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Post by Aerie on Jan 11, 2007 0:11:12 GMT -5
Never heard of Simon Crowell and I disagree with the lack of support opinion.
The actors brought in for the 2nd season were all professionals and they knew their job depended on Jessica and Michael being able to carry the new storyline. A very minor crew person told me that all the supporting cast were terrific with Jessica.
The actors who played Normal and alec weren't that happy with the scripts but they had no influence. It turned out that Jessica had no influence either.
I'm sure the supporting actors all did a good job and even though I hated all the characters, except Asha, I wish them well.
There were only two producer/writer people who were not supportive and those of you who were here in the old days know who they are. Grrrrrrrrrr. @&%#*^(s
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Post by ML Fan on Jan 11, 2007 0:35:07 GMT -5
It seemed like the whole weight of the show was on Jessica's shoulders and that if the character wasn't alec that there wasn't much of anything done with them, unless it was Max, but, even that seemed one demensional to me in that she spent most of the season sad and not much else occurred. Perhaps the support was there for Jessica, but, it was something that I didn't see come across onscreen.
I'm a little surprised to hear that the actor who played alec was unhappy, because, it seemed like he often upstaged Max in one way or another and that he seemed like he was the lead male actor over MW.
I thought that she was written off by the writers too quickly once the writers realized that the Max/Logan/Asha triangle wasn't working, the writers did nothing with her but, turn her into an awkward love interest when she started to show an interest in alec instead of Logan before she went MIA. I thought that was unfortunate.
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Post by shywriter on Jan 11, 2007 2:45:30 GMT -5
Wow, guys, thanks-- all this is really enlightening. I thought I'd heard most of the history but clearly not all of it. Especially this: Dark Angel was a ratings winner for Fox. Until that time Fox Broadcasting was rarely a winner on any night. Fox insisted that the storyline be changed because of the engagement of the stars. They thought it would hurt the show if a deepening relationship between Max and Logan continued in Season 2. TPTB were not happy and blamed MW. Jessica was basically an inexperienced girl who fell in love at first sight. ( She said it.) Dark Angel became a different show which Jim Cameron admitted in the summer of 2001. This meant that Charles 'Chic' Eglee would leave the show because he didn't want anything to do with monsters roaming Seattle. He and Jessica worked closely all though Season One. Chic Eglee was running the show all through Season One. He is our real hero... Think of the pressure on MW. He must have blamed himself. Correctly, I might add. And this...? I had no idea: I know that he wanted the character of Logan Cale to be killed off during season 2, so he could leave the show. I'm sure he thought that would be the best thing for Jessica. Oh, geez, even if the show itself had been a great one to do with good scripts, etc, the 2d year, this sort of backstage stuff would have been terrible-- no wonder MW said it wasn't hard to be grim! And dzero's point about being away from his son makes a good point as well. I remember from the T.V. Guide feature story that the virus was used in part because of the engagement. Fox hasn't learned that people aren't dumb and can separate reality from fictional characters. Oh, man! I thought I already hated the virus, but that makes it even worse (if such a thing is possible.) You know, I've said it before to Aerie, but all I can think of is that I'm almost glad I didn't find the show until all this was history-- I would have been a mess. It's still disturbing this long after the fact, so I can't imagine how maddening it would have been to live through it all! [/i][/quote] I'm soooooooooo sorry he won't be coming by your place. I'm keeping him pretty busy. ;D[/quote] Yeah, with the whip and the meanness and the red face? Yeah, I suspect he'll be looking for a place for his escape... ;D Thanks again to everyone for the info. Too bad it wasn't a happier story...
