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On the Set: Inside Mark Harmon's Quiet Command of NCIS

It's Talk Like a Pirate Day a few days early on the set of NCIS, at least for one guest actor who is waving a gun in the faces of a handful of hostages aboard a ship that has been commandeered in international waters. Among the captives is one Leroy Jethro Gibbs, taken by surprise while investigating what had looked to be an empty vessel. There's just enough of an echo of Captain Phillips in this scenario that you can picture the pirate in question suddenly declaring, "I'm the special agent now." Instead, the hijacker is ...

Tue, Oct 7, 2014

On the Set: Inside Mark Harmon's Quiet Command of NCIS

NCIS: Los Angeles Promises More Action and Romance in Season 6

LL Cool J may have participated in CBS's salute to the Beatles earlier this year, but he certainly won't be singing "We all live in a yellow submarine" when his Sam and Chris O'Donnell's Callen find themselves trapped in a hostile submersible as NCIS: Los Angeles opens its sixth season. Last May's cliffhanger found the partners taking an...

Mon, Sep 29, 2014

NCIS: Los Angeles Promises More Action and Romance in Season 6

Sneak Peek: Scott Bakula Previews NCIS: New Orleans

If you're seeking a metaphor for acting, you couldn't do much better than the body-jumping premise of Quantum Leap. In the 21 years since that series went off the air, its star, Scott Bakula, has leaped into a striking array of characters, with an initial emphasis on more sci-fi (Star Trek: Enterprise) eventually offset by a turn toward naturalistic dramedy (Men of a Certain Age). But playing a cop on a network procedural? Inexplicably, that seemingly inevitable move had proven a leap too far. This oversight has finally been rectified with Bakula's role as the lead in NCIS: New Orleans, premiering on CBS Sept. 23 in the coveted Tuesday time slot immediately following the franchise's flagship series...

Wed, Aug 27, 2014

Sneak Peek: Scott Bakula Previews NCIS: New Orleans

Finale Preview: NCIS Pays Tribute to Ralph Waite

There won't be any loose ends or jangled nerves at the close of May 13's finale, which honors the late actor Ralph Waite and sends his character, Jackson Gibbs, to his final resting place.

Tue, Apr 29, 2014

Finale Preview: NCIS Pays Tribute to Ralph Waite

NCIS: LA Stars Eric Christian Olsen and Daniela Ruah Drop Intel on Deeks and Kensi

It may not be safe to entrust Eric Christian Olsen with spoilers. "I'm off to go get killed," he says, picking himself up from a shaded picnic table and heading back out into a Southern California winter heat wave...

Wed, Mar 5, 2014

NCIS: LA Stars Eric Christian Olsen and Daniela Ruah Drop Intel on Deeks and Kensi

Mark Harmon and Michael Weatherly Preview an NCIS Flashback

On a nearly 100-degree day in Los Angeles, drought-stricken Griffith Park stands in for Baltimore in the fall. The NCIS cast members on hand are sweating it, since they're all wearing their agency jackets. Michael Weatherly (aka Tony DiNozzo) has it the worst, since he has to sprint up and down hills after a suspect. In the next setup, he's standing over a corpse, trying not to drip sweat on the poor actor who's playing dead. "Can a dead body get a sunburn?" he ad-libs. The line stays in. After the cameras stop, Weatherly compliments his other scene partner on his deadpan reaction. "I love it when I say that and look up at you," he tells Mark Harmon (Leroy Jethro Gibbs). "Nobody does that slow burn like you." Gibbs will be...

Tue, Oct 15, 2013

Mark Harmon and Michael Weatherly Preview an NCIS Flashback

Exclusive: Mark Harmon on the Next NCIS Spinoff

Goodbye, Tiva. Hello, NOLA! This spring, watch for a two-part sweeps episode of NCIS that will also function as a pilot for NCIS: New Orleans. If the CBS drama is given the go-ahead, it could be on the air as soon as next fall. Mark Harmon is set to be one of the new show's executive producers, which may surprise anyone who remembers that he wasn't crazy about the idea of NCIS: Los Angeles four years ago. What convinced him that a spinoff wouldn't dilute the mother show?

