Country of origin United States Original network CBS | No. of episodes 24 | |
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Starring Mark Harmon
Michael Weatherly
Cote de Pablo
Pauley Perrette
Sean Murray
Brian Dietzen
Rocky Carroll
David McCallum Original release September 25, 2012 (2012-09-25) – May 14, 2013 (2013-05-14) | ||
The tenth season of the police procedural drama NCIS premiered on September 25, 2012, in the same time slot as the previous seasons, Tuesdays at 8 pm. The season premiere was seen by 20.48 million viewers, focusing on the aftermath of the bombing of the Navy Yard from the season-nine finale and concluding with the discovery of the whereabouts of Harper Dearing, who is subsequently killed by Gibbs.
Contents
The season continues with mostly standalone episodes until the "Shabbat Shalom" and "Shiva" story arc, which focuses on the deaths of Eli David and Jackie Vance and sets the rest of the season into motion. Leon Vance and Ziva David soon discover that Mossad Deputy Director Ilan Bodnar was behind the attack, and set out for revenge. They track Bodnar to Berlin, but later learn that he had never left the United States. Going against orders from the Department of Homeland Security, Ziva finds Bodnar on a ship headed for South Africa and kills him. This sparks a massive investigation by the Department of Defense, headed by Richard Parsons. His sneaky and unprofessional methods cause the team to question his true intentions. Everyone soon realizes that he is not interested in Ziva or Vance, but has instead set his sights on Gibbs. Parsons pressures Gibbs to admit that he and his team have broken the law on countless occasions and to come forward and admit everything that he has done. After a long feud, Gibbs is freed of his charges and sent on a top-priority mission, while Ziva, DiNozzo, and McGee resign from the agency. The season ends with a cut to four months later, showing Gibbs aiming a sniper rifle at FBI agent Tobias Fornell. The season finale aired on May 14, 2013.
On January 15, 2013, the episode "Shiva" delivered the biggest audience ever so far for an NCIS episode. 22.86 million people watched the episode, which surpassed the season eight episode "Freedom" by 10,000 viewers.
Season ten also got NCIS to deliver its first 1st-place ratings achievement for the 2012–13 season. NCIS beat out NBC's Sunday Night Football to become the overall most watched program nationally.
Main
Recurring
Guest appearances
Production
On March 14, 2012, CBS renewed NCIS for a tenth season which premiered on September 25, 2012. The season 10 production began in July 2012, a week after Michael Weatherly, Sean Murray and Pauley Perrette had signed their new contracts on the show. David McCallum signed his contract back in April 2012, while the rest of the cast was under contract for season 10. Also, Brian Dietzen, portraying Jimmy Palmer, was promoted to series regular for the season. Dietzen has been a recurring character on NCIS since late season one.
The first part of the season consists of mostly standalone episodes, while the November two-part arc starts the "back half of the season". According to executive producer Gary Glasberg, the theme for the season is "fallen heroes". "The theme that we've sort of been running with is fallen heroes and that picks up with the explosion that they go through, with the post-traumatic stress that they all experienced because of that". As a part of the "theme", a two-part episode "Shell Shock" aired in November, which focused on post-traumatic stress in the Navy, while the January episodes "Shabbat Shalom" and "Shiva" included the deaths of Eli David and Jackie Vance.
The season includes several recurring characters known from earlier seasons of NCIS, as well as JAG. Joe Spano, who portrays FBI agent Tobias Fornell, appeared in "Extreme Prejudice", "Devil's Trifecta", and "Damned If You Do". Diane Neal (Abigail Borin), Ralph Waite (Jackson Gibbs), Robert Wagner (Tony DiNozzo, Sr.), Michael Nouri (Eli David), and Paula Newsome (Jackie Vance) also appeared during the season. Alan Dale returned as Tom Morrow, a character who left NCIS in the third season's episode "Kill Ari (Part I)". Muse Watson appeared as Mike Franks in the season finale "Damned If You Do", together with John M. Jackson, who reprised his role as A. J. Chegwidden from JAG, making it his first appearance on NCIS.
Beginning with season 10, CBS released "phoofs" from the episodes on cbs.com some days before the episodes aired.