You can't become the number-one drama on television without generating at least a little drama
offscreen. NCIS has had a long time to create those stories; the show first premiered all
the way back in 2003! Here are the facts every NCIS fan should know about the CBS series.
Considering NCIS is about the U.S. military, you wouldn't expect the show to be a big hit
overseas. But since 2013, no fewer than eight NCIS movies have been shown on British television.
If you're wondering why you've never heard of NCIS movies before, don't worry, you haven't
actually missed anything: films like NCIS: Judgment Day and NCIS: War on Terror were
cobbled together by assembling multi-episode arcs from the TV shows into one continuous
story. Binge-watching the old fashioned way!
NCIS is objectively one of the most popular shows on TV right now, if not of all time.
And, as a spinoff of JAG, it's one of the few spinoffs to outlive its predecessor. Where
most shows' popularity drops off over time, that's just not true for NCIS. In its seventh
season, it became the most-watched scripted show on broadcast television. In its tenth,
it surpassed the only two shows in front of it, Sunday Night Football and American Idol,
to become the number one show on network TV. It's never left the top three since. But as
much as viewers love it, it hasn't won very many awards. The show has been nominated for
more than a dozen People's Choice Awards and three Emmy Awards: twice for stunt performers
and once for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series. It did not win any of them.
Law and Order has the famous sound used to transition between scenes:
"These are their stories."
NCIS uses a similar sound effect:
That sound was made by NCIS creator Donald Bellisario personally. When the show was entering
production, he knew he wanted some kind of noise to guide the viewer from scene to scene,
but he wasn't sure what, so he went into a recording studio and started messing around
with a microphone. The one that ended up getting used is just Bellisario tapping on a mic with
the palm of his hand.
Cote de Pablo left the show in season 11, which also ended the arc of the relationship
between her character, Ziva, and Tony DiNozzo. That left Michael Weatherly, who played DiNozzo,
with a lot less to do. He realized that while the show was very good to him, it was time
for him to move on. Weatherly went on to helm the documentary Jamaica Man, started his own
production company, and landed a starring role on Bull.
Actress Sasha Alexander, who moved on to Rizzoli & Isles and a recurring role on Shameless,
was part of the original cast of NCIS when it hit the air in 2003. Acting in a single-camera
TV drama involves a lot of hard work and a lot of long hours, and by the end of the second
season, Alexander was tired of the grind of portraying Special Agent Kate Todd. As then-showrunner
Donald Bellisario was writing the second season finale, Alexander came to him in tears and
asked to be let go; Bellisario complied, spoke on her behalf to persuade CBS executives to
let her out of her contract and then killed off her character. Alexander has since said
she doesn't regret leaving, but wishes it had gotten more press coverage during her
tenure.
NCIS has always been an ensemble show, but there's no mistaking that the star is Mark
Harmon, and for good reason, he's a commanding presence even with a character who's a man
of few words. Leroy Jethro Gibbs doesn't talk any more than he has to, and Harmon can convey
more with a glance or a nod than some actors manage with a monologue. In fact, it's hard
for writers, especially new ones, to figure out how to write dialogue for the character.
Sometimes, before a script is finalized, writers will do what's called a "Gibbs Pass" to determine
what, if any, dialogue can be edited down or removed completely.
The show's quirky/genius forensic scientist Abby Sciuto gets a lot of work done thanks
in part to a steady stream of a potent, caffeine-rich energy drink called Caf-Pow. It's now a real,
commercially available beverage, but it's not what actress Pauley Perrette chugs when
she's portraying Abby. The red stuff she's actually drinking is tart and bitter unsweetened
cranberry juice.
"I was gonna say ten."
Pauley Perrette, who plays Abby on NCIS, is extremely well qualified to play a forensic
scientist. A couple of decades ago, she considered becoming an FBI agent, and she has a Master's
degree in criminal science from Valdosta State University in Georgia, she was even admitted
into the John Jay School of Criminal Science in New York. She worked several jobs to pay
her way through, including as a cook on a boat. Somebody who worked in the coat-check
room told her about a director who was looking for commercial actors, and Pauley Perrette
gave it a shot, earning roles in advertisements as well as guest spots on TV shows before
eventually landing on NCIS.
One of the perks of holding a high rank in the real-life Naval Criminal Investigative
Service, or the U.S. Navy: the possibility of a cameo on NCIS. In 2005, around the time
that he retired from the post he'd held for eight years, real world NCIS director David
Brant guest-starred on an episode as "NCIS Special Agent David Brant." His successor
as director, Thomas Betro, also appeared on the series, making a brief appearance on a
2007 NCIS episode as "Coffee Man." Ray Mabus served as Secretary of the Navy from May 2009
to early 2017, a tenure that included an appearance on a 2009 episode of NCIS as an agent named
"Ray."
Mark Harmon not only headlines the NCIS flagship, he's also an executive producer for the show
and its spinoff, NCIS: New Orleans. That credit isn't just a perk for having been with the
franchise for so long, Harmon is a hands-on producer. He worked closely with fellow producer
Gary Glasberg to develop New Orleans, participating in decisions regarding casting, shooting locations,
and music selection.
In season three, Thomas Morrow was out as NCIS director, and in came Jenny Shepard.
