‘NCIS’ Fans Fawn Over Fornell’s New Ponytail in Season 18 Premiere

NCIS returned on Tuesday night with a thrilling season premiere. The Season 18 kickoff saw the team try to recover a stolen corpse a criminal swiped from the NCIS autopsy room. Meanwhile, Gibbs (Mark Harmon) reunites with longtime ally Fornell (Joe Spano) to take on a drug cartel. While these plots are engaging, viewers zoned in on something cosmetic: Fornell’s hair.

Fornell is now sporting a ponytail, which surprised many longtime NCIS viewers. The character, who’s appeared on 51 episodes of the CBS drama, typically has short hair, but he’s let loose in 2020 and allowed it to grow out. Fan chatter about the look was lively. Scroll through to see some of the best reactions to the change.

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One fan wrote, “i still can’t get over fornell’s ponytail.” A second added, “Fornell with a ponytail…what a new look for him [laughing emoji].

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A third surprised fan wrote, “Omg. Fornell has a ponytail. What is this sorcery?,” and a fourth quipped, “i think fornell’s ponytail is affecting his judgement [nervous emoji].”

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A couple of fans thought Spano looked like comedy icon George Carlin with the new look. “Fornell looks like George Carlin with the ponytail….,” one fan wrote. A second added, “You know you Fornell reminds me of with that ponytail? George Carlin.”

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Not everyone was as receptive, however. “Watched last night’s #NCIS episode. Not sure how I feel about Fornell’s ponytail,” one more critical fan wrote.

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A second viewer wrote, “Not digging Fornell’s ponytail.” A third person tweeted, “Great episode of NCIS but Fornal needs to lose the ponytail, it looks ridiculous.”

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Another viewer was less worried about Fornell’s hair and more worried about the plot, writing, “We just saw Gibbs shoot McGee and ya’ll are gonna go on about Fornell’s new ponytail?”

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NCIS airs Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. ET on CBS. You can catch up on previous episodes via CBS All Access. Disclosure: PopCulture is owned by CBS Interactive, a division of ViacomCBS.