Anthony DiNozzo

Tony DiNozzo
NCIS character
Michael Weatherly as Tony DiNozzo
First appearance	"Ice Queen" (JAG)
Portrayed by	Michael Weatherly
Information
Gender	Male
Occupation	Special agent, Major Case Response Team Senior Field Agent, NCIS, Former Detective (BPD)
Family	Anthony D. DiNozzo Sr. (father) Unnamed mother
Nationality	American, Italian descent

Anthony "Tony" D. DiNozzo Jr.^[1] (English pronunciation: /diːˈnoʊzoʊ/) is a fictional character from the CBS TV series NCIS. He is portrayed by Michael Weatherly.^[2]

Background

Tony comes from a wealthy family from Long Island, New York.^[3] He is an only child,^[4] but has been cut off from his family's fortune.^[5] His mother, maiden name Paddington,^[6] died when he was 8 years old. She went through a "Louis XV phase" when Tony was five that inspired the decor of his childhood bedroom and gave him vampire nightmares.^[7] She also drank Tony's Sea Monkeys, confusing their sea castles with her mint julep.^[8] Tony's father, Anthony DiNozzo Sr., is an American Civil War reenactor and as a child, Tony would carry the "poop bucket" during reenactments. This has resulted in a dislike of anything relating to the Civil War.^[9] It has also been suggested that his father was neglectful and an alcoholic.^[10][11] In "Flesh and Blood," Tony's father is in DC and the two share similar personality traits—they both flirt with women and quote movies. It is also stated in "Flesh and Blood" that his father is a con artist pretending to be rich when he is really bankrupt. It's also revealed that after his mother's death, Tony and his father spent very little time together and rarely kept in touch. Tony also spent the majority of his childhood in a number of boarding schools and summer camps. He was also at one point left in a hotel room for two days when his father left for a supposed business meeting. In "Broken Arrow" DiNozzo Sr. helps Gibbs with a case by using his contacts and going under cover with Ziva at a hotel party suggesting that he may have been a CIA operative at one time. Tony and his father also reconcile their differences.

Other family members mentioned in NCIS episodes include a button-collecting grandfather who bequeathed Tony one thousand shares in a dot-com,^[12] and a number of uncles. His uncle Vincenzo is a butcher on Long Island.^[13] A second uncle was a successful businessman, but was found at a golf course looking for mole people.^[14] A third uncle is named as Clive Paddington, wealthy and deceased.^[6]

Education and work history

Tony attended Rhode Island Military Academy as a teenager, and graduated from Ohio State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in physical education.^[15] During his time at Ohio State, he was on the varsity basketball team and made it to the Final Four before losing to UCLA.^[16] He also discusses a football game in the episode "SWAK", between his team (Ohio State) and his doctor Brad Pitt's (no relation to the actor of the same name) team (Michigan). He mentions having broken his leg during this game or more accurately, Pitt breaking it for him. In the episodes "Bikini Wax" and "Trojan Horse," he mentions he is in the Ohio State Alpha Chi Delta fraternity, class of 1989. At the end of the episode "Red Cell," he begins to tell a story about his fraternity days before being interrupted by Gibbs. In the episode "Child's Play," he mentions receiving a combined score of 950 on his SATs.

He has worked in three different police departments - Peoria, Philadelphia, and Baltimore - staying in each location for an average of two years.^[17] At the end of his stint with Baltimore's homicide division, he was hired by NCIS. This event occurred prior to the NCIS pilot and the circumstances of his hiring are largely unknown, but Tony claimed it was because he "smiled."^[18] It is later revealed that Tony left Baltimore PD after discovering his partner was a dirty cop.

During his tenure as a NCIS special agent, Tony has operated as a supervisory special agent ^[19] and undertaken a long-term undercover operation throughout season four. At the end of season five, Tony was assigned as Special Agent Afloat to the USS Ronald Reagan and later to the USS Seahawk. However, at the beginning of season six, he was reassigned to his original team back at NCIS headquarters in Washington, D.C.

