{"id":543153,"date":"2026-03-24T22:37:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T22:37:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/543153\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T22:37:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T22:37:14","slug":"showrunner-on-23-seasons-surviving-cast-turnover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/543153\/","title":{"rendered":"Showrunner on 23 Seasons, Surviving Cast Turnover"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThere\u2019s the Indy 500, and then there\u2019s the NC-500. \u201cNCIS<\/a>\u201d will air its 500th episode Tuesday night \u2014 a rarefied air shared in scripted prime-time television only by \u201cGunsmoke,\u201d \u201cLassie,\u201d a couple of \u201cLaw and Order\u201d series and a couple of animated shows, not all of which were actually on the air for as many seasons as the 23 \u201cNCIS\u201d has racked up. The show plans to offer up a surprising development with the unveiling of episode 500, but perhaps nothing is as shocking \u2014 albeit a surprise that has been spread out \u2014 as this procedural continuing to be a top 10 series, now, in what ought to be its dotage, if there was any likelihood that it could endure this long at all. <\/p>\n

\n\tSpeaking of survivors, executive producer Steven D. Binder<\/a> has been on \u201cNCIS\u201d since season 3; he got boosted to co-showrunner in 2018 and sole showrunner in 2021. He jokes that he set out to get the top job to ensure that he was in charge of character deaths on the series, after, as a member of the writing staff, he argued against killing off the tertiary character Mike Franks in 2011 but was outvoted by the others. But in all seriousness, he has seen \u2014 and, in the last eight years, overseen \u2014 a lot of turnover in the cast, including the top dog, Mark Harmon<\/a>, finally making his exit in 2021, to be replaced in the ensemble\u2019s leader role by Gary Cole<\/a>. Even with a churn that sees only one original cast member left (Sean Murray) and only two others who date back to the 2000s (Brian Dietzen and Rocky Carroll<\/a>), audience loyalty has been remarkable, even if it\u2019s no longer the No. 1 scripted show each week, ensuring \u201cNCIS\u201d will live on forever in syndication and streaming, even if an end date has to come someday for new episodes.<\/p>\n

\n\tOr does it? Binder thinks the show may yet outlive him, and maybe anyone else currently involved. \u201d I know this sounds like hubris,\u201d he says, \u201cbut if the sun comes up every day for 20 years, you just feel like there\u2019s a good chance it\u2019s gonna come up tomorrow! And that\u2019s sort of how I feel about the show. It\u2019s not even an adjudication of quality or judgment or how awesome our numbers are or how much people love it. It\u2019s just, literally, there has always been \u2018NCIS,\u2019 it feels like there\u2019s always going to be \u2018NCIS,\u2019 and I don\u2019t see any reason why that\u2019s gonna change. Other than the utter and complete total collapse of the network broadcast business model. Other than that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOn a recent morning in a week when the cast and crew were shooting the season 23 finale, Binder caught up with Variety to discuss his two-decade tenure and how some key changes have been navigated\u2026 along with how some things on \u201cNCIS\u201d never change, by design. (By the way, we will check in again with Binder after episode 500 has aired, to discuss any major developments.)<\/p>\n

\n\tThis is a no-spoiler zone for episode 500. Anything you would want to promise fans about it without revealing specific details?<\/p>\n

\n\tI will promise them what they\u2019ve come to expect from the best of these shows, which is some great twists and surprises, some fantastic heart, and I would promise them that this show will remind them how much they care about \u201cNCIS.\u201d And how much they care about the people in \u201cNCIS.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tNow that you\u2019ve passed 500 episodes, are you counting how may you have to do in the next few seasons to get past like \u201cLassie\u201d and \u201cGunsmoke\u201d and things like that?<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019m actually looking them up now. \u201cLassie\u201d had 591 episodes, but in 19 seasons. \u201cGunsmoke\u201d had 20 seasons and 635 episodes. You know, we go by seasons now [in thinking about records]. And every one ahead of us is still on the air [\u201cThe Simpsons\u201d with 37 seasons, \u201cLaw and Order: Special Victims Unit\u201d with 27 and \u201cLaw and Order\u201d with 25], so I don\u2019t know that we\u2019ll be catching any of them anytime soon.<\/p>\n

