Tina’s 2011 TV Goodness All-Stars: NCIS’ Michael Weatherly 

It’s no secret I totally dig Michael Weatherly and his NCIS character, the Very Special Agent Anthony Dinozzo. But this year, I do have my reasons to call him an all-star. Three of them to be exact.

• The Character: We know that Tony Dinozzo is a great agent. Yet at times, he can be completely and utterly obnoxious. Mostly, in a good way. But not always. In 2011, it seems like Tony has been working on himself. We’ve seen him defy Gibbs to break the dreaded Rule Number 12 when he entered into a relationship with Special Agent E.J. Barrett, the woman who got his Rota job after he turned it down back in Season 4. Plus, we’ve seen him reveal things about himself we’ve never heard before. Information about this guy’s past has trickled down to us over the years, but the show’s finally giving us more and more glimpses into Tony’s past. In what’s probably my favorite NCIS of 2011, “Nature of the Beast,” he was in the hospital talking to Kate’s shrink of a sister, Dr. Rachel Cranston. From his bed, he revealed how his mom died in a room like this with a movie playing on the TV. Later in Season 9, we saw him have a conversation with God and face his biggest fear. It’s nice that even now the show seems to be adding depth to Tony Dinozzo. Before this, we’ve mainly relied on Weatherly to do the work. He’s always managed to find ways to give his character some, well, character. Now if we can just figure out a way to see where Dinozzo lives, I’d be a happy camper. I know, I’m like a broken record when it comes to this. But it’s the ninth season and we have no idea where this guy lives or what this guy’s place of residence looks like. That’s criminal to me.

• The Director. Michael got the chance to direct his first NCIS episode this year. In Season 8, he took on the challenge of helming, “One Last Score.” He did a good job. He gave the episode his own flair without changing it up so much that it became a jarring experience to watch. I hope he gets a chance to direct another one.

• The Tweeter. Don’t know if you guys know this but you usually can count on Michael Weatherly to: A) Give entertaining interviews to the media; and 2) Provide wildly fun episode commentaries on the various NCIS season DVDs. So it’s no surprise that once he made his way to the twitter-verse, he was a natural. Sure, every once in a while he gets tweet-smacked (his word not mine) but that’s the beauty of following him on Twitter. Plus, he answers fans questions, tells us his NCIS guest star hall of fame, talks about his soap and Dark Angel days, chats with the cast of NCIS: LA, fills us in on his favorite movies and campaigns for the title of TVLine.com’s Ultimate Law Enforcement Crush of which he was named the winner. Yup, it’s not surprising that Michael Weatherly has really taken to this whole twitter thing. If you don’t follow him you totally should. He’s at 56,000 plus followers and rising.

You can catch Michael on NCIS Tuesdays at 8/7c on CBS.