When Gibbs retires to Mexico after being blown up and sent into a coma in season 3, Tony leads the team skillfully in Gibbs' absence. After Gibbs comes out of retirement he returns to his previous position. Director Shepard offered Tony a team of his own, but he declined because Gibbs was experiencing some after-effects from his coma.

In the season 8 finale, Clayton Jarvis, the new Secretary of the Navy, tells Director Vance that he wants to include DiNozzo in NCIS's black operations program. Although Vance seems reluctant, Jarvis overrules him and gives DiNozzo his first assignment: stop an NCIS agent who is leaking information.

In the Season 9 debut episode, "Nature of the Beast", it is revealed that NCIS Special Agent Simon Cade is the mole. At the end of the episode, it was revealed that DiNozzo had been left injured after being shot in the shoulder by an FBI Agent who was actually an imposter and who had also killed Cade while also attempting to frame DiNozzo for the murder.

Characterization

Tony is written as a streetwise, promiscuous former homicide detective.^[20] His behavior toward women is occasionally noted by other characters to be chauvinistic, and throughout most of the series Tony is shown flirting with nearly every woman he encounters. He does not respect personal boundaries, going so far as to rifle through his colleagues' possessions, both at work and in their homes, and listen in on private phone calls. The targets of this behavior are either victims of Tony's quests for new sources of amusement,^[21][22] or those for whom he believes he has reason to be concerned.^[23]

Michael Weatherly as Anthony DiNozzo filming in 2008

Although Tony is canonically in his thirties,^[24] he is typically written as possessing a juvenile sense of humor that manifests itself in name-calling, teasing and pranks directed at his colleagues. Tony delights in quoting movies in everyday life, often mimicking the original actor when quoting them; Sean Connery's James Bond and Tommy Lee Jones come up frequently. Tony also finds parallels between the cinema and his everyday life. This occasionally proves to be more useful than aggravating, as when his application of a solution from the movie Speed (1994) ends in the successful resolution of a case.^[25] In a nod to NCIS creator Donald Bellisario, Tony has also been established as a fan of the television series Magnum, P.I. and Airwolf, both of which are also Bellisario productions. In the episode "Dead Man Talking," Tony introduces himself to a suspect as Airwolf character "Stringfellow." Tony's coworkers often display visible frustration with his behavior, but throughout the series Tony has been shown to be very loyal to his coworkers at NCIS, particularly his supervisor, Leroy Jethro Gibbs.

Although his immature behavior often gets Tony into trouble, he also demonstrates himself to be an insightful agent when the need arises. On more than one occasion he surprises his colleagues when an outwardly immature action on his part actually causes new evidence to be uncovered.^{[21][26][27][28]} He is generally written as a highly capable agent, and in season four is offered a prized position as a supervisory/senior special agent in charge in Rota, Spain, which he nonetheless turns down.^[29] Tony is known to be fluent in Spanish, as is established from his earliest appearance in the JAG-NCIS crossover episodes as well as throughout the NCIS series.^[15][30]

Tony claims to have 20/10 vision in the episode "Left for Dead";^[31] however, in the episode "The Curse", he can be seen wearing glasses at his desk before promptly taking them off to talk to Gibbs. He also once donated to a sperm bank, but no one wanted to use his sperm.^[32] He drove a 1966 Ford Mustang until it was bombed.^[33]

The character is initially portrayed as a "technophobe" who, like his superior, has limited patience with the scientific method and technical terms. However, he can be seen to develop an aptitude for technology in later episodes, and has been depicted hacking into computer systems.^[34]

Tony is also very skilled in going undercover which is shown in "Split Decision" where he poses as a rogue weapons-dealer, unknowingly uncovering an Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms operation in the process and "Chained" where while disguised as a prisoner, he befriends an escaped convict named Jeffrey White who has information on stolen Iraqi antiques. In "Dead Man Talking", he is able to improvise a cover identity to get close to a suspect when he feels the investigation is going nowhere.

