Timothy McGee

Agent Timothy McGee is a fictional special agent from the NCIS television series by CBS Television, portrayed by Sean Murray. The character first appeared in the first season episode "Sub Rosa" and appeared on a recurring basis thereafter, later graduating to regular character status in season 2.

Character
McGee is a sweet-natured and overachieving young agent who makes his colleague DiNozzo feel nervous about his job. He is a conservative dresser, apparently nervous around women, and gifted with computers. He is a federal agent by design (Witness) but also enjoys writing mystery/crime novels (first mentioned in Dead Man Talking).

His apartment (seen season 2, 3 and 4) is small and open plan with a bay window, wooden floors and exposed brickwork. The contents reflect his interests in fiction writing (old fashioned manual Remington typewriter, meerschaum pipe à la Sherlock Holmes), vinyl record collection, computers (various pieces of hardware scattered in boxes) and on-line gaming. He has a picture of his grandmother on his cup. He has no couch and his TV hangs on the wall in front of his bed. As Tony said: "George Clooney could not get laid in this apartment". He lives in Silver City and his apartment number is 3. His shower curtains have monkeys printed on them.

McGee is a computer specialist; and as a hobby, Sean Murray has built computers from scratch.

Nicknames
Probie, Elf Lord, McGeek (Tony), Probalicious (Tony),Timmy (Abby), McFlabby (Tony), Mr Goodwrench (Abby), McFlower Power (Tony), Aqua Smurf (Tony)

Traits
McGee is 6ft 1in tall and is left handed, wearing his watch on his right hand and crossing his arms right over left. He has a small scar on right side of face between his eye and his ear. He is highly allergic to poison ivy and has twice suffered a severe reaction (caught on tape, Sandblast). He is also highly susceptible to sea sickness, suffering even when the vessel in question is in dock (Bikini Wax). In season three it is seen that he has an allergic reaction to cats (Untouchable).

McGee has dry skin which he treats with Femme Glow (Iced). He admits to manicures because he has sensitve cuticles (Blowback). He Bleaches his teeth (Escaped). As a child, he had to wear a retainer at night because he ground his teeth in his sleep (The Meat Puzzle). He was a boyscout - although technically a Weblos (Ravenous). Had a terrible case of acne as a kid (Heart Break). Claims occasional, innocent, youth experimentation with drugs (The Good Wives Club). Did some high school wrestling (The Bone Yard). He has never had Herpes (UnSEALed). Ziva rates his butt a 4/5 (Frame-Up).

He graduated M.I.T. at the top of his class and likes online games, leading to the occasional nickname of "Elf Lord." DiNozzo's pet name for him is "Probie" which he hates. McGee drives a Porsche Boxster, as seen in the Season Four Episode "Twisted sister". On his 16th birthday McGee's parents gave him an '84 Camaro Z-28 five-speed which he prompty crashed into a bus (Hometown Hero). This incident caused him to refrain from driving for a number of years. Apparently in season 4 he has gotten over this.

From Bikini Wax we find he is unfamiliar with swirlies, but is experienced with noogies, wedges and melvins. Never did the whole spring break thing. Watches MTV. He has also never been Sake Bombing (SWAK). Used to read Mad magazine before his mother found them and burned them in the yard (Friends and Lovers).

Hobbies include reading and writing mystery novels, Star Trek (speaks Klingon but not fluently) and Star Wars. Musical tastes include Yanni (Greek guy with perfect pitch), Barry Manilow (Ultimate Manilow), Julie Andrews (sound of Music) and Zamfir (pan flute Master - the lonely shephard). Has an interest in antiques and actually applies knowledge from Antiques Roadshow. Attended chess camp (Friends and Lovers).

He reads Ladies Home Journal and Red Book with the aim of picking up women (The Good Wives Club). He is not as fussy with his coffee beverages as some of his co-workers drinking everything from Latte's to short blacks to caf-pows. He is able to be hynotised (Witness).

McGee writes mystery fiction in his spare time under the pen name "Thom E. Gemcity," an anagram of his name. He has one novel published entitled Deep Six: The Continuing Adventures of L.J. Tibbs, which features fictionalized versions of Gibbs, DiNozzo, Ziva and Jimmy Palmer as “Tibbs”, "Tommy", "Lisa" and "Pimmy Jalmer" respectively. His co-workers weren't exactly grateful for this, since McGee even wrote that "Pimmy Jalmer" had engaged in sex with a corpse.

He likes electronic toys and owns a trendy watch (acquired in Dead and Unburied), an ipod photo and a nokia N90 phone with video (see his bizzare screen photo). He also has a large plasma screen for his home computer.

