TVSquad

Leo G. Carroll did it in 1966. Lisa Bonet sort of did it in 1987. What am I talking about? Double duty. That is, playing the same role on two series which are running at the same time. There are probably quite a few other instances, but Leo was head man Mr. Waverly on both The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. for a year, and Lisa was Denise Huxtable in college (A Different World) and when she came home to visit the family in Brooklyn on The Cosby Show.

Now, Rocky Carroll will appear on both NCIS shows. Doing double duty makes perfect sense for the NCIS twosome, especially since they're going to be airing back to back on Tuesday, 8-10 P.M.

And so ends the sixth season of NCIS. For some reason, I didn't think the show would even last one season, but sometimes a show just surprises you with how strong it does in the ratings. If anything, the show has gotten stronger as the years have gone on. It survived the departure of its creator and has hung around long enough to spawn a spinoff this fall, with Chris O'Donnell and LL Cool J. No name for that show yet. Any ideas? They'll probably think of something with an "NCIS" and a ":" in it.

You know how ticked you were at the end of the NCIS season finale when acting director Leon Vance became the permanent replacement for the recently deceased director, Jenny Shepard? Well, prepare to be ticked off once again. The actor cast as Vance, TV veteran Rocky Carroll, has been named an NCIS regular. That means if you were hoping that in the season premiere Vance was going to be kicked to the curb and Jethro put in charge, forget it.

"Have you tried turning it off and on again?"

It would appear that the adaptation of UK sit-com The IT Crowd might need more than Roy's famous reboot fix. According to reports, NBC is set to pull the plug on the midseason comedy. If you haven't been playing along at home, the show is to be a joint production between Universal Media Studios and Freemantle Media. It's an ensemble comedy, set in an IT department, starring Joel McHale (The Soup) and Rocky Carroll (Invasion).

Does anyone really need another cop drama with procedural elements? NBC seems to think so. Personally, I would be all for a moratorium on all new dramas that feature cops, doctors, or lawyers. But I suppose if you they are going to create yet another of these shows, hiring David Shore, the creator of House, and adding Famke Janssen as the lead is a good place to start. Adam mentioned the show back in October. It still doesn't have an official title, but the addition of Janssen is a good sign that things are moving along. Or a bad sign, if you've had your fill of cops.

In other casting news at the peacock network, Rocky Carroll (Chicago Hope) has signed on to play the corporate boss in the pilot of The IT Crowd. A remake of a UK comedy, the show also features Joel McHale, Richard Ayoade, and Jessica St. Clair as the hapless IT team at a major corporation. The original was very funny, but you can flip a coin on how this is going to turn out. It's a tricky bit of business updating these shows for the American audience. Having Ayoade reprise his role as Moss can't hurt though.