History Series / JAG

* ActorAllusion: Before playing Admiral Chegwidden, John M. Jackson held the same position as Capt. West in the film version of ''AFewGoodMen''.

* AuditThreat: Ted Lindsey's investigation in season 8.

* BaseballEpisode: At the beginning of "Innocence" in season 4 it's the Navy judge advocates versus the Navy Chaplains. **Also "The Boast" in season 9 where Harm and the Admiral witness a Navy pitcher hit a Marine batter during a friendly baseball game, leading to the pitcher being charged with assault.

* BootCampEpisode: "Boot" has Meg investigating Paris Island's female DI's in the most straightforward way.

* CanadaEh: Clayton Webb getting assigned to a station in Canada 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 a short flight from his home in the DC area.

* ClearMyName: “People v. Rabb” in season 3 most notably.

* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: In the second part of season 5's "Boomerang", after Harm and Mic get into a fight that inadvertently breaks Bud's jaw (he stepped in between their simultaneous punches), Admiral Chegwidden, with the approval of Mic's superior officer Captain Howell, offers them "non-judicial punishment". He takes them to an empty building, opens the door, and tells them they are not to leave until they inflict damage and pain [[LetsYouAndHimFight on each other]] equal to what they inflicted on Bud. The next day in court, they both look like they went 10 rounds with the heavyweight champ.
--->'''Captain Howell:''' I always did like Yank [=SEALs=].

** 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. [[http://www.badmovies.org/movies/stealthfighter/]]

* DieHardOnAnX: One episode in the show's third season had Hamas terrorists take over a hospital where an Israeli official was receiving treatment. Unfortunately for them, Harm was there doing the same thing. A few {{Shout Out}}s and an IncrediblyLamePun ensues, [[HilarityEnsues along with hilarity]].
** Another episode was basically [[DieHardOnAnX Die Hard]] [[UnderSiege on A Warship]], with Cuban hijackers seizing a frigate while it is taking a group of [[MilitaryBrat Navy Brats]] [[BusFullOfInnocents on a Tiger Cruise]]. [[spoiler: Turns out, they are not supporters of Castro's regime, but instead want to use the ship's weapons to [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized assassinate him.]]]]
* DirtyHarriet: Mac goes undercover in season 5 as a Chief Petty Officer trying infiltrate a Wicca group, including getting herself sky-clad.

* DrJerk: Bud (or "not Bud" so to speak) in ''Each Of Us Angels''

* DrivesLikeCrazy: One episode a young ensign from Jersey played by SarahSilverman, who absolutely tears across base in a Humvee, hardly ever looking at the road, rambling on about whatever comes to mind, and generally terrifying poor Bud and even making Harm nervous. Bud is forced to have her drive him somewhere on the other side of base because he's in a hurry, and finds her driving much less terrifying if he takes his contacts out first.

* EpisodeOnAPlane: An Oceanic Airlines (how typical) flight to Seoul gets hijacked by South Korean radicals in season 5's "The Bridge at Kang So Ri". Luckily enough our heroes take care of the situation.

* GlamorousWartimeSinger: The season 5 episode "Ghosts of Christmas Past", dedicated to BobHope and USO, casts Catherine Bell as one back in 1969.

* HauledBeforeASenateSubcommittee: The first Secretary of the Navy in the series, Alexander Nelson, gets called before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence to answer for his unauthorized intelligence activities carried out by JAG lawyers. Ironically enough, the Chairman of the Committee, Edward Sheffield, ends up becoming his successor.
* 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.]]

* InMemoriam: When Trevor Goddard, actor who played Mic Brumby, died in June 2003 the season 9 premiere episode "A Tangled Webb" part 2 ended with one of these showing a clip from "Life or Death" (5.13) of the JAG family singing Mic "Waltzing Matilda" as he left to return to Australia.
* InjunCountry: “The Return of Jimmy Blackhorse” in season 3.

* KangarooCourt: An episode set in Iraq has an American judged for violating their territory. While the first part of the trial seems, if not sympathetic to the prisoner, remotely interested in distributing justice, at one point Harm manages to prove that the Marine was on the Kuwait side of the border. Then, a recess is asked, and when they come back, the witness changes the original distance that would prove the prisoner's innocence, and the records from where he stated the other distance just [[BlatantLies magically vanish]].

* LastMinuteHookup: After nine freakin' seasons of WillTheyOrWontThey {{UST}}, [[spoiler: Mac and Harm get engaged in ''the last seven minutes of the series finale'']].

* LongRunner: Ran for ten years, on two separate networks.
* LoopholeAbuse: In the episode "True Callings" when Harm realizes he is a better at a lawyer, he saved a sailor from the brig by pointing out the prosecuting attorney filed the wrong charges, such as "False Imprisonment," which is applicable only to police officers and the like instead of "Kidnapping," and pointed out how the other charge actually invalidates the prosecution's main witness against the sailor by another technicality.
* LostEpisode: Something of a unique example - the first season was to end with an episode called "Skeleton Crew", which ended with a CliffHanger of Harm being arrested for murder. It wasn't aired by NBC, but did air in reruns on USA and was included in the DVD release. While the original episode was never used, footage from it was later included in the third season's "Death Watch".

