The April 5 episode of CBS’ NCIS has been a long time coming for “Tiva” fans. We’ll finally meet Ziva’s CIA boyfriend Ray, played by Without a Trace‘s Enrique Murciano. “You never know if you’re gonna have chemistry, and since I had no say in the casting, I was sort of waiting to meet this famous Enrique Murciano,” Cote de Pablo says. “I had actually researched him.
I looked him up on Google.
I got as much information as I could. And then when I met him, it was kind of instant. We hit it off. He’s from Miami, I’m from Miami. He had me laughing immediately, and I’m a sucker for laughter, so that was it.” Wait. Back up. She really Googled him? “Ohmygod, I so Googled him,” she laughs.

The actress says we’ll see a new side to Ziva when Ray arrives in town. “There’s a lovely scene in which he basically brings his interpretation of ‘fancy’ candlelight dinner, which takes place by the vending machines at NCIS. It’s really funny. There’s kissing involved. We kept it light and we kept it fun, and we kept it like two people who are genuinely in to each other and wanting to move things along. It’s about what’s going on between the lines. These two people are touchy-feely, and that’s different for Ziva.” Does this dinner get interrupted by Tony (Michael Weatherly)? “Oh no. Tony has nothing to do with this dinner. He doesn’t come. He doesn’t surprise us. He doesn’t just walk in,” de Pablo says with mock exasperation. “It’s just between Ray and I, and it’s a scene in which I believe he’s going to say something to Ziva that he hasn’t said before.”

So Ray, who makes his appearance right as Tony’s shower buddy E.J. (Sarah Jane Morris) returns to lead the investigation of a port-to-port killer, is keeping something from Ziva? “Halfway through the show, and after that very tender, loving scene, she discovers that he has a little secret that he hasn’t told her that has to do with the port-to-port killer case. It throws everything up in the air, and it causes a lot of friction between them and a big blow out,” de Pablo says. “I think Ray is a good guy. I think he makes a mistake, and Ziva has a lot of issues, trust issues in particular. Somewhere along the line, they’re going to have to have a longer chat about what happens in this particular episode. Things don’t end very well, that’s all I can say about that.”

As for how Ziva and E.J. will be getting along, de Pablo says Ziva won’t trust her. “Aside from the fact that Tony and E.J. are having a full-blown little affair on the side, Ziva doesn’t quite know why she doesn’t like her. It’s not only professional. Things are confusing Ziva. But at the same time, she’s happy with Ray.” And how does Tony handle the presence of the man he likes to call CI-Ray? “I know that they have had a really interesting scene in the bathroom,” de Pablo teases. “I always laugh about it: The best scenes always happen in the most inappropriate places on NCIS. It’s when the characters can have some ‘alone time,’ and get into the nitty-gritty of whatever it is that’s going on emotionally with them. They have one of those scenes, and I’ve heard it’s really, really good.” So not well, in other words. De Pablo has warned Murciano that some fans may not take to Ray because they’re devoted to the idea of “Tiva,” but, she says, “The great thing about Enrique is he’s got this attitude like, ‘Just wait till they meet me.’ He’s a confident guy, and I love that.”

As TV’s No. 1 drama, which always shakes things up in its season finales, moves closer to the end of year eight, de Pablo says the cast has been kept in the dark about the final hour. “We know that it has something to do with the port-to-port killer. We know that something awful is gonna go down, like always. And we’re all deathly terrified,” she says. “It’s funny because if you were to ask any of us, ‘Do you feel stress’ or ‘Do you feel tensions are rising,’ everyone will say the same thing — no. But everyone is dealing with it differently. Some people are really tired, some people have body aches. Some people are just looking forward to a couple weeks of vacation. We may not be aware it’s a stressful situation, but we’re all going through it in our own way,” she says. And how was she coping when we caught up to her recently? “I’m just trying to enjoy every day because you never know what can happen. Today, before I left the show, I was making paper planes. Someone said I didn’t know how to make one. The first one I made, I have to say, kinda sucked. But then, the second one was absolutely fantastic and it blew all the other ones out of the water. Mine flew the farthest. That was a good day for me,” she laughs. “So that’s how I’m dealing with high levels of unconscious stress.”

source: Ew.com

Some juicy details have emerged about the much-anticipated Anthony DiNozzo origin episode that will air May 3 on NCIS: EW has learned exclusively that Scott Grimes (ER) will play Det. Danny Price, an ex-partner of Michael Weatherly’s character. The two worked together 10 years ago while serving as cops in Baltimore.

Grimes, who already announced his gig via Twitter, will appear in one episode.

Back in November, NCIS flashed back 20 years to finally reveal what happened in Amsterdam to shape Leon Vance (Rocky Carroll), and what led him to become the director (a question fans had been asking themselves for more than two seasons). To prepare for the episode, Carroll spent lots of time in the makeup trailer to shave the years off (for more on his transformation, click here).

Will Weatherly go through the same process? Is it even possible to make the guy hotter than he already is?