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Post by ML Fan on Jan 16, 2007 14:04:22 GMT -5
The Courier Mail January 16, 2007 HOLIDAYING in France over Christmas, the actor who stars as NCIS's Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, was constantly greeted by adoring fans of the show. "There were a lot of people pointing and going 'DiNozzo ha, ha. I love him , he's crazy'," Michael Weatherly says in his best French accent. "Then they wanted to slap me on the back of the head." The French, it turns out, appreciate DiNozzo's penchant for physical theatrics. Don't forget, the French love Jerry Lewis. They love that physical slapstick style of comedy. So DiNozzo strangely resonates with the French people. Australian viewers don't mind him either with an average of 1.32 million watching each week. The show began as a spin-off of Channel 7's now defunct JAG in 2003 and Weatherly can recall when it was in its infancy and without any sort of identity. "They (CBS, the US network that produces the program) initially thought we were the Navy show. When we went to have our picture taken they came in and said 'OK, Navy people, put your Navy uniforms on.' We said 'We're not in the Navy, we're civilians with the Department of Defence. We're Feds, baby.' "One of the mistakes people make is assuming that it's another sober good guys versus bad guys crime-based drama. It's not. "We don't pledge allegiance to the flag of America at the beginning of an episode and we don't end singing cheesy songs about going to war," Weatherly says. "It is a very irreverent, weird show. In the first couple of years I think we had almost a dozen lesbian serial killers. I challenge you to find a show that has that number of serial killers." Moreover, it's a show which relies heavily on interaction between its characters. For the first three seasons, team leader Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon) was the father figure, keeping the others from squabbling, says Weatherly. There's the grandfather in Dr Donald "Ducky" Mallard (David McCallum) and goth cousin in Abby Sciuto (Pauley Perrette). "We have a strange family dynamic. It's more like a workplace comedy than a drama. We could be working for a phone company or a radio station and we would have the same hierarchy." But with season three ending with Gibbs's dramatic retirement, DiNozzo must now take on the leadership role. "I think that niggling away at Tony is this notion that he knows he is not Gibbs and that while others see his potential to lead his own team, I don't think Tony is quite as confident as people see him." Yet Weatherly says he was attracted to DiNozzo because it was a break from the vulnerable characters he was used to. "I wanted to play him because he was brash and arrogant and didn't think at all about his emotional world. He's a lot of fun. He doesn't care what you think about him. He thinks he is a shark but he doesn't realise he's a goldfish." NCIS, Tuesday, Ten, 8.30pm Here's the link, www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,21068538-5003422,00.html Thank you to csa at NCIS Special Ops for the info.
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Post by ML Fan on Jan 19, 2007 8:22:40 GMT -5
The television critic, Terry Morrow, posted the following : blogs.knoxnews.com/knx/telebuddy/archives/2007/01/todays_odd_cele.shtml#moreThe exchange between "NCIS" co-star Michael Weatherly and I on the set of the hit CBS series only sounds dirty if you have a filthy mind. Oh ... who am I kiddin'? Michael is holding two mini-oranges, as I stand next to him. MICHAEL: Did you see my balls? ME: Those are tiny ones. MICHAEL: Well, yeah. ME: OK. I like your balls. Can you juggle them? (Then he grabs a third ball from a computer mouse and looks as if he is about to juggle, then he stops short of actually doing it.) ME: Well, can you clog for me? I've got $5. MICHAEL: What am I? A trained monkey? ME: Would you take $20? (Michael does a small dance) MICHAEL: I do know how to clog. I clog in an upcoming episode. I can't clog here because I don't have my clogging shoes. (I turn to walk away) ME: Well, I like your balls anyway. MICHAEL: Thanks. In retrospect, this sounds as bad as the conversation I had with "Exrteme Makeover: Home Edition" host Ty Pennington, when I asked, "Can you whip out your big hammer for me?" Posted by terry on January 16, 2007 at 09:56 PM Thank you to Inds at NCIS Special Ops for the info.
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Post by ML Fan on Jan 23, 2007 2:18:23 GMT -5
