NCIS Season Finale Spoilers: F is for Frustration

[twoweevils]

Came across a couple of snippets in my obsessive search for answers --



From The Detroit Free Press:

One other TV Guide snippet. It puts forth the question: Is "NCIS" star Lauren Holly's job on the line? The actress, who plays buttoned-up administrator Jenny Shepard, tells the magazine "It's kind of scary," she says, because Don Bellisario, creator of "NCIS," "says that a regular will be leaving at the end of the season. My mantra is: 'NCIS' has one of the best casts on TV. We go up against 'American Idol' and still get 17 million viewers."

And according to costar Michael Weatherly, who plays Tony DiNozzo, Holly is a major contributor to the strength of the show. All Bellisario will offer with regards to which character is getting the ax is "I don't mention it if minor characters leave."

From The National Ledger:

Irrepressible, hunky Michael Weatherly of CBS's "NCIS" refuses to be pinned down on the season-ending story of the show, which will include the departure of a major character. "I feel bad that this is being put out that someone is leaving "NCIS." People assume it's one of the actors, but it's a guy in wardrobe," he deadpans. "Zippy, we called him, because he was the guy who installed all the zippers."

But seriously -- as Weatherly explains it, Mark Harmon's Gibbs character will wind up in a coma as the story unspools, and while viewers "spend a lot of time with him in his mind, in his dream world," back in the real world, Weatherly's DiNozzo does his best to take over leading the "NCIS" team. "I come in with a cup of coffee in a Gibbs-like manner -- and everyone gets a bit bent out of shape."

Weatherly reveals that as far as which character's departing, "NCIS" creator Don Bellissario even went for maximum suspense among the cast. "When we had our final script read-through, one by one actors came into the conference room, and Don said, "Will it be YOU?" Don is God in the sense he creates the world we live in. He creates organically, in that he doesn't know what he's going to write until he writes it. I'm a big giant Bellissario fan. He knows what the audience is expecting, and so sometimes he allays their fears -- and sometimes he teases. Same thing to the actors. 'Will it be DiNozzo -- YOU?' All I can say is, I know what happens, and the other person to leave, besides Zippy the wardrobe man, is an absolute shock."

*sigh*

Michael Weatherly, you are a funny, hunky, irrepressible guy.

M.

Comments

[zora-sourit.livejournal.com]

"I don't mention it if minor characters leave."
Outch.
Question is, what is a minor character for Bellisario. To be frank, i´m getting sick of this it-could-be-your-favorite-character-game. It´s old and somehow it tells me Bellisario doesn´t really care for his viewers.
DPB is pretty full of himself. That´s all I can say to that. I refuse to play along. (that was my tough part, my cranky-just-coming-home-from-work-part, just so you know)

Love the Zippy-idea though :).

[twoweevils.livejournal.com]

DPB is pretty full of himself. That´s all I can say to that. I refuse to play along. (that was my tough part, my cranky-just-coming-home-from-work-part, just so you know)

Maybe this kind of thing works for the casual viewers who will watch NCIS if it's on and they're home, or those who might remember to tape it if they're out, but won't be distraught if they miss an episode. Those kind of people might be engaged by this suspense and would go out of their way to make sure and watch next Tuesday.

But those viewers probably haven't heard a thing about someone leaving. The primary audience for that information is the devoted fanbase. And we're going to tune in no matter what, so why not just tell us, already?

*sigh*
M.

[zora-sourit.livejournal.com]

And we're going to tune in no matter what, so why not just tell us, already?
exactly my point, he´s totally fucking with us. sigh. We´re such *victims*.