Relationships

Women

During the entire run of NCIS Tony consistently speaks at great length about women. He pursues girls on a regular basis, typically indiscriminately, though he has shown an aversion to women who don't shave.^[35] Most of these relationships fail to progress past a certain point, and he has admitted to having commitment issues.^[1]

One of the women he was attracted to turned out to be a terrorist working with Ari Haswari;^[36] another to whom he was attracted, and kissed, turned out to be a pre-operative transsexual who had murdered one of Tony's co-workers. He once dated a social worker named Michelle who, after he ended their relationship, broke into his apartment and filled his closet with dog feces. He also had a short relationship with NCIS Special Agent Paula Cassidy. He also broke up with a Navy lieutenant (who had left her then-fiance for him), and shortly after Tony broke up with her, she posted his name, identity and information on a herpes alert website.

The NCIS writers make reference to one of Michael Weatherly's real life relationships in the episode "Hiatus (Part 1)" when he states, "I’ve got a better chance of hooking up with Jessica Alba...". Weatherly's real life relationship with Alba occurred during his tenure on the television series Dark Angel. In a flashback in the episode "Baltimore" Tony mentions proposing to his long term girlfriend Wendy, also his high school music teacher, but he never got married.

Abby Sciuto

Tony has a friendly relationship with Abby Sciuto. She has shown the strength of their friendship in such cases as when she did everything possible to find out who the real killer was when her assistant framed him for murder, when he was seemingly blown up and when he returned from his time as an agent afloat. Abby constantly shows her feelings for Tony, as "I love you, and would hate to see you hurt". She can be upset with him at times, such as when someone ate her cupcake, when NCIS director Jenny Shepard was killed and he and Ziva David were not where they were supposed to be, but these feelings have resolved and she is back to her normal behavior. It is often shown that Tony regards Abby as the little sister he never had, a feeling she appears to reciprocate. Abby is as big a movie fan as Tony himself is, and that also solidifies their relationship.

Dr. Jeanne Benoit

In Season 4 Tony's new girlfriend, Dr. Jeanne Benoit, was introduced. Tony and Jeanne did not consummate their relationship, because Tony revealed that he wanted to "take it slow" out of fear of this relationship becoming like his earlier ones.^[4] When questioned by Jeanne, Tony's explanation revolved about his previous misogyny and that a repeat performance would ensue if they followed the same route. Tony and Jeanne subsequently consummate their relationship in the episode "Smoked". Tony was determined to have a positive outcome for this relationship and went to great lengths, though often with a lot of inspiration from films, to make their relationship special.

Despite his earlier good intentions for the relationship with Jeanne, Tony could not bring himself to tell her that he loves her which causes trouble between them.^[37] In the episode "Grace Period", Tony was told by his earlier love interest, Paula Cassidy, who had just lost two of her agents and blamed herself for their deaths, that if he loves someone, he should tell her while he still can. Tony was left distraught following the death of Cassidy during a suicide bomb attack on Gibbs' team. He later went to see Jeanne and, following Cassidy's advice, told her he loved her. The last scene showed Tony embracing Jeanne while crying on her shoulder with R.E.M.'s Everybody Hurts playing in the background.

Tony showed his commitment to the relationship when he confronted Jeanne about her previous boyfriend.^[38] Tony's suspicions became aroused by the constant contact between Jeanne and her former boyfriend in the form of calls and emails. Tony coincidentally met Jeanne's former partner, who was in fact a Metro police officer named John, though neither of them knew about the other's relationship with Jeanne. They bonded through the fact that they were very similar in character, sharing many habits and traits. Unbeknownst to either Tony or Jeanne, John said goodbye to Jeanne in an email and died in Tony's arms.

In the episode "Angel of Death", it was revealed that Jeanne's father René was La Grenouille ("The Frog"), a French arms dealer that NCIS Director Jenny Shepard had been obsessively trying to capture for ten years. However, in the episode "Bury Your Dead", it was revealed that Tony was using Jeanne, as part of an NCIS assignment (with a tie in to the CIA's Operation LODESTONE), to infiltrate an arms smuggling network. Jeanne left Tony a greeting card in her apartment, as she left the Washington, D.C. area.