In seasons 1-3 McGee's clothing is typically baggy and a little too large. Only one tie was used in season 1 but by season 2 and 3 bold diagonal stripes were typical. By season 4, ties were abandoned altogether. Underneath his shirt he wears round-necked MIT or West Pac T-shirts. Abby says he has size 10 shoes (and a size 12 mouth). He claims to wear both boxers and 'tighty whities' but we have only seen him in the former. Always wears footware, even at home. He owns green sneakers (Bloodbath). The only time we see naked feet is in the shower scene in SWAK. By season 4, he is shopping at Armani.

Although it is claimed he drives the NCIS car, we don't actually see him behind the wheel until season 4. He also has a reputation for 'carrying' women having been stood or sat on by Kate, Agent Paula Cassidy and Ziva. By season 4 his calender indicates he goes to a personal trainer four nights a week, does Tai Chi in the park occasionally and was booked for a test drive of a Harley Davidson (Twisted Sister).

He is not good with dead bodies — he nearly passed out in the morgue when air conditioning went down in the main NCIS building and had to relocate a computer to the morgue to ensure a case could be solved (See No Evil). He 'hurled' on Ducky's shoes at his first autopsy (Ravenous) and almost did the same in Sub Rosa while doing his Michael Jackson impersonation. Hates maggots (Friends and Lovers).

Career
From the episode Doppelganger we learn McGee worked after school as a burnt-potato-chip picker and during the summer between his Freshman and Sophomore years he was a Porta Potti cleaner (hottest summer on record). He has also cleaned asbestos. There is also a hint he had another job when he starts a sentence 'before I joined NCIS' but the sentence was never finished. In Pop Life he mentions he used to work in a bank (but his tat is real and he doesn't disappoint).

When we first meet McGee in season 1 (Sub Rosa), he is stationed with the NCIS office at the Naval Station Norfolk. He has a cramped office and a filing system that involves piling each item on top of the next. Tony makes McGee call him 'Sir'. During this time McGee had a carspace at Norfolk next to Cassie Yates (SWAK). Numerous times during the first season he found himself again "recruited" by either Gibbs or, occasionally, DiNozzo to put his computer skills towards a case. He gets his first Gibbs slap from Tony in UnSEALed.

McGee permanently transferred to NCIS Washington to work under Gibbs in season 2. By the beginning of season 4, he had become much more confident in his abilities as an investigator.

Education
McGee was 18 when he was a junior in MIT. He has a Masters in Computing Forensics at MIT (Sub Rosa) and did a year of independent study in advanced string theory at the same institution (Red Cell). He also has a BS in Biomedical Engineering from Johns Hopkins (Sub Rosa). He graduated top of his class at FLETC (Federal Law Enforcement Training Center - Red Cell). McGee's college GPA was 3.9: he failed a fencing class in his Sophomore year (also Red Cell - note actor's mother was an Australian fencing champion). His economics lecturer was Professor Bernbaum (Doppelganger).

Relationships
McGee is in awe of Gibbs. During his time helping NCIS in season 1 he began a relationship with Gibbs' gothic forensic scientist, Abby Sciuto, getting 'mom' tatooed on his buttock (Sub Rosa but you can't see it in the SWAK shower scene) to impress her, sleeping with her in her coffin ('not just slept' - Reveille) and writing her poetry (complete with finger clicks - A Weak Link). He admits to doing Hinky things with Abby (they were all her idea - Dead Man Talking) and having plunged into the seedier side of the internet with her (Forced Entry). Things cooled when Abby refused to categorise the 'state' of their relationship and he found Erin for about 6 hours before some wacko killed her while he was talking to her on the phone (Witness). It was season 2 where the love interest of anyone was either victim or killer. McGee and Abby remain close friends sharing many hugs and the occasional chaste kiss, almost always initiated by Abby.

Although he suffers at the hands and smart alec comments of DiNozzo, McGee gelled well with both Tony and Kate in a sibling way as part of the team and was really the first one who got along with Ziva when she joined the team after Kate's death. Despite his sibling relationship with Kate, his image of her after her death in Kill Ari 1 is somewhat S&M - leather outfit and whip.

In Season 4 it is revealed that McGee has a sister named Sarah McGee played byTroian Bellisario, executive producer Donald Bellisario's daughter, and Sean's stepsister. She first appeared in Season 2's Red Cell.

Trivia
Actor Sean Murray's brother Chad played the body of a dead Sailor in Season 1 "The Immortals". Chad is usually in post production. A photo of Chad dressed as Abby can be seen behind McGee's desk in Season 3. His mother, Australian fencing champion Vivienne Blackadder, is married to the executive producer Donald Bellisario and appeared as Gibb's mystery redhead in the early seasons. The actor who played Chip (Michael Bellisaro) is his step brother, and Troian Bellisario (who plays his sister) is his step sister.

In the opening credit, the film has been reversed so that McGee is firing right-handed in Twilight. Also in his debut episode Sub Rosa, McGee actually holds his gun in his right hand, though he still writes with his left.

McGee's Doppelganger was called Miller.