\n\tThere have been so many milestones \u201cNCIS\u201d has already blown past, but 500 is a great round number, there\u2019s no doubt about it.<\/p>\n

\n\tYes, it\u2019s a rounder number than 250, which felt like a benchmark too. And it\u2019s coming at a time of great change and upheaval, so this one feels different because of that, also. At 200, you could think about 300, and at 300, you can think about 400. At 500, you\u2019re not thinking so much about 600. Your brain just goes to 750 or 1000. And I don\u2019t know that I\u2019ll be alive for 1000. I don\u2019t know that people won\u2019t just be plugging into their holographic atmospheres for entertainment by the time we get to a thousand. So it feels very uncharted, in a way that the other landmarks didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe wheel has not been constantly reinvented in terms of the format of the show, so obviously cast changes count as the biggest. There were so many years when the question was, could the show survive with its lead actor going away? And we\u2019ve long since had an answer to that, in the positive, post-Mark Harmon. And so it is proof of concept that the concept is what people are most in love with, although the fans certainly love their cast favorites. It seems as long as there\u2019s some continuity there, and as long as the transitions are handled in a particular way\u2026<\/p>\n

\n\tBut, you know, even before it was the lead. I remember when Pauley (Perrette) left [in 2018]: Can the show survive? With the loss of Abby, people were pretty freaked out. Before that, Cote (de Pablo leaving in 2013) and then Michael (Weatherly in 2016) \u2014 it just kept continuing. So by the time Mark left, there had already been a little bit of a proof of concept that the show might be able to survive the loss of any one cast member.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tGary Cole, Diona Reasonover, Steven D. Binder, Wilmer Valderrama, Katrina Law, Sean Murray, Brian Dietzen, and Rocky Carroll of NCIS attend the CBSFEST 2025-2026: Schedule Announcement event to celebrate CBS\u2019 2025-2026 primetime lineup at the Paramount Studios lot in Los Angeles on May 7, 2025. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCBS<\/p>\n

\n\tIf it hasn\u2019t turned out to be a singular cult of personality, what does keep people hanging on? Do you have like a nutshell for what it is that has proven addictive?<\/p>\n

\n\tYou have the quarterback, of course, and that was Gibbs. But we always have been an ensemble show, and I think part of the fun for audiences is seeing the team interact with each other. That\u2019s not breaking any brains, making that statement. So as long as there\u2019s an interaction, and a family-like interaction, I think the fans are enjoying watching it. So you can lose somebody as long as they\u2019re replaced in the right way with the right person and that family\/team ensemble dynamic continues. Now, obviously different people have their favorite characters, and those people are bummed when their favorite character leaves. But I think if you were to poll our audiences, the favoritism is relatively equal. Everybody on that show has a nice, solid fan base. I\u2019m just doing quick math, but let\u2019s say five (lead characters), so every one gets 20%. When one person leaves, you\u2019re really bummed out 20% of the audience. But maybe you keep 16 of them pretty happy with their replacement. They\u2019re like, \u201cOK, I miss my guy, but I like this new person too.\u201d So there\u2019s been an attrition, for sure. But I also would counter my own argument by saying there\u2019s been an attrition overall completely in the broadcast model, and that we\u2019ve actually suffered less of it, or are doing better than the average decline in ratings, even with these losses of beloved characters. The nutshell is, this is an ensemble show, with characters interacting in a certain way in a certain place, and as long as that continues, I think we\u2019ll have an audience.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tSteven D. Binder <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCBS<\/p>\n

\n\tYou mention the increasing difficulty over the years of coming up with plots that will fulfill what has to be done as part of the show. And I\u2019m thinking, if you add up 500 episodes, with a death at the beginning of all but a handful of them, how many dead sailors is that? That\u2019s quite a homicide rate for the Navy.<\/p>\n

