In today's column, I interview Michael Weatherly from "NCIS" about his unexpected run of good fortune on the show (and about what he's brought to the show, so it's not all exactly about luck). It occurs to me, by the way, that between last night's "Chuck," the second "Human Target" and tonight's "NCIS," there's been an awful lot of episodes over the last week in which characters spend most or all of the hour dealing with intrigue aboard a commercial jet liner. Fienberg tells me you still need at least three items for a trend story, even in this age of Twitter. Well, we're at three (that I know of). Did the WGA have a bad flight together or something?
Alan, the link isn't working.
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ReplyDeleteFrederick, try again in the "Chuck" discussion, not here.
ReplyDeletesorry sure looked like a Chuck pic to me
ReplyDeleteI loved Dark Angel. I have both seasons and I watch the episodes from time to time. I don't know why. It just struck a chord with me, even though sometimes it's really really campy.
ReplyDeleteThere was a "Bones" episode last season dealing with intrigue aboard a commercial jet liner.
ReplyDeleteWell, sure. Many shows have done episodes that take place largely on board a passenger jet. But for three of them to happen inside of a week?
ReplyDeleteAh, yes, fair enough!
ReplyDeleteAnd 2 of the 3 planes have the same destination.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm guessing (I haven't seen the NCIS ep yet), based on the other two episodes, that Victoria Pratt wasn't just cast to be a helpful flight attendant.
ReplyDeleteI watch NCIS regularly and the only time I've liked Tony was when he was tortured in the season opener. Weatherly does obnoxious well.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite thing about Tony, and really the whole show, is how secretly badass he and everyone else is. I mean, Gibbs and Ziva are obviously played up as tough customers, but Tony, McGee and even Abby have shown they are not to be messed with. It's always a fun contrast after they've been screwing around in the office for long chunks of episodes.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the studios got a group rate on using the plane sets?
ReplyDeleteWell, the "Chuck" set was custom-built for that episode. The "Human Target" one was generic enough that it may have been recycled from another show or movie. We'll see about the "NCIS" one.
ReplyDeleteMichael Weatherly is the reason I watch NCIS, same reason I watched Dark Angel. DiNozzo is badass - he's the obnoxious older brother to Gibb's father and Ducky's weird uncle - but underneath the jokes you get glimpses of why he was recruited away from Baltimore Homicide.
ReplyDeleteIf it's luck, it's luck in terms of Samuel Goldwyn's "The harder I work, the luckier I get."
ReplyDeleteGood acting + good writing + a respect for your audience makes a good show. NCIS's success is well deserved.
"Leverage" recently had an episode aboard an airplane (similar to Chuck and NCIS) - but it might have been a repeat from last season.
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