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Hetty: He was in the people's republic of none of your damn business.

Hetty, I may dislike you more than not, but your one-liners are PERFECTION

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@justinhartley - Sharing some really great news today. Thank you all for watching us. Because of the #trackerbackers we get to make more of these @trackercbs episodes. Here we go!!

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Ghosts channeled its inner mafia mentality with Thursday night’s episode, in which Jay (Utkarsh Ambudkar) finds himself in some hot water after he gets a new recipe from his restaurant from Pete (Richie Moriarty).

While Richie offers the recipe with no ill-will in mind, the thing he doesn’t realize is that Carol (Caroline Aaron), who he learned it from, was sharing a recipe made by her mafioso family members — who are not too happy when they discover that a tiny upstate B&B and restaurant has stolen it.

Series star Rose McIver took on a new role for this episode, directing for the first time, after years of aspirations to get behind the camera, in addition to her on-screen role as Sam, the ever-constant voice of reason.

In the interview below, she spoke with Deadline about her experience on the episode and teased what’s to come next week, when audiences will finally get to learn why Isaac (Brandon Scott Jones) holds such a grudge against Alexander Hamilton.

DEADLINE: Last time we spoke, you told me a bit about your directing aspirations, but what were the conversations like for you to direct this episode, specifically?

ROSE McIVER: I’ve been wanting to direct for a long time. I’ve been working in film and television since I was a kid, and I always loved the spinning plates of how a set operates. I didn’t have grand ambitions to direct my own content…and I have no aspirations to be some sort of auteur. Set is such a distribution of compromise and trying to figure out how everybody can feel somewhat heard and create a vision together. I really like that aspect of things. I always knew I wanted to direct in television. When I had worked on iZombie, I did the Warner Brothers directing workshop, and had we been renewed for another season, I would have been directing there, but we weren’t renewed. So when I came on to Ghosts, I knew that that was something that I really aspired to do. This was the year that that became available. I was so grateful to the Joes [showrunners Port and Wiseman] and to CBS for allowing me to multitask and to be the lead in the show and direct at the same time. It was obviously a new challenge for me. I had, at the time, a six-month-old daughter, so I felt like I was getting very familiar with spinning plates, and if anything, actually, that was more helpful. But it was certainly a very full couple of weeks.

DEADLINE: You are pretty heavily featured in this episode, considering you’re also directing. Did that present any challenges for you?

McIVER: Sure, I mean, a lot of the time I would watch my amazing stand in, whose name is also Sam, which is confusing. I’d watch her line up for me. Somebody else would read my lines. Then after we filmed the master shot, I would step out and review it. But a lot of the time, to be honest, I would review my own material on the monitor if I felt like there was something that I couldn’t visualize how it had translated, but I was directing from within the scene most of the time. A lot of that is thanks to an incredible trusting relationship with our DP, Michelle, and our first AD, Matt, who both were so generous in their collaboration on the job.

I think the harder part is getting familiar with being able to hold the mental checklist in your head that you have when you direct. Instead of being able to circle pieces on a script as I’m going, I’m just sort of doing it all mentally while trying to juggle saying the lines at the same time. So it was definitely dense. I would get home and my brain would feel like it was short circuiting. But I found that so stimulating and exciting, and it got easier and easier the more we went on, thanks to my great cast around me. We all know each other so well. We know how each other work. We have a short hand of communication, which made that easier and easier. I was very carried and supported by an amazing cast and crew. Everybody has lots of great ideas, and you, still, as a director, are curating those ideas and working out which is valuable in this moment. So no matter how much support you have, you have to maintain this sharp curatorial eye, I think.

DEADLINE: What was your experience like with the Warner Bros. directing workshop? Did you take anything you learned into this role?

McIVER: Technically, because I didn’t have an episode that I went on to direct, I audited. But I participated in a 13 week [course]. Every Saturday, we would go to Warner Brothers Studios, and it was incredibly valuable to me. It was primarily very, very useful to get experience on stages, blocking through scenes with directing mentors who were there too, and my favorite aspect was they would throw you a curveball each week. Like, ‘Okay, great. One of the actors needs to leave at 6pm. How are you going to suddenly change your plan that you’ve come up with and reschedule in order to facilitate that while still making sure you get every bit you need in the scene?’ That kind of practical training is stuff that happens all the time, and that I don’t think people are necessarily prepared for it. There’ll be somebody who has a sty on one eye so you can’t shoot them from one side. Or the set that you were hoping was ready wasn’t ready. All these kinds of 11th hour challenges. So the course gave you experience in how you would navigate those, and you got tested on that. I love that, because that’s the real world challenges of directing in TV. It is not a luxurious schedule where you have everything planned out minutely in advance, and instead, you prepare as well as you possibly can to, on the day, be able to be flexible and turn on a dime.

