Trouble may be afoot behind the scenes of CBS' ratings juggernaut 'NCIS.'

According to Deadline, four of its stars -- Michael Weatherly, Pauley Perrette, David McCallum and Sean Murray -- are still not signed beyond the end of this season, leaving the future of the cast in limbo.

If Kara DioGuardi has her way, she and Ellen DeGeneres will be hitting it off like franks and beans, peanut butter and jelly, frick and frack... two peas in a pod. At at an industry conference in New York, Kara was musing about the upcoming season of American Idol in which DioGuardi and DeGeneres will be sharing the judges' table together -- with Randy Jackson and Simon Cowell, of course.

"I'm hoping the chemistry with Ellen will be great -- and a great start to the season," said Kara.

With that in mind, Kara's going to sleep on the couch at Ellen's house until they're bosom buddies. ...Kidding! But Kara will try to spend some time with Ellen during December when they both have some time off from their busy schedules.

Wonder where the chemistry between The Office's "storybook couple" (Jim and Pam, silly... who'd you think I was talking about, Dwight and Angela?) comes from, just read this interview John Krasinski and Jenna Fischer do with the AP's Frazier Moore. Even in print, the interplay between them suggests that the on-camera "work marriage" extends to their off-camera workplace as well.

Not that anything else is happening, of course; Fischer is married to horror movie director James Gunn. But it's great to see two co-stars who are supposed to be romantically involved on-screen like each other so much off-screen. Believe me, any fan of Gilmore Girls -- who employs Jenna's brother-in-law, Sean Gunn -- knows that no amount of acting can overcome tension between the actors playing a couple.