Television’s most watched scripted series, CBS’ NCIS, will have Jethro Gibbs travel down assorted roads not taken when the 200th episode, airing Feb. 7 and titled “Life Before His Eyes,” explores some “What If…?” scenarios à la the 1998 movie Sliding Doors.

NCIS showrunner Gary Glasberg, who got the idea for the landmark episode over the summer, tells TVLine, “It very much is about a pivotal moment that Gibbs faces, and it literally looks back at key moments through nine years of NCIS where decisions had to be made, and had people gone in one direction instead of another, how the world would have ended up.”

In revisiting the past through a new lens, Glasberg says there will be familiar faces, old faces, and faces the fans didn’t think they’d see again…. It was a lot of fun. It was a challenge, but it was a lot of fun.”

But in addition to some blasts from the past, the “alt-reality” adventure — which takes place in large part at the heretofore ever seen diner where Gibbs gets his morning coffee — will serve up fresh takes on familiar relationships. For example, viewers will see Tony and Ziva meet first the first time under very, very different circumstances, in a timeline where Kate’s NCIS desk was never freed up.

“For the first time, I didn’t know what was going to happen [in a scene],” Michael Weatherly says of the encounter. “I literally had to concoct in my mind seven years of ‘What if there was no Ziva in Tony’s life, how would he have been different?’” And Cote de Pablo did same. “The character that she brought into the room was so different from her normal Ziva,” Weatherly reports. “And I came in with my own tweak” — though not rocking “a full Tom Selleck ‘stache,” as he had hoped.
Such revamped relationships and odd proverbial bedfellows are served up for all of the long-running characters. “There are some real weird, dreamlike juxtapositions,” Rocky Carroll tells me, though Vance is still the officious NCIS Director. “There are a lot of surreal, ‘How did we all end up at the same table?’ kind of moments, and the audience is going to love that.”

There’s also some truly shocking moments, such as one that comes in a scene Glasberg screened for the press at the Television Critics Association winter tour on Wednesday afternoon. In that clip, in the aforementioned under-a-bridge diner, Gibbs is approached by a hooded stranger toting a pistol. And just as Jethro begins to ID himself, a shot is fired from someone’s gun.

All told, Glasberg tells me, Gibbs comes away from the illuminating episode with “the realization that the decisions he has made were meant to be. And as he looks around NCIS, he realizes that this is where he should be.”
And how.

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The ill-timed phone call that interrupted the Tony-Ziva moment that had everyone talking about NCIS last week will result in some big consequences on tonight’s new episode.

As fans saw last week, just as Tony and Ziva were exchanging flirty glances, Ziva’s phone rang — and it was none other than her MIA beau, Ray. (Egad!) But as executive producer Gary Glasberg teases, there’s even more dramatic tension to come. “Ziva has been going through some decisions and choices, just as Tony has. With this week’s episode, Ray is going to return, and she’s going to have to face some decisions of her own and figure out exactly what’s going on with that relationship. This was an opportunity to tease that and bring it all up to the surface,” he said.

That “decision” likely has something to do with what fans saw in the preview for this week’s episode, in which Ray got down on one knee and proposed to Ziva. “[Ray] is coming off of a long assignment, and there are professional things going on with him, and personal things going on with him, and it’s all going to get dealt with and come to a head in this episode,” Glasberg says.

And Tony, too, for that matter. But fans of the pairing lovingly referred to as “Tiva” might be surprised at how Ziva’s longtime crimefighting partner reacts to the return of Ray — especially when you consider his somewhat despondent expression after their conversation was interrupted last week. “Tony wants Ziva to be happy,” says Glasberg. “He’s protective of her and cares about her and has feelings for her, and, at the end of the day, wants to make sure that she’s safe and happy with the direction of her life. There’s some protective nature that goes along with that, and I think some of that is what you were picking up on [at the end of the last episode].”

And while Glasberg’s fully aware of the fandom that champions the pairing (though, he says he doesn’t “necessarily call it ‘Tiva’ as much as the fans do) the showrunner saw last week’s exchange as a way to touch on the pair’s relationship because “it’s important to keep things alive and periodically bring it to the forefront. As much as the mysteries of this show are important to us, the character stories are equally as important. All of these fantastic characters have things going on in their lives, and we don’t want to forget about that.”

Still, he’d be lying if he said he didn’t feel the fan pressure to finally get the two together romantically. “Doesn’t that just comes with the title?” he jokes.

For now, there are bigger fish to fry — like the show’s milestone 200th episode, which they wrapped last week. The “unique episode of television” will satisfy both diehard NCIS fans and newer fans, says Glasberg. “There’s a little bit of everything in this episode, and all of this decision-making and all of the choices our characters have made over the years come into play. It allows people to look back and to look ahead at where the show is going.”