In the episode "Family", Tony was struggling with how his relationship with Jeanne ended and throughout the episode had flashbacks on the relationship. Ziva tried to console Tony, but he rejected her attempts insisting that he is fine. At the end of this episode the message in Jeanne's card for Tony was visible; "I am not coming back. You need to choose." After looking at a family reunited with their newborn baby, Tony tossed the card into the fire and rejoined the team.

Jeanne made a reappearance in the episode "Internal Affairs" when she accused Tony of murdering her father. At the end of the episode, even though Tony was initially angry with Jeanne for accusing him, Ziva advised him to "be a man" and tell her what she needed to hear. Tony spoke to Jeanne, apologizing for letting her get caught in the middle of something that was not her fault. Jeanne responded by asking Tony if their relationship was real and, after a pause, he answered "No". Jeanne then told him she wishes she had never met him.

In a conversation with Tara Kole,^[39] Tony admitted that since his relationship with Jeanne ended he has not been enjoying his normal level of success with women, despite his continued bravado to his co-workers.

Female Officers

Special Agent Caitlin Todd

Tony's relationship with Kate was in many ways a sibling relationship, but with a constant undertone of flirtation and the possibility of something more.^[15] Tony and Kate constantly competed.^[40] Kate was often critical of Tony's behaviour, especially concerning his attitude towards women and his disrespect for personal boundaries ; indeed, Tony routinely went through her purse, cellphone, PDA and desktop computer, uncovering personal informations such as her dates' identities.^[41] In one episode, Tony sneaked unbeknownst to Kate into the bathroom while she was having a shower in order to brush his teeth, which infuriated her when she noticed him and she struck back by throwing a wet sponge at him.^[42] However, it was not uncommon for Tony to be teased and taunted by Kate;^[41][43] their bickering got so bad in the episode "Pop Life" that they sought counseling from Ducky.

However, on many occasions he was shown being considerate, kind and even borderline romantic to Kate. He bought her flowers as a peace offering after annoying her in the episode "Vanished". He showed concern for her at the end of episodes "Left For Dead", when she realized she had been played by a victim, and "Bête Noire", when she was held hostage by Ari. In the episode "The Bone Yard", Tony was almost possessive of Kate when McGee posed the idea of pretending to be Kate's lover to get into a paternity clinic to photograph evidence for Abby, saying he would do it instead of McGee; later in the same episode, he told Kate he thought they made a good couple, to which she replied "Maybe for the Jerry Springer Show". In the episode "Black Water", he went close to jealousy when Kate accepted a date offered by the victim's brother. During the events of "My Other Left Foot", Tony was obsessed by the idea of Kate having a tattoo and asked to know where during the whole episode. In extras seen on the Season 2 DVD Box Set, the producers stated it was intended for there to be a relationship between these two characters. In the episode "SWAK", after Kate was found uninfected, she continued to stay with Tony, lying about her condition to him even though she knew that the risk of infection was still imminent. As he was about to die, she was devastated and started crying, but Tony eventually survived, much to her relief.^[44]

Standing with Gibbs and Kate when the latter was killed, he was especially shocked and her death would have a serious impact on him, which along other events made Tony "grow up" during the following seasons. As shown in the episodes "Kill Ari" 1 & 2, Tony struggled with sorrow, culminating in a scene in which he and McGee mourn over the dead body of their deceased colleague in Ducky's autopsy room.

After Kate's death, like the other characters, DiNozzo also had a vision of her postmortem. Typical to Tony's chauvinistic personality, Kate appeared in the Catholic schoolgirl uniform that he had been asking about in the episode "Bikini Wax". After telling him that she always knew what he was thinking, she realized that she was wearing the uniform and quickly berated him, saying "Tony, I just died, and you're having a sexual fantasy?" to which he replied, "Can't help it. Sometimes I used to picture you naked" and she responded by screaming in shock seconds before Ziva David was introduced for the first time. This "sexual fantasy" was portrayed after Tony offered to go back out in the pouring rain and find the bullet that killed Kate and became upset when McGee improved the answer he had told to Gibbs.^[45]

