History Series / JAG

* CanadaEh: Clayton Webb getting assigned to a station in Canada ("Need to Know") was considered punishment for leaking classified information, and Harm expresses sympathy that he was getting assigned there, despite Canada's status as a first world country that's culturally a fair bit like the US, speaks the same language, and is only a short flight from his home in the DC area.

* AlphabetNewsNetwork: '''ZNN''', the fictional counterpart to Creator/{{CNN}}. Often ZNN is just in the background, but sometimes it becomes the very center of the story.

* AnchoredShip: This was the case with Harm and Mac for almost nine seasons until it was resolved in the very last episode, "Fair Winds and Following Seas"; due to the fact the they are both career-oriented military officers working at the same place. Plus multiple other vauge excuses were made throughout the series.

** The whole WillTheyOrWontThey and UnresolvedSexualTension arc for ''nine seasons'' between Harm and Mac. Also MasterOfTheMixedMessage. [[spoiler: AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther in the last episode "Farewell and Following Seas": however it [[TheResolutionWillNotBeTelevised ends in the middle of the toss with a coin]], is it Harm or Mac who will give up career for love?]] In the tenth season finale of ''Series/NCISLosAngeles'', [[spoiler: Mac reveals that Harm lost the coin flip and stayed with her, but after a TenMinuteRetirement, got called back into combat while she found a better opportunity at the State Department.]]

* HeadsOrTails: The series finale ends with [[spoiler:[[AcePilot Harm]] and [[SemperFi Mac]] ([[UnresolvedSexualTension who]] [[WillTheyOrWontThey finally]] [[TheyDo tied the knot]]) flipping a ChallengeCoin to decide which of them will leave the military and live with the other so they don't have to be stationed apart from each other.]]

** Yet "Blind Side" had a far more specific example of ''intra-intra-service rivalry'': Harm (an F-14 Tomcat driver) gets into a game of pool against a pair of F-18 Hornet drivers (in the military, the pilots understandably take a lot of pride in the aircraft they fly). One discretion cut later, and we discover that Harm and his pool partner evidently won their opponents' ''pants'' in the game when he holds them up as a trophy to show Mac.

* TheCartel: In the second season episode "The Game of Go", a U.S. Marine is captured by a drug baron in Colombia while on joint operation with the Colombian authorities.

* AmusementPark: In "Boomerang, Part I", an American sailor kills an Australian sailor on the dock outside Luna Park in UsefulNotes/{{Sydney}} during UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar.

* PostNineElevenTerrorismMovie: The first two episodes after September 11 included several references to the terrorist attack and subsequent conflict in Afghanistan. Plot A was Harm trying to work with a retired admiral (to resolve a problem in China, who America needed as an ally in the fight against terrorism), who was going to turn him down but agreed to help resolve a problem after 9/11. Plot B has Mac presiding over two soldiers who were dueling, and she is upset that they were being idiots when their brothers and sisters are fighting and dying in the war on terror. Gunny is recalled to active service and Chegwidden wishes he could go with him. Future promos would place the series during the war on terror. UsefulNotes/OsamaBinLaden made a case a woman facing legal action hard (American bases in the Middle East as cause for Jihad, and the Americans subjecting women to Middle Eastern standards that the defendant had issues with). Harm reunites with his co pilot to fly security over the Superbowl. And a Seebee who supposedly died on 9/11 tries to avoid media attention after he saves his team from a terrorist attack, as when the widow of his business partner, who did not make it out, comes forward.

* EvilVirtues: From time to time, the heroes will be dealing with a WellIntentionedExtremist (or even a relatively heroic character who is simply serving a different nation at cross-purposes to the USA). Other times even the more petty villains will PetTheDog, such as in "Shadow", where the {{Nerd}} "Techno Pirate" who had hijacked an experimental torpedo is quick to try and comfort Meg Austin when he realizes she is having a full-blown claustrophobia attack in the confines of a submarine.

* AwesomeMcCoolName: In "Déjà Vu", we learn that when Harm at age 16 traveled to Vietnam, through Thailand and Laos, to look for his father, he was aided by a former special ops soldier named Colonel Stryker.