Tue, Oct 8, 2013

Exclusive: Mark Harmon on the Next NCIS Spinoff

Exclusive: Cote de Pablo Talks About Her Decision to Leave NCIS

NCIS fans have long memories. They fondly recall the scene back in Season 4 when Ziva David, then still a visiting Mossad agent, announced to Tony DiNozzo, "I will kill you 18 different ways with this paper clip." So when the woman who so engagingly played Ziva for eight seasons, Cote de Pablo, announced she was leaving the series, grief-stricken devotees sent paper clips to CBS in protest. But even that couldn't keep Ziva attached.

Tue, Sep 24, 2013

Exclusive: Cote de Pablo Talks About Her Decision to Leave NCIS

NCIS: LA Finale Preview: Will Kensi and Deeks Hook Up?

Can Kensi and Deeks put the mate in teammate? That's the question on NCIS: Los Angeles, where the long-simmering tension between Daniela Ruah's and Eric Christian Olsen's characters threatens to bubble over in the Season 4 finale.

Tue, May 14, 2013

NCIS: LA Finale Preview: Will Kensi and Deeks Hook Up?

First Look: NCIS: LA Spinoff Sees Red

"There's often the question, 'Why would you do a third one?'" NCIS and NCIS: Los Angeles executive producer Shane Brennan admits of the franchise's next spinoff, which will launch as a two-part "embedded pilot" on NCIS: LA March 19 and 26. "'How would it be different?'"

Tue, Mar 5, 2013

The Scoop Behind Michael Weatherly's Dr. Phil/NCIS Webisodes

On NCIS, Tony DiNozzo is always getting his head slapped, but does he need to have it shrunk, too? Michael Weatherly has created a couple of surreal YouTube clips in which the raffish agent is confronted by Dr. Phil at the behest of concerned buddy Jimmy Palmer — based, he says, on...

Tue, Dec 4, 2012

The Scoop Behind Michael Weatherly's Dr. Phil/NCIS Webisodes

Exclusive: NCIS Cast Gathers for Roundtable Tell-All!

"This is all just a setup," says Pauley Perrette, walking into the NCIS writers' room north of Los Angeles. Michael Weatherly fatalistically adds: "This is where we all..." Brian Dietzen finishes the thought: "...meet our end." Not bloody likely. Sure, the series did off a couple major characters in the first five seasons (RIP, Lauren Holly's Jenny), and some significant recurring characters have met their makers in the five years since (Mike Franks, we hardly knew ye!). But the chances of any of these eight diehards going down anytime before the show ends its run are about the same as the odds of Gibbs cracking a sustained smile. Speaking of which: When we gathered all eight regular cast members of TV's No. 1 drama for a historic summit, their fearless leader, Mark Harmon, was largely the quiet man out. When his colleagues finally called him on his reticence, he swore he was having too good a time listening to everyone else's banter. As you read this unprecedented full-cast gabfest, you'll know exactly what he means.

Tue, Nov 6, 2012

Exclusive: NCIS Cast Gathers for Roundtable Tell-All!

On the Set: NCIS: Los Angeles Hits the Beach For a Hawaii Five-0 Crossover

On the NCIS: Los Angeles set this March day, there's even more bull in the bullpen than usual. The number of buff leading men wearing too-tight shirts has suddenly doubled, and so has the quick-fire banter. Several of the law enforcers on hand need to be inoculated against smallpox, since their mission is to bring down a madman intent on infecting the population with the virus. "I'm not a big fan of needles," squeaks Eric Christian Olsen, as Deeks. "I'll buy you ice cream if you don't cry," promises Kensi (Daniela Ruah). Linda Hunt, aka Hetty, plays the straight woman, telling Deeks: "You might feel a...

Tue, Apr 24, 2012

On The Set: Celebrating NCIS' 200th Episode

One of Southern California's peculiar mid-winter heat waves is keeping things toasty on this early January afternoon, so the setting isn't particularly conducive to sudden chills. But you might get one down the spine anyway if you're visiting the NCIS set, since the whole damn soundstage is spook-infested. Darby Stanchfield is making one of her rare appearances on the series — rare because her character, Shannon Gibbs, got killed 20 years ago. Which, if you're doing the math, is more than a decade before...

Wed, Jan 18, 2012

On The Set: Celebrating NCIS' 200th Episode

NCIS Stars Pick Their Favorite Episodes

With NCIS' 200th episode approaching on Feb. 7, we asked the cast, along with current show-runner Gary Glasberg, to share some favorite episodes or scenes from the first eight and a half years.