Special Agent Ziva David

Ziva and Tony often try to outdo each other in verbal and physical competitions. Ziva taunts Tony in much the same way Kate did before she was killed. Some aspects of Ziva's personality disturb him, such as the fact that she sleeps with a gun in her hand and snores very loudly, as shown in the episode "Under Covers". During that episode, Tony and Ziva repeatedly faked sexual intercourse to solidify their cover as married assassins. The FBI agents who were monitoring them told McGee that they believed the sex was real, making him wonder what really happened between Tony and Ziva. Also during this episode, Ziva referred to Tony as "My Little Hairy Butt" and "My Little Furry Bear." In the subsequent episode, "Frame Up", Ziva rated Tony's butt a two out of five, telling him, "I took three points off for excessive hair." He replied delightedly, "That's a five!," to which Ziva chuckled and said, "If you shave."

In the episode "Shalom", Ziva learned that Mossad, apparently on her father's orders, had been spying on her for several months; the surveillance reveals that Tony had been visiting Ziva at her apartment at least once a week for the past three months, leading to suggestions that the two have become intimate—or merely that they see each other socially. She neither confirmed nor denied the implication of intimacy in the episode.

In the Season 4 episode "Singled Out", Ziva questioned Tony about an unidentified girlfriend. Subsequent episodes have established that Tony was building a relationship with medical doctor Jeanne Benoit and no apparent romantic link existed between him and Ziva. During "Driven" it was revealed that Ziva was unaware of Tony's romance with Benoit and had thus been misreading some of his secrecy. Due to Tony's frequent clandestine visits to a hospital (where Jeanne worked) and his claim that he was undergoing tests, Ziva indicated to Gibbs that she was worried that he might be having a medical problem related to his exposure to Y. pestis from the episode "SWAK".

During the episode "Nine Lives", Tony showed an interest in Ziva's vacation to Israel despite the fact that she's only just returned. Upon finding a picture of a man on her desk, Tony's interest is stimulated further; not knowing that the man in the picture was Ziva's Mossad partner. Tony also told her to have a good trip (Nisiya Tova) in Hebrew demonstrating an attempt to impress her.

The episode "Cloak" revealed more about their relationship, though not necessarily evidence of mutual romantic attraction. When placed in a war game, Ziva disobeyed Gibbs' orders not to engage, thereby causing the opponent guardsmen to attack Ziva and Tony. Both NCIS members attempt to aid the other; Tony was knocked unconscious, and Ziva managed to land a few good blows on the guardsmen before being knocked unconscious herself. Later, they shared an angry conversation in the elevator, where Tony accuses Ziva of disobeying Gibbs and provoking the fight. Defending her actions, Ziva reveals that she acted on impulse. They both say that they are "tired of pretending": Tony about the politics in the hunt for the mole within the team, which required the team members to withhold information from each other; Ziva about an undisclosed matter.

Their relationship was seriously tested in the episodes "Legend (Parts 1 and 2)" when Tony suspected Ziva was being less than truthful with him; later he discovered Ziva is in a relationship with Mossad officer Michael Rivkin, an assassin who plays an important role in the story. The penultimate episode "Semper Fidelis" saw a fight erupt between Tony and Rivkin, which ended with Rivkin dying after being shot by Tony in self-defense. Upon realizing that Rivkin is dead, a furious Ziva confronted Tony and the two had a confrontation of their own in the episode "Aliyah". Ziva, after claiming she can no longer trust Tony, was left by Gibbs in Israel, in turn, returned to the Mossad; at the end of the episode, Tony was shown to be considering calling her, but resigned himself to the fact that she is gone and "will call when she is ready.", only for the closing scene to show that Ziva had been taken prisoner in North Africa and tortured by Saleem Ulman, a terrorist demanding information on NCIS.

In the episode "Truth and Consequences", Tony was captured by the terrorist Saleem Ulman and then given a truth serum while being held captive in Somalia. Ziva, later revealed to have been alive asked what he is doing there and he said that "I couldn't live without you, I guess."; a montage earlier in the episode showed that Tony had become completely disinterested in work since Ziva disappeared.

In the episode "Reunion", Tony and Ziva spoke in the men's room about the events involving Michael. Ziva confessed that she was grateful that he has always "had her back." Before she left the restroom, Ziva kissed Tony on the cheek, saying that his "instincts were right".

