FBI season 1 explained

Season Number:	1
Bgcolor:	FABA32
Starring:	Missy Peregrym Zeeko Zaki Jeremy Sisto Ebonée Noel Connie Nielsen Sela Ward
Num Episodes:	22
Network:	CBS
Episode List:	List of FBI episodes

The first season of the American crime drama FBI premiered on CBS on September 25, 2018, and ended on May 14, 2019 with 22 episodes.^[1] The season is produced by CBS Television Studios and Universal Television.

The series stars Missy Peregrym, Zeeko Zaki, Jeremy Sisto, Ebonée Noel, and Sela Ward and centers on inner workings of the New York office criminal division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).^[2]

The episode "Most Wanted" served as the backdoor pilot of a spin-off titled .

The first of FBI ranked as the 11th most watched new series with a total of 12.37 million viewers.^[3]

Cast and characters

See main article: List of FBI characters.

Main

• Missy Peregrym as Maggie Bell, FBI Special Agent. She is the de facto agent in charge of the team while out in the field.
  • Zeeko Zaki as Omar Adom "OA" Zidan, FBI Special Agent and Maggie's partner, West Point graduate, and a retired Army Ranger Jeremy Sisto as Jubal Valentine, FBI Assistant Special Agent-In-Charge (ASAC), who runs the office's fusion center.
• Ebonée Noel as Kristen Chazal, FBI Special Agent and an Intelligence Analyst.
• Sela Ward as Special Agent-in-Charge (SAC) Dana Mosier, Solberg's replacement as the team's supervisor.
• Connie Nielsen as Special Agent-in-Charge (SAC) Ellen Solberg ("Pilot"), the team's initial supervisor.^[4]

Recurring

• Derek Hedlund as Special Agent JT, an FBI Special Agent who frequently worked in the field with OA and Maggie.
• James Chen as Ian Lim, an FBI Technical Analyst.
• Thomas Phillip O'Neil as Dr. Neil Mosbach, an FBI Medical Examiner.
• Rodney Richardson as Ray Stapleton, an FBI Forensic Technician.
• Nina Lisandrello as Eve Nettles, an FBI Forensic Technician.

Guest Stars

• Julian McMahon as Jess LaCroix, FBI Supervisory Special Agent (SSA) and Team leader of the Fugitive Task Force. Has a history with FBI Assistant Special Agent-in-Charge Jubal Valentine, the two having previously worked together.
• Kellan Lutz as Kenny Crosby, FBI Special Agent in the Fugitive Task Force.
• Roxy Sternberg as Sheryll Barnes, FBI Special Agent and second in command of the Fugitive Task Force.
• Keisha Castle-Hughes as Hana Gibson, FBI Special Agent and Technical Analyst assigned to the Fugitive Task Force.
• Nathaniel Arcand as Clinton Skye, FBI Special Agent assigned to the Fugitive Task Force as well as Jess LaCroix's brother-in-law and the uncle of Tali, Jess's daughter.
• YaYa Gosselin as Tali Skye LaCroix, the daughter of Jess LaCroix.
• Alana de la Garza as Special Agent-in-Charge (SAC) Isobel Castille.

Episodes

See also: List of FBI episodes.

Production

Development

The origins of the series go back to the Television Critics Association summer 2016 press tour, where Wolf revealed plans for a crime drama series, placed in New York and set in the world of the FBI. Wolf's original plan was to introduce it on the NBC network as a planned spin-off to his New York crime drama , where it was intended to introduce an FBI agent character, but NBC ultimately did not go through with it and the idea was later put on hold for different reasons. It's Wolf's first drama series to launch on a network other than NBC in 15 years. CBS officially picked up the series on September 20, 2017.^[5] The series is produced by CBS Television Studios and Universal Television.^[6]

Casting

On March 1, 2018, Zeeko Zaki was cast as Omar Adom.^[7] A week later, Jeremy Sisto was cast as Jubal,^[8] including Ebonée Noel also cast as Kristin.^[9] Before the end of the month, Missy Peregrym had joined the cast as Maggie.^[10] The FBI Special Agent in Charge in the first episode ("Pilot") was Ellen Solberg, played by Connie Nielsen. On May 16, 2018, the day of scheduling the series for fall 2018, Nielsen was announced to have left the series for undisclosed reasons.^{[11] [12]}

On July 13, 2018, Sela Ward was cast in the second episode as Dana Mosier who fulfills a similar role to Connie Nielsen who was in the first episode.^[13] During the season finale, it was indicated that Ward would be departing the series after the first season.^[14]

Broadcast and release

The season premiered on CBS on September 25, 2018.^[15] It aired on Tuesdays at 9:00 p.m. Canada's Global TV premiered the show at the same time as the United States premiere.

