NCIS: Hawai'i

This nice-to-look at series hits the usual beats you expect from a CBS procedural show, but gets props for legitimate inclusion of native Hawaiian people in its cast. In one sense, there's not much to complain about -- fans of the popular series and of the procedural genre as a whole will feel satisfied with familiar character archetypes and cases getting solved without too much fuss. Of course, there's some violence, but --as par for the course with this kind of show -- it's violent enough to create some realism without ever letting you forget you're watching something many use to wind down with at the end of the day.

Where NCIS: Hawai'i builds on CBS' increased commitment to diversity is by showing a team that interacts with the native Hawaiian population on a daily basis. Instead of showing a whitewashed version of Hawaii, the series features a multicultural cast including Alex Tarrant, an actor from New Zealand who is of Māori, Samoan and Niuean heritage. While he's not Hawaiian, Tarrant's background does give him more authority on the experiences of native Pacific Islanders than if his character Kai Holman was cast with another actor. Moses Goods is another actor on the series who represents the Native Hawaiian experience. Goods is Black and Native Hawaiian, giving him first-hand knowledge of what it's like growing up on the island. Like most CBS shows, NCIS: Hawai'i is still gently guiding audiences towards being more inclusive in their thinking when it comes to procedurals. But it's great that the series has introduced their viewers to the fact that Hawaii is more than just a vacation spot --it's also an area of land that was once a nation unto itself.