In the episode "Jet Lag", Tony and Ziva, on a mission to protect a key witness, were stuck together in one hotel room in Paris. On the return flight, the witness Nora Williams asked Ziva and Tony why they are not together, if they are together, etc. They dodged those questions, and when Nora found out they shared a hotel room, Ziva told her that she took the couch. However, upon their return to D.C., McGee asked Tony where he slept, and Tony told him that he slept on the couch. Ziva then looked at Tony after McGee had left and asked him why he lied. Tony in response asked her why she lied to Nora. Also, Tony told her that his favorite picture of Paris is the only one with a person in it. When he gave Ziva the picture, the audience saw that the person in the picture was Ziva. In the Season 7 episode "Obsession" Tony described the type of women he was looking for, and ended up describing Ziva, though it is unclear if either of them realized it.

Tony has also demonstrated interest in any perceived attention both of his female partners—Caitlin Todd and Ziva David—receive from men. In Ziva's case, this is particularly true of NCIS Field Agent Chad Dunham and Former Marine Corporal Damon Werth. No reason has been given for this attitude.

Tony has displayed some jealousy over Ziva's relationship with a man called Ray that she met while working briefly in Miami. He has even gone so far as to attempt to hack into Ziva's email to see what her boyfriend's name was. (his name was unknown at the time) After meeting Ray in the episode "Two-Faced", Tony agrees to keep quiet when Ray admits he loves Ziva, and attempts to convince her not to abandon him when she catches Ray lying. When Ray says that he loves Ziva and that it feels good to get it off his chest DiNozzo replies saying "I'll bet...", implying he knows how Ray feels. From this, people can see that Tony may have feelings for Ziva. He also looks rather bothered when Ray tell him that he loves Ziva. In this same interaction, Ray turns around and throws a paper ball in the trash can, and then leaves. After Ray had left, Tony did the same thing, only throwing the ball in the trashcan while not looking. From this, we can see that Tony wanted to top Ray, as if it was a competition. Tony refers to Ray as CI-Ray (a parody of CIA, Ray works for the CIA) When Tony calls Ray CI-Ray, he says it with a twinge of jealousy in his voice.

He comforted Ziva after Mike Frank's death in the episode Swan Song. Tony expressed concern over Ziva after she was kidnapped by the serial killer they were after in the Season 8 finale, "Pyramid," and was relieved when she was found.

Special Agent E.J. Barrett

Introduced in Season 8, she is the lead investigator of the task force that Director Vance creates to catch the Port-to-Port killer. (Barrett is the leader of her team that was based in Rota, Spain before coming to Washington DC). It is revealed that she was the one who took Tony's position in Spain when Director Shepard offered Tony a team. Tony and Barrett are sleeping together. Gibbs does not like this as he refers to Rule #12: Never date a co-worker. Tony says that she is technically not a coworker because they are on different teams and that this relationship will not affect his job.

NCIS Director Jenny Shepard

In the fourth season, Tony's relationship with Jenny Shepard is shown to have warmed considerably in comparison to the end of the third season, with Tony occasionally being caught referring to her by her first name with even Gibbs joking about how close they were. The main reason for the warming of their relationship is the fact that Tony was involved in an ongoing operation run by Shepard, which is of personal importance to her. As they are keeping secrets, they develop a strong level of trust. Upon Gibbs's absence Tony took on his job and its associated responsibilities; this meant his interactions with the director became more frequent and as a consequence his relationship with her became more familiar, as seen in the episode "Shalom". Tony was particularly upset at Director Shepard's death in the episode "Judgment Day (Part 1)". He considered the event to be his fault because he had followed the director's instruction to abandon her protection detail. In the episode "Agent Afloat", Ziva reveals that, in the aftermath of Jenny's death, Tony had been drinking out of guilt.

