Scott Bakula's 'NCIS: New Orleans' Riding High After Tough Road, by Stacy Jenel Smith

Things are very nice indeed for Scott Bakula these days. His "NCIS: New Orleans" earned the distinction of being the most-watched new series of last season. Folks in the Big Easy have taken to the show to the point "It's a love fest. ... It's like we have the key to the city," says the star.

But it was anything but easy to get here.

With series including "Quantum Leap," "Star Trek: Enterprise" and "Men of a Certain Age" already under his belt, the affable actor knew exactly what he was getting into when he jumped back into the demanding world of the hour drama. Adding to the challenges: "My family wasn't and isn't going to be able to move to New Orleans, so it meant I was going to be commuting and we had to figure all that out. That was the biggest concern of mine — and I would say we got through the first year pretty darn good. And if we could make it through the first year..."

Indeed. That first year, he was still finishing his stint as entrepreneur Lynn on HBO's "Looking" series while beginning "NCIS: New Orleans." He spent much of September 2014 aboard planes, heading back to Los Angeles for the Emmy show, up to San Francisco for "Looking," to Dallas and back to New Orleans and then out again — often on two hours' sleep after all-night shoots. "It was just tough. But anyway, my family rallied behind me and my wife Chelsea has been amazing," he says of his mate since 1996, actress Chelsea Field. "This year is already off to a better start."

Besides Bakula's commuting to Los Angeles, his family has flown down to New Orleans to be with him. "They've had some good times down here," he says. My son who is in college came down and interned for the first three weeks of this season's production in July. He's a musician so he worked with the music department. He had a good time. That's Wil. My youngest son, Owen, was down for his 16th birthday. We jumped in the car and drove over to Pensacola and went to the Gulf of Mexico there, to the white sand beaches and had a birthday party there. He brought a friend. We're trying to make do."

Still, by the end of last season's production, Bakula made it clear, "I'll do anything you want during production, but I would like to try to not get on a plane for a while if I can avoid it.'"

Meanwhile, according to St. Louis native Bakula, at first the people of New Orleans were a bit cautious about embracing the new "NCIS" in their midst.

"They're so protective. It's the only place I've been where I've heard people claim ownership of their city — 'How do you like my town?' 'How do you like our city?' They have a vested interest," he notes. Once they realized how New Orleans was being portrayed in the series, however, the hesitancy melted away. "They've been extraordinary in welcoming us." And in granting access. For the first episode of this season, for example, "we blew up a huge propane bomb on the main bridge in and out of the city on a Sunday afternoon. I don't think we'd be allowed to do that in New York."

Bakula believes, "When you're making a movie or TV series in a city, it's kind of like camping; you've got to leave the place nicer than when you got there. We try to do that everywhere we go. We want to be able to come back."

"NCIS: New Orleans" has been welcoming also. Most of the crew is local, with local connections. And then there's the music aspect, so dear to the heart of music-loving Broadway veteran Bakula. "My first goal there was to employ as many local musicians as I can, show as much of the local music scene as I can. On top of that, name musicians have reached out to us," he adds. Dr. John, who was on the season opener, was one.

The storyline that has Bakula's Dwayne "King" Pride character fixing up a dilapidated nightclub in which his mother used to sing is servicing these musical aspirations.

Who is on Bakula's wish list? "There are so many great musicians that come from here, I don't want to offend anybody by naming just one," he replies, "but I'd love to have Harry Connick on. That would be just off the charts to have him play."

As for his own job, Bakula says he enjoys the character creator-producer Gary Glasberg invented for him to play. Pride, he says, "has great gusto and love of life. He wears his emotions on his sleeve and I like that. He's got great pride in his city and the people who live there. He's had this bump in his life with his divorce, but there is a certain respect between him and his wife. He has a great relationship with his daughter."

This is a lot of dimension and color for a character on a military drama/police procedural.

"There's so much procedural on TV, and we want to do that well and be as truthful to that reality as we possibly can," remarks Bakula. "And at the same time we want to push through that and get to the human part of the show."

As for the physical demands, "I spend a lot of time trying to take care of myself and stay in shape so I can do these things. I run all the time, and work out as much as I can. You've got to in order to survive the days and the temperature. The extreme hardship of shooting in 90-degree-plus weather for three months. with 12-hour days, all outside, is going to wear on you," he notes. "It's sweltering humidity. We put on our black crime jackets and our black hats and the sun beats down and we go to work. It's part of this job. You have to be smart about how you deal with this heat. Everybody tries to help everybody else, and make sure you drink enough water. You try and eat the right way.

"The first three months or so, before you get to October, it's pretty much of a battle. But then once you get to October it kind of settles in and October and November can be a lot like L.A. and then you get into Winter. We get a little bit of everything here."

Ahead for the show, he says, "Hopefully we'll continue to build, to keep it interesting and real." It's a good bet that they will.