HOLLYWOOD Q&A

Q: I just heard that Abby is leaving “NCIS.” Why is she leaving? What is she doing next? What will “NCIS” do without her? A: Unfortunately, all we really have so far is a growing list of things that are not making her leave. No. 1 on that list is a skincare line.

Last year, Pauley Perrette’s likeness was used in ads for a skincare product. It was later revealed the ads were frauds — the product’s producers had used a number of celebrity names without their permission. Unfortunately, the timing of the ads, which were making the rounds shortly before Perrette announced her departure from the show, fed rumors that she was leaving to pursue a career as a skincare shill.

Apparently the rumors have persisted. The scam was exposed in November, but Perrette was still denying it in January, when she posted on Twitter, “Just for the BILLIONTH TIME! I do NOT HAVE A SKIN CARE LINE! ... And that’s not why I’m leaving the show.”

Another thing that’s not a factor is her relationship with the show’s producers and CBS. When she first announced her departure (again on Twitter), she made a point of saying (again in all-caps), “NO MY NETWORK AND MY SHOW ARE NOT MAD AT ME!”

Indeed, the producers said they’ve known since 2016 and are planning a “special send-off ”

for her at the end of this season, the show’s 15th.

Despite a huge amount of fan consternation, “NCIS” star Mark Harmon was generous and upbeat about the decision. “Fifteen years is a long time. People do what they do, and they move on and they do other things and that’s part of life,” he told Entertainment Tonight. “It’s given us, as a show, an opportunity for rebirth, to rejuvenate, to try new things, to grow. We adjust.”

Q: Whatever happened to the reboot of “Cash Cab”? I’ve seen three episodes and nothing else.

A: How you take the answer to your question will say a lot about whether you’re a glass-half-empty or glass-half-full kind of person. “Cash Cab” came and went from the Discovery schedule over the course of three weeks, but that was the plan all along.

An optimist will hear this and think it’s good news because it means the show wasn’t canceled (again). But a pessimist will hear this and be disappointed there are no more episodes in the immediate future.

However, there’s a chance you don’t have to be either. You say you’ve seen three episodes, but in fact six were produced for this new season. They aired over three nights, though, so it’s possible you took the evening’s two half-hour episodes as a single one-hour episode. But it’s also possible you somehow only saw three and have three more new ones still to go.