How huge is “NCIS”? So big even its time-slot competitor “Glee” can’t ignore it. In an episode last month, the Fox show’s Puck worked in a diss of the procedural by saying, “My Nana watches that!”
True, “NCIS” may not rule the jazz-hands and acne crowd, but even by the peculiar logic of the TV industry, where 55-year-olds who purchase luxury automobiles count for nothing but unemployed students who can barely scrape together the price of a Pepsi get advertisers excited, CBS’s veteran Navy crime show comes out on top.
Among 18-49-year-olds, “NCIS” trounced “Glee” by 800,000 viewers last week. Overall, “NCIS” hooked 18 million viewers — more than its simultaneous competitors from the other three big networks combined. For the season, “NCIS,” which wraps up its ninth year on Tuesday, continues to be the No. 1 scripted show on TV (third overall, behind only “Sunday Night Football” and “American Idol”).
Does it hurt to be mocked by twerpy little Gleeks? Nah, says series showrunner Gary Glasberg. “We get a kick out of stuff like that,” he says, as imperturbable as his iron-jawed ex-sniper hero Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon). “There’s no ill will in any way. We’re happy to be mentioned.”
“NCIS” can’t boast of a wall full of Emmys like “Mad Men,” but Glasberg doesn’t whine about that either. “We’re very fortunate to have the viewership that we do.”
That viewership adds up to about eight for every one watching Don Draper. “Specific to awards,” Glasberg continues, “I would love to be able to get all of these people some acclaim and recognition, but we’re just going to stay focused on making good television.”
Each episode of “NCIS” reflects a kind of American ideal: A team of divergent personalities works together with total focus on a common problem, taking a moment here and there for some good-natured office ribbing. Psychological traumas and raunchy situations it leaves to those artsy-fartsy cable types.
“NCIS” is about efficiency, problem-solving and unabashed patriotism for Middle Americans who aren’t looking to be shocked. Bad guys get caught, tune in next week for more of the same.
“There’s humor, there’s compassion, there’s suspense, there’s a mystery that’s solved in the span of an episode,” says Glasberg, 45. “ I think it delivers on many different levels, and it’s satisfying. It’s like comfort food. It really works in terms of giving people an entertaining experience.”
Glasberg, who took over official showrunner duties this season for the first time after two years as co-executive producer, speaks warmly of the show’s other great appeal — it’s positive portrayal of the military, a rarity in television and movies.
Glasberg consults constantly with technical adviser Leon Carroll, a longtime Marine and NCIS agent, and is in regular touch with service personnel all the way up to Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, with whom he shares “what I hope is a friendship.”
Coming to the show without any familiarity with the military, he says, “has been an eye-opening experience for me. I wasn’t entirely aware of how far-reaching the NCIS is — in the scope of their job, in taking care of and protecting our military. These people work very, very hard around the clock protecting our friends and our loved ones. It’s a mind-bogglingly important job, and if we can dramatize that and do it in a way that’s entertaining and informative and fun, then I’m happy to do that.”
A typically rousing “NCIS” moment came last week, when Gibbs got a mad bomber of Navy ships to give up his boss by saying, “You have no rights. You’re a terrorist on a US vessel and we’re invoking the Patriot Act.” Told to “enjoy Cuba,” the bomber started to open up.
“That’s vernacular that Gibbs has gone to before,” Glasberg says. “As in any interrogation scene, it’s something that he might use to get some information. I wouldn’t read too much more into it than that.”
But that’s the appeal of the show: its tidiness. Through “NCIS” eyes, the War on Terror is as easily sorted out as if in a John Wayne movie. The show is probably the most conservative fictional program on television — no handwringing over the politically correct way to take down terrorists. It even manages to work in some cheerleading for American ties to Israel, in the character of the beautiful ex-Mossad agent Ziva David (Cote de Pablo).
Another appeal is the cozy, collegiate feel of the office, where the crime scene investigators meticulously work out each piece in the puzzle — usually with a Starbucks coffee in hand. The closest he comes to bragging is when he says, “In our own workplace it is similar. People who come to work for us don’t want to leave.”
He adds, “A lot of that comes from Mark Harmon. He’s made it a very pleasant place to work.”
Could he picture the show without 1986’s Sexiest Man Alive? “I can’t wrap my head around a version that doesn’t include him.”
For now, it’s back to work: Glasberg won’t finish post-production on the season finale until tomorrow, the day before it airs, after which he is looking forward to “a lovely little nap” before the writer’s room reopens for business in June.
How long will the show run? It wouldn’t be professional to hazard a guess, but Glasberg allows, “There have been entertaining comparisons to ‘Bonanza’ and ‘Gunsmoke.’” Those shows ran 14 and 20 seasons respectively, but given “NCIS”’s ratings, it could easily catch both. That should leave plenty of opportunities for Gibbs to make a crack about “Glee,” but don’t count on it: “NCIS” proves that being the sober, determined grownup in the room can work just fine.