You fall a little when you’re doing the class, and that’s the perfect environment to do that, so that you have more confidence and you have more flexibility and understanding by the time you actually get to a set. I thought that class was an incredibly valuable asset. I had literally been on set since I was two years old. I have plenty of on set experience. It a very, very different set of challenges that come when you’re the person calling the shots, literally. So I think even for somebody who has spent an enormous amount of time on set, or somebody who has studied film, I think that there was such value in honing your improvisational skills.

DEADLINE: How do you think that being on sets your entire life also put you in a solid position to direct? Did it give you any insights you think you may not have had otherwise?

McIVER: The most valuable thing to me, and if I ever had the chance to direct on other people’s projects, if I can possibly go and watch a week early to see the dynamics between the cast and crew — see how people interact, see where we fall short in terms of time, see where things are held up, see how people like to be spoken to and directed specifically, because certainly different from every cast member to another, and I know from each crew member to another as well. So I think anything you can possibly do to familiarize yourself with the specific environment that you’re about to direct in, just so that when all of the inevitable surprises come up, you know who might be able to think on the fly in a certain way, or who may need more time with the material. The observational side of directing, I think, is the most valuable thing that I’ve learned from from spending a lot of time on sets. I heard somebody say to me they think of directing as selecting in television, and I really agree with that. I think lots of people present you with lots of stuff all the time, and being able to be selective is the key skill set to have.

DEADLINE: You mentioned directing on other people’s projects. Do you have any specific genres or projects you’d want to try next?

McIVER: Growing up, I did a lot of drama, and I really miss some aspects of drama, particularly drama which weaves in comedy. I would like to kexplore that a little bit more. I think that’s something that would be interesting. But I certainly know that in my last 10 years, I feel very well equipped to navigate half-hour comedy right now. There’s something really fun that happens on set when the crew can be genuinely entertained by the material and they’re not processing tragedy constantly. So there’s certainly value in building my confidence, I think, in comedic environments. But long term, I certainly have an interest in unpacking some other stuff as well.

DEADLINE: What was your favorite part of this episode, specifically, to direct?

McIVER: I really enjoyed shooting the flashback sequence with Richie in the travel agency. When you’re directing, you get the chance to talk with all these different departments about the immense amount of work that goes on behind the scenes to create the production value that you’re seeing — I really, really loved working with our production designer Zoe, who managed to pull out of thin air this fantastic travel agency from 1980s, and the costumes department and makeup and everybody. We feel like we missed an opportunity not doing an 80s dress up day for the crew that day that we filmed there. But it was this functioning travel agency in a strip mall, and it felt like this just incredible relic of a different era. Watching the magic of everybody bringing that to life was something that I wouldn’t have necessarily been able to experience just as an actor.

DEADLINE: Next week is the big Alexander Hamilton episode. Anything you can tease about that?

McIVER: The Alexander Hamilton episode is absolutely phenomenal. Brandon Scott Jones, I mean, just any episode that is Brandon-centered is destined to be brilliant, and he doesn’t drop the ball. I think it was the episodes that, for me, read the funniest on the page out of any episode we’ve ever read in a table read. So I think people will be very happy with how that translates on screen, too. We have some great guest stars. We have Nat Faxon playing Alexander Hamilton. It’s certainly not the story people will be expecting in terms of why Isaac loathes Hamilton the way he does.

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This week’s Ghosts brought about a big realization for Pete and marked a major milestone for series star Rose McIver.

The actress made her directorial debut with the episode, titled “Ghostsfellas,” which revealed that the travel agency Pete worked for was actually a front for his mobster in-laws, and he was the only one in the dark about it. And the head of that mafia clan, Anthony, was none too happy to find that Jay (courtesy of Pete) was using his family’s arrabbiata sauce recipe at his new restaurant. Sam and Jay were able to get Anthony off their backs, eventually, after Carol helped them uncover his sketchy books. Meanwhile, Sam helped Pete realize that even though the travel agency was hiding bad dealings, the joy he brought his clients was very real.

And although Jay and Sam’s newbie restaurant is now enjoying some success, the troubles are far from over for Mahesh.

“As I’m sure you can imagine, it is not a smooth course for very long,” McIver tells TVLine with a laugh. “There’s definitely some pretty major hurdles that come up, particularly towards the end of the season. The success of the restaurant may come at a cost, and we learn a lot more about that.”