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If you’re one of the NCIS fans whose ‘shipper heart has been aflutter since that scene between Tony and Ziva this week, you might want to hold on to something: The CBS procedural has cast Entourage star Perrey Reeves to play Wendy, the former fiancée of Michael Weatherly’s Tony DiNozzo, TVGuide.com has learned exclusively.

As we previously reported, Wendy is a quick-witted investigative journalist who’ll go to whatever lengths necessary to get her story. But when she bulldozes her way into an NCIS investigation, she’s soon reunited with Tony and must relive the emotions of their shared past. Reeves’ potentially recurring role launches — fittingly enough — on Valentine’s Day.

Tony’s former engagement was first revealed in last season’s “Baltimore,” a flashback-heavy origin story that featured DiNozzo telling his partner that he had proposed to Wendy, a rare sign of commitment from the relationship-challenged Tony.

“Wendy has been mentioned many times over the last couple of years, and now we’ll finally get to meet her,” executive producer Gary Glasberg tells TVGuide.com. “Wendy needed to possess all the qualities Tony would look for in a woman and then some. … We hit the jackpot: Perrey has just the right combination of sass, wit, intelligence and pathos to bring ‘Baltimore Wendy’ to life. Everyone at NCIS is thrilled she’s joining us.”

The casting news comes days after Tony’s latest flame (Sarah Jane Morris’ E.J. Barrett) appeared to be sent packing for good, leaving Tony and Ziva (Cote de Pablo) to reflect on their respective dating woes in one of this season’s most romantically tense scenes. It was unfortunately interrupted by a phone call from Ziva’s CIA boyfriend Ray (Enrique Murciano), who returns in the next episode. Between that and Wendy’s appearance, it seems Tony and Ziva’s slow-burn relationship may not be speeding up anytime soon.

Besides her role as Mrs. Ari on Entourage, Reeves has made recent guest-star appearances on such shows as Grey’s Anatomy, Castle, Private Practice, and Hawaii Five-0.

NCIS airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on CBS. Reeves’ episode is slated to air Feb. 14.

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Anything good coming up on NCIS? — Katie
ADAM: The show is looking for an actress to play a quick-witted investigative journalist who, while charming on the surface, isn’t afraid to get scrappy in order to get the story. When she bulldozes her way into the NCIS team’s investigation, however, she gets more than she bargained for — namely, a reunion with someone from her past that brings up a flood of old emotion. Seriously, whose heart hasn’t DiNozzo broken?

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While Tony and Ziva of CBS’ NCIS will always have Paris (and whatever went down there), Agent DiNozzo and his former peer and paramour, E.J. Barrett (played by Sarah Jane Morris), are about to make memories of their own in a cozy safe house — and TVLine has a first look at the sure-to-be-intense reunion in close confines.

When TV’s most-watched drama series resumes Season 9 on Tuesday, Jan. 3, the investigation into the murder of a Navy Commander will lead Gibbs’ team to E.J. Barrett’s whereabouts. Shortly thereafter, Tony (Michael Weatherly) will find himself playing guard as E.J. lays low in the aforementioned safe house (ergo the episode’s title, “Housekeeping”).

Looking at that lumpy sofa bed, a whole lotta sleeping’s not gonna be going on, so you can probably count on much awkward banter as E.J. tries to account for her disappearing act in the season opener.

Can you give me some NCIS scoop to tide me over until January? — Annie
ADAM: New year, new bad guy. Look for the show to introduce a recurring villain described as a chameleonic one-man crime syndicate. He’s athletic, meticulous, extremely smart and deft at quickly changing his appearance. Too bad this guy already has a job on CBS.

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Jimmy Palmer has troubled headed his way. And his name is Larry Miller.

As EW first told you, the comedian will guest in tonight’s episode as Palmer’s (Brian Dietzen) father-in-law-to-be, and when we caught up with the pair to chat about the episode in a joint interview, the pair previewed an episode that’s Meet the Parents… with more murder.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: So what can you tell me about the episode?
BRIAN DIETZEN: Jimmy Palmer, as everybody knows, is now engaged, and he’s going to be having a wedding by the end of the year, and in this episode, his wife-to-be’s father — his future father-in-law — is stopping by to see where Jimmy works and kind of vet him a little more before they actually get to the aisle. We’re really fortunate to have Larry Miller come in. He’s been just a joy to work with and play with and adding a heck of a lot of humor to what could be a really dour character and making it live and breath. And the two of us have been having a hell of a good time this whole week.

