TV tonight: 'NCIS,' 'New Girl,' 'Forever'
NCIS
CBS, 8 ET/PT
TV's most popular drama returns with a surprise for long-time fans: The introduction of Gibbs' here-to-fore unseen ex-wife Rebecca, played by Jeri Ryan. And just to make life more interesting for Gibbs, Rebecca shows up at a crime scene with another one of his four exes in tow — Diane, played by recurring guest star Melinda McGraw. There's also a case to solve, but you can forgive Gibbs if he has trouble keeping his mind on it.
New Girl/The Mindy Project
Fox, 9 ET/PT
New jobs dominate these two Fox comedies as they make their winter return. On New Girl, Winston begins his career as a cop, and on Mindy, Mindy starts her fellowship at Stanford.
Forever
ABC, 10 ET/PT
Henry (Ioan Gruffudd) returns to work as Forever comes back from hiatus, but he's still recovering from the trauma of being tricked into murdering a man. He's also dealing with his memories of his son, Abe, going off to war — part of a story that causes Abe to reconnect with his ex war buddies — while trying to decide how much to share with Jo (Alana De La Garza). Forever has a strong core group of characters, but that's a lot of story for one hour. Which is why, as is often the case here, the central mystery is perfunctory, despite the presence of guest star William Baldwin.