\n\tYes. With McGee and [the episode] \u201cProbie,\u201d in season 3, I remember we were asking the actual NCIS, \u201cWhat\u2019s the protocol for when an agent shoots somebody?\u201d Because we had this character who shot somebody for the first time. And their response was, \u201cWe\u2019ll get back to you. We\u2019ve never had anyone shoot anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThat\u2019s really quite a mortality rate, but also a 100% success-in-solving-crime rate, so that speaks well\u2026<\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, the real NCIS is a big fan of that. We make them look very good.<\/p>\n

\n\tIs there any transition you\u2019ve navigated that you feel most proud of, whether it was one of those cast changes or anything else that\u2019s happened in the show\u2019s evolution?<\/p>\n

\n\tI think it was Gibbs [leaving]. Because that was a planned transition [from Harmon to Gary Cole] that happened over seven, eight episodes. And specifically, we modeled it after the \u201cFugitive\u201d model. Over the course of the movie Tommy Lee Jones, who\u2019s pursuing Harrison Ford and is the bad guy who you don\u2019t like, ends up starting to see that Harrison Ford just might be a righteous man. And by the end of the movie, Ford has won Jones over, and then by the end of the movie, you absolutely love Tommy Lee Jones. And that was the plan with Gary Cole: He was going to enter this show as a nemesis who we did not like, and we did not present him as someone who was going to take over the spot that Gibbs had right away, because we thought people would instantly have a knee-jerk negative reaction towards him. And then the audience goes on a journey with Parker, and he starts to realize that Gibbs is actually a righteous man. Not only does Parker step up to defend and protect Gibbs, he loses his job because of it. He throws his his own life on the line. So now you love this guy. But even when he shows up in the bullpen, he shows up and he says, \u201cI\u2019m not taking the job.\u201d And so it gives the audience a chance to spend an episode with him without judging him and without deciding whether or not they like him. They\u2019re just there for the ride, and then at the very end when he truly appreciates that this place is so great, the audience is going, \u201cYou have to take the job. How could you turn this job down?\u201d That was a sort of magical sleight of hand, I think, that helped the audience let go of Gibbs and then also accept this new guy. And I\u2019m most proud of that, because it worked, basically, and it was a tough lift.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\u201cSandblast\u201d \u2014 Gibbs (Mark Harmon, center) and the team (Michael Weatherly, left, and Cote de Pablo, right) investigate a suspected terrorist attack at a military country club that kills a Marine Colonel, on a March 27, 2007 episode of \u201cNCIS.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCLIFF LIPSON<\/p>\n

\n\tYou must\u2019ve spent a lot of time being faced with the practicality of, OK, how, how do we get over this Mark Harmon hump everyone has had years to dread?<\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, it was a lot of of time. And then it became clear what it should be. And I remember even episode 2 and 3 with Owen Parker, the network loved the pitches and they were fully on board, but when they were seeing the dailies of Parker in the beginning, they were like, \u201cWe don\u2019t like this guy!\u201d And I\u2019m like, \u201cStay the course. That\u2019s the plan. You\u2019re not supposed to like him. It\u2019s a good thing. We\u2019re gonna turn that, and then you\u2019re gonna love him.\u201d And that\u2019s what happened.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\u201cFleeting\u201d \u2013 Pictured (L-R): Sean Murray as Timothy McGee and Gary Cole as Alden Parker in a 2025 episode of \u201cNCIS.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCBS<\/p>\n

\n\tThere was a little bit of precedent there, although with the stakes not nearly as high, with Rocky Carroll\u2019s character, where he was ambiguous for quite a while, in terms of whether the audience could trust him, let alone take a shine to him.<\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, and people did not like him. For a long while, I\u2019d meet people and they were like, \u201cI don\u2019t like that director guy,\u201d because he was kind of a dick. But he also was not in the show that much at the beginning. Every show\u2019s got their characters that are sort of the odd man out or the antagonistic energies, and that\u2019s who Rocky played. But he\u2019s such a great guy, it was hard to keep him in that box for very long.<\/p>\n