The Allociné website posted their interview with Michael Weatherly. Thomas Destouches from Allociné and the contest winner, Christine Deguerville, met Michael at his suite at the hotel Crillon in Paris on December 18th. The following link will take you to her comments on meeting Michael. There's also a picture of MW (although, more of his face and less of the footwear would have been even nicer, IMO). allocine.blogs.allocine.fr/allocine-75278-ma_rencontre_avec_michael_weatherly.htmA quick recap in English : she was in shock when she learned that she had won the contest and was even more nervous when she was told that she would be the one asking the questions(submitted by the contest participants). They got to the hotel, walked in the suite and then the unreal moment, Michael in front of her, shaking her hand and saying "Hi, I'm Michael". She thought he was like on TV, smiling, charming, charismatic. They had to wait 50 minutes for their turn for the interview. Michael put them at ease, offered them chips and joked around. She says that when you ask him a question, he looks at you straight in the eyes, which is very unnerving because he has magnificent eyes. Despite the many interviews he gave and his fatigue, he answered enthusiastically (maybe, as he said, because of the champagne). By his answers, she realized that it was really Michael Weatherly in front of her and not DiNozzo even though they have in common a sense of humor and a knowledge of cinema. Before leaving, she couldn't resist and, as he was sitting at the piano, she asked for his autograph. The interview can be found here : www.allocine.fr/series/fichenews_gen_carticle=18397088.htmlI wish they would videotape the interview, it would make things easier for everybody. Once again, I've tried my best at translating it. My apologies for all the things lost in translation : AlloCiné Séries interviewed Michael Weatherly, the facetious DiNozzo of NCIS! A meeting full of wit, madness and poetry... Do you love Paris? MW : Wouah! Do you think it's a romantic city? Wouah! Yes and yes. I love Paris. I was born in New York City, so was my son. New York is my home but Paris is my favorite city, a fantastic place. I love citites, I love to walk. It's my 6th visit here, I think, and I sometimes stayed here for a while. So, yes, I love Paris and yes, it's the most romantic city and the most beautiful people live here. It's a very nice place (laughs)! What do you like the most about Paris? The light. When I got here yesterday morning (the interview was done on December 18th), I immediately recognized this winter light, so mild, a mix of gray, blue with silver shades that surrounds you. It's no mystery why so many painters have come here, they came to find this diffused light. Maybe it's because of this light that the people here are so beautiful. It's only because of that (laughs). In Los Angeles, everybody has an orange complexion. Maybe it's because of the UV... You're shooting right now season 4 of NCIS. What can you tell us about the upcoming stories? This season is called "the season of secrets". That's how it is promoted in the U.S. The show is very successfull this year, season after season, more and more people are watching. It's very gratifying because some series are hyped and promoted as great success after only a few episodes. It was the reverse with NCIS. With the new season, producer Donald P. Bellisario decided to reveal a little more about the characters. At the end of the last season, we learned a great deal about Gibbs through tragic events. It's the fuse for season 4. Like Gibbs, all the characters have secrets. And they're all beginning to unveil a little more, which must please the viewers following the series for many years. There's quite a lot of talk on the web on who does what! For example, Tony falls in love... but not in the conventional way (laughs)! There are circumstances surrounding this love story which are a secret so his love story is a secret therefore it's even more of a secret! Will DiNozzo evolve this season? Oh yes! But at the same time, he stays the same! He still gets slapped. My doctor, in real life, told me that it has to stop. I'll become bald! Like for a statue : when you always rub the same spot, it becomes shiny. Well, the back of my head is becoming shiny (laughs)! But you also slap McGee... Yes...but...did I slap him recently? In fact, we still slap each other a little in season 4 but not as much. And I want to mention that we don't have spankings although I think that Zive would deserve one from time to time (laughs)! Tony is a real movie fan and he often quotes movies. Are you like Tony? Do you watch lots of movies? I've always watched many movies. One day, when I was at university, I went to the library to get notes on "The Iliad" because I didn't have enough time to read it. Well, I'd skipped class... and after all, I only had to write a report (laughs)! Hey, this could have been said by DiNozzo! So I went to the library to get the notes and found carpenters working in the back of the room. I began to work but couldn't help wondering what they were doing. I went to ask the librarian, her name was Barbara, what was going on and she told me that they were building a film library. A former student had died and left in his will all his movies to the university. Thousands of movies! The day after, I came back and they were installing TV screens. I began to talk with the people in charge of the place. They told me about Alfred Hitchcock. I was 18 years old... I spent 6 months watching hundreds and hundreds of movies. I discovered Cary Grant and wanted to be like him. A few years earlier, I wanted to be Elvis Costello so I clearly had an identity problem (laughs)! But it's probably the same for everybody. I still love to watch movies in bed. Coming here, I saw "Eros", a movie directed by