* MurderTheHypotenuse: [[spoiler: Mac's stalker kills off her ex-boyfriend.]]

* OutOfCharacterAlert: In season 2's "Secrets", Admiral Chegwidden is being held at gunpoint inside his office, and tells Bud over the phone to get him a specific case file. Harm and Mac realize the file the Admiral asked for is about a sailor who held his CO hostage, tipping them off.
* PaidForFamily: One episode has a marine refusing to testify in his own defense, because he believes it will dishonour the memory of a dead friend. Vic, his lawyer, brings in the dead friend's father, who reads a letter his son sent him about how the thing that killed him was an accident waiting to happen, which gives the marine courage to tell the truth about how his friend died. [[spoiler: Both the father and the letter were fake— Vic hired an actor to encourage his client to take the stand.]] Of course, this action being morally suspect at best, the lawyer does get called on it by his superiors.
* PardoPush: During Harm's brief return to flying carrier operations, he found himself flying with another Tomcat during the Kosovo War. The other jet was damaged and losing fuel, and would not make it over a mountain range before they could leave Serbian territory [[hottip:*: It is a general rule of thumb in air warfare to try and avoid bailing out over the area you just bombed]]. Harm used his own jet to physically push the other plane to keep it in flight long enough to clear the mountains. [[RealityIsUnrealistic This was based on a Real Life incident]].[[hottip:*: Of course, [[InterServiceRivalry the Air Force did it in real life.]]]]

* PhonyVeteran: In season 5's "Real Deal Seal", Medal of Honor recipient and Navy Seal team leader Lieutenant Curtis Rivers rips off the SEAL-trident of a congressional candidate falsely claiming to have served in Vietnam as a Navy Seal.

* PlotParallel
* PoorlyDisguisedPilot: Two episodes introduced most of the ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' characters.

* RightWingMilitiaFanatic: in season 4’s "Rivers' Run" Harm and Mac defends Navy Seal Lt. Curtis Rivers in a kangaroo court under the “common law” held by anti-government separatists in West Virginia.

* RippedFromTheHeadlines: Female combat pilots in the Navy? The WarOnTerror? Issues with various aircraft? You pick 'em, this show has 'em.
* SacredHospitality: A gypsy BrotherSisterTeam that shelters Harm during his quest to [[IWillFindYou find his father]].
* SaveTheVillain: Chegwidden serves as defense counsel to the captured Al Qaeda third banana in “The Tribunal” because he doesn’t want anyone of his people to be forced to defend him. However, Sturgis volunteers to sit second chair because he wants to “be part of history”.

* ShowWithinAShow: In season 4’s "War Stories", Admiral Chegwidden while on leave gets persuaded by a Hollywood producer to act as technical advisor on the movie “Fields of Gold” which is a navy-themed action adventure with a court-martial. Chegwidden is a FishOutOfWater as the [[ThisIsReality Real Navy]] differs quite a lot from the [[SelfParody Reel Navy]], and HilarityEnsues.

* VacationEpisode: the two-parter "Boomerang", filmed and set in Australia, could be seen as an example of this trope.

** Bud bonds with a suspected terrorist in a possible example of this trope. [[spoiler: Both are fans of ''StarTrek'', and Bud uses this to obtain information about an attack.]]
** Later, when [[spoiler: he's recovering from his leg injury]] he befriends the Admiral's current girlfriend, a professor of Shakespeare, by noting how several episodes of ''StarTrek'' borrow from some of Shakespeare's plays.

* ShoutOut: Bud being a sci-fi nut; he gives the occasional reference to ''StarTrek'' and ''QuantumLeap'', even naming one of his kids after James T. Kirk. Don Bellisario even cameos as himself at a sci-fi convention, and his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is featured in one episode. The StarTrek connection is interesting considering it has the same copyright holder as JAG (i.e. CBS/Paramount.) Cross-promotion anyone?

** JayLeno

** Johnnie Cochran
** BillOReilly

So there's Trek fans among the fictional Seahawk crew aside from Bud, so an implied subversion of ''Hollywood Nerd''.
** In Season 2’s "Washington Holiday" (itself a take on ''RomanHoliday'') when the Rumanian Princess has escaped from doing her duties and went to a night club instead: Harm, as her military escort dressed in whites, carries her back to the limousine causing a woman in the background to say: "This is so like ''AnOfficerAndAGentleman''".
** Seasson 4, episode "The Adversaries"

* MilitarySalute: Seen plentiful times during the series. And done well too.

