When Rocky Carroll isn't busy playing NCIS Director Leon Vance on CBS' veteran hit "NCIS," set in Richmond, Va., he's playing NCIS Director Leon Vance on its new hit spinoff, "NCIS: Los Angeles."

Since both shows film in and around the L.A. area – and air back to back on Tuesdays – Carroll gets to be bicoastal without ever getting on a plane.

"Take a trip and never leave the farm," he quips between scenes of "NCIS: Los Angeles," which are ironically filming on downtown L.A. sets depicting the halls of Congress in Washington, D.C.

"I think we've broken some ground here," says Carroll, who shares a last name – and his character's first name – with the "NCIS" technical adviser, former agent Leon Carroll Jr., also the inspiration for Vance's signature toothpick.

Although Vance is no longer a field agent, he has pulled a gun this season, in a story line involving an old nemesis (Kelly Hu) – something the actual NCIS head probably doesn't do.

"That's the best part of doing television," Carroll says. "They take a lot of license. When you meet somebody who's real NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigative Service), and somebody starts off by saying, 'They would never … ,' I say, 'That's the difference between television and real life. They would never; we would always.' Anything's possible."

On this day, he meets up with Hetty Lange (Linda Hunt), the operations manager in "NCIS: Los Angeles," who's been called in to testify before Congress. She's suspicious of Vance's motives in the whole affair, but he's being very polite and reassuring.

"He's a bureaucrat," Carroll says, "so he's working his angle. He's being nice, but he's nice with a motive."