Antonioni, Soderbergh and Wong Kar-Wai. Watching the part directed by Antonioni (The perilous chain of things) I thought to myself that it was the most beautiful movie to watch in bed. It's very, very different from NCIS and certainly not a movie that DiNozzo would watch (laughs). Would you mind answering a little quiz about James Bond? No. I love all the James Bond movies. Go ahead, ask your questions! Can you name all the actors who played James Bond? Sean Connery, Roger Moore, George Lazenby, Timothy Dalton then Pierce Brosnan and finally Daniel Craig. But you also have to include Casino Royale from 1967 with David Niven and Peter Sellers. They both played James Bond. Sellers played a crook who impersonates Bond, Niven being the real secret agent. He was married to Mata Hari and they had a son, Jimmy Bond, played by Woody Allen (laughs)! Maybe I know a little too much about James Bond! Did I pass the test? Because I can also tell you who directed the movies. But that would probably take too long... How would you compare the working methods of Don Bellisario, who produced JAG and Quantum Leap and of James Cameron, with whom you worked in Dark Angel? You didn't mention my favorite Bellisario series : Magnum! Besides I think that NCIS has many things in common with Magnum. About your question, there's a big difference between NCIS and Dark Angel. James Cameon is a great movie director, Donald Bellisario is a TV creator and producer. For James Cameron, working on a series all year long, season after season, did not suit him. He was more interested in creating the show's concept. He did direct the season 2 finale. But when you watch the episodes directed by James Cameron, particularly their structure, you understand that he is a man of cinema. He loves to give you your money's worth, is a master in the art of entertainment and is able to captivate the public and bring them where he wants. He can afford to sink the Titanic in the 3rd hour of the movie (laughs)! But on TV, with commercials every 15 minutes, the structure changes, it's different from a movie and Donald P. Bellisario knows how to make the TV viewers wanting to return after the commercials, how to create the desire to know if Higgins will send Zeus and Appollo after Magnum if he doesn't bring back the Ferrari on time (laughs)! What are your favorite TV series? I would say Magnum without hesitation, because of the Ferrari! The Man from UNCLE because David McCallum was in it. I also loved Batman when I was a kid. There's also Gilligan's Island, which has things in common with NCIS! Gibbs is the skipper, DiNozzo is a bit like Gilligan and McGee would be Mr. Howell...I was forgetting Winnie the Pooh! The animated cartoon is also very close to NCIS! Gibbs is Winnie, McGee is Eeyore, Abby Tigger, of course I'm Rabbit, Ducky is Owl, Kango is the boss of NCIS and Roo is Ziva (laughs)! Maybe I drank a little too much champagne...(laughs)! Could you tell us a few words in French? Bien sûr! À bientôt...comme ci, comme ça...que sera,sera (laughs)! Thank you to Ind at NCIS Special Ops for the info.
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Post by ML Fan on Jan 24, 2007 1:42:45 GMT -5
From the Herald Sun: Agent of fortune Ross Brundrett January 17, 2007 12:00am Article from: Herald-Sun EVEN had NCIS not delivered star status to Michael Weatherly, he was always going to be famous. There's the fact that he was once engaged to the dazzling Jessica Alba - which might explain that signature smirk of his - and then there was his father's financial masterstroke many years earlier when he became the US importer of a handy little utility tool called the Swiss Army knife. The story goes, no doubt encouraged by the Hollywood publicists, that dad (Michael Weatherly senior) was so enraged when his son announced he was going to be an actor that he cut him out of his will - presumably with the handy scissor arm of the Swiss Army knife. But Weatherly had a different version when he spoke to the Guide. "No, no, there was nothing as dramatic as that," he says. "Sure he was angry when he was told that his son was closing the door on all these opportunities, to become an actor. He had produced Broadway shows and knew the pitfalls of the business and looked at me at 21 and said well, good luck with that. But I wasn't shut out of the family. "We had dinner the other night. You know we're best mates." Now, says Weatherly, his dad is happy to admit he was wrong to doubt him. After stints on several TV shows, including two years with cult favourite Dark Angel (where he met Alba), the dashing 38-year-old has become a focal point of NCIS, one of the biggest TV series in the US, playing politically incorrect, immature special agent Tony DiNozzo. "I think last year it just got bigger all over the planet. We'd done 12 million and 13 million (in the first two years) and then boom, we were up to 16 million. I think we got up to 18 million, which is pretty amazing," he says. It's also proving a hit here in Melbourne, delighting Channel 10 execs with its performance. It is seen as one of the network's top 10 shows and Weatherly puts its success down to the tight cast and crew, paying special tribute to the show's old