Reader Questions, Answered! Scoop on 'FBI,' the Big 'JAG'-iversary, 'NCIS: TIVA,' 'Countdown' and More
Folks, we've been doing this dance in one shape or form for more than 18 years, so you know the drill. Email me Qs (at mitovich+insideline@gmail.com), and I'll hunt down As!
For those new to this concept: Matt's Inside Line (...like The Big Tease and Mega Buzz before it) aims to answer burning questions readers have about new, returning or "missing" TV shows. Sometimes I'll share things I know, other times I'll tease things I've seen. Oftentimes I'll get you an answer straight from a showrunner or star, and once in a while I'l do some real shoe leather reporting to solve a mystery.
Now, where were we....
Is the Inside Line column still open? I haven’t seen a new edition in almost a month. Wondering if it is worth emailing more questions. --Perrie
Hi! Yeah, so there was a highly unanticipated reason for my weekly-ish column's disappearance from TVLine. But I am now here, using this shiny-new newsletter, to at least bang out what would have been the 395th (!) Inside Line column, using reader Qs such as yours from the old inbox. (New questions, as stated above, can now be mailed to mitovich+insideline@gmail.com.)
I am so excited for NCIS: Tony & Ziva (premiering Sept. 4 on Paramount+)! Will there be any callbacks/flashback scenes to Tony and Ziva’s time on the mothership? --Marla
The spinoff's premiere, titled "No Country Is Safe" (wink-wink!), opens with an incredible two-minute montage of the Will They/Won't They couple's intricate history — up to and including their family's never-before-seen reunion on a Paris tarmac.
The idea of finally seeing Tony and Ziva in a romantic relationship has me excited for NCIS: Tony & Ziva. Any hint of what their relationship will be like/where it stands in the upcoming show? --Jaime
Oh, things between the titular twosome are as complicated as ever, due in part to something that happened mere moments after Ziva reunited with Tony and Tali in Paris – as revealed in a flashback to that fateful day in January 2020.
Like many, I am/was a big Blue Bloods fan. I am looking forward to Boston Blue (premiering Friday, Oct. 17 on CBS), though my concern is that Danny leaving the NYPD and his family in New York makes little sense. I really hope good writing for the pilot makes it a believable move and the fans say, "Yup, I would do that too." --Mike
I just screened the first episode this morning, and let's just say that there is a inciting incident that drives Danny to make a beeline for Boston. I was skeptical like you, but that compelling catalyst, and what later follows, tracks.
Last season on FBI it was revealed through the mention of a past crush that Maggie is bisexual, which was super exciting. Any chance this storyline is something we’re going to see more of in Season 8? --Leah
I ran your Q by FBI showrunner Mike Weiss when doing the last of my fall preview phoners for TVLine, and he was quick to recontextualize that exchange. "Oh, I think that was just two partners joking around," he said of Maggie telling OA she once crushed on a female college professor. "We're not going to lean into that, at all." What will Maggie's ongoing pursuit of lasting romance look like in Season 8 (premiering on a new night, Monday, Oct. 18 at 9/8c)? You'll have to wait for TVLine's Fall Preview Spectacular, which is publishing early next month (well-placed sources tell me).
Is there any word on if we'll be seeing, or at least learning about, any of the "Others" that Ghosts' Patience has mentioned? --Irene
While the Others didn't make their presence known when Patience resurfaced in the Season 4 finale, all hope (or fear?) of meeting them is not lost. "[We] definitely think the Others could come into play next season (premiering Thursday, Oct. 16)," co-showrunners Joe Port and Joe Wiseman told the OG Inside Line (via Vlada Gelman, now at Soaps.com) back in May. "That was a walk-off mention by Patience early on [in Season 4], and it seems rich with possibilities."
I really enjoyed seeing TVLine's post about JAG/NCIS stars getting together to celebrate Don Bellisario's 90th birthday, which inspired me to reach out about my dad's favorite show. I would love an answer in his memory: With the 30th anniversary of JAG coming up on Sept. 23, will the NCIS franchise do anything to celebrate this momentous occasion, including a possible guest star appearance? It's been almost six years since we saw Harm and Mac on NCIS: Los Angeles, and Bud last showed up on the mothership in 2018 – where are they now? Also, with NCIS: Origins being set in 1991/1992, that's only three or four years out from JAG, so could we see younger versions of some iconic characters. (I believe Chegwidden was Pacific Fleet JAG at this time, Mac's stationed in Okinawa, and Rabb's either about to or just had his initial aviation-ending ramp strike). --Charlie
You'll have to wait for the NCIS Season 23 preview I filed for TVLine in the beforetimes to get Steven D. Binder's answer about possibly marking the JAG anniversary. As for Origins, "That's an interesting question," co-showrunner David J. North acknowledged. "Maybe a [younger] Mac or Harm will appear down the the line, we'll see." Added co-showrunner Gina Lucita Monreal, "We do love doing a callback, so it's never out of the question."
I am curious why the end credits for The Gilded Age include always included a thanks to Film Iceland. I've searched and can find no info anywhere saying that they ever filmed in Iceland. Maybe it's something HBO owes Iceland for its other shows that do film there...? --Karen
You know I love a highly specific Q, and this mystery has been solved: One of The Gilded Age’s VFX providers, RVX, is based in Iceland.
What was the song featured in the opening scene of the July 28th episode of TNT's The Librarians: The Next Chapter? --Shirley
That was "Fabulous," composed by Simon James and Nathalie McLachlan Barnhill and found on the album Best Life.
Any scoop on the last episode of Countdown? --Nadia
Man, I don't know how I fell for it, but there is a fiendish twist toward the end of the Sept. 3 finale that 100% caught me off guard. The season-ender also features a hook-up... some untimely Molly drama... and a closing shot that is even more distressing than Episode 11's. If the Prime Video thriller isn't already renewed by then, its fans will be screaming.
Is MGM+ shutting the doors on Hotel Cocaine, or should we expect a second season? --Ellen
I asked around for you, but unlocked no updates on the series, which dropped Season 1 back in June 2024.
Last season, NCIS revealed that Hetty was up to something big. Will there be any follow-up in Season 23? --Maria
NCIS showrunner Steven D. Binder has no plans at this time to update us on Hetty landing on the wrong side of the DMZ, "but if there's interest, we could probably come up with something...."
Got a TV question you want answered? E-mail it to mitovich+insideline@gmail.com! Maybe I'll do this again.
