SecNav returns to prime time in ‘NCIS’
November 9th, 2009 | Blogs leadership Morale Washington | Posted by Phil Ewing
"Janie, I need your help solving the mystery of the disappearing shipbuilding budget." // CBS
Navy Secretary Ray Mabus apparently so loved being on “The Daily Show” last month that he is returning to prime time — only for his forthcoming guest spot, he has taken a pretty steep demotion in rank. Mabus will play an agent in the Naval Criminal Investigative Service on an episode of its eponymous drama, “NICS,” scheduled to air Nov. 24, TV Guide reported Monday.
“He will be making a cameo appearance,” confirmed Mabus’ spokeswoman, Capt. Beci Brenton. He filmed his scenes during a trip last month to the West Coast that included a speech at the Pacific Council and a visit, with LCAC ride, to Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton. The Navy’s West Coast public affairs office arranged the cameo with CBS, Brenton said, although she wasn’t clear about whether the process began with the Navy offering Mabus or “NCIS” asking for him.
Is Mabus a regular viewer of “NCIS?” Brenton said: “I believe he is.”
Other Navy officials, including the then-head of the real NCIS, have made appearances on the show before, but that precedent didn’t make it all right with at least one commenter over at TV Squad, who thinks Mabus probably has more important things to do than act in TV dramas:
I do not believe the secretary of the navy has any business being on television. If this is all he has to do, he needs to have someone review his “To Do” list. The sailors under his command need him more than NCIS. I hope Obama fires him! We have many more issues for our leaders to deal with. Bad choice by this secretary of the navy!
Another potential controversy here is Mabus’ choice to appear on the original “NCIS” and not its inexplicable spin-off, “NCIS: Los Angeles,” with Cool James and Robin. And if Mabus really wants to flex his acting chops, he needs to play a guy who loves LSU and the New York Yankees.