TV Guide Magazine, Mark Harmon Tells All

Is there any simple way to explain how Gibbs has evolved?
I just think he’s matured. This is still about the job for him. But he’s not burning his boats anymore. He’s sailing ‘em. He’s putting ‘em on the water. As far as I know, this is the first one that’s actually been out on the water and used. That’s progress. [laughs] We’re gonna actually see this year that Gibbs has a living room. We’ve never seen that before. He actually has some place other than his basement. These are thought up well in advance. It’s not like the writers are playing games with you. They’re just letting this out slowly. There’s nothing in this show that is not attached. Everything has a thread somewhere. We’re very fortunate to have kept this writing team together as long as we have. It’s important. And I think it’s odd, too. A number of these writers have written 20, 30 episodes, and in network television, that doesn’t happen much. People don’t stay together that long. As opposed to the first four years here, where this was a tough job for a writer. A lot of writers left here. Some couldn’t do the show, and certainly some that could left. That’s changed. And it’s become a place—just like with the actors, just like with the crew—that people look forward to coming to. And we’re all together [physically] this year. This is the first year the writers have been up here [at the Valencia soundstages]. They used to work out of Sunset Gower, so that’s been a good change too. The writers come here every week, they walk down the hall, they open the door, they say “Hey, what about this?” If they’ve got a question, they come on the set and ask you. It’s the team thing, which is really what the heart of this show is.