NCIS’ Best Character Was Officially Called Out by a Real Forensic Expert

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Though it’s one of the most-watched crime shows ever, NCIS doesn’t always get the details right. The show started in 2003 as a continuation of JAG, but quickly became even more popular. Now, with over twenty seasons full of mysteries and excitement, NCIS has spawned several spin-offs like NCIS: Los Angeles, NCIS: New Orleans, NCIS: Origins, and Tony & Ziva. While the show focuses on police investigations, its real appeal lies in its characters, who have become favorites among television viewers.

Even though fans love the characters on NCIS, the show isn’t always realistic when it comes to police work. A forensic science expert is now pointing out how one of the original characters, a popular forensic scientist, wasn’t a believable portrayal of the job. Sadly for fans, the expert says the character was far from realistic.

NCIS’s Abby Sciuto Is Unrealistic, According to Science

Pauley Perrette became a fan favorite as Dr. Abby Sciuto on the original NCIS, appearing for fifteen seasons. Abby was a forensic scientist at the NCIS headquarters in Washington, D.C., using her expertise to help solve challenging cases. She was known for her close, father-daughter-like bond with Leroy Jethro Gibbs (played by Mark Harmon) and her warm relationships with her colleagues, especially Tim McGee (Sean Murray). While NCIS presented Abby as a top professional, a real forensic scientist has a different perspective. Matthew Steiner, a former New York City police detective and lead crime scene instructor with twenty years of experience, recently shared his thoughts on how NCIS depicts forensic science. Like many experts reviewing fictional portrayals of their work, Steiner wasn’t entirely impressed with Abby’s methods. In an interview with Rachel Foertsch, Steiner explained why there’s no real-world equivalent to the character of Abby Sciuto.

You’ve likely noticed Abby Sciuto from NCIS – she’s involved in practically every aspect of an investigation. Whether she’s at the crime scene itself or back in the lab analyzing evidence like ballistics and fingerprints, she handles it all. If anything needs to be done, day or night, the team calls on her.

She’s working completely alone; there isn’t anyone else to help share the workload. It makes you wonder if one person can really handle all of that.

Absolutely not. That idea – the ‘know-it-all’ expert – goes way back, like to the character of Sherlock Holmes. It’s this idea of a person, like Abby or Dexter, who always has all the answers and is skilled at everything.

Becoming an expert in even one specific area of forensic science takes years of dedicated work. What often appears simple on television – like collecting fingerprints – actually requires thousands of hours of practice and analyzing countless samples to perfect. And that’s just one piece of fingerprint analysis; there’s also the complex chemical development process and the detailed lab analysis involved.

It’s rare for someone to be a true expert in more than a couple of areas. People who claim to be widely knowledgeable are often exaggerating their skills.

Becoming truly skilled in fields like anthropology, pathology, crime scene investigation, bloodstain analysis, or shooting/crime scene reconstruction takes years of dedicated study. It’s impossible to master all of them – each one requires a lifetime of expertise.

I was thinking about the sheer amount of training these characters go through, and it’s staggering. It’s like, eight years just for medical school, then a residency, and if they specialize – say, becoming a forensic pathologist – that’s years more. Honestly, it struck me that someone would have to dedicate their entire life just to master all those skills. It feels… unrealistic. No one realistically has that much time, you know?

Steiner points out that the character Abby Sciuto from NCIS isn’t realistic. The show depicts her as exceptionally skilled in numerous fields – technology, chemistry, pathology, and anthropology, among others – allowing her to single-handedly solve crimes. However, Steiner argues that mastering so many disciplines would take an impossibly long time. In reality, a crime scene investigation would distribute Abby’s various roles across multiple specialists and departments. While it’s entertaining to watch Abby’s brilliance at work, her skillset doesn’t reflect how criminal investigations actually function.

NCIS’s Abby Makes Sense for the Show

Abby Sciuto’s character on NCIS isn’t realistic when compared to how actual criminal investigations work. Real investigations involve much larger teams of specialists. Because NCIS has a limited number of main characters, it makes sense to combine all those different expert roles into one character – Abby – who seems to know everything. It’s more practical for the show to have investigators visit Abby’s lab once per episode instead of going to multiple locations and consulting with many different experts. The show sometimes hints at other experts contributing, but usually behind the scenes. There are often mentions of a larger team, but they aren’t regularly featured characters. This doesn’t change the fact that no single person could actually have all the skills Abby does, but her role is essentially a combination of several different jobs you’d find on a typical investigative team.

Abby is a common character type in police and detective shows. In an interview with ScreenRant, creator Steiner pointed out that many characters fall into this pattern – they appear to be experts in numerous fields, which is clearly unrealistic. While this isn’t how detective work actually happens, audiences love these highly skilled detectives, and many successful shows rely on this very trope. Characters like Abby Sciuto, Sherlock Holmes, Dexter Morgan, and Shawn Spencer might stretch believability, but they consistently deliver engaging television.

Why Did Abby Sciuto Leave NCIS?

Abby Sciuto, a highly respected and beloved forensic scientist on NCIS, left the show in 2018 and has since paused her acting career. Her character’s departure involved a dangerous attack where her friend Clayton Reeves was killed protecting her. Following this, Abby decided to leave NCIS and start a charitable organization in Clayton’s memory, moving to England to do so. This marked her final appearance on the series.

Since Abby left the show, NCIS hasn’t updated her job to feel more authentic. Diona Reasonover’s character, Kasie Hines, stepped into Abby’s role and receives similar criticisms as Abby did – mainly that her work isn’t entirely realistic. NCIS, like many shows, has limited time to tell its stories, which sometimes means sacrificing accuracy in its portrayal of criminal investigations. However, thanks to engaging characters like Abby and Kasie, viewers generally overlook these inaccuracies.

NCIS is available to stream on Paramount+.

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2025-11-05 01:42