hand, David McCallum, who first popped up on US TV more than 40 years ago in the ground-breaking spy show The Man From Uncle. "He's so spry and flexible, doing his stretching and yoga on the set and the sweetest guy... if there was a president of the world, he'd get my vote," Weatherly says. The new season of NCIS kicks off on Ten later this month (from Tuesday) and it begins with DiNozzo picking up the slack following the shock retirement of special agent Leroy Gibbs (Mark Harmon) as team leader. Unfortunately, DiNozzo finds he is not cut out for the job. "The job makes him a little weird. What he does is try and imitate Gibbs, down to the way he has his coffee." Weatherly says. Which kind of suggests Gibbs will soon be back as boss, but Weatherly warns viewers to expect the unexpected. "You know, there are a lot of surprises this season," he says. "The theme is secrets and some of the secrets the audience will know but the cast will not, and some of the cast will be aware of and the audience will just have to work out." Right from the start, Weatherly connected with his character and the show's creator, Donald P. Bellisario (Magnum PI, Jag) recognised as much by allowing him to "improvise" his dialogue. This explains why DiNozzo is always chatting about his favourite movies (Weatherly is a film buff). Weatherly was engaged to Alba when she was just 20 and later married another TV co-star, Amelia Heinle, with whom he had a son, August, before they divorced. He also dated Rod Stewart's ex, Rachel Hunter, but was a bit cagey when asked if he had been dating anyone else interesting lately. "Let me see," he says, before his publicity minder interrupts on the line from LA. "No, I'm on ice right now." You kind of think DiNozzo might have answered that one differently, although Weatherly insists the pair are very alike. "Absolutely we are similar. There's a very real part of myself in that character. He has that energy and attitude that I love," Weatherly says. Thank you to Nici at NCIS Special Ops and dutch for the info. LOL, Michael was married to and divorced from Amelia before he met and was engaged to Jessica Alba. ;D
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Post by ML Fan on Feb 13, 2007 22:41:59 GMT -5
MeeVee Exclusive! Interview with NCIS Star Michael Weatherly Part Iblog.meevee.com/my_weblog/2007/02/meevee_exclusiv_6.htmlOn NCIS, Michael Weatherly plays Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, an ex-homicide detective, whose snarky fratboy ways are forgiven only because of his superior skills in the field. Although Michael denies many similarities to his character DiNozzo, we found him to be just as snarky as his onscreen persona. In Part I of our two-part series of interviews with the former Dark Angel star, we uncover some juicy details about the show and Michael himself, including DiNozzo's inevitable consummation with Zina, transitioning from JAG to NCIS, and his somewhat unlikely conspiracy theories regarding the Fonz and Mrs. C. How much do you identify with your character?Well, you have to understand who you’re talking to while I’m at work, because I’m technically in character. You are talking to a version of DiNozzo. The answer to that question is alarmingly simple -- I’m sure I’m a little bit like him. He carries a gun, but I have an eleven–year-old son. He doesn’t have an eleven-year-old son, and I don’t carry a gun. Maybe that’s the better way of putting it. Do you ever take DiNozzo's snarkiness home with you? I takes me a little while to wind down, because clearly he has a lot of energy, which is nice. But as we get a little later on in the season, I’m getting a little tired spending this much time with DiNozzo. I’m always ready for my hiatus when it comes. What kind of things do you do on your hiatus? Do you work on other projects or relax? I do try to work on other things, but I also try to travel and see the friends and family -- the people in my life that I don’t see when I’m in the vacuum of my work schedule. That doesn’t include my eleven-year-old, who I don’t get to see as much as I’d like. I have weekends, basically. There’s always work if it’s there. And I love going to Europe. Tell me what the transition from JAG into NCIS was like. That was a very strange thing. [JAG was] in their eighth season, and they had a very set way of doing things. They had a very set way of telling their story, and our story was totally different. I think [Executive Producer] Don Bellisario really wanted, in his creation of NCIS, to shake it up quite a bit. We were coming in, and we didn’t really know what the heck was going on, and all I really remember from that was we wore these really dorky hats that said NCIS. It had enormous lettering across the bill. That was the moment where I looked at [Mark] Harmon, and he was wearing that stupid hat, and I said “That looks really stupid on you,” and he goes, “Yeah? Well, imagine how stupid it looks on you.” Did anything else change? The head slap didn’t come until the beginning of the first season. And by head slap, I’m referring to the loving slap that Gibbs gives Tony, and then Tony in turn hands down. What makes NCIS different from the legion of other crime shows on