\n\tSo it not necessarily the plan that Director Vance would become, for lack of a better term, as cuddly as as he eventually did?<\/p>\n

\n\tYou know, a lot of these characters, we see what we have, and they evolve in the way that it plays to their strengths. And he\u2019s the boss and he\u2019s in charge, but there\u2019s always been a warmth to Rocky himself, and that started to shine through to the character. I\u2019ll tell you the original plan was, we did the first couple seasons of the show, and we had a director, Tom Morrow, who was not in the show that much. And then we had Lauren Holly in for a little while, but not every episode, I don\u2019t think. And it was difficult to find things for the director to do. The show really wasn\u2019t built that way. Then she eventually left and we were going to replace that character with a new director, but Rocky was not supposed to be in that many episodes. He was so good that every year he was in another episode [more than the last]. I don\u2019t remember the [initial] number, but let\u2019s say 10, and then it\u2019s 11, 12 and 13, and then 10 years later, he\u2019s in almost all the episodes. But the original plan was to not use him all that much at all, and he just was such a fantastic addition and such a great actor. And so when you had him in a scene and you knew he was gonna show up, have a take, know it, do it cold, do it awesome, and be a joy to work with, yeah, you tend to get written in more, when you\u2019re like that. Which is not to say that everyone else isn\u2019t great too. But he\u2019s top of the heap.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\u201cAll Good Things\u201d \u2013 When the son of a Marine that Gibbs once helped comes to NCIS in desperation, the fractured team reunites off the books. But chasing justice without a badge may cost them more than their careers, on the 500th episode of the CBS Original series NCIS, Tuesday, March 24 .Pictured: Rocky Carroll as Leon Vance.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCBS<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019ve sometimes asked Rocky Carroll how many years it took for him to stop feeling like the new guy. It\u2019s like how, when we\u2019re talking bands or something, they\u2019ll be the guy who came in 20 years ago and are still the new guy. And so with \u201cNCIS,\u201d some of these people we think of as still being new characters have been around longer than most shows ever exist in their entire runs.<\/p>\n

\n\tRight, right, right. I don\u2019t know if you saw\u2026 it\u2019s a really funny line where someone, I forget who, says it to Wilmer (Valderrama), \u201cOh, you\u2019re the new Tony\u201d or \u201cAre you the new Tony?\u201d And he is like, \u201cI\u2019ve been here 10 years. What are you talking about?\u201d It\u2019s really funny, because it embodies what you said. I came in in season 3. I stopped feeling like the new guy five years ago, I think \u2014 even though within six months, I was like the third longest running writer on the show, because we lost a lot of writers in the beginning.<\/p>\n

\n\tDo you ever think about how, in syndication or streaming, if people are just watching random episodes, it may be a little hard for someone to get their bearings who\u2019s in the cast if they sit down and see something from season 16 back to back with something from season 3, if they aren\u2019t doing it in order.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut also less so than, say, if you were jumping into \u201cLost\u201d out of order. But because people know I work on the show, I find a lot of people who over the years say they\u2019re gonna start watching it, and they start at \u201cYankee One.\u201d They start at the beginning, and they get through them very quickly. It\u2019s almost bizarre how quickly. I\u2019m like, \u201cDon\u2019t you have three kids?\u201d It seems like it\u2019s a show that if it\u2019s your thing, it hooks you in and hooks you in pretty hard from the jump. Which I guess is why we\u2019re doing episode 500.<\/p>\n

\n\tWith so many fewers shows being based in L.A. any more, has it become more challenging to stay put?<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019m trying to think if there\u2019s been a lot of existing shows that have moved their production to another city. Certainly a new show can start in another city. But to move, by the time you do the math on the cost of the move and the savings, I don\u2019t know that it actually adds up to that much. You\u2019re still paying the actors what you\u2019re gonna pay them. We\u2019re only talking about below the line and location savings. We shoot in Santa Clarita. and then you\u2019re taking a huge risk because you\u2019re not going to be moving your crew and you\u2019re gonna have to get a relatively local crew in wherever new city you get. So you\u2019re doing something that\u2019s extremely disruptive that may take a few years to recoup its losses, and you risk blowing the whole thing up. So I don\u2019t know that I\u2019ve ever heard anyone talk to me about moving to another place to shoot. Even as the financials get tighter and tighter, it just becomes budget cuts, really. We find a way to do it here.<\/p>\n

