An Evening with the Cast and Crew of NCIS

The cast and crew of NCIS were honored at the 27th Annual Paley Festival held at the Saban Theatre on Monday March 1. The evening started with the Paley Center’s welcome video, followed by a short clip of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. from 1966, which starred David McCallum, who is, of course, the senior member of NCIS.

Immediately following that clip and just like the previous nights, Craig Hitchcock, Vice President and Executive Director of the Paley Center for Media in Los Angeles, greeted the audience and excitedly stated, “I just meet David McCallum back stage. He talked to me.”

Co-Executive Producer and Writer Gary Glasberg was then brought on stage to introduce the episode that was to be screened: “Mother’s Day”, guest starring Gena Rowlands, Rena Sofer, Leann Hunley and Adam Kaufman, which aired on CBS the following night.

Once the screening was complete, the night’s moderator – Kevin Frazier from Entertainment Tonight (ET) – came on stage and told the audience that he loves being the ET correspondent who reports on NCIS because he loves the food provided on set, he believes the cast are the best group of people and he likes it that the show’s set is far removed from Hollywood to give a break from all the craziness.

Pauley Perrette was absent in person, but there in spirit / Wireimage

Then the crew and cast of the number one rated program on television were introduced, starting with Executive Producers Mark Horowitz, Chas. Floyd Johnson and the aforementioned Gary Glasberg. Then each cast member was brought out: Rocky Carroll, Brian Dietzen, David McCallum, Mark Harmon, Michael Weatherly, Cote de Pablo and Sean Murray. Much to the disappointment of the audience Pauley Perrette was not part of the panel, as she was in Paris for a photo shoot.

The group  settled in with some ripping on the unusual sweater that Michael was wearing, a good-natured head slap by Mark to Michael after making a boating reference toward his character Gibbs and platitudes to David’s longevity in the industry – with him stating, “I’m probably the luckiest person in this whole room; I truly mean that.” – the Q&A session went into full swing.

The cast and crew shared the following:

• The show does very well internationally with fans recognizing the cast immediately; yet here in the States when Michael states he works on NCIS some reactions are, “You work for a radio station?”;

• Sean hopes the novelist part of McGee comes back, but he couldn’t recall what McGee’s books were about to which Michael reminded him in great detail how McGee made up characters exactly like the NCIS team;

• Cote was surprised by the fan reaction to ‘Tiva’ (the pairing of her character Ziva and Michael’s character Tony) as “it was not something we ever planned” and that “as long as we keep that unfulfilled sexual tension” it will be better;

• If Brian had any say in the casting of the very attractive actress who starred as the “morgue girl” who agreed to go on a date with his character Jimmy in the episode that was screened – to which he said he didn’t, but that it is “nice to see Jimmy get back in the saddle”;

Michael Weatherly, Cote de Pablo, and Sean Murray / Wireimage

• The cast talked about all the great guest stars the show has featured over the years, including Hal Holbrooke, Ralph Waite, Charles Durning, recent guest star Gena Rowlands who wanted to be on the show because she watches it every day on USA and even High School Musical star Zac Efron, who Cote mentioned numerous times;

• Cote still gets lost in translation, much like her character Ziva, even though she came to “this country when she was 10”;

• Michael and Cote shared a silly game they frequently play where he states a city and she is suppose to name their sports team (despite her not knowing sports), but gets them wrong nearly every time such as the following conversation shows:

Michael: “Baltimore”
Cote: “Bats”
Michael: “Seattle”
Cote: “Sox”
Michael: “New Mexico”
Cote: “Nuggets”
Michael: “Miami:
Cote: (after a slight struggle) “Dolphins”

• This exchange prompts Chaz Johnson to announce that a board game for the show should be out this summer, which prompts Cote to ask if there are action figures included in the game, which leads her to joke about bobble heads of the cast being part of the game and that prompts her to shake her head back-and-forth like a bobble head and joke with Michael much to the enjoyment of the audience;

• Kevin joked with Sean about if his character McGee will ever stop being called “Probie” by Tony – to which he answered, “No, it’s a nickname, a term of endearment”;

• Michael shared his thoughts on the show’s longevity by stating at the end of Season 4 he thought “one more” (as in can we get one more season) and then at the end of Season 5 it was “we’re still alive”;

Mark Harmon and David McCallum / Wireimage

• Rocky then chimed in that he told Mark he would like to see the show “run longer than Gunsmoke”, joking that “I just got here”; but then with sincerity Rocky stated the cast is a “real family unit” and Cote whole-heartedly agreed saying, “we really are like a family, and sometimes we…” only to be interrupted by Michael saying (all in jest), “Shut up”.

Before the audience is invited to ask questions, Gary, Chaz and Mark Horowitz give credit to the writers who are in the audience and then each cast member states their favorite episode:

Sean – “Probie”
Cote – “Hiatus”
Michael – “Every show when it finishes I just think, that’s my favorite”
Mark – “Call of Silence”
David – “Heartland”
Brian – “Requiem
Rocky – “Faith”

Some of the better audience questions fielded by the cast and crew were:

• What’s the deal with CafPow (the drink that Abby – Pauley Perrette – always has)? – to which Mark Horowitz states that came from show creator Donald Bellisario, as he wanted Abby to drink “something that had a lot of caffeine similar to the Big Gulp”;

• Is Mark Harmon more comfortable with computers than Gibbs? – to which he answered, “ I can do email; I’m a little better”;

• What is David’s grand wish? – to which he stated, “I have a funny dream, and that is when I die and go to heaven, every single character I’ve ever played is waiting for me.”

With that being said, the night’s panel came to a close and the fans swarmed the stage for autographs, which the cast was more than happy to provide.

NCIS airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on CBS.