TV?Well, I think it’s earnest. A lot of shows out there are sort of grim and dour and take themselves really seriously. This is a show that’s got a little bit of Drew Carey in it. It’s not afraid to be silly. It’s not vain -- the shooting style of our show isn’t to wear dark circles under our eyes, you know. I’m over the top, but I think there are a lot of people that are over the top in real life, especially people that are office-confined like the squadron that we have on NCIS. Everyone has that manic, irritating sly character at their workplace that they just wish would shut up. Presto-oingo-boingo, there’s Tony DiNozzo. DiNozzo is one of those people who feels the need to share every minute detail of his life. Are you like that, or are you secretive? I oscillate my secrets with lies. [laughs] I mean, it’s never a good idea to go on and blab as much as Tony does. I think Tony doesn’t spend a lot of time thinking things. He’s not a very profound guy. I don’t think he sits and watches Woody Allen movies and thinks about death a lot. But this season I think he’s had lessons in love and death, to use a Woody Allen title. DiNozzo seems to embody all things Fratboy. How about you? Did you join a fraternity in college?No, but DiNozzo was. DiNozzo went to Ohio State. He was a Buckeye, and played football and basketball. Very athletic, Tony DiNozzo -- very unlike Michael Weatherly. Do you find yourself getting more recognized for NCIS, or for Dark Angel?Oh, NCIS, definitely. Worldwide, both shows found massive audiences, but this one now has been around twice as long as Dark Angel was. And I think that this character, DiNozzo, is more dynamic and stronger. I’m really enjoying the strength of it. Logan was a very passive character. Can you give us any hints about surprises coming up during sweeps? I can! Well, because we have our man, the show’s creator, Donald Bellisario, who is our master -- he plants seeds and always has a sense of the big picture. Sweeps is always a prime opportunity for the first harvest of those seeds that were planted early on. What we have happening in February is that some of those secrets -- this is the season of secrets after all -- some of the secrets are revealed. Sounds interesting. What kind of secrets? There’s a secret mission that Tony, my character, is involved in that nobody knows about. That comes out -- there’s some information about that. We have everybody’s favorite mambo king appearing in the first episode of sweeps, as a kingpin bad guy who is related not only to some of the operations that we’ve been doing in the past year, but also, I believe, points toward the season finale. So not only are we finishing up some of the stories, or revealing some of the secrets, we’re also beginning the sweep towards the finale. I think this year is going to be huge, from what I’ve understood. Are Tony and Ziva going to consummate their relationship? Both Ziva and Tony are gonna have a big month in February. Both of them experience death -- someone close to them -- and they both experience love. And it just happens that Valentine’s Day falls right in the middle of that. How convenient. Well, yeah. From Groundhog Day right up until Valentine’s Day to the end of February. There's a long history of sexual tension between couples on TV. If you had to choose between the following couples, who would you pick and why? Mulder and Scully; Jim and Pam on The Office; Mrs. C. and the Fonz.Let’s just stop for a second. Now, have you thought about Happy Days as an adult? Now, you’ve got the Fonz, who’s clearly like a 30-year-old motorcycle-riding guy, who lives above the garage of a family with two teenage kids. And the teenage kids hang out with this 30-year-old man all the time? The Fonz would be the first one on a suspect list for anything fishy that happens in Milwaukee. Even his catch phrase -- "Ayyyyyyy!" -- with his two thumbs outstretched. Now, in ancient Rome and Greece, the outstretched thumb was a phallic symbol. He’s doing double thumbs. There’s something strange, homoerotic, double phallic -- accompanied by the sound "Ayyyyyyy!" When someone gives you a thumbs-up, that originated like a fertility symbol -- may your thumb be strong. May you get your thumb up, so to speak. Let’s just hope it’s not as small as your thumb. Ah, well... what are you talking about? Well, we are getting bigger as a species. Okay, I’m going to go with the Fonz and Mrs. C., just because I think clearly that was boiling under the whole time. Yes, she definitely had a place in her heart for him. Yeah, I mean -- oof. There was also, from Welcome Back, Kotter -- there was always a strange thing between Horshack and Vinnie Barbarino. Captain Stubing [on The Love Boat]... now you’ve got me going on this. What are your favorite TV shows? NCIS, Dark Angel. Jessie, Significant Others. Extras -- that Ricky Gervais thing? I love that show, that makes me laugh quite a bit. And of course, The Office. You know, Rome is great. Thank you to csa at NCIS Special Ops for the info.
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Post by MrsEyesOnly on Feb 15, 2007 8:35:37 GMT -5
;D I love this quote:
What are your favorite TV shows? NCIS, Dark Angel.
;D Hahahaha.