What can you tell me about your character, Larry?
LARRY MILLER: Well, Ed is the sexual center of the show, which is why it’s his presence really. Now, I understand it’s not written that way, but that’s the way I’m playing it. [Laughs] It’s great. The folks get to know you as an actor and know what you can bring to [a role]. I’ve come on and put a funny spin on a guy who’s really annoying to people. I love annoying characters. If I had a business card it would say “annoying characters, a specialty.” To comment, yeah, as Brian said, he’s vetting, as it were, his son-in-law. This guy is like, “I’m not a big fan of institutions like this. I’m not impressed at all this guys a secret agent.” I get to tease them with those phrases actually. I get chastened in a good way, and we’ll see what happens. If there’s a wedding and I come back, we’ll see. It would be fun to play the same guy, drinking.
BD: It’s been great too, because throughout this whole episode, we don’t often get to see Jimmy Palmer with his close personal relationships on the show, it’s mostly about the cases for Jimmy. So getting to see this other side of his life, we get to see different sides to this character that we’ve never seen before. We see him go through some different emotions that are a first for him on this show, and to be able to do that with Larry was really a blast and a real treat.

So what brings Ed to meet Gibbs?
LM: Well, I was in the office. Jimmy’s brought me along. By the way, that’s one of the nice premises of this script — what Jimmy has had to endure. For hours before this show even starts, they’re together. Apparently I’ve said to him “Look, I’m going with you. I’m coming to where you work and I want to check this place out and why are you doing this? You should come to work with me instead, I’ll give you part of the business.” So that’s what brings this guy to the office.
BD: And Jimmy’s really trying to do right by his future wife and say, “No, I’m going to take him to my work. I’m going to show him how hard I work. I’m going to show him what a great team of people that I work with.” I mean, let’s be honest, who wouldn’t love going to see the real life folks of NCIS, especially if they are as colorful of characters as these people are? And he’s not sold by Gibbs, he’s not sold by Abby, Ducky, any of these wonderful characters that we’ve all fallen in love with. He’s a hardened individual, and it’s really little else to say besides, “What the hell is wrong with you?!”

Brian, you mention that we get to see a different side of Jimmy. Explain.
BD: It’s one of the situations where this man who comes into our world is not showing any respect to the alpha male of all of primetime television and the United States, who is Leroy Jethro Gibbs. And he’s not showing any respect to Abby Shuto, or Dr. Donald Mallard. He’s not showing respect to any of these people and he’s also not showing respect in turn, Jimmy sees it, to their profession, which is very very important to him. So Jimmy is forced to stand up a little bit and say “Look, this is something that’s important. I don’t care if you don’t respect me but you have to respect this.” And there’s a forcefulness that I think we haven’t seen out of him and its going to be really fun for people to check out and the underdog finally kind of stands up for himself and stands up for his friends. And say this is what is right. And it’s been very fun to shoot as well with Larry

Well, we hope to see you back when the wedding comes around, Larry.
BD: Oh, we sure hope that we get Larry back to give away the bride, that’s for sure.

When are y’all filming that?
BD: We know it’s not the 200th. We’re shooting the 200th [shortly], but I have been told there will be an episode towards the end of the season which will be basically Jimmy’s bachelor party, so we have a lot of bets going to who will throw him a bachelor party. And then the season finale I believe will be the wedding, and there’s also bets going on who will be the best man. We have no idea so it’s gonna come from the NCIS world though, I would think it makes more sense. So it’s interesting, our writers are teasing ideas here and there, although they won’t let us in on a lot of it, which is kind of fun, keeping us in the dark because then it will be fresh and new.
LM: By the way, what’s funny, every guest actor is always saying, “Maybe Ed comes back and he becomes a surgeon and he works with Dr. Mallard,” and other preposterous reasons to come back, but the truth is, it would be very funny to have the father-in-law go to the bachelor party. If one of your friends throws it and [to get] drunk with Gibbs.
BD: It would be fun to have an I Love You, Man [moment]. That would be awesome, and awful. Let’s do it.

Anything else you can share about NCIS‘s answer to Meet the Parents?
BD: I think the thing that viewers are going to look forward to the most is this is the NCIS Christmas episode and you can’t watch a Christmas episode without walking away feeling better and feeling nice, like a warm feeling inside that things happen and it’s a celebration. It’s not entirely just slap-sticky Jimmy’s getting nervous type of stuff. There’s a warmth that comes, too.

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Hey Sandra. NCIS seems to set up things for some bigger Tiva movement. The lack of emotional scenes, the “we need some time”-moment early this season, Tony’s bucket list and Tony’s dad telling his son he should come to his senses and pick Ziva. Am I delusional or are they up to something? — Svenja
Well, these are interesting clues you’ve pieced together, but a return from a very important character might throw a wrench in this plan you predict. The Jan. 10 episode will see a return from none other than Agent Ray Cruz (Enrique Murciano), who, according to executive producer Gary Glasberg, “returns to sweep Ziva David off her feet.” “There are always plenty of sparks between Cote and Enrique, but this time we’re taking things to a whole other level,” he teases. One other blast from the past we’ll be seeing? The infamous ring box!

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Christina: Any NCIS scoop you care to share?
Sharing is caring, so here’s what we can tell you: The show is currently looking to cast the possibly recurring role of Elaine, a friendly waitress who knows her regulars well. She’ll first appear in the monumental 200th episode.

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