FBI-chick seems to be a bitch as well and I'm not going to waste my time with a season of them sniping at each other.  Yeah, I know they developed a grudging respect for each other over the last shooting, but I don't see it going anywhere. 
I'm probably done with NCIS:NOLO.

[Ohmo]

I don't know how reputable this site is, but I found this article about Zoe's departure,

NCIS New Orleans: Here’s Why Zoe McLellan Left

Whether any of it is true, we don't know, but it's plausible that her working on location in New Orleans could be relevant to the proceedings if she is involved in a custody dispute with her estranged husband.

[Lebanna]

4 hours ago, Ohmo said:

I don't know how reputable this site is, but I found this article about Zoe's departure,

NCIS New Orleans: Here’s Why Zoe McLellan Left

Whether any of it is true, we don't know, but it's plausible that her working on location in New Orleans could be relevant to the proceedings if she is involved in a custody dispute with her estranged husband.

Unfortunately, that is a really horribly written article. Here's what we know. The show fired their lead woman and immediately replaced her with a younger, 'sexier' model. I don't think we need to delve much deeper than that, to be honest. I just hope that said younger model doesn't get it on with Pride, because at that point I will throw up on the writers. I'm seriously doubting if I'm going to bother watching this year, anymore.

[Prevailing Wind]

It's such a horribly written article, they call her "Mary," not "Meri."

[neuromom]

On September 25, 2016 at 1:45 PM, Lebanna said:

Unfortunately, that is a really horribly written article. Here's what we know. The show fired their lead woman and immediately replaced her with a younger, 'sexier' model. I don't think we need to delve much deeper than that, to be honest. I just hope that said younger model doesn't get it on with Pride, because at that point I will throw up on the writers. I'm seriously doubting if I'm going to bother watching this year, anymore.

"Sexier" I guess that's a matter of opinion! I find Zoe sexier than...what's her name? Sorry, I didn't bother to retain the name (and I DO read the credits).

if she gets involved with Pride, I will join you in your vomit party on the writers. I'm still annoyed, 2 plus years later, how they threw his marriage under the bus. 

[MerBearHou]

Tonight was a repeat and oh my gosh, it reinforced how much I miss Meri and cannot stand her eyes-half-closed, lips puckered out *all the time*, annoying I'm so badass pseudo-replacement. Ugh. Bad decision, show--bad decision. 

[Jaded]

I've been watching some of the 2014 episodes since they started on TNT. They are making me miss Meri all over again. 

[marina to]

The show definitely lost something when she was let go.

[Badsamaritan]

I've just started watching this show with the repeats on TNT and since I'm late to the party, I've got to say, I'm glad her character is going. She annoys the ever living fuck out of me. This is not about the actual actress, I have no feelings about her one way or another. The only thing I can compare it to is, Sasha Alexander's character on the mothership - hated that character too and was thrilled when she was killed off, but I loved Sasha as Dr. Maura Isles on Rizzoli and Isles. I haven't seen Zoe in anything else (didn't watch JAG) and I'm sure she's a perfectly nice human. But I'm glad the character is kicking rocks at the end of S2. 

[MDL]

Quote

I haven't seen Zoe in anything else (didn't watch JAG) and I'm sure she's a perfectly nice human. But I'm glad the character is kicking rocks at the end of S2. 

I think that she is in "Designated Survivor"

[Jaded]

‘NCIS: New Orleans’ Star Zoe McLellan Cleared of Child Abduction Accusations in Nasty Divorce

[laredhead]

Some new information about Zoe Mclellan and what she has been dealing with for a while.  Pretty awful -

https://www.wdsu.com/article/theres-no-script-ive-ever-read-thats-been-as-awful-as-this/30648194

[Jaded]

On 1/24/2020 at 3:47 PM, laredhead said:

Some new information about Zoe Mclellan and what she has been dealing with for a while.  Pretty awful -

https://www.wdsu.com/article/theres-no-script-ive-ever-read-thats-been-as-awful-as-this/30648194

That's sad and awful. I feel so badly for her son and anyone else out there who's been victimized by her ex-husband.