Mark Harmon - NCIS - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: 'NCIS' reaches 200 episodes

Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette [follow link for complete article]



PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE: 'NCIS' reaches 200 episodes

Wednesday, 01 February 2012
Written by Rob Owen


CBS’s “NCIS” remains the No. 1 scripted drama this season and next week it hits the 200-episode mark, quite an achievement for a series that didn’t become an indisputable hit until about five years into its current nine-season run.

Generally TV shows are either successful out of the gate or grow into hits over the course of a season or two. Five years to become a hit? That’s not the norm.

At a CBS press conference last month, “NCIS” star Mark Harmon attributed the show’s ratings improvement so late in life to multiple factors.

“From the very beginning, we were a show that wasn't good enough to get all that noticed and wasn't bad enough to get canceled,” he said. “And we had a lot of time just to get to know each other and just to do this show and just to work on the foundation of what this show started as. And we've had changes along the way that have, in my opinion, greatly influenced us...”



NCIS cast includes Brian Dietzen, Sean Murray, Cote de Pablo, Rocky Carroll, Mark Harmon, David McCallum, Pauley Perrette and Michael Weatherly


... The series’ 200th episode (8 p.m. Tuesday, CBS) will also seek to treat long-time fans with past guest stars returning as Gibbs (Harmon) sees his life flash before his eyes when a gunman shows up at a diner while Gibbs has his morning coffee.

“There's a certain element to the season that's been about decisions that our characters have faced and decisions moving forward and decisions looking back,” said “NCIS” executive producer Gary Glasberg. “As far back as last summer, I sort of had a sense of what I wanted the episode to be. And it starts with a pivotal moment for Gibbs that he faces. … It literally looks back at key moments throughout nine years of ‘NCIS’ where decisions have had to be made and, had people gone one direction instead of another, how the world would have ended up. And it brings back familiar faces, old faces, faces fans don't think that they'd see again...”