‘NCIS’

Celebrity Q&A, People
on January 6, 2012
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Q: I love the head slaps on NCIS. Whose idea were they?

—Carl Persky, Baton Rouge, La.

A lot of people are with you in enjoying TV's No. 1 drama's affectionate head slaps, which have expanded from just Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon) and Tony DiNozzo (Michael Weatherly) to other cast members.

But there are other quirks and tics that makes these characters fun to watch: Abby (Pauley Perrette) and Gibbs have their caffeine addictions, she to Caf-Pows and he to black coffee; DiNozzo has the ability to come up with a film reference for any crime scene; and Gibbs has a penchant for redheads.

Harmon immodestly spreads the credit around for the various ideas. "Some of them were scripted and some weren't. Some stuck and some didn't. What makes this show different is we are all open and speak our mind. We all team up to get this done."