\n\tFor the crew, the chance to keep working near home in L.A. must feel more precious every year.<\/p>\n

\n\tI think so. There\u2019s a lot of people who have been on the show for so long, their thinking is, \u201cThis is the ride.\u201d We have a lot of people retiring off of \u201cNCIS.\u201d Another couple years and I might be one of them. People are extremely grateful to have this job, not only because of the stability, but because it really is a fantastic place to work. And if you talk to any guest stars, it has just been consistent. I just had a guest star say to me, \u201cYou guys are suspiciously wonderful.\u201d I think that\u2019s where the gratitude comes from \u2014 and the catering. We have a fantastic caterer. I say that to the caterers all the time, and it feels like a punchline or a laugh line, but it also has the benefit of being the truth. If you know you have a nice place to work, nice weather and really good food, what else can anyone ask for?<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\u201cStolen Moments\u201d \u2013 Pictured (L-R): Sean Murray as Timothy McGee, Wilmer Valderrama as Nick Torres, Katrina Law as Jessica Knight, Rocky Carroll as Leon Vance, and Brian Dietzen as Jimmy Palmer .<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCBS<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat\u2019s really kept you on this long? If had the urge to move on, I\u2019m sure you would\u2019ve had your choice of a lot of things, or been creating things for yourself, but you are a true mainstay.<\/p>\n

\n\tI had many opportunities where I could have left, and was asked and had meetings with people to go to this other show, which creatively is desirable because it gets harder and harder\u2026 It doesn\u2019t get easier, with whatever formula we have, as the years goes by, to make these shows interesting. That was the carrot, the draw [to change jobs]. But I would sit down and be like, OK, what\u2019s my life gonna be like? Who am I going to be working with? What\u2019s the day-to-day gonna look like? And you break it up into a bunch of categories. So in this category where I\u2019m working now, it\u2019s a 9 or a 10, and in another category, an 8 or 9, so the best that I could get going to this other place would be to match or meet that\u2026 If I went through the checklist, all that\u2019s going to happen \u2014 aside from the creative novelty \u2014 is I\u2019m either gonna be in the same position or worse, because I\u2019m not going to be some place better. I recognized that. And especially having a family, too.. This is a tough business. It\u2019s a very difficult job, and I didn\u2019t want to go someplace where it was gonna be more work for less enjoyment.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn terms of going out and creating my own things, I have been attached to various projects. But I will say that I spend so much time on this show that if I have any extra bandwidth, I\u2019m gonna do cardio. That\u2019s just the sad truth: I\u2019m gonna go exercise, not spend six, seven hours a week of my spare time developing something. Maybe that\u2019s shortsighted, but my cardiologist thinks it\u2019s a great way to run things. So that\u2019s really what it comes down to: I haven\u2019t had a ton of time to develop. I have a little bit, and I sold some pilots, but you know, you are either doing it or you\u2019re not. And to do that is a full-time job, and then some \u2014 it\u2019s a couple full-time jobs. So that\u2019s the lack of creating my own.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd being asked to go work on other things\u2026 I don\u2019t want to name any particular shows that I was asked to (join), but\u2026 you know, that show\u2019s been gone for 10 years now! I\u2019d be taking the gamble that I\u2019m gonna go someplace and then probably going to be entering the lottery every couple years, and doing it over and over again. Or I could be here, where even though every time I sit down to write one of these scripts, I think, \u201cOh my God, I don\u2019t know what I\u2019m doing. I suck. I\u2019m a fraud. I\u2019ve got a big nose. My hair\u2019s falling out. This is not for me. I hate writing,\u201d it always seems to work out. And that\u2019s a nice feeling, sitting down and having all those feelings, and then just being all like, \u201cWell, maybe I\u2019m just gonna start typing and then I\u2019ll worry about it later.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tOn September 4, 2007, the cast of NCIS gathered to celebrate the start of production on the hit series\u2019 100th episode. From left: David McCallum, Lauren Holly, Pauley Perrette, Sean Murray, Cote de Pablo, Brian Dietzen, Mark Harmon and Michael Weatherly. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCLIFF LIPSON<\/p>\n

