Entertainment NOW

2 • September 18 - 24, 2022 Entertainment Now By Sarah Passingham TV Media C rime never sleeps and neither do the agents who make up the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Returning for its Season 20 premiere Monday, Sept. 19, "NCIS" debuts a crossover event with its sister series, "NCIS: Hawai'i," which follows with its own Season 2 premiere. The two- part crossover premiere airs on CBS. The long-running police procedural currently stars "The Ranch" actor Wilmer Valderrama as Special Agent Nick Torres, Brian Dietzen ("Congratulations," 2012) as Dr. Jimmy Palmer and "Arrow" star Katrina Law as Spe- cial Agent Jessica Knight. Together they make up part of the Major Case Response Team for NCIS, the organization that investigates crimes involving members of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. The original "NCIS" series is set in Washington, D.C., and has elic- ited spinoffs in several other Navy hubs, including Los Angeles, New Orleans and, of course, Hawaii. The Pearl Harbor-set se- ries is led by Vanessa Lachey ("BH90210") as Special Agent Jane Tennant. "Claws" actor Ja- son Antoon stars as cyber special- ist Ernie Malik, Noah Mills ("The Falcon and the Winter Soldier") as Tennant's second-in-command, Special Agent Jesse Boone, and Alex Tarrant ("The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power") as new recruit Kai Holman. "NCIS" also recently said goodbye to original cast mem- ber Mark Harmon ("Chicago Hope"), who had portrayed NCIS Supervisory Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs since the very first episode of the series 18 years ago. Harmon revealed why he left the show after wrapping up Gibbs' story in Season 19, Episode 4, say- ing, "What has always drawn me here is the character I play and to keep it fresh and to keep it chal- lenging." Gibbs' final appearance saw the special agent find peace in Alaska after he and his team were sent there on a case. Whether Gibbs has hung up his blue NCIS cap for good, however, is up in the air. "I'm not retired," Harmon stat- ed in the same DVD extra features interview. "The character is living in Alaska as far as I know." In the same series of fea- turettes, executive producer Chas. Floyd Johnson ("JAG") noted that they deliberately left his plotline open. "We left it to the fact that we didn't know if Gibbs could return," Johnson said. "He didn't say, 'I'll never come back.' There was sort of a hope that if there was ever a need, we might see Gibbs again." Gibbs' departure left a gap in leadership in the NCIS Major Case Response Team that had to be filled. Last season of "NCIS" saw Special Agent Alden Parker, played by TV veteran Gary Cole ("The Good Fight"), take on the supervisory role for the team — a man whose work for the FBI initially connected him with Gibbs. In a PaleyFest interview with Entertainment Tonight Canada, Cole spoke about Parker becom- ing the new supervisory agent, saying, "I just look at it as another character; I don't think it's a sub- stitution or anything like that. The way they had my character enter was, I think, very smart writing because they had him involved with them first." When asked about the pros- pect of another 20 seasons of "NCIS," Cole had a good laugh before joking, "That would take some special writing now, wouldn't it? Ten years from now, let's see. I don't know who I'd be chasing, but they'd better not be very fast." Cover Story Wilmer Valderrama, Vanessa Lachey, Jason Antoon, Brian Dietzen and Katrina Law in "NCIS" Safe seas: Agents chase down naval crime in 'NCIS' crossover premiere Ready Rental 3 x 4 Hayley Siefert 3 x 2 Letters & Numbers Sudoku Fill in the grid so that every row,every column, and every 4x4 box contains the digits 1 through 9 AND the letters A-F. Solution on page 12. Advertise Your Business In Call Advertising at 217-477-5105

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