There’s a very noticeable Gibbs-sized hole on the popular drama series “NCIS” now during season 19. As it turns out, it’s not as easy to fill in for such a specifically iconic character.
Mark Harmon has played the popular Special Agent in Charge since the show first aired back in 2003. He has been gone from the show for about a month now. Gibbs decided to stay in Alaska where he could happily fish his days away, rather than leading the “NCIS” team back home.
While Gibbs seems to be finding peace and happiness, writers and producers over on “NCIS” have been trying to fill in the blanks. Despite all the drama, “NCIS” is still scoring high in the ratings. According to TVLine, the series has been drawing in about 12 million viewers in the Live+7. This is after Mark Harmon, arguably the backbone of the series left and the show had a time slot change for the first time ever.
Perhaps a little change will be good for the nearly two-decades-long series.
One person in particular has felt a lot of the weight and pressure of Mark Harmon’s departure. That person is Gary Cole, who currently plays the new Special Agent leading the team, Alden Parker.
“Gary Cole is amazing. You don’t replace a Mark Harmon, but I really can’t think of any show that has done as great a job replacing really major characters over the years, and really staying top of mind for viewers. You talk about somebody stepping up almost seamlessly into a role, and Gary Cole is the best,” the CBS President Kelly Kahl told the news outlet.
Fans Adjust to Losing Gibbs on ‘NCIS’
While CBS seems to be taking the massive change in stride, fans of the show are still grappling with no longer getting to see Gibbs as he smacks the back of people’s heads and leads teams to solve difficult cases.
Mark Harmon is still active with the show, however. He is working as an executive producer. The most recent episode of the show once again had fans begging for Harmon to return. The official “NCIS” Twitter account posted a photo of McGee, Knight, Torres, and Parker all huddled up for a team meeting. The photo is captioned, “the gang’s all here.”
Instead of getting fans hyped for the Monday night episode, the photo just had viewers demanding to see Gibbs on their screens. One person commented, “No the gang is not all here. You are missing the leader that is Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Stop retconning Gibbs’ existence! BRING GIBBS BACK!”
Another person commented, “Let me know when Gibbs comes back!!!” accompanied by a sad face emoji. Other fans are even threatening to stop watching if Gibbs doesn’t show up again. Someone wrote, “Hardly! We’ve stuck with you through all the changes, but no Gibbs, no show.”
Gibbs may be off the screen, but he is certainly far from forgotten.