Male Officers

Special Agent in Charge Leroy Jethro Gibbs

Tony greatly respects Gibbs and claims to have a father/son type relationship with him,^[15] a feeling supported by the "tough love" Gibbs often demonstrates, like in the episode "Sandblast", when he said "my son Tony." Tony is easily riled when it seems that Gibbs has a new favorite, and tries desperately to win back favor. Gibbs has the tendency to smack Tony on the back of the head whenever he says or does something inappropriate, however Gibbs told Tony that he was "irreplaceable" in the episode "Missing". Tony tolerates being smacked only by Gibbs; when Todd gives him a similar smack in the episode "Reveille" he reacts with momentary anger and the same reaction is shown when Ziva mirrors Gibbs' smack in the episode "Probie".

Tony prides himself on knowing many of the military terms, acronyms and slang Gibbs regularly uses which sometimes confuse civilians. Phrases such as these uttered by Tony include "On your six" or "got your six".^[46] This refers to the six o'clock position being at the back as 12 o'clock is at the front, as in ground or flying formations (explained in CBS's NCIS Glossary of terms). Throughout the first seasons of the series Tony made it a point to explain several agency acronyms to Todd and occasionally to McGee.

In the episode "Kill Ari (Part 1)", Gibbs starts "being nice" for about half the episode. The change in his demeanor bothers Tony, and he tells McGee: "He's not Gibbs if he's nice." Tony then makes up his mind to tick Gibbs off so that he will return to his old behavior, and he finally succeeds with an inappropriate remark toward Director Shepard that leads Gibbs to give him his usual slap to the back of the head. Pleased with himself, Tony then welcomes Gibbs back.

After Gibbs left at the end of season 3, Tony took his place as team leader. As leader, he tried to emulate Gibbs' leadership style, but he did make some changes. These included calling "Campfire" discussions (an impromptu sharing of current information among his fellow agents, which his peers found annoying), and reorganizing the equipment in the field truck. When Tony is offered his own team in Rota, Spain, he turns the offer down claiming that he wanted to keep an eye on Gibbs, whose memory has still not completely returned after the blast at the end of season 3. Gibbs indicates his belief that Tony is ready for his own team, unaware of the fact that Tony has already been offered this opportunity.

During the time Gibbs was away, Tony began working on an undercover operation with Director Shepard. Gibbs, unaware of the operation and noticing an unusual closeness between Tony and the director, questions the relationship. In the episode "Blowback", the undercover operation is finally revealed to Gibbs and Tony apologizes for not disclosing any information about the operation.

In "Flesh and Blood", Gibbs protectively confronts Tony's father about his life-long neglect of his son. In the same conversation Gibbs tells Tony's father that Tony is the best young Agent with whom he has ever worked.

Special Agent Timothy McGee

Tony's relationship with Timothy McGee was initially problematic. Part of this could be considered hazing, as McGee is the least experienced member of the NCIS team and ranks only as a junior field agent having only worked at NCIS for five or six years. For example, when McGee joined the team as a probationary Special Agent, Tony began calling him "Probie" (including versions of "Probie", such as "Probie-Wan Kenobi", "Probie Pan", and "Probie-san"). Some of Tony's other nicknames for McGee are plays on his name and such as "McGeek" and "McGoogle". He even calls him "McProbie", a combination nickname. He also refers to McGee's online-gaming persona Elf-Lord. In some cases the names refer to aspects of McGee's character, such as "McTardy", a reference to McGee being late, "McSneaky", as a reference to his ability to get almost any computer-related document, and "McCheat", a reference to McGee supposedly cheating at Scrabble. DiNozzo (at least once) has also asked McGee,"What are you Mcdoing, McGee?" Often, he (DiNozzo) and Caitlin Todd (and later Ziva David) are shown teaming up to tease McGee, although it remains friendly.

Contrary to appearances, Tony values his relationship with McGee, as seen in the episode "Probie"; Tony goes out of his way to support McGee and makes an effort to cheer him up. Particularly shown when McGee accidentally shoots an undercover police officer, Tony is the first one to try and allay McGee's feelings of guilt. At one point, after McGee has expressed his chagrin at being called "Probie", Gibbs tells him that his first senior agent still calls him "Probie" and suggests that it is not a sign of distaste or disrespect. During Gibbs' absence however, McGee becomes the senior field agent as Tony is now team leader. At this time, Tony shows much more respect for McGee and confidence in his abilities.

