Check Out More ‘NCIS’, ‘NCIS:LA’ & ‘Criminal Minds’ News & Spoilers

Here’s a collection of questions, interviews, videos, photos, casting information, and tweets for NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles and Criminal Minds that have been posted over the past several weeks. (Contains spoilers!)

NCIS

Check out this question from TV Line:

Question: Any scoop yet on a McGee-centric episode of NCIS? –Barb

Ausiello: Let’s see if this qualifies: In the first episode back from the holiday break, titled “Kill Chain” and airing Jan. 7, McGee’s girlfriend “Delilah gets really involved in the case, and her and McGee’s relationship moves along a bit further,” show boss Gary Glasberg shares. Of actress Margo Harshman’s latest encore, he adds, “I’ve been thrilled to have her and we’ve got some exciting things planned for her and that relationship continuing this season. It feels real to us and we’re having a good time with it.”

Here are three more questions from TV Line, including a reference to the upcoming spinoff:

Anything interesting coming up for DiNozzo on NCIS? –Mel

Fielding your query, show boss Gary Glasberg says, “Tony has had a year of real change and growth so far. Ziva said goodbye. Bishop said hello. Tony’s friendship with McGee got stronger and his bond with Gibbs wasn’t weakened by change, it was reinforced. And now, for a special 250th episode, Anthony DiNozzo Sr. (returning guest star Robert Wagner) will be back. And along with a riveting crime to solve, Tony will discover there’s a new mystery woman in his father’s life.”

NCIS’ Michael Weatherly tweeted a while back that he was directing an episode this month. Do you have any spoilers/scoops about it? –Marla

As it would turn out, the operative words here are “a while back.” Says Gary Glasberg, “We were planning on that, but we decided to postpone it,” so that Weatherly and his wife could instead spend some quality time with their brand-new son Liam, born on Oct. 29. Weatherly’s next turn behind the camera is thus being rescheduled.

Great suggestions for NCIS: New Orleans actors. Tom Welling would be perfect as Agent LaSalle, and he needs to be back on TV. Is this a possibility? –Patricia

All I can confirm is that spin-off creator Gary Glasberg indeed saw my list of casting suggestions and, I quote, “enjoyed” it. So… I await my 10 percent?

TV Line posted these three questions as well:

I was wondering if you could give me any scoop on NCIS, preferably on McGee or on the return of Susanna Thompson as Hollis Mann. –Ted

I choose… the pretty lady. Show boss Gary Glasberg told me that in addition to playing a “key role” in the Case of the Week when the CBS drama returns on Jan. 7, Ms. Mann also “has this huge back story, in some really terrific scenes with Mark Harmon/Gibbs.”

Any chance we’ll see Wendy Makkena’s character back on NCIS this season? –Mel

As a matter of fact, yes, Dr. Cranston’s services will be needed come Episode 14. But why…?

I am looking to find a recording of the ending song from this week’s NCIS holiday episode. I thought it was beautiful –Joanna

“Nothing More,” by the group Alternate Routes, is available for 99 cents at iTunes — and all proceeds benefit newtownkindness.org.

Emily Wickersham (Ellie Bishop) visited The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on December 19. You can watch the full episode here (starts at approximately 29:30), or check out the interview below:

Arsenio Hall welcomed Rocky Carroll (Leon Vance) to his show last week, and you can watch part of the interview below:

Here are some photos from Twitter—click to see each one full-sized:

This video features Michael Weatherly’s (Tony DiNozzo) “Under the Sun” Unplugged:

NCIS: LA

Danny Trejo will guest star during February sweeps. According to Executive Producer Shane Brennan, “It’s a big episode that takes everyone down to Mexico, where there’s a lot of action as well as character stuff for Callen, Sam and Hetty.”

According to TV Guide, Dylan Bruno will guest star in the upcoming episode “War Cries”, in which he will play “Robert Brown, a former Army intelligence officer who also worked for a private contractor in Afghanistan.”