Tue, Jan 17, 2012

NCIS Scoop: More DiNozzo/Gibbs Flashback Secrets

Michael Weatherly is in the makeup chair on the NCIS set, getting his brunette hair and long sideburns touched up. He's shooting "Baltimore," the May 5 episode that will flash back at hairy length to show the fateful meeting between his Tony DiNozzo and Mark Harmon's Jethro Gibbs, ten fictional years ago. Writer (and co-producer) Steve Binder sits nearby, in case the script needs any touching up along with Weatherly's dye job.

Mon, May 2, 2011

NCIS Scoop: More DiNozzo/Gibbs Flashback Secrets

NCIS Exclusive: When Tony Met Jethro

Tony DiNozzo is being utterly condescending to Leroy Jethro Gibbs for the very first time — and the last. Shooting an NCIS interrogation scene unlike any other, Michael Weatherly and Mark Harmon are in flashback mode, circa 2001, facing off as captor and the captured. An abandoned newspaper ...

Tue, Apr 26, 2011

NCIS: Trouble for Tiva?

"Tiva" fans, brace yourselves. Tonight's NCIS (8/7c, CBS) is the first episode to feature love interests for both Michael Weatherly and Cote de Pablo — not counting each other. Sarah Jane Morris (Brothers & Sisters) — last seen moving in for a kiss with Tony DiNozzo — returns as special agent E.J. Barrett. And it's the first guest shot for Ziva David's long-built-up boyfriend Ray Cruz (Enrique Murciano).

Tue, Apr 5, 2011

Exclusive: NCIS: Los Angeles Blows Up!

It's ice-cream-sundae Thursday on the set of NCIS: Los Angeles, and almost everyone is indulging between takes. Even LL Cool J, who moonlights as a fitness guru. "Hey, you've earned it," a crew member tells the überbuff rapper/action hero, as if he needs anyone's consent for a sugar rush. The collegial atmosphere continues as Chris O'Donnell passes Daniela Ruah and Eric Christian Olsen, who wrapped their roles a half hour ago yet have stuck around to yak over their Ben & Jerry's. "Don't you two have homes?" O'Donnell demands to know, breezing on by before Ruah has a chance to kickbox his behind. Apparently the lone holdout, O'Donnell hasn't taken any...

Tue, Mar 15, 2011

First Look: NCIS' Michael Weatherly Gets His Shot

With the March 1 episode "One Last Score," Michael Weatherly becomes the first NCIS cast member to direct the CBS hit. "Believe me, I knocked on the door a long time," he tells TV Guide Magazine. "Mark Harmon has always said nobody here wants anybody else's job — and here I am, trying to do somebody else's job."

Mon, Feb 21, 2011

First Look: NCIS' Michael Weatherly Gets His Shot

On the Set: NCIS Welcomes Bob Newhart

Shooting a scene in the autopsy lab on the NCIS set, Bob Newhart looks a bit absentminded, and an interloper might not know whether to chuckle. The TV legend is playing Dr. Walter Magnus, who preceded Ducky (David McCallum) as the unit's medical examiner. Looking over a corpse with Gibbs (Mark Harmon), Ducky suggests their old colleague add his forensic two cents. "Walter, why don't you jump into some scrubs? ...Walter?"Newhart's hesitancy in responding isn't far off from the trademark stammer he made into a science on two of TV's most beloved sitcoms, The Bob Newhart Show (1972-78) and Newhart (1982-90). Since NCIS is a drama in touch with its lighter side, you might guess the visiting icon was cast in "Recruited" to capitalize on his levity. Not so. The former doc...

Tue, Jan 18, 2011

Annie Wersching Heads to NCIS

As Renee Walker on 24, Annie Wersching was all business — at least until a final, fateful clinch. But on tonight's episode of NCIS (8/7c, CBS), Wersching is only part business as Deputy DA Gail Walsh. Her character in the episode titled "False Witness" is "very ambitious and hardworking," says Wersching, "yet she also has some drive to get part of her personal life going. So she's interested to see if anyone at NCIS is a prospect"—like, specifically, Tony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly).Since Wersching's only signed on for one episode...

Tue, Dec 14, 2010