** It is also interesting the first Scifi reference in the show - in the pilot, when Captain Boone (the CAG) and Lt Arrutti return from a flight, as Boone is about to get out of the cockpit, one of the yellow-shirt flight deck crew starts to paint on the F-14, and Boone comments, "Chief, if I bagged a Klingon, I believe you'd know what Flag to paint on her" - to which Chief Ned Bannon replies "Klingons are Easy, now a Romulan Warship now that might be a problem, they're invisible". So there's Trek fans among the fictional Seahawk crew aside from Bud, so an implied subversion of ''Hollywood Nerd''.

** In fact, only the JAG lawyers acts like ideal police. Everybody else is concerned with controlling the publicity.

--->'''Captain Howell:''' I always did like Yank SEALs.

* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: In the second part of season 5's "Boomerang", after Harm and Mic get into a fight that inadvertently breaks Bud's jaw (he stepped in between their simultaneous punches), Admiral Chegwidden, with the approval of Mic's superior officer, offers them "non-judicial punishment". He takes them to an empty building, opens the door, and tells them they are not to leave until they inflict damage and pain [[LetsYouAndHimFight on each other]] equal to what they inflicted on Bud. The next day in court, they both look like they went 10 rounds with the heavyweight champ.

* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: In the second part of season 5's "Boomerang", after Harm and Mic get into a fight that inadvertently breaks Bud's jaw (he stepped in between their simultaneous punches), Admiral Chegwidden offers them "non-judicial punishment". He takes them to an empty building, opens the door, and tells them they are not to leave until they inflict damage and pain [[LetsYouAndHimFight on each other]] equal to what they inflicted on Bud. The next day in court, they both look like they went 10 rounds with the heavyweight champ.

** They also filmed aboard the frigate USS John A. Moore (FFG-19) for the season 3 episode "Tiger, Tiger", aboard the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74) off the coast of California for the first episodes of season 5, and aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Peleliu (LHA-5) for season 6 episodes.

* RealLifeWritesThePlot: Catherine Bell's pregnancy in late season 8, as her character temporarily served as judge to hide the fact. And later that season she follwed Clayton Webb on a secret mission to Paraguay posing as his pregnant wife...

* TheCameo: Oliver North appears in a few episodes (two in the first season) as himself.

* FakeRussian: Harmon Rabb's half brother Sergei Zhukov is played by Canadian Jade Carter. Evidently he won the part over several Russian actors.

* GlamorousWartimeSinger: The episode dedicated to the USO in Vietnam casts Catherine Bell as one.

* HollywoodNerd Subverted in places, particularly less than five minutes into the series, where one of the Pilots and Air Crew of the USS Seahawk (one of the series fictional Aircraft Carriers) banter about what taking out Klingons and Romulans would mean when painting on kill symbols onto the F-14. Played almost straight in other places, like with Bud and his various "nerdy" interests.

** Constant references to the Uniform Code of Military Justice (and upon occasion the Manual for Courts-Martial) terminology and articles: particularly articles 31 and 32, the first is the equivalent of MirandaRights and the latter is the pre-trial invesigation. MakesSenseInContext.

* CoolPlane: Harm more than once climbs into the cockpit of an F-14 Tomcat [[spoiler: and also flies F-18s, C-130s, a Mig 29, a Boeing 747 airliner, and the Aurora spy plane by the time the series ends]]. Not to mention his very own Stearman biplane "Sarah". (named after his grandmother and not his co-worker).

* CourtroomAntics: Mostly averted, save for one instance where Harm fired a loaded machinegun during a trial. [[NeverLiveItDown No one lets him forget about that either, particularly the judge presiding over the case.]] Budd later uses a loophole so the incident will not count as a black mark on Harm's record.

* MilitarySalute: Seen plentiful times during the series.

* NamesTheSame: Harm's Boeing Steerman biplane is named "Sarah", named for his grandmother. This causes a bit of confusion for Major Sarah Mackenzie when Harm is taking her for a ride and she thinks he has [[ShipTease started calling her by her first name.]]

* MilitarySalute

* NoOneGetsLeftBehind

** Season 5’s “Rules of Engagement”
** Season 7’s “Dog Robber, Part 2”
** Season 9’s “Posse Comitatus”

It produced a spin-off, ''{{NCIS}}'', which has somehow managed to become [[MorePopularSpinoff more popular]] than its parent series[[hottip:*:not least in Britain - ChannelFive dropped the parent show, but not the spinoff]].

*** SpinOff NCIS has recently started carrying on the tradition with style.

* PlayingAgainstType: Faran Tahir initially plays to type when he appears as an Al Qaida-aligned terrorist in the NCIS pilot episodes, but makes a second appearance on the program as a different character, a CIA operative who Harm manages to smuggle out of Libya.

* PoorlyDisguisedPilot: Two episodes introduced most of the ''{{NCIS}}'' characters.

* SpinOff: ''{{NCIS}}''.