Check out these photos from Twitter—click to see them full-sized:

The show filmed at a rug store from December 2-4. You can find thumbnails for several photos featuring LL Cool J (Sam Hanna) and Eric Christian Olsen (Marty Deeks) below. Clicking will take you to the original website, which also has more behind-the-scenes shots.

Here’s a couple of tweets from Miguel Ferrer (Owen Granger):

And here are some tweets from Executive Producer John Peter Kousakis:

Criminal Minds

Here are some photos from the 200th episode celebration—click to see them full-sized:

Also check out these other photos from Twitter:

Here’s a question from TV Line:

Question: I’ve been really intrigued by the interaction between Criminal Minds’ Reid and JJ this season. Is that going to lead to any dramatic moments, particularly concerning JJ’s secret/past? Appreciate any scoop you can give on that topic! –Angela

Ausiello: We spoke with A.J. Cook just as she was about to start shooting the milestone Episode 200, which will shed light on JJ’s secret, and she said it is no less that an “action-packed doozie… basically a mini action movie.” Storyline-wise, she shared, “it’s going to explain what JJ was up to when she went away during Season 6, it’s going to explain this weird relationship she has with the new section chief (played by Esai Morales), and it will explain the things that have happened in her life that have made her perhaps a little bit tougher than she used to be.” As for the JJ/Reid interaction you’ve noticed, Cook said that as the (new) flashbacks are unfurled, you’ll see that “it’s all connected” to the main characters. “JJ has a connection through that storyline with everyone, and the writers are brilliant in how they went back and connected all the dots.”

Here’s a video about the upcoming 200th episode featuring Cook and Paget Brewster (Emily Prentiss) from On The Red Carpet:

Thomas Gibson (Aaron Hotchner) did an interview with Parade, and you can read an excerpt below:

Criminal Minds has always been labeled a “procedural,” but it does a really good job of balancing serialized, longer-arc stories with more episodic, monster-of-the-week stories. Which do you prefer?

They both have their advantages. I think the conception of the show was as a procedural, but I think the execution of the show has been something different. The whole procedural form seems to be that we don’t really know who these people are. We only seeing them doing. We don’t see them being. And the work that these people do begs the question, “What makes the people that catch serial killers do what they do?” as compellingly as, “What makes the serial killers do what they do?” That’s an interesting a question as any. So, early on, we went home with a few of the characters, and now we know them all pretty well, I think. But it’s also really fun to make a forty-two minute thriller that has a satisfying ending. I joke that, “Give us forty-two minutes and we’ll get your bad guy for you.” [Laughs] Those are fun to do, but it’s also nice not to get the bad guy all the time. It’s nice to have a longer arc and to be able to work on something throughout a whole season like we did last year.

Gibson also spoke to LA Confidential:

You mentioned directing a few episodes. Tell us what it’s like to work on both sides of the camera.

TG: It’s great. I really enjoyed it. I have been looking forward to doing it all along but because I commute and live part of my time out of town, it’s been a difficult thing to find the right slot. So last year, we were able to come up with a slot that had me prepping the episode to shoot before Christmas and then beginning to shoot it right after our holiday. I’m going to basically do the same thing this year.

The song “Precious Stone”, co-written by Dishwalla lead singer JR Richards and Criminal Minds’ Post Production Coordinator Jason Koiter, was featured in the episode “Bully”, and you can read an interview with the Richards and Koiter on CM_Set Report—here’s an excerpt:

CM: In regards to this song, “Precious Stone,” how did that come about? What was the idea behind it?

J.R.: From a lyrical standpoint, I pictured being in the moments with people you care about and trying to stay focused on what’s important. I know, growing up in a dysfunctional family like everybody else, I’m sure, where people don’t necessarily get along or see eye to eye and you can spend your whole life just turning your back on one another and not getting past the stupid stuff that we get upset about. Coming together. Realizing what’s really, truly important and precious.

JK: So, obviously when the Ep. 911 [“Bully”] script came out, there was this whole thing with Blake and her Dad and her brother and I was like, light bulb.

J.R.: This could work for this.

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