CBS has its hands full keeping Robert Wagner straight, this week.

The 81-year-old actor appears in handcuffs on an episode of “NCIS” tomorrow night — three days after a network news show put Wagner smack in the middle of Natalie Wood’s still-mysterious death almost 30 years ago.

While “48 Hours” was putting together a damning news report about how Wagner discouraged the ship’s captain from launching a search for the missing actress the night she drowned in 1981, the network was airing a promo for “NCIS” showing Wagner’s character being handcuffed and arrested. Network officials insisted over the weekend that the “NCIS” episode — and the promo that was made from it — were filmed weeks before the LA Sheriff’s office announced it was reopening its investigation into Wood’s death.

The piece about Wagner was not scheduled to air until Thanksgiving night, in a news show CBS was producing with Vanity Fair. But it was pulled out and aired separately Saturday when news of the case broke.

CBS considered re-cutting the ad late last week, according to a report by the news service Reuters. But Wagner’s character was too central to the episode, so CBS stayed with its original plan.