Below, the actress talks about the joys of directing her co-star Richie Moriarty (aka Pete), how Goodfellas inspired her and much more.

TVLINE | When did you first get the directing bug? Is this something you wanted to do back when you were on iZombie? Yeah, very much so. Even maybe before iZombie. I always loved TV sets and how they work. I love the sort of machine of it all, the routine, the way every day is the same but different. It’s far more mechanical, and you can anticipate elements of it in a way that you don’t on a feature film, because there is some consistency to crew and to cast members, but at the same time, there’s these inevitable surprises that happen every day, and the job of a director, in navigating all of those surprises, while still trying to keep the wheels turning always seemed like a very interesting challenge to me and something I really gravitated towards, and I like the sort of people management side of things. I was never sort of aspiring to be an independent filmmaker. I kind of really liked the way that TV sets work and how we achieve a vision that has been created by showrunners and established and how, as a gun for hire, you’re supposed to come in and help them execute that and bring as much creativity and charm as you can, but kind of keep the train on the tracks.

TVLINE | How did it feel to be the first one in this cast to direct an episode? Everybody was really supportive. I’ve been so lucky. Our cast and crew here in Montreal, especially for the cast, we’re all away from home. We’re very, very close. We’re a tight-knit family, and our crew, absolutely incredible and so supportive. So I sort of knew, going into it, that I couldn’t ask for a better work environment. I got to work a lot with Richie Moriarty, who is just one of the most deft, directable, brilliant performers. He has incredible instincts, but also knows how to give you options. And so, to have an episode that was so Pete-centric felt like a real luxury, and it’s fun. You feel like an audio engineer, sometimes, sitting with somebody like him, where you’re turning something up and switching the frequency, and he responds so fast, which you have to, because so much of directing for television is not the luxury of time. There is not a whole lot of time to explore and develop, and so, to have somebody who can get there really quickly is crucial, really, and it was just fun to see.

TVLINE | I know that directors don’t get a lot of choice in what episode they’re going to direct. It’s about scheduling and all sorts of issues. But did it feel kind of fitting to be directing a Pete-centric episode, given how special the bond is between Sam and Pete? Yeah, it did. It was one of those strokes of luck, because I think I had committed, time-wise, to when that window was very early in the season, before that episode was actually sketched in. So then, when the Joes came to me and said, “This is what it’s looking like,” it felt like just a really fortunate opportunity.

And yeah, you don’t get a lot of say. Maybe there would’ve been some elements that might’ve been easier in directing an episode that Sam wasn’t very featured in at all. But at the same time, I actually really enjoyed the process of directing from within a scene… It really asks you to kind of wake up the split screen in your brain a little bit, and I really like that. So I would kind of try to make sure I had a couple of my own in the tank, performance-wise, and then be able to really focus on listening to other people’s choices. And I was able to go back and review the monitor for any things that I was particularly kind of concerned about, how we may have framed them or what was being included or excluded. But I also had the luxury of a DP and a first AD who we’ve worked with now for years. Matt [Jemus] is our first AD, and Michel [St-Martin] is our DP, and they both were just incredibly vital in helping guide me and being an extra set of eyes and ears, so that I was able to be present in the scenes as much as possible, as well.

TVLINE | Is there a scene that stands out for you that was particularly fun or special or challenging to direct? I really loved shooting the flashback stuff when we were in the travel agency. I had a really good experience with that and just seeing every department be able to really shine in how they brought the ’80s to life. But also, I love Caroline Aaron, who plays Carol. She’s so, so talented and so funny, and I really enjoyed a couple of the sequences in the barn where she was filling Pete in on Anthony and his friends. Being able to direct Caroline was a real treat.

TVLINE | Did you watch any mafia movies to prepare for this episode? Oh, yeah! The night before, I was rewatching Goodfellas just to kind of have it hovering in the back of my mind, and we got a couple of little moments in there that [were] supposed to be references to that. Even one of the moments in the barn in the dining room of the restaurant where Anthony is making a joke and trying to keep everybody on the edge of their seat, and they’re nervously laughing, I really leaned into the sequence in Goodfellas where Pesci’s doing the same. So it was fun. It was a really cool episode in that it did have a genre it was so clearly drawing from. So a few moments, we try to do that, but at the same time, primarily, I was focused on making sure that, emotionally, the stakes were warranted, that we really felt Pete’s sense of vulnerability and feeling like a fool, and saw beyond that and saw to how beautiful and trusting he is.

