{"id":6699,"date":"2016-09-26T09:24:12","date_gmt":"2016-09-26T13:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/exclusive-interview-showrunner-gary-glasberg-talks-ncis\/"},"modified":"2016-09-26T13:35:46","modified_gmt":"2016-09-26T17:35:46","slug":"exclusive-interview-showrunner-gary-glasberg-talks-ncis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/exclusive-interview-showrunner-gary-glasberg-talks-ncis\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive Interview: Showrunner Gary Glasberg Talks NCIS"},"content":{"rendered":"

PREMIUM: Showrunner Gary Glasberg talks about creating new characters for season 14 of NCIS<\/em>, while also looking after the successful spin-off, NCIS: New Orleans<\/em>.<\/p>\n

TV DRAMA:<\/strong> More than once, NCIS <\/em>has had to deal with major characters leaving the show. What is the mind-set in the writers\u2019 room as you decide what kind of character you want to create?
\nGLASBERG:<\/strong> I truly believe that when you have a major character leave a series, as we\u2019ve had with Michael, that it\u2019s not about replacing that character, nor is it about replicating that character, it\u2019s about moving forward with the series. The goal was to come up with new characters, something very different, something fresh that brings energy to our team, that gives us the enthusiasm to move forward and continue making this show that we\u2019re excited about and proud of.<\/p>\n

TV DRAMA:<\/strong> Given the fact that NCIS<\/em> has been renewed for two more years, is this a good time to have some fresh people come in?
\nGLASBERG:<\/strong> It\u2019s a real gift to have a two-season pickup, because you never know if you\u2019re going to have time to develop those characters and flesh them out and figure out who they are. So much of the success of NCIS <\/em>is about the characters. As you know, it\u2019s this family that 20 million people tune in to in the U.S. every week to spend time with. Yes, we come up with cases and procedural story lines, but at the end of the day, it\u2019s about these people, and here we have an opportunity to add to that family, and we want those personalities to stand out and fit together like a puzzle.<\/p>\n

TV DRAMA:<\/strong> How do you balance the ongoing stories of the characters with the procedural structure that has made NCIS <\/em>so valuable to CBS and such a popular show?
\nGLASBERG:<\/strong> The show has evolved over the years. If you go back and watch the balance of procedural to characters in season one or season two, there was a very different structure than the way we approach the storytelling now. There\u2019s still a case to be solved, there are still procedural elements and the roller-coaster ride of the tension, but the amount of time spent on the procedural cases in many ways has changed, because we want to take the time to spend with our team. Whether it\u2019s a Gibbs personal story, or Fornell or McGee or Abby or Ducky, we want to spend time with them and let our audience continue to get to know them. So very often we\u2019ll do a story that is quite procedurally streamlined and simple in order to have a significant character story, and in another episode, we\u2019ll mix it up and we\u2019ll do a significant crime. We try and balance it and vary it week to week as much as we can.<\/p>\n

TV DRAMA:<\/strong> When you joined the series it was already a very valuable franchise. What strengths did you see and how have you built upon them?
\nGLASBERG:<\/strong> The thing that always struck me about NCIS <\/em>is the extraordinary balance of humor and pathos and heart and quirkiness and fun, along with solving a crime. In the world of procedural television, very often that\u2019s not the case. [Other procedural shows] are just focused on the police story of it and don\u2019t have the time to have some fun and get to know who the characters are. From day one I recognized\u2014and I credit [NCIS<\/em> co-creator] Don Bellisario because he always understood this\u2014that even though the early seasons revealed less about the characters, the show has given all of us the opportunity to continue to peel back the layers and understand who we\u2019re dealing with here, and get to know them. Since the day I arrived, the thing that I brought to all the writers was, let\u2019s go home with Vance, let\u2019s meet his children, let\u2019s spend more time with Gibbs in the basement, tell me about Ducky\u2019s past. Those are the things that entertain me, and I\u2019m thrilled that viewers have responded in a similar way.<\/p>\n

TV DRAMA:<\/strong> Both the characters and the actors are a very close-knit group. Does that kind of harmony also contribute to the longevity of the show?
\nGLASBERG:<\/strong> It\u2019s funny, I laugh at the word \u201charmony,\u201d because when you break it down, you\u2019ve got Mark Harmon\u2019s name in there! Paying a real compliment to Mark Harmon, that kind of chemistry exists as strongly off-screen as it does on. And a lot of that trickles down from the approach that Mark takes to his participation in the show and the vibe and the sensibility that he brings to work every day. This is a team of people\u2014and you can look at the fact that I recently re-signed this entire cast, in season 13, to come back for two more years\u2014who genuinely enjoy each other. They love coming to work and appreciate the gift that they\u2019ve been given with the success of the show. When we filmed Pauley Perrette\u2019s first scene of season 14, she was skipping around like a schoolgirl, literally saying to me, \u201cI\u2019m so excited to be back! I\u2019m thrilled!\u201d To be there 14 years into a show is crazy, but it\u2019s lightning in a bottle, and when you have a group of people that are still enjoying themselves like that\u2014that\u2019s pretty unique.<\/p>\n