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Please give me some NCIS news on Abby and McGee! — Leslie
ADAM: I’m not sure McGabby ‘shippers are going to love this, but … Abby’s going on a date! And McGee is not going to be happy about it. “If another girl comes around McGee, [Abby] definitely has a little bit of a jealous streak,” Pauley Perrette says. The feeling is mutual, she says. So what do we know about Abby’s new suitor? She’ll look up to him, in some respect, and he’s a stick-around kind of guy.

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Question: A scoop on NCIS, please? —Sara
Ausiello: I hear Ziva’s new BF Ray — played by Without a Trace‘s Enrique Murciano — is connected to the big serial killer case, which kicks off on April 5 and continues through the rest of the season.

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Sometimes, even NCIS’ Jethro Gibbs needs a little help cracking a case.

Apparently, the upcoming serial-killer story arc that will unwind over the remainder of the CBS hit’s eighth season is one of those times. TVGuide.com has learned exclusively that Numb3rs star Alimi Ballard and former NFL journeyman Matthew Willig have been cast as two recurring NCIS agents who join our regular team in the hunt for a psychopath called the Port-to-Port Killer.

Willig plays Special Agent Simon Cade, a hulking but friendly federal agent with a photographic memory. But he’s not all brawn: He has an Ivy League education to go along with his intimidating presence. Ballard plays Special Agent Gayne Levin, a weathered, well-traveled federal agent who’s just happy to be back in Washington.

Both men are members of the team led by the recently introduced E.J. Barrett (guest star Sarah Jane Morris). And even though the trio is ready to pitch in on the case, don’t be surprised if Gibbs (Mark Harmon), Dinozzo (Michael Weatherly) & Co. initially have some trouble sharing the squad room.

The Port-to-Port Killer will be introduced in the April 5 episode, “Two-Faced.” Ballard and Willig kick off their multi-episode run the following week in an episode titled “Dead Reflection.”

Willig, 42, played offensive tackle for several National Football League teams. He’s appeared on such TV shows as Dexter, Chuck and My Name Is Earl.

Besides his work as David Sinclair on Numb3rs, Ballard, 33, has also appeared on Sabrina, the Teenage Witch and alongside NCIS’ Weatherly on Dark Angel and the soap opera Loving.

NCIS airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on CBS.

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What’s coming up on NCIS: Los Angeles? — Jill
ADAM: Look for the team to work a protection detail — only they’ll be trying to keep the bad guy safe. The show is looking for an actor to play a lifelong criminal who is as charming as he is talented at building high-end custom guns. He also happens to be the government’s key witness in an arms trafficking case — which is precisely why someone wants him dead.

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It’s ice-cream-sundae Thursday on the set of NCIS: Los Angeles, and almost everyone is indulging between takes. Even LL Cool J, who moonlights as a fitness guru. “Hey, you’ve earned it,” a crew member tells the überbuff rapper/action hero, as if he needs anyone’s consent for a sugar rush. The collegial atmosphere continues as Chris O’Donnell passes Daniela Ruah and Eric Christian Olsen, who wrapped their roles a half hour ago yet have stuck around to yak over their Ben & Jerry’s. “Don’t you two have homes?” O’Donnell demands to know, breezing on by before Ruah has a chance to kickbox his behind.

Apparently the lone holdout, O’Donnell hasn’t taken any Cherry Garcia to his trailer. But once inside, he nods toward one thing he has allowed himself to indulge in on the Paramount lot: a sense of home. “I finally got some pictures of the kids up,” he says, quietly chuckling at his reluctance to accessorize the space. “For Season 1, I was like, I’m not putting anything in my trailer. But now, I thought, I’ll put some family pictures up. That’s a Season 2 thing.”

It’s no wonder O’Donnell feels like he might be holding onto that trailer for a while: His show is firmly established as the second most popular scripted series on TV, trailing only NCIS itself, which precedes the spin-off by an hour on CBS. Like the mothership, the newer show has been enjoying a ratings uptick midway through the season. One February episode brought in more than 18 million viewers, the show’s biggest tally since the premiere in 2009. It’s clear that NCIS: Los Angeles and its audience are into a budding buddy relationship.

The surge is happening at a time when this ostensible ensemble series has cemented the fact that it’s really about pairings. There has always been the show’s A team, of course, with LL Cool J and O’Donnell as Sam and Callen, classic brothers-in-arms — and tight T-shirts. But thanks to some second-season cast changes, pretty much everyone else except mother hen Hetty (Linda Hunt) has been partnered up, too. Out in the investigative field, Ruah’s Kensi and Olsen’s Deeks are the B couple — although they earn an A for sexual chemistry. Back at the ranch, the C pair is Barrett Foa and newcomer Renée Felice Smith as cute surveillance geeks Eric and Nell.

