NCIS - 150th Episode Celebration! — Air Date: 01/12/10

NCIS celebrates it's 150th episode on Tuesday January 12th - find out what the cast has to say about hitting this historic milestone. Watch NCIS Tuesdays at 8pm on CBS! "Milestone ‘NCIS’ Hits Close to Home for Tony" — Continued below... 

By Matt Webb Mitovich, Fancast

This just in – exclusive intel on the heretofore top-secret 150th episode of CBS powerhouse ‘NCIS.’ 

Set to air January 12 – the hit drama’s second episode of the new year – “Flesh and Bone” finds Gibbs & Co. looking into the attempted assassination of a foreign prince. The high-profile investigation, however, hits too close to home for one NCIS agent: Tony DiNozzo, whose father winds up linked to the case. 

Cue guest star Robert Wagner (’Hart to Hart’), playing Daddy DiNozzo.

Were it not bad enough for Tony to learn that his father has ties to the investigation, it’s not exactly “happy to see me” when the most unexpected circumstances reunite the men. As Rocky Carroll (aka Director Vance) told me during a new Q&A, “You find out that there’s a strained relationship between the two.”  

The casting of Wagner as dad to Michael Weatherly “is pretty perfect,” Carroll says, echoing many an ‘NCIS’ fan. He then adds with a chuckle, “I think Michael was a bit star-struck that he got to work opposite Robert Wagner.” 

Also guest-starring in the milestone episode is Penny Johnson Jerald, reprising her role as State Department Official Joanne Torrence. After all, you can never go wrong with an added shot of ’24’s’ original Lady Macbeth. 

The significance of lasting 150 episodes is not lost on Carroll, who is a veteran of several TV series. 

“It’s just crazy,” he marvels. “I always joke with Mark Harmon, ‘Hey, we could go on as long as ‘Gunsmoke’! And he just looks at me and rolls his eyes.”