NCIS
News (Page 7)

Earlier today, Michael Weatherly spoke on his beloved NCIS character of Tony.

Now, following a CBS casting announcement, the actor probably has a lot more to say: Robert Wagner will portray Tony's father on the 150th episode of TV's top-rated series. The milestone installment will air in January.

On the small screen, Wagner most recently appeared on five episodes of Two and a Half Men in 2007-2008.

In a coincidental twist, Weatherly played Wagner in the 2004 TV movie The Mystery of Natalie Wood.

There's no "i" in NCIS. Oh, wait, there is. While TV's #1 show features a talented cast from top to bottom, Michael Weatherly has probably shined the most so far this season.

In the heart-stopping Season 7 premiere, "Truth or Consequences," Weatherly's Tony DiNozzo was featured in an episode that seemed engineered to show off his character.

Whether he's tormenting McGee, being chastised by Gibbs, flirting with Ziva (Cote de Pablo) or annoying pretty much everyone, he's remained front and center ever since.

In an interview with TV Guide Magazine, Weatherly talked about his juvenile character, a song he has coming up on the NCIS soundtrack and much more. Excerpts below:

On NCIS now being TV's No. 1 show, not just the No. 1 non-reality show: "I just don’t want anything to change. No. 3 is kind of better. They’re still not gonna cancel you if you’re No. 3. But now everyone’s looking. It’s kind of like when they give you the ball in football."

On just now starting to attract younger viewers: "We had a stinky stigma ... the Navy NCIS and Diagnosis CSI and the JAG-Off - whatever attached to us. But when people see the show at face value, free of any association, they just like it.

And for some reason they seem to be finding CBS at 8:00 on Tuesday. I think [younger viewers] like the whole bratty sibling thing. Somebody came up to me yesterday and they said, “You were very annoying on the show the other day.” And I said, “Then I’ve got a job.”

On not doing a crossover with NCIS: Los Angeles: "I won’t do a crossover, unless they put a gun to my head. It won't help them, and my character is really only valuable in the context of Ziva, Gibbs and McGee. Robbed of his context, that guy might really be inappropriate."

On his parents' reaction to the spinoff: "My parents thought immediately that meant I must be losing my job to someone. After the second episode aired, my mom called from Rhode Island. She said, 'It’s a big year. You don’t want to maybe bring it down like two inches off the waist?'

I hired Sting’s trainer, because Sting, that guy, boy he looks good. I figure if I’m gonna be doing NCIS into my 50s, I should get in good shape. I don’t think we’re going home soon."

On torturing Sean Murray's Tim McGee: "Sean has been doing this growing thing where I started referring to him as Tim [and not “Probie”]. But you don’t want to get too far away from it. You know what I mean? Probie does have to be Probie.

One of the things audiences often don’t think about is the reason Tony is a jackass is so Gibbs can correct him, because then Gibbs looks authoritarian, which is what he is. Part of the dynamic of the show is that Tony irritates people, but when he’s not around, they kind of miss him."

On knowing his role: In the episode “Bounce” last year, where Tony put the wrong guy away three years earlier when Gibbs had retired, and now the guy had gotten out of jail and it turned out that he didn’t do the embezzling, Gibbs was like, “Well, it’s your case.”

It was ostensibly my episode, so I had to lead the team. And when it aired, my mother and my father were both like, “Well, you weren’t very convincing as the lead.”

And I said “Right! So, job well done.”

Rena Sofer has nabbed a potentially recurring role on NCIS.

The beautiful actress - who has appeared on 24, Heroes and Two and a Half Men, among other shows - will play an attorney on TV's top-rated show.

No word yet on when she'll premiere or how mny episodes she'll appear on.

Cote de Pablo hails from the nation of Chile, whereas her character on NCIS, Ziva David, is of Israeli descent. Only one of them is a trained killer with ice in her veins.

Still there are parallels between the two, as TV Guide learned, not the least of which being their sober professionalism in the face of certain people's goofiness.

Yup, we're talking about both Michael Weatherly and Tony DiNozzo. Below are excerpts from the magazine's recent Q&A with the super-serious special agent.

Q: So Ziva gets to be “probie” for a while now?

Cote: Wellll, as probie as Ziva can be. She gets teased specifically by DiNozzo, who just finds it the funniest thing in the world. But it bothers her tremendously.

Q: You were the last major piece of the NCIS puzzle, at least for the core group. You’ve been here four years now. How long did you feel like a probie?

Cote: I never felt like a probie on this show. I always felt I belonged, like I was just a part of it from the very beginning, as soon as I stepped on set. I never viewed it as anything else but “This is my role and this is my family and this is what I do.”

Q: Your character has gone through some attitude changes lately, from angry and defiant at the end of Season 6 to repentant at the beginning of this one.

Cote: Yes, [Ziva's] got what I think you could call anger issues. She thinks she’s been betrayed by her family, particularly her father. That’s a big deal to her. Which would also explain her love and relationship with somebody like Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon).

Q: Can you describe the screen test that got you the job?