The character shared some history with Gibbs, in that the two were once professional partners
as well as a couple. That mirrors the relationship between the actors who portray Shepard and
Gibbs: Lauren Holly and Mark Harmon. Years before NCIS, the two were both cast members
on the '90s CBS medical drama Chicago Hope, and it's that connection that scored Holly
the role of Shepard. Holly wrote on her official website that Harmon actually reached out when
they were having trouble casting the role, and arranged a meeting for Holly with the
show's creator, Donald Bellisario. She landed the part, which was initially supposed to
just be a six-episode arc before it turned into a three-season run. After about four
dozen episodes, writers killed off Jenny Shepard because Holly was ready to move on to other
roles.
Pauley Perrette was a standout of NCIS's ensemble cast since its beginnings in 2003, providing
light moments as Caf-Pow-fueled forensic scientist Abby Sciuto. It was both a major TV moment
and a big career move for Perrette when she left the show in 2018 after more than 350
episodes.
"You want to help me?"
"Look, just take it and go."
"You want to help me, say it. You want to help me?"
"Yes I want to help you."
"You can't!"
Just after her farewell episode aired, Perrette tweeted out the reason why she fled NCIS:
she reportedly suffered "multiple physical assaults" at work. There was some animosity
and negativity stemming from an incident in 2016 when co-star Mark Harmon brought his
pit bull, Dave, to the set. According to sources that spoke with Radar Online, Dave bit a member
of the crew with such violent intensity that the victim had to get 16 stitches. Harmon
kept Dave at home after that, except for the one time when he couldn't find a dog sitter
and allowed Dave to hang out in his on-set trailer all day. Perrette was reportedly furious
that Harmon's dog was back on the set and started to shout when Harmon tried to explain.
Sources say Perrette even refused to shoot any scenes with Harmon.
Most huge TV shows extend their cultural impact beyond just hundreds of episodes, offering
merchandise for fans to enjoy. It's tough for an adult-oriented crime drama to sell
ancillary items, but NCIS had cash registers ringing for a while, with CBS's website offering
a version of the show's "Bert the Farting Hippo" novelty toy.
"He's supposed to make that noise!"
"You have a stuffed animal that farts?"
"Yeah, it's cool, huh?"
Bert is a cute hippopotamus puppet based on the one that Abby Sciuto kept at her work
station, but which offered a little something extra in that it made fart sounds, just like
the one seen on around a dozen episodes of NCIS. In 2002, Folkmanis, a company which
produces a wide line of stuffed animal-type puppets for toy stores and gift shops, introduced
a hippo, which NCIS prop masters used on TV with little alteration other than dubbing
in farting sounds in post-production. CBS eventually commissioned a more accurate, branded
replica of Bert from Folkmanis, and the toymaker added a spiked collar and a sound box. Then,
according to a lawsuit filed in 2014, CBS's merchandiser went around Folkmanis and sought
out a company in China to make the toys so the network could sell them at a greater profit.
The puppet company wanted more than $700,000, and the suit was settled out of court in 2016.
Like any real government agency office worth its mettle, the squad room in NCIS headquarters
features a "Most Wanted" wall, bearing the images of the worst of the worst criminals
that pose a threat to the United States' safety and security. Over the years, it's featured
all manner of criminals, murderers, and terrorists, some of whom are created for the show and
some real to add authenticity. Once the NCIS good guys eliminate them, they are removed
from the wall. If they're killed, the Most Wanted individual gets a big red stripe across
their portrait. But not all the people on the wall are bad guys, or even real guys.
For a good while, the face of one of the supposedly "at large" criminals belonged to Donald Bellisario,
creator of NCIS.
Connected properties are all the rage in movies, what with the Marvel Cinematic Universe and
the DC Extended Universe, among others, but they're a thing in TV, too. A number of the
CW's superhero shows share a common fake reality, while NCIS is also the connecting point for
a number of television shows, past and present. As it's been on the air for nearly 20 highly-watched
years now, it's easy to forget that NCIS was a spinoff of another, less popular military
drama also created by Donald Bellisario called JAG, which aired from 1995 to 2005. NCIS itself
spun off NCIS: Los Angeles and NCIS: New Orleans, with several actors crossing into the different
shows. Characters from NCIS: Los Angeles guest starred on CBS's Hawaii Five-O, which itself
crossed over with CBS's Magnum P.I. remake. That puts all of those shows in the same universe,
and you could even include Family Guy. In a 2012 episode of the animated series, news
anchor Tom Tucker becomes an actor and lands a gig on NCIS; Mark Harmon plays himself playing
Gibbs.
Some parts seem so tailor-made to certain actors, or they portray the part for so long,
that it's almost impossible to imagine anyone else in the role. Take Mark Harmon as Gibbs,
for example. He's portrayed the taciturn naval investigator for nearly two decades, and it's
the role for which he's most famous. Producers originally had someone else in mind for the
role: Han Solo and Indiana Jones himself, Harrison Ford. According to Amazon, Ford,
who was experiencing a bit of a downturn in his otherwise stellar movie career when NCIS
was being developed in the early 2000s, was one of the producers' favored options to play
Gibbs. Despite associates encouraging him to sign on for the role, he didn't have any
interest in pursuing work on the episodic TV series, and Harmon got the gig.
With about 400 episodes of reliable and satisfying television with high production values and
star power filmed and ready to go, NCIS is an attractive option for worldwide TV syndicators.
It's a particular draw in Japan, where Fox Japan promoted the debut of the eleventh season's
slate of episodes in January 2014 with a rerun marathon. Fox Japan aired the first ten seasons
of NCIS in their entirety and in order. It took a full 10 days to air all 234 episodes,
a period which coincided with the New Year's holiday. The event also earned Fox Japan and
NCIS a literal spot in the record books, the stunt was a shot at the Guinness World Record
for "longest uninterrupted transmission of a TV series."
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