NCIS
Nature of the Beast
TV Flash files “Nature of the Beast” as the first listed hour of season 9 — NCIS (2003–present) on CBS, season 9, episode 1, aired 2011-09-20, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S09E01: listed hour 187 of 508 in the NCIS guide, first listed hour of season 9. It aired 2011-09-20 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Pyramid” (S08E24). Next is “Restless” (S09E02). Broadcast log — titles and dates, not a plot bible.
Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
After spending months tracking down his target, Tony is left with the blood of an NCIS agent on his hands and it's up to Gibbs to help him put the pieces of the puzzle together.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Nature of the Beast sit in the NCIS guide?
S09E01 is listed hour 187 of 508 — first listed hour of season 9, season 9 episode 1.
When did NCIS S09E01 air?
Nature of the Beast aired 2011-09-20 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Do I need JAG before NCIS?
It launched via backdoor pilot episodes on JAG, but the mothership plays as its own squad-room ritual. Start with Gibbs's team, not a homework assignment.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents solve military-linked crimes with found-family banter and Gibbs's rules. Mark Harmon became a quiet ratings titan; the squad room is the serialized story. Sturdy CBS comfort that outlived fashion and multiplied into a carrier group of spinoffs.
Gibbs's rules, a squad room that is a second home, and a fandom that will fight you if you call it uncool — welcome to the quiet ratings titan the group chat pretends not to respect until someone dies in the bullpen. (Spoiler fence: mild. The team can bleed.) Donald P. Bellisario and Don McGill's CBS series premiered September 23, 2003, after a *JAG* backdoor pilot, and became a flagship with well over twenty seasons. Mark Harmon as Leroy Jethro Gibbs for many years; Michael Weatherly's DiNozzo, Pauley Perrette's…
Filed against
- Mark Harmon as Leroy Jethro Gibbs
Mark Harmon’s Jack McNeil worked Chicago Hope’s ethics-machine hospital — prestige coats, nineties doctor drama with more speeches than sprinting — then became NCIS’s quiet ratings titan as the squad-room still point. Kelley rival hour;…
- Michael Weatherly as Anthony DiNozzo
Michael Weatherly’s Anthony DiNozzo filled NCIS’s squad room like banter was a federal procedure — 2000s Naval Criminal Investigative Service comfort, Mark Harmon as a quiet ratings titan, Gibbs’s rules, found-family that outlived…
- Pauley Perrette as Abby Sciuto
Pauley Perrette made Abby Sciuto the lab’s gothic pulse on NCIS — 2000s Naval Criminal Investigative Service comfort, found-family banter, Gibbs’s rules, Mark Harmon as a quiet ratings titan. The squad room is the serialized story. TV…
- David McCallum as Donald 'Ducky' Mallard
David McCallum’s Illya Kuryakin made The Man from U.N.C.L.E. multinational cool — 1960s catalog gadget briefcases, Bond fever’s television wing, then NCIS stretching the blond into Gibbs-adjacent lab weather. TV Flash files him as the…
- Cote de Pablo as Ziva David
Cote de Pablo’s Ziva David gave NCIS its lethal charm — Mossad steel in Gibbs’s squad room, found-family banter, military-linked crimes as CBS comfort that outlived fashion. Mark Harmon’s ratings titan needed a partner who could knife and…
- Sean Murray as Timothy McGee
Sean Murray's Timothy McGee grew up inside NCIS as squad-room found family — Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents, military-linked crimes, Gibbs's rules, Mark Harmon as a quiet ratings titan. Sturdy CBS comfort that outlived…