• Mark Harmon is getting busier. The actor's character, Gibbs, will appear on the latest NCIS spinoff based in New Orleans, which begins shooting next week in the Crescent City. NCIS: New Orleans stars Scott Bakula, Lucas Black and CCH Pounder. Harmon serves as an executive producer in addition to his duties starring in NCIS, which started as a spinoff of JAG and heads into its 12th season this fall. "I'm here to help," Harmon told the summer TV critics' meeting in Southern California on Thursday. "I've learned a few things in 12 years and I'd be glad to pass a few along or not." Harmon and NCIS co-star Pauley Perrette will make crossover appearances on the new show. Actor Rob Kerkovich has been added to the cast as a forensic scientist who will work with Pounder's character. Bakula appreciates having the backing of an established franchise in launching the latest spinoff, although he admits to feeling pressure. "We have to earn our place," he said. "It's not a given." If history is any indication, Bakula might not have to worry. NCIS: Los Angeles, starring Chris O'Donnell and LL Cool J, began as a spinoff and has found a successful home at CBS. "We have big shoes to follow," Bakula said. "The ball that's being handed off is a perfect spiral."
• A judge in Washington state has granted Casey Kasem's daughter a temporary restraining order preventing the famous radio host's wife from cremating or removing his remains from a funeral home. Kasem died June 15 at a hospital in Gig Harbor, Wash. But court records show his body remains at a funeral home in Tacoma, south of Seattle, more than a month later. Kasem suffered from a form of dementia, and his three adult children from his first wife fought a bitter legal battle with Kasem's second wife, Jean, over control of his health care in his final months. Daughter Kerri Kasem on Wednesday asked a Pierce County Superior Court judge for authorization to seek an autopsy on her father as well as a temporary restraining order to ensure his body is held in cold storage and not cremated until that autopsy is completed. Judge Ronald Culpepper ordered Kasem's second wife of 34 years, Jean, to ensure that the radio host's remains are preserved and that his body remains at the funeral home until the court decides on the autopsy petition. A call to Jean Kasem's attorney Friday morning was not immediately returned.
A Section on 07/19/2014