In the beginning of the seventh season Tony has more frequently called McGee by his first name, Tim, instead of these nicknames. An example of this is when McGee is explaining something to Gibbs and Tony says, "It's a burn phone, Tim, just say burn phone." It has been shown a few other times as well. The relationship between the two agents is on a much more equal footing as the show moves into the seventh season. McGee is very rarely (if at all) referred to as "Probie" any more by Tony, especially since Ziva has become a probationary field agent.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Season 3, Episode 9 "Frame Up"
2. ^ "CBS Bio of Michael Weatherly". Cbs.com. August 6, 2008. http://www.cbs.com/primetime/ncis/bio/michael_weatherly/bio.php. Retrieved May 2, 2009. 
3. ^ Season 3, Episode 1 "Kill Ari: Part 1"
4. ^ ^{a b} Season 4, Episode 9 "Twisted Sister"
5. ^ Season 2, Episode 11 "Black Water"
6. ^ ^{a b} Season 6, Episode 17 "South by Southwest"
7. ^ Season 1, Episode 16 "Bête Noire"
8. ^ Season 3, Episode 20 "Untouchable"
9. ^ Season 3, Episode 4 "Silver War"
10. ^ Season 4, Episode 6 "Witch Hunt"
11. ^ Season 2, Episode 10 "Chained"
12. ^ Season 1, Episode 14 "The Good Samaritan"
13. ^ Season 3, Episode 15 "Head Case"
14. ^ Season 2, Episode 19 "Conspiracy Theory"
15. ^ ^{a b c d} "Employee Assessment File: "Tony" DiNozzo". CBS.com. Archived from the original on February 18, 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080218015930/http://www.cbs.com/primetime/ncis/characters/michael_weatherly_char.shtml. Retrieved October 1, 2009. 
16. ^ "Dead Man Talking". NCIS. CBS. April 27, 2004.
17. ^ Season 1, Episode 6 "High Seas"
18. ^ Season 1, Episode 2 "Hung Out to Dry"
19. ^ Season 4, Episode 1 "Shalom"
20. ^ "Ice Queen". JAG. CBS. April 22, 2003.
21. ^ ^{a b} Season 2, Episode 20 "Red Cell"
22. ^ Season 2, Episode 12 "Doppelganger"
23. ^ Season 6, Episode 24 "Semper Fidelis"
24. ^ Season 1, Episode 21 "Split Decision"
25. ^ Season 3, Episode 18 "Bait"
26. ^ "Heart Break". NCIS. CBS. October 30, 2004.
27. ^ Season 1, Episode 20 "Missing"
28. ^ Season 6, Episode 25 "Aliyah"
29. ^ Season 4, Episode 3 "Singled Out"
30. ^ "Meltdown". JAG. CBS. April 29, 2003.
31. ^ "Left for Dead". NCIS. January 6, 2004. No. 10, season 1. 15:55 minutes in.
32. ^ "Probie". NCIS. CBS. November 29, 2005.
33. ^ "Bury Your Dead". NCIS. CBS. September 25, 2007.
34. ^ "Agent Afloat". NCIS. CBS. September 30, 2008.
35. ^ Season 3, Episode 17 "Ravenous"
36. ^ Season 1, Episode 23 "Reveille"
37. ^ Season 4, Episode 18 "Iceman"
38. ^ Season 4, Episode 14 "Friends and Lovers"
39. ^ Season 6, Episode 18 "Knockout"
40. ^ Season 1, Episode 9 "Marine Down"
41. ^ ^{a b} Season 1, Episode 19 "Dead Man Talking"
42. ^ Season 2, Episode 6 "Terminal Leave"
43. ^ Season 1, Episode 13 "One Shot, One Kill"
44. ^ Season 2, Episode 22 "SWAK"
45. ^ "Kill Ari (Part 1)". NCIS. September 27, 2005. No. 1, season 3. 23:30 minutes in.
46. ^ Season 6, Episode 6 "Murder 2.0"