TVLINE | Do you already have plans to direct next season? Is that something you’ve already talked with the Joes about? Yeah, I’m desperate to. It’s really kind of up to them, and I think we had a really positive experience this time, and I’m really keen to direct more on this show and, potentially, on other shows, as well. So we’ll see whether anything comes to fruition, but that’s very much my intention.

TVLINE | Did any of your castmates come up to you in the process and say something along the lines of, like, that seeing you do it inspired them to do it or ask you for advice? Yeah, very much. A number of our cast have shadowed directors now. It’s such a valuable thing to do, whether you end up directing on the show or not. I’ve shadowed many directors now in the past, and I’ve found it immensely helpful to understand even my role as an actor on set and where some of the decisions are made that dictate how a day pans out on set. It’s really informative. It helps you develop lots of compassion and respect for the incredible collaborators that aren’t on set every day, that are all in the pre-production process. So, yeah, I’ve happily encouraged everybody, and hopefully, some of them get the opportunity to direct on the show, as well.

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But I got the wind in my hair and a fire within, ‘cause there’s something beginning! {x}

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NCIS Season 17 opening credits

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@ncisverse - Gear up — we've got a whole lot more NCISverse to dive into... 👏👏👏 #NCISverse #NCIS #NCISOrigins #NCISSydney #NewSeason #TV #TVshow #WhatToWatch #CBS

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Who is this Rex?

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Now that Colter (Justin Hartley) has solved his white whale of a case — the disappearance of Gina Picket a decade ago —there’s still another ongoing mystery for him to tackle in Tracker Season 2: that of his family.

The series began with Colter thinking that his brother Russell (Jensen Ackles) may have had something to do with their father’s death. But, as Colter instead learned from Russell, someone else was there that night in the woods. In fact, their mother had secrets, too, because he’d seen the same man who was there that night talking to her before. Their mother then told Russell it would be best if he left and kept quiet about what happened after their father’s death. Their sister, Dory (Melissa Roxburgh), has secrets, too, such as the box of their father’s stuff she hadn’t told either of them about.

In Ackles’ Season 2 return, he helped Colter out with a case and in the process, learned a bit more about their father. “You have a long family history of getting in the government’s way,” the man who previously held Colter in some sort of government facility when the rewardist was looking for a missing man, told Russell. “What, you don’t think I know who you are?”

With so much still unanswered, returns from Ackles and Roxburgh are needed. “Hopefully” we’ll see them again this season, Hartley told TV Insider. “We’re writing for them.”

Roxburgh did tell us she hopes to return as well while discussing her new show, The Hunting Party. “I think that’d be super fun,” she shared. “I’d love to go back and play.”

Hartley promised that the show would be diving back into the family mystery as Season 2 continues and it “gets real.”

“I don’t like the idea of wrapping things up in a pretty little bow just for the sake of the fact that it’s the final episode of the season, and so we write to the plot so that everyone’s like, ‘Oh, great, everything’s perfect and fine, and we can go and make a third season,'” he admitted. “I’m more interested in propelling the story in a way that makes sense, and if it ends up being four episodes or 44 episodes or 144 episodes to tell the most compelling story, then that’s what it is, not just trying to get more episodes in the bag or trying to finish a story in time. I think there’s a beautiful way to tell a story in sort of the best way and that’s what we should do. And all the writers are on board with that, too, everyone wants to do that.”

Hartley continued, “We’ll figure out a lot more, and [Colter will] get more leads. But sometimes when you get more leads and find out more information, it just unravels more s**t, and sometimes that’s more interesting. The way in which he died and the mystery behind it and what he was involved with and who he was involved in it with being the government and all that kind of stuff, there are so many threads to this that he’s following, and it is almost like he almost needs a wall to write things down, almost needs like a Dexter wall. It certainly unravels here towards the end of the season.”

He agreed that Colter and Russell’s relationship in such a better place than it was at the start of the series. That being said, there are mysteries about Russell and there’s the matter of his off-the-books type of work.

“Colter is very skeptical just by nature, and part of it is his job, part of it is upbringing, all the lessons that his dad taught him. He hung out with this guy who became more increasingly paranoid, and that can rub off on you,” Hartley noted. “But then as he is growing older, he’s realizing, ‘Oh, snap. Maybe my dad wasn’t so crazy. Maybe he was onto something.’ And so that’s where it starts to unravel. There’s a sense of responsibility that comes with that, too. If you start to treat things like an eye roll and you just ignore it, and then all of a sudden, a year later, you realize, ‘Oh no, those were cries for help. I shouldn’t have been rolling my eyes,’ there’s sort of a sense of responsibility and a sense of, I don’t know, shame that comes along with that.”

