Warning: This article contains spoilers for Tuesday’s episode ofNCIS, “Gut Punch.”
“I was like, no, this is not going to be romantic.”
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Mark Harmon has done the show for so long.
Husband-and-wife costars Mark Harmon and Pam Dawber on ‘NCIS’.Bill Inoshita/CBS
Had it become a regular occurrence, people asking you when you were going to appear onNCIS?
Or it was near Christmas and it was like, “I can’t do this.
I’ve got my parents coming into town.”
I just haven’t been interested in, you know, chasing the business.
At this age, that’s what you do.
You’d have to reallywantit.
I just don’t want to put myself out anymore.
You know the old song,“I haven’t got time for the pain.
“Then I guess they had created this character Marcie.
Mark didn’t tell me about it.
I’m going to turn him down.”
And he goes, “Well, you might want to read this.”
The character is so good.
I just fell in love with what they wrote.
And then I had anxiety like, “Oh my God, am I goingto do this?”
What was making you nervous?
Well, how everybody has a large-screen HDTV.
All of the fear bubbles to come up.
Can I even remember lines anymore?
What if I suck?
Let’s talk about your story line.
It’s a continuing story where Gibbs [Harmon] gets himself in trouble.
My character is a journalist.
She’s likeRobin Abcarianat theLos Angeles Times.
We’ve become pen pals.
I actually stole one of her lines that we inserted into the script.
She found out where Gibbs hangs out and tried to cozy up to him because she wants information.
Did you make it clear to the writers you didn’t want it to evolve into a romance?
They said not at all, that’s not where we’re going with this.
What was it like working with Mark in that moment?
Did he dare give you any feedback?
My husband is so supportive of me.
He’s just a giving, great guy.
He just gives me attagirls, you know?
It’s fun because Gibbs grunts out a lot of lines.
He doesn’t give a lot.
So they go toe-to-toe.
He frustrates the hell out of Marcie.
So they’ve got this oddball relationship where they’re checking each other out.
She doesn’t understand whether is he a truth teller.
Is this guy for real?
And he’s thinking sort of the same thing about her.
Do you know your way around set because you’ve heard Mark talk about it for so long?
Oh, I’ve been around that set.
I’ve done tours for everybody that comes in from out of town.
After 18 years, all the same people are there.
Do you feel like you have a fiduciary duty to be a fan of the show?
Honestly, I used to watch it all the time and somehow it’s just gotten away from me.
But your hair looks fabulous!
It’s called COVID-19 platinum.
There’s been speculation that your appearance means Mark is getting ready to leave.
Like this is a final love letter for fans.
That has nothing to do with anything.
This is just a good storyline.
So is this arc a one-time thing?
I’m not sure it’s over!
NCISairs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.