As on the original NCIS, maybe only about 10 percent of any episode is given over to pure, plot-free characterization, mostly in the opening and closing bullpen scenes. But it’s that 10 percent that hooks the audience just as much as the stunts and explosions and gunplay and saving-the-world stuff. “Chris and I try to understand each other’s worlds, and the difference is part of the fun,” says LL Cool J. “A kid from Queens and a kid from the north side of Chicago are probably not gonna meet, unless it’s on Facebook or something. Those roads just don’t cross. But this shows you how cultures can merge and how people can meet and connect.”

There is a certain comfort-food aspect to seeing these very different characters get along so well. And while the spin-off is very much NCIS: Casual Dress, that informality plays against the fact that these agents rarely stoop to investigating mere dead sailors. They’re much more likely to be saving the world, or at least Malibu, from terrorists. In the March 22 episode, Callen and Sam go undercover to prevent the assassination of a Venezuelan politician. As O’Donnell puts it, “In any real agent’s career, what we do each week would be a highlight-of-their-career type thing. But hey, it’s TV.”

“Chris has that absolutely right,” says exec producer Shane Brennan. “To spin off such a successful and much-loved show, it became apparent that it had to be familiar but different, so I decided to make NCIS: Los Angeles a show with a much stronger narrative drive. Stories move more quickly, and there’s often a ticking clock, so by the time you hit that fourth act, there’s a real imperative to stop something or save someone.”

For more with the cast of NCIS: Los Angeles, pick up this week’s issue of TV Guide Magazine, on newsstands Thursday, March 17!

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This is Spoilers Anonymous In-Depth, a weekly column here at TV Squad where we discuss and give our two cents on recently released spoilers and how they may affect the storylines, shows and fans.

This in-depth version of the column goes hand-in-hand with our weekly spoilers column, in which we supply you with the dirt on some of the more popular shows on the air.

This week, we discuss spoilers about a major upcoming storyline that will rock the world of the ‘NCIS’ agents.

The April 5 episode will be the first of many episodes following a dramatic serial killer storyline. As TVLINE dished a few days ago, the arc will “revolve around a murdering psychopath dubbed the Port-to-Port Killer.”

Gibbs will have to get at least two new agents — both will be recurring characters — to help his team out in tracking the serial killer. It wouldn’t be surprising if Agent EJ Barrett, introduced in the latest episode, also joins the task force as the character is said to be sticking around until the end of the season.

Big arcs have always been entertaining on ‘NCIS’ and have offered more background on our beloved characters as they grapple with situations on an emotional level. Just think of the Ari arc that led to Kate’s death and the introduction of Ari’s half-sister, Ziva. Procedurals usually lack in character development, something that ardent fans demand, and, luckily, ‘NCIS’ has a track record of rewarding us during big storylines.

A serial killer storyline usually means deaths, including some important ones. It’s been confirmed in the past weeks/months that all series regulars have signed up new contracts with the exception of one: Cote de Pablo. Don’t be alarmed yet — she may have already signed a contract to return, but the show has been keeping it under wraps as a potential foiler (aka fake spoiler), hoping to get fans thinking Ziva might bite the dust.

The ‘NCIS’ cast is one of the best ensembles on TV right now so we would prefer everyone to return next season. However, isn’t it time there is another cast shake-up to bring some fresh blood into the show? But if the show does decide to kill off a main character, they better stay away from Gibbs, Tony, McGee or Abby!

That being said, maybe said freshness could be offered by one of the three new agents (that includes Barrett) who could end up being added to Gibbs’ team. This addition would allow to slightly change the team’s dynamics.

Speaking of the three new recurring characters, it wouldn’t be surprising that at least one of them ends up being a redshirt who dies at the Port-to-Port Killer’s hands. It’s common for shows to introduce recurring characters that fans grow to enjoy, only to kill them off at the end of the villain’s arc.

Are you looking forward to the serial killer storyline? Do you think a main character will die? If so, which one? What’s your take on Barrett and the two other agents that will soon be introduced?

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Former Charmed and Melrose Place star Victor Webster is set to guest-star on an upcoming episode of NCIS: Los Angeles, and as you can see in this exclusive first look, he might just throw a wrench into the bubbling chemistry between Kensi and Deeks.

Webster plays Stanley King, a world-class thief suspected of several high-end heists. He lands on NCIS’ radar after a secure facility housing sensitive materials on a Marine base is compromised. In order to get close enough to keep an eye on King, Kensi (Daniala Ruah) must work alongside him as a savvy thief.

As you might suspect, I’m hearing that Kensi makes quite a connection with Webster’s bad boy. Naturally, Deeks (Eric Christian Olsen) isn’t keen on watching his partner get so close to another man — but only out of fear for her safety, we’re sure.

Coincidentally, Webster is currently presenting himself as an obstacle for another pair of will-they-won’t-they procedural partners: Castle and Beckett on ABC’s Castle. The actor, who has also appeared on Criminal Minds, Lincoln Heights, and Mutant X, will next star in Scorpion King: Rise of the Dead on the big screen.

NCIS: Los Angeles airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on CBS. Webster’s episode, titled “The Job,” is slated to air March 29.

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