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Post by dutch on Feb 20, 2007 23:07:13 GMT -5
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Post by AngelZ on Feb 21, 2007 21:34:15 GMT -5
Thanks Dutch
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Post by ML Fan on Feb 28, 2007 15:32:59 GMT -5
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- www.thefutoncritic.com/rant.aspx?id=20070227[02.27.07 - 01:52 PM] ON THE FUTON WITH... MICHAEL WEATHERLY By Brian Ford Sullivan Welcome once again to "On the Futon With...," a new (hopefully) weekly feature where I sit down and talk TV with some of my favorite people in the industry, all the while trying to give the impression I'm not some overgrown fanboy. THIS WEEK'S GUEST: "NCIS" star Michael Weatherly. Getting inside a character's head is a challenge for any actor. For Michael Weatherly, it's the challenge of getting inside the head of manchild Anthony DiNozzo each week on "NCIS." It's a character he says is the end result of several things - from his own need to break free as an actor to watching too much "CSI: Miami" - and a job he calls his favorite ever. I recently had the chance to visit Michael on the Valencia-based set of "NCIS" where we talked about how "the DiNozzo" came to be, the challenges of being "TV worthy" and his love of HBO's "Extras." Brian Ford Sullivan: How do you think people who have never seen "NCIS" perceive it? Michael Weatherly: "NCIS" is sort of [promoted as] "The Unit" meets "CSI" when clearly, to my way of thinking, we're more like "Scooby-Doo" meets "M*A*S*H." You know, it's like we have a mystery van and we go around, and if weren't for those damn teenage kids! [Laughs.] And then Klinger wearing a dress trying to get the Section 8, we've got some kookiness. And so it's always interesting to me because in other countries like on France on M6, the personality of the show is much more at the forefront. So no one even really... people actually think that "NCIS" is like making fun of "CSI." It's almost like spoofing it. I mean the sensibility is so much different. BFS: Is it because the international perception is so much different? MW: It's because they just get the material and then cut their own internal promos country by country. So they just have fun with it, it's not imposed. I think what ends up happening in the U.S. is CBS as an entity has their identity and it's programmed to such a way that they don't want anyone going outside of what it is. I mean, CBS sitcoms are a certain way. CBS dramas are a certain way. And that's very effective and obviously over the last eight years has made CBS do a complete turnaround. Or ten years since Les [Moonves] has come in, taking everything that he knew at Warner Bros. and creating "ER" and "Friends" and all the stuff that he was involved in with his team which he largely took with him over to CBS. They are I think the best in the business. You know, they took the Tiffany network from a place of like real trouble. And it's juggernaut worthy. But it is not, I don't think, being completely honest with the American people about what "NCIS" is. I have a feeling it's like "Adventure Tuesday!" BFS: So are you going to cut your own promos then? [Laughs.] MW: No, what happens is like today I had two things happen and this is what happens when you go into the "real world" of Hollywood when you interact with people that work in New York and LA, that are industry people from Entertainment Weekly to agents to whoever they are - the first person I was talking to said that "well, you're probably really tired of wearing a uniform and being involved in all this, saying all these military terms all the time and like, saluting." And I looked at her and I was like, "I'm a federal agent, and like barely. I'm like a 13-year-old with a badge and a gun and a Playboy in my back pocket. I don't know what show [you're talking about], do you think I'm someone else?" And she was like, "oh, I thought you were on that 'Navy' show." [Laughs.] And we were getting ready to shoot our CBS promos two years ago and the person came in to get us and they clapped their hands and said, "okay, okay Navy people, should we get them in their uniforms?" And we were all like, "this is... [we're] in our wardrobe, this is actually [how we dress on the show]." So I think there's a constant [struggle] and I think it's partly why the show maintains and sustains. Because I think people just keep discovering the show in different tiers. I mean, I know the audience gets a little younger all the time. Because I think that initially, your parents were watching it because it was on in the "JAG" time slot. So immediately you just hate it, just because it's in your parents' time slot. [Laughs.] And then I think slowly people have caught onto the oddball characters and then like TV shows you have your great episodes and your kind of filler episodes. So we're probably as guilty of that as anybody. So it's hard. Like my sister sampled one episode three years ago and she was like, "Yeah, it's not really my thing." And I like [sighs], "oh, which one did you see?" And then you feel terrible because you're like, "No, no, that was a bad hair day." [Laughs.] And it's hard. And slowly the show wins over audiences through word of mouth and we're not taking ourselves seriously. And I think a show like "JAG" did take itself more seriously or in the sense that a lot of procedural crime dramas that are on now have a sense of earnestness and it's part and parcel of the genre. And that's why I think we're a little more... like, I think "Magnum, P.I." knew all along that it was all kind of