Archive for Executive Producer
Leroy Jethro Gibbs
is unlucky in love.
NCIS fans know this all too well, as it’s part of the fabric of the tough-as-nails special agent. But with two potential love interests in play, is his luck about to change?
“Gibbs is a great character,” says Dina Meyer, who plays madam Holly Snow. “I’d think the audience would like to see his feathers ruffled a little.”
Is she right? Partially. She checked.
“There are people who enjoyed the chemistry that Holly and Gibbs had,” Meyer says, having gone online following her first NCIS appearance, “and there are some die-hard fans who hope their beloved Gibbs stays single and sticks to his job.”
She thinks those fans need to cut their hero a break, though: “He deserves to get a little action here and there!” Meyer laughs. “If the fans really love him, right?”
Meanwhile, a more regular presence this season has been Rena Sofer (24), whose hard-a$$ attorney, M. Allison Hart, initially appeared hellbent on harassing Gibbs.
But clearly it wasn’t that simple … to the chagrin
of many fans. When the duo moved in for a kiss at the end of Sofer’s second episode, it sent groans across America.
Sofer seeks to reassure fans, however.
“One morning, the guard who stands at the front gate of my daughter’s school said, ‘I don’t like you,’ out of nowhere,” she says. “I said, ‘What are you talking about?’ He’s like, ‘What are you doing to Gibbs?’ I’m like, ‘Oh, that. Trust me. You’re gonna like me.’”
In a way, Hart has transitioned from a character you love to hate to (arguably) one you hate to love. It’s unclear to everyone exactly what Hart and Gibbs are doing.
Unclear even to Sofer and Mark Harmon. Which is fine by her.
“This is one of the few shows on TV that doesn’t treat its audience like idiots,” the brunette says. “I really don’t know whether it’s a hookup or not, to be perfectly honest. There’s a very ambiguous feeling about the two of them. I love that!”
So does executive producer Shane Brennan, for that matter. “We love ambiguity on NCIS,” he says, noting that Hart will be featured heavily in this May’s final episodes.
NCIS executive producer Shane Brennan’s tease that Mark Harmon’s Gibbs will be forced to make a “life-changing decision” this May has fans wondering what that entails.
Theories are in no short supply, but one of the more alarming is that Gibbs’ actions, which “will impact every member of the team,” mean Harmon may be leaving the show.
Is there any legitimacy to that? The actor himself weighed in to EW.
“I don’t think so, but I don’t know for sure,” Mark Harmon
said. “That may not stop them from getting rid of me, but I’m having a blast. That hasn’t changed since day one.”
“I have no plans to leave. I have a contract with significant more time on it. That may not stop the producers from getting rid of me, but I have no plans to take myself out.”
That settles that, but still leaves the question of what crisis will befall his character at season’s end and how it ties into Rena Sofer’s lawyer/lover character, M. Allison Hart.
What will the ramifications of Gibbs’ big decision be?
“Whatever [fans are] thinking, they’re wrong,” Harmon says.
“It is never the obvious [thing] on this show. As always, these writers make you think something but it is almost never what you think will happen. I think that it’s good to keep people guessing, especially after seven years.”
“I think it is time to see these people away from their job and with their girlfriends or family. It is time to let out some of those nuggets. We’ve earned them. Fans come for the procedure but we have earned the right to break off another piece of the puzzle.”
Getting back to the big May season finale mystery, Harmon hints that although Sofer’s character plays a part, however “she is not alone. Others will play a part, [too].”
As for what brings another attractive Gibbs adversary, D.C. madam Holly Snow
(Dina Meyer), back to NCIS? “Gibbs will use her in an investigation,” explains Harmon.
“She is an interesting ally, an odd ally, an uncomfortable ally in some ways. But the writers like what Dina did before. A madam character is really pretty fascinating.”
You NCIS
fans must be sick and tired of Rena Sofer news, but from the looks of things she’s not going anywhere – at least for the mean time.
Entertainment Weekly is reporting that Sofer’s Mr. Gibbs-calling feisty lawyer character will not only be making a return on Tuesday’s episode “Mother’s Day” she will be back for “multiple episodes” in May.
