With “John Sandford’s Certain Prey” on Sunday night, USA takes a gamble on two venerable institutions: the made-for-television movie and Mark Harmon.

“Certain Prey” is only the network’s second original movie since 2005 (following the “Burn Notice” prequel film this spring). It clearly seems intended to create for USA, Harmon and Sandford — the author of 21 “Prey” mysteries featuring Lucas Davenport, deputy police chief of Minneapolis — the sort of franchise that the Jesse Stone movies, based on a Robert Parker character, have become for CBS and Tom Selleck.

And why not? Harmon displaced Oprah Winfrey as the most popular person on television this year, according to the Harris Poll — especially impressive when you consider that it’s been a quarter century since he was People magazine’s second Sexiest Man Alive.

He owes that popularity to his starring role on TV’s most popular drama, “NCIS” on CBS, and the makers of “Certain Prey” (it was written and directed by Chris Gerolmo) aren’t shy about emphasizing the parallels between Special Agent Gibbs of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and Deputy Chief Davenport. Several scenes — an aggressive interrogation, a leggy redhead emerging from Davenport’s dark sports car — could have been lifted whole from “NCIS.”

The case in “Certain Prey,” based on the 10th novel in the series, involves Davenport’s dogged pursuit of an improbable pair of killers: a lethal, lonely assassin working for the St. Louis mob (Tatiana Maslany) and a bloodthirsty lawyer (Lola Glaudini) who can’t understand why she and Davenport haven’t had sex. Apparently he’s scored every other likely target in Minneapolis, including his favorite detective (Athena Karkanis).

The Midwestern settings (shot in Toronto) lend a regional flavor, as the Massachusetts locale (shot in Nova Scotia) does for the Stone films.

But it all comes down to Harmon and the new-age, old-school tough guy he’s been perfecting for years. Lucas Davenport and Jethro Gibbs are so close to identical that you couldn’t slide an official reprimand between them. Davenport is wealthier (he used to design computer games on the side) and drives a Porsche rather than an American muscle car; otherwise it’s all the same tight lips, arched eyebrows and reasonably effortless charm.

Harmon knows how to deliver what many of the 19 million people who watch “NCIS” every week are looking for.

‘JOHN SANDFORD’S CERTAIN PREY’

USA Network, Sunday night at 9.

Starring Mark Harmon (Lucas Davenport), Tatiana Maslany (Clara Rinker), Lola Glaudini (Carmel Loan) and Athena Karkanis (Marcy).