** In "Act of Terror", Percival Bertram is a wealthy businessman (looking like a CorruptHick) who supports right-wing conservative politicians and brands himself as a super-patriot (i.e. a {{Warhawk}}) advocating that the U.S. should take gloves of with respect to terrorists to U.S. interests in the Middle East. However, the alleged super-patriot finances terrorism in the Middle East against U.S. interests (supposedly to create a self-fulfilling prophecy gaining his own business interests.)

* UsefulNotes/ColdWar: ''JAG'' has throughout the series many references to the Cold War, the former threat of the Soviet Union, and with particular emphasis on [[UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar that nasty proxy war in Vietnam]].

* CourtroomAntics: Frequently. DisregardThatStatement and ThatWasObjectionable in particular occur innumerable times.
** Harm fired a loaded MP-5 during a trial in "Heroes". The key piece of evidence in the case was a submachine gun that allegedly failed to fire due to a malfunction. Harm proceeded to pick up the gun, [[ArtisticLicenseGunSafety which had evidently never been unloaded]], and fired it into the ceiling. This did get him an epic ass-chewing, and the judge would continue to hold this against Harm for at least 7 more seasons. [[OnceDoneNeverForgotten No one else lets him forget about that either]].
*** Bud later uses a loophole in the building regulations so that the incident, which has evidently caused a structural weakness in the leaking roof, will not count as a black mark on Harm's record.
** During the [[http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/television/2002/08/a_few_sanctimonious_men.html military trial]] of a terrorist Harm uses questioning that violates the spirit of the law. Both the judges and the defense tell him to stop.

* UsefulNotes/GulfWar: Several references to that conflict are made throughout the series. In the 4th season episode "Mr. Rabb Goes to Washington", rumors are spread on a cable news network (ZNN) that Sarin nerve gas was used by U.S. Marines during the invasion of Kuwait in 1991.

* UsefulNotes/KoreanWar:
** Harm and Mac travel to South Korea along with an Army General to investigate an alleged massacre that took place at the time of the war in the fifth season episode "The Bridge at Kang So Ri".
** Gunnery Sergeant Galindez helps an old Hispanic Marine veteran of the Korean War who fought at the Chosin reservoir in the sixth season episode "Retreat, Hell".

* UsefulNotes/TheTroubles: In the season 2 episode "Trinity", Harm and Mac go to Belfast to investigate the disappearance of an infant child whose mother is an American naval officer, and the father, who is an active member of the IRA.

* UsefulNotes/WorldWarII:
** Episode "Each Of Us Angels" focuses on a group of Navy nurses before and during the Battle of Iwo Jima.
** Also the episode "Port Chicago" is based on a real-life accident during WWII.

** In "Retrial", a sailor had unbeknownst to him hired a transsexual prostitute. [[UnsettlingGenderReveal When finding out]], the sailor changed his mind and the [[CreapyCrossdresser prostitute threatens him with a knife]]. The sailor defends himself and accidentally stabs the prostitute and runs away in fear and shame. Not long thereafter, another man comes and viciously stabs the prostitute to death. The sailor is convicted for the murder, but only because the military prosecutor, presumably on purpose didn’t follow up on a lead from the local DA in order to further his own political ambitions as being "tough on crime".

Created by veteran {{showrunner}} Creator/DonaldPBellisario for [[Creator/{{Paramount}} Paramount Network Television]] and originally pitched to the networks as a ''Film/TopGun'' meets ''Film/AFewGoodMen'', the show lasted one season on Creator/{{NBC}} before being canceled. It was picked up by Creator/{{CBS}} the following season and turned into one of the most successful shows in their history.

In any case, its popularity led to a {{spinoff}} launched through a BackDoorPilot in its 8th season, ''Series/{{NCIS}}'', which has managed to become {{more popular|Spinoff}} (and has remained longer on the air) than its parent series. This Main/SharedUniverse would go on to include [[Series/Bellisarioverse seven more series that aired on CBS]], including three spinoffs of ''NCIS'' and three reboots of older TV series.

In any case, its popularity led to a {{spinoff}} launched through a BackDoorPilot in its 8th season, ''Series/{{NCIS}}'', which has managed to become {{more popular|Spinoff}} (and has remained longer on the air) than its parent series.