Is that the sound of groaning? It gets worse.
Adds NCIS executive producer Shane Brennan, M. Allison Hart will “set in motion a chain of events that forces Gibbs (Mark Harmon) to make a life-changing decision,” a decision which he adds “will impact every member of his team.”
This bit of information suspiciously sounds connected to the little hints that Brennan gave previously regarding the much-anticipated NCIS finale, where he said elements of which have already been included in past episodes this season.
He added then: “The audience has already seen some of the elements – we’ve already started the finale in a way. You won’t see it in every episode, but we’ll tease it out. It’ll be surprising, and this year it’s going to be controversial.”
Could it be a romantic decision for Gibbs, despite the apparent unpopularity of Sofer’s Attorney Hart?
NCIS
returns Tuesday with an episode where Gibbs’ former mother-in-law becomes a witness in a murder investigation.
The only question is when.
And if the wait period for the NCIS episode that featured DiNozzo’s family were any indication, don’t expect to be introduced to Abby’s in the near future. Points out NCIS executive producer Shane Brennan: “We waited seven seasons to meet DiNozzo’s father.”
Good point.
On the other hand, Brennan confirms that we will get to know more about Abby’s backstory eventually, although it won’t necessarily be a meet the Sciuto installment like what happened on “Flesh and Blood” featuring Tony’s dad, and his many uncles and button-collecting grandfather were mentioned.
“We’re not going to wait that long to introduce one of Abby’s relatives. And I wouldn’t even say her relatives — I’d say more of her personal life. The audience loves Abby and I think there’s a lot of rich detail to be explored with that character, so, yes, it will happen.”
There had been other sort of Abby-centric episodes, such as “Bloodbath,” “Driven,” “Cover Story,” and “Silent Night,” where we learned that Abby loves Christmas.
Asked whether we’d see her family in an interview more than a year ago on Bullz-Eye.com, here’s Perette’s response.
“I don’t make up these things; the writers do. But I have all of my own ideas! We know that Abby has a little brother. We know that. And I keep saying, ‘Where’s her brother?’ I’m not sure, but in my head, I have decided…which means, to the writers, absolutely nothing.
“It definitely comes up in the Christmas episode (“Silent Night”), because I played it that way – or I certainly hope it comes across that way, or at least there’s a question mark – as to whether Abby’s father is alive. I don’t think he is. In my head, he’s not. And that also has a lot to do with her relationship with Gibbs. Gibbs lost his daughter, Abby lost her dad.”
All the Tiva fans (and haters) can’t probably wait for it. On the January 26 episode of NCIS, Tony (Michael Weatherly) and Ziva (Cote de Pablo) are sent to the world’s most romantic city Paris and end up having to share a hotel room. On “Jetlag” the two’s assignment to escort a government witness back from Paris encounters a road bump when they learn a hit man may be on their flight home.
But outside this whole procedural stuff, NCIS fans want to know one thing: if the whole set up will result in anything concrete, or will it just be a mighty tease.
“The episode puts them in the most romantic city in the world,” NCIS executive producer Shane Brennan tells Entertainment Weekly, “and it puts them in the same hotel room.”
But more importantly, Brennan adds, the two realize that while “it’s a long road back” there is that realization that “the spark is still there.”
“It doesn’t mean that something is going to be resolved, but it does mean that the journey may have started again,” he closes. So does this mean several seasons worth of flirting down the drain?
The showrunner raises some valid points, though: if you know the kind of rift that the two had in the last season of NCIS, it’s easy to understand why the road back would indeed be a “long” one.
Previously, however, Brennan did say that, “shippers will be happy” with the episode. “There is a scene where Tony and Ziva are outside having coffee in a French restaurant and they end up riding away on a little motor scooter,” Brennan said. “It is very romantic-looking and it is very French and it is very Tony DiNozzo.”
But if we remember it right, this is the same thing he said regarding the season 6 closer: the Tiva fans would love it, and we all know what happened in that stretch.
Nevertheless, if indeed nothing happens on the Paris episode, will it at least mean the start of a long journey back for Tiva?