So looking ahead to what Colter and Russell’s relationship will be like the next time they cross paths, “It’s trying to get up to speed and make sure that everyone’s up to speed and that I have all the information that he has and that it jives,” says Hartley. “What’s the truth here? What actually happened? Were we both being lied to or was I being lied to? Were you in on the lie? What are you protecting me from? Because Colter’s not lying. The audience knows what Colter knows, but the question is, if the siblings know more than he does, why? What’s the point of protecting him? Are they talking to each other or are we all just kind of in the dark here? Colter is the one that is pursuing this, and everyone else is like, well, just let it go, who cares? It’s dangerous. It’s not worth it. Nothing can change the past. But that’s just not the way that Colter operates.”

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@trackercbs - Get excited #Trackerbackers - another season of Colter and the gang is in the works! 🙌 . . . #Tracker #JustinHartley #newseason #renewed #actionshow

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@ghostscbs - #GhostsCBS is so nice, they* renewed us twice! See you for seasons 5 and 6, ghosties. 👻 #ghosts #comedy #tv #renewed

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CBS RENEWS NINE ADDITIONAL SERIES FOR THE 2025-2026 SEASON

Hit Comedy “Ghosts” Lands Two-Season Order, Taking the Series Through the 2026-2027 Broadcast Season

CBS announced today that it has renewed nine additional series for the 2025-2026 broadcast season. The renewed CBS Original series include #1 entertainment series TRACKER, #1 comedy GEORGIE & MANDY’S FIRST MARRIAGE, #1 new unscripted series HOLLYWOOD SQUARES, plus ELSBETH, FIRE COUNTRY, NCIS, NCIS: ORIGINS and NCIS: SYDNEY. Additionally, the Network has ordered two more seasons of hit comedy GHOSTS, taking the series through the 2026-2027 season.

Previous series orders for the 2025-2026 season include the #1 new series MATLOCK, starring Kathy Bates; SHERIFF COUNTRY, the new drama expanding the universe of the hit series FIRE COUNTRY, starring Morena Baccarin; new police drama BOSTON BLUE (working title) starring Donnie Wahlberg as his BLUE BLOODS character Danny Reagan; THE ROAD, a singing competition series from executive producers Blake Shelton and Taylor Sheridan; and hit reality series SURVIVOR and THE AMAZING RACE. The original FBI series was formerly renewed through the 2026-2027 broadcast season. This brings the total number of series ordered for the 2025-2026 season to 16.

“This season, our new and returning series continue to showcase CBS as the leader in launching and programming the biggest hits with mass appeal for broadcast and streaming viewers,” said Amy Reisenbach, president of CBS Entertainment. “These returning shows represent a mix of long-standing hits and a new generation of fan favorites. In collaboration with our extraordinarily talented partners in front of and behind the camera, we look forward to delivering another successful season.”

Additional series orders and renewals will be made at future dates.

CBS series dominate in both broadcast and streaming with returning series posting year-over-year growth. Below please find season-to-date live plus 35-day multiplatform data on returning shows:

TRACKER hits over 18 million multiplatform viewers, up +4% year over year

GEORGIE & MANDY’S FIRST MARRIAGE delivers 12.9 million multiplatform viewers

ELSBETH averages 11 million multiplatform viewers, up +3% year over year

GHOSTS delivers nearly 11 million multiplatform viewers with streaming alone up +9% year over year

FIRE COUNTRY delivers 10.6 million multiplatform viewers with streaming alone up +43% year over year

NCIS averages 10.4 million multiplatform viewers with streaming alone up +3% year over year

NCIS: ORIGINS delivers 9.2 million viewers with streaming alone up +72% year over year (from NCIS: HAWAI’I)

NCIS: SYDNEY is estimated to deliver 7 million viewers in live plus 35 days of viewing, based on its series premiere live plus 7 days of viewing estimates

HOLLYWOOD SQUARES is estimated to deliver 5.4 million viewers in live plus 35 days of multiplatform viewing, based on its season-to-date live plus 7 days of viewing average

SOURCE: Nielsen live plus 35 days of viewing (9/15/24-12/22/24) and CBS internal streaming data and Nielsen Most Current 09/23/24-02/16/25.

CBS shows are available on the CBS Television Network, and streaming on Paramount+ (live and on demand for Paramount+ with SHOWTIME subscribers, or on demand for Paramount+ Essential subscribers the day after the episode airs)*.