Cote: hen I came in and did my audition, Michael Weatherly went off script, and I just thought “Oh my God, this guy is sabotaging my audition!” And I immediately perked up and went “I will not allow this actor to do this to me.”

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The lead character on TV's #1 show, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, is unlike most - on NCIS or beyond. Gibbs is a strong, silent type in charge of strong, outspoken types.

Tony DiNozzo even described Gibbs as “a functional mute” to a curious terrorist in the Season 7 premiere. While Leroy may utter slightly more words than are necessarily for survival, the point made by his contrastingly mouthy subordinate was well taken.

Luckily, the actor who plays Gibbs, Mark Harmon, while also strong, is a little less silent. In a Q&A with TV Guide, he talks about where the characters on NCIS are headed and how, perhaps not surprisingly, he doesn’t want to know where they’re going.

Like he would tell you anyway. That's classified, people. Excerpts below ...

On being called "the #1 show on TV" ... "I don’t know that you get tired about that. This group so deserves it in a business where deserve doesn’t matter. It’s truly odd that we would be in year 7 doing the best numbers we’ve ever done. But I think we’re doing it better than ever, too."

On NCIS shedding the stigma of a "military drama" ... "It takes time and we’re in a business here where sometimes you don’t get time. This show jumped off somewhere in the 30s [in the Nielsen ratings], and that’s where we were for a while. And slowly, with the build of summer reruns, we started getting some more viewers."

On developing characters on a procedural show ... "All of us here signed on to play specific characters. I’ve never been part of an ensemble like this where everybody’s just so happy playing the role they’re playing. You can’t write Abby lines for Gibbs, and you can’t write Gibbs lines for DiNozzo, and you can’t write DiNozzo quotes for McGee, and you can’t write Ziva lines for anybody. Everybody is personally driven by the characters we all play here."

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There's no new episode of NCIS this week.

But here's a look at what fans can look forward to on November 3, when TV's top-rated show returns with an installment titled "Outlaws & In-Laws."

During the hour, two dead mercenaries are found on board Gibbs' boat. As a result, the team is forced to look at an old friend in a new, unfortunate light. Also: viewers get a look inside Gibbs' living room!

Check out a few stills from the episode below:

What is perhaps most exceptional about NCIS is that it can consistently feature such sharp dialogue, fast-paced action and intricate scripts in episodes that could be pure filler.

Last week, Ziva's relationships with her family were explored, as was the back story of the plot that brought her to Africa last season. This week? She's just Agent David.

Agent David who gets teased relentlessly by smart-ass Tony, of course. Surprising for characters on a procedural crime drama, the Tony-Diva dynamic is a treat to watch.

As for last night's case, it was vintage NCIS. Dead marine, multiple suspects, Gibbs putting all the pieces together just as the team was about to arrest the wrong person.

A three-tour vet turned up dead on Halloween and the agents were convinced that his practical joking ways got the best of him. Except Tony, who thought his wife did it.

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Any NCIS viewer knows that the chemistry between Tony and Ziva is palpable.

But does that mean the NCIS special agents played by Michael Weatherly and Cote de Pablo will the current will-they-or-won't-they tension to another level?

It's certainly possible, but don't hold your breath, says Weatherly.

”Look at it from a practical angle,” Weatherly told Entertainment Weekly. “It’s Kryptonite! She’s an assassin! That’s like marrying a hooker. You gotta be real comfortable with the fact she’s gonna hook! Seriously, I don’t see how, domestically, (a relationship) would work."

Still, he adds, "But that’s me. Tony DiNozzo is completely unaware."

Would you want to see NCIS' Tony and Ziva form Tiva?

So far this season, NCIS fans have seen Ziva give Tony a peck on the cheek in the season premiere, when Tony and the team rescued Ziva in North Africa.

Whether things progress remains to be seen, Weatherly says whatever is going to happen between these combative personalities will not be at all cheesy.

"If I sense a beat coming up where I have to do something that feels forced and inauthentic," he teases, "Which I think would involve holding hands with Ziva, I will assume it’s because some greater hand is at work that involves a terrible ending.”

Halloween comes early on NCIS next week.

It also comes full of murder, as a marine turns up dead after a practical joke goes horribly wrong. Watch the official CBS trailer for "Code of Conduct" below:

As always, TV Fanatic will publish a detailed recap of events from the episode soon after it airs, complete with the latest NCIS quotes and pics from the hour.

In the meantime, click on the photos below to enlarge still images from the episode:

Forget Ziva and Tony for a moment, NCIS fans.

Producer Shane Brennan told TV Guide this week he's excited about a storyline he has planned for Abby this season, one that heavily involves Gibbs.

"[Abby] does have a special relationship with Gibbs, [who has changed] because of the journey he has taken over the past two-and-a-half seasons," Brennan said. "Most people will see that Gibbs smiles more now; he's kind of warming up. There's certainly more to learn about the relationship between Gibbs and Abby, and we play toward that in this special arc of Abby's."

In its seventh season, NCIS has firmly established itself as the top-rated show on TV.