\n\tYou mentioned you can foresee retiring someday. Could you even offer a guess for how long you think the show has in it, and then for yourself, how long you could go?<\/p>\n

\n\tWell, yeah, I\u2019ve hit the point where my biggest thing that I\u2019d rather be doing is being with my family. But my oldest is going to college next year, and my youngest next year is going to be a freshman in high school, so they may not be interested. I certainly wouldn\u2019t mind a little more free time to spend with them while they\u2019re still around, if they want to spend it with me. But if I could stay on the show past that point, then I\u2019ll just go until I die, I guess.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs for how long I think the show goes, I think advertising dollars are dropping and it makes it more difficult to justify this model. But I think as long as the model is intact, and as long as we don\u2019t have a mass exodus of actors in one year, I think the show keeps going. I don\u2019t think it ever stops. I really don\u2019t. You know, we had one year where we had a big drop; we dropped 15% in the ratings, and I\u2019m like, \u201cOh, OK. That\u2019s a big trial.\u201d And then I looked at everybody else, and everyone else was 30%. And that sort of has been the consistent story of \u201cNCIS.\u201d When we were No. 1, a lot of times a show would come along and it would beat us for six months, and then it would drop down below us, and then it would be gone in three, four years. But we are still very respectable. These new shows come along and they don\u2019t just beat us, but they clean our clock, and then by season 2 or 3, we\u2019re ahead of them again. It\u2019s been like that for so long that\u2026 I know this sounds like hubris, but if the sun comes up every day for 20 years, you just feel like there\u2019s a good chance it\u2019s gonna come up tomorrow! And that\u2019s sort of how I feel about the show\u2026<\/p>\n

\n\tIt does seem like, as long as the changes are gradual, in one sense, there\u2019s no reason why it couldn\u2019t go on forever. But you mentioned what would happen if a large cast exodus happened all at once \u2014you might have to write like a massacre episode or something to explain it. But that\u2019s probably not likely to happen.<\/p>\n

\n\tNo. But it\u2019s also an opportunity. Or maybe not, because I don\u2019t know that you get new eyeballs to the show, and you would just lose a lot of eyeballs. But four new people would be a radically different experiment. And if it\u2019s the right people, who knows what could happen. That\u2019s not a gamble I\u2019d want to make. I felt comfortable over the years losing one by one; although it upsets people and it\u2019s a break in family tradition, these new characters also provide new story and new content. We are a character-forward show, and you talked about generating new cases, and that\u2019s tough. But bringing in new people gives us new dynamics to play with, and that\u2019s a huge plus for us as writers. So, four new people would be a lot of pluses. I just don\u2019t know that it\u2019d be worth the minuses, but it would be interesting.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe success of some of the \u201cNCIS\u201d spinoffs is testament to that, since there is a huge degree of familiarity with the basic bullpen-and-investigation situation, even though it\u2019s all-new characters doing it.<\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, that\u2019s right. It\u2019s the same but different. And you know what, there\u2019s only so much family dynamic before you start repeating yourself, but maybe that\u2019s OK. Because my dad used to call me every day, and he\u2019d just say the same shit over and over again, and I loved hearing his voice, so it didn\u2019t bother me. Then the calls stop and you\u2019re like, \u201cI wish I was hearing that same thing over and over again.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There\u2019s the Indy 500, and then there\u2019s the NC-500. \u201cNCIS\u201d will air its 500th episode Tuesday night \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":543154,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[88,242720,242721,34865,242722,242723,92],"class_list":["post-543153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-gary-cole","tag-mark-harmon","tag-ncis","tag-rocky-carroll","tag-steven-d-binder","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=543153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543153\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/543154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}