Reception

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the first season has an approval rating of 63% based on 24 reviews, with an average rating of 6.22 out of 10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Dick Wolf's new series sports a compelling cast and adrenaline-spiking spectacle, although some viewers may find this retread of the mega-producer's previous procedural formulas overly familiar."^[16] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 57 out of 100 based on 13 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".^[17]

Ratings

The series premiere drew approximately 10 million viewers, and scored a 1.3/5 rating/share, beating out the second season premiere of Bull which occupied the same timeslot the previous year. The season finale, "Closure", earned 8.56 million people. For the first season, FBI was the 11th most seen show in total viewership, averaging 12.37 million.^[3]

Notes and References

1. Web site: How Many Episodes of Your Fave Shows Were Ordered for Next Season?. Ausiello. Michael. TVLine. July 18, 2018. September 2, 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180718165855/https://tvline.com/2018/07/18/episode-orders-new-tv-season-list-count-this-is-us/. July 18, 2018. live.
2. Web site: About FBI on CBS All Access . CBS . cbs.com.
3. Web site: 2018–19 TV Season Ratings: CBS Wraps 11th Season At No. 1 In Total Viewers, NBC Tops Demo; 'Big Bang Theory' Most Watched Series . de Moraes . Lisa . Deadline Hollywood . May 21, 2019 . June 5, 2019 . live . https://archive.today/20190605044134/https://deadline.com/2019/05/tv-ratings-2018-2019-season-totals-viewers-demo-cbs-nbc-1202620062/ . June 5, 2019.
4. Web site: Schwartz . Ryan . October 10, 2018 . FBI Switches Showrunners for a Third Time, Bringing on #OneChicago Duo . . 13 February 2020.
5. Web site: Dick Wolf FBI Drama Lands Series Order at CBS . Stanhope . Kate . The Hollywood Reporter . September 20, 2017 . September 27, 2017.
6. Web site: Dick Wolf Gets CBS Series Order For FBI Drama . Andreeva . Nellie . Deadline Hollywood . September 20, 2017 . September 27, 2017.
7. Web site: CBS' 2018-19 New Series: First-Look Photos . Hipes . Patrick . Deadline Hollywood . May 14, 2018 . May 14, 2018.
8. Web site: Jeremy Sisto To Star In FBI CBS Drama Series, Reuniting With Dick Wolf . Andreeva . Nellie . Deadline Hollywood . March 9, 2018 . March 9, 2018.
9. Web site: FBI: Ebonée Noel To Co-Star In Dick Wolf's CBS Drama Series . Andreeva . Nellie . Deadline Hollywood . March 13, 2018 . March 13, 2018.
10. Web site: FBI: Missy Peregrym To Topline Dick Wolf's CBS Drama Series . Andreeva . Nellie . Deadline Hollywood . March 15, 2018 . March 15, 2018.
11. Web site: Connie Nielsen Cast in Dick Wolf's CBS Drama FBI . March 6, 2018.
12. Web site: FBI: Connie Nielsen Exits New CBS Series . Andreeva . Nellie . Deadline Hollywood . May 16, 2018 . May 16, 2018.
13. Web site: FBI: Sela Ward To Co-Star On New CBS Series From Dick Wolf . Andreeva . Nellie . Deadline Hollywood . July 23, 2018 . July 23, 2018.
14. Web site: FBI: Sela Ward Bids Farewell To CBS Drama Series . Andreeva . Nellie . Deadline Hollywood . May 15, 2018 . May 15, 2018.
15. Web site: CBS Announces Fall 2018–2019 Primetime Premiere Dates. The Futon Critic. July 9, 2018. July 10, 2018.
16. Web site: FBI: Season 1 (2018) . . March 5, 2020.
17. Web site: FBI: Season 1 . . October 11, 2018.