TV DRAMA:<\/strong> How did NCIS: New Orleans<\/em> come about?
\nGLASBERG:<\/strong> Several years ago, I approached Mark [Harmon] with the idea of doing, at the time, just a sweeps episode that took place in New Orleans. I had heard that there was this tiny little office in New Orleans that dealt with local Navy and Marine Corps\u00ad\u2013related crimes. Mark, to his credit, said, \u201cGary, that\u2019s not a sweeps episode, that\u2019s a series.\u201d The next thing I knew, I was sitting in a network office, pitching to the people at CBS, and they agreed. We wrote a pilot as a spin-off episode, and we were fortunate enough to put this cast together, and now we\u2019ve entered season three. It\u2019s been a wonderful, fascinating, crazy ride, and the show is doing great.<\/p>\n

TV DRAMA:<\/strong> A broadcast network\u2019s season runs 22 to 24 episodes. You have that times two! How do you work with the two writers\u2019 rooms?
\nGLASBERG:<\/strong> Well, I learned very quickly that it\u2019s not humanly possible to do it all yourself, so I have a very talented assortment of producers and writers, on both shows, that help me keep things in balance. Brad Kern, one of my executive producers on New Orleans<\/em>, alongside Chris Silber, is running the day-to-day things there. Then I chime in as appropriate, and certainly have been along for the ride for the whole way, but I couldn\u2019t do it without them.<\/p>\n

TV DRAMA:<\/strong> On both NCIS<\/em> and NCIS: New Orleans<\/em>, the agents often collaborate with the FBI and Homeland Security. What consultants do you have from the various government agencies that help you keep the procedural parts of the stories realistic?
\nGLASBERG:<\/strong> Part of what makes us a little different from a lot of other shows is that from the beginning, we\u2019ve been very involved in working directly with the Pentagon, the Navy and the Marine Corps, and their liaisons, and with the real NCIS. Whether I\u2019m in communication with the real director of NCIS, Andrew Traver, or talking to the Secretary of the Navy, Ray Mabus, we get on the phone and discuss what\u2019s important to them, what they are looking for, how we can benefit from their participation. They chime in on stories. In addition to that, I have specific consultants. A former agent named Leon Carroll, Jr. has been with the mother ship since day one\u2014he\u2019s on set every day. Leon is an invaluable part of our team, and is there to guide us in terms of how real agents would handle a situation, and we try to keep things as grounded and accurate as possible.<\/p>\n

TV DRAMA:<\/strong> Have you fashioned any characters after real-life agents?
\nGLASBERG:<\/strong> I can\u2019t be specific and tell you this came from one agent or another. But there are absolutely things that come up, [maybe from] a trip to Quantico, NCIS headquarters, where I saw something or I talked to somebody. There are so many little bits and pieces that end up in scripts. That\u2019s the fun part for us; that\u2019s the excitement. With the addition of Wilmer Valderrama, who plays an undercover agent, we\u2019re in the process of talking to a retired deep-cover agent who had 30 years of experience under his belt. To hear those anecdotes and then try to figure out how that fits in with our show, that\u2019s what we love as writers.<\/p>\n

TV DRAMA:<\/strong> In addition to Wilmer Valderrama, are there other characters joining the series?
\nGLASBERG:<\/strong> We have three new characters. At the end of last season, we introduced a British actor named Duane Henry. Duane is going to be participating with us in sort of a part-time way but as a regular character on the show. He\u2019ll play an MI6 agent named Clayton Reeves and he\u2019ll be appearing in a few episodes in season 14. We have Wilmer Valderrama joining us as NCIS undercover agent Nicholas Torres. [He plays] a very rich character with all sorts of complexities and sides to him. With his background from That \u201970s Show<\/em> and the fact that he can play the humor, the strength and the pathos, I think he\u2019s going to be a terrific addition to our group. And then we have Jennifer Esposito, who is a CBS fixture, coming off of Blue Bloods<\/em> and all kinds of other wonderful projects that she\u2019s been a part of. She\u2019s joining us as an NCIS agent as well, named Alex Quinn, a former instructor who has been teaching agents and returns to the field. She has a longstanding relationship with Gibbs. So we\u2019ve got all of these wonderful new personalities that we\u2019re adding to the great foundation of people that we already have, and it just feels fresh and fun and different. I know it\u2019s a lot of people, but we\u2019re all excited about taking everything and turning it on its head a little bit, and coming at it from a different direction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PREMIUM: Showrunner Gary Glasberg talks about creating new characters for season 14 of NCIS, while also looking after the successful spin-off, NCIS: New Orleans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":289,"featured_media":6700,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[70],"tags":[1331,220],"class_list":["post-6699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-top-stories","tag-gary-glasberg","tag-ncis","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\nExclusive Interview: Showrunner Gary Glasberg Talks NCIS - TVDRAMA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/exclusive-interview-showrunner-gary-glasberg-talks-ncis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Exclusive Interview: Showrunner Gary Glasberg Talks NCIS - 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