silly, with Zeus and Apollo and the Ferrari and the Audi and the wine cellar, Robin Masters and Higgins, a 40-year-old bachelor in a Hawaiian shirt wearing tiny little shorts and a mustache. BFS: It was also the '80s. [Laughs.] MW: [Laughs.] And his best friend was a helicopter pilot. So there was like a sliver of Grade A American cheese. But then it also had this Vietnam back story to it. So it could inject some mysterious stuff into it. I think "NCIS" operates on the same [level], you know, it's not the "A-Team" where it's just pure fictional... it's not just cheese in a can. It's actually just cheese in a block. [Laughs.] And it is in some way related to the cow. [Leans to the show's publicist] This is how all my interviews go. [Laughs.] I wasn't like this for "Entertainment Tonight" exactly was I? [Laughs.] A little bit. But that's kind of my "big think" on "NCIS." What are your sort of professional observations on it? BFS: Obviously from the beginning, people's perception was the show was a "JAG" spin-off and assumed it was more of the same. MW: And Mark [Harmon] also sort of has like a degree of earnestness about him. So what he brings to it, you'd almost think "oh, okay so this is going to be [like this]." BFS: And then there was the whole - first it's "Navy NCIS," now its "NCIS" - thing. I think it took a season or two for that to wear off in the audience's consciousness. But obviously the show's found a sizeable core audience that's nearly untouched by "American Idol." I mean I'm sure NBC and ABC kicks themselves over ways on how to accomplish that. It's the ultimate showkiller and the fact you guys don't lose any ground to it is amazing. MW: I do also have this sneaking suspicion that when we start the syndication run - which I think is next summer, not this summer, I think it's 2008 - I think there's a portion of the audience that just isn't around on Tuesday night at 8:00 to sample it. But they might like on Saturday night at like 11 pm. Like come back from a party, smoke a joint and be surfing around and catch a "head slap" or Ducky talking to a body or they're going to see Pauley Perrette and think, "wait a minute, that's an interesting creature" and I think there's going to be this weird sampling of the "other" audience. Because I think we've strip-mined everyone from 50 to 65. [Laughs.] I think we've found every single one. I don't think we have to sell to them any more. It would be a disservice to push ourselves into that. And I also think that strangely, kids, 14, 15-year-old kids, this is exactly the age that I was watching "Magnum, P.I." and completely enjoying the kind of silly banter, like "is that how grown-ups talk?" when clearly nobody talks like we talk on our show. But the curiosity from teenage eyeballs would be, "I don't really understand the plot so it must be adult and confusing. But I like these characters." And there's also a family dynamic that's like growing up in an American dysfunctional family. You know, you've got the father, the strange sibling rivalries going on and the weird grandpa in the basement with the dead bodies. You know, like everyone's family. [Laughs.] So I don't know, I see the resonance continuing for a couple years in some different quarters. And then the last one that we'll get is women between the ages of 18-34, that will be the very last, that's the hardest one to crack. And I don't know how we're going to do it. I think we have to wait for "American Idol" to go off the air before that actually happens. Oh, and we'll also have to hire and incredibly attractive 23-year-old like Wentworth Miller-type guy. And have him in jeopardy each week with his shirt off. [Laughs.] I'll be 45 or something, I dunno at that point and we'll be in the squad room going, "Is that guy naked and chained to a serial killer again!" [Laughs.] "Not another babe in jeopardy!" BFS: So then what we your first perception of the show? MW: I was a little reluctant initially. The notion of a "JAG" spin-off, which if you remove the word "spin" is how I believe it was referred to by certain people. So there was like stigma attached to it already. But I went and had this dinner with Don Bellisario in Austrailia and his personality, his storytelling and his presence and everything kind of won me over. I mean any questions I had, I mean I just wanted to meet him as a fan of like "Magnum, P.I." And then getting into with him, I was like this could work. But then the funny thing was that my character's name was Anthony DiNozzo and he's clearly supposed to be [an] Italian homicide cop from Baltimore who's like gritty and edgy and street. So maybe Eddie Cibrian wasn't available but I am not your first pick for the Italian homicide cop whose instincts can only come from the street. [Laughs.] I'm the WASP from the boarding school whose instincts could only come from how to slip out when the dorm master has shut out the lights for the night. I'm "School Ties," not "Homicide." So what happened was I had this dinner with Don and thought "maybe it'll happen, maybe it won't happen." And then I got this call, saying it's an offer to do it. And I sorta had to sit there and think, so how does this work - one out of every 10 pilots is picked up right? Isn't that about it one out of every 10? BFS: Nah, it's actually like one out of three or four. Nowadays anyway. MW: So I was like most pilots don't get picked up and then most things that go on the air are gone, like "The Brotherhood of Poland, N.H." And I did a show called "girls club," for like two and a half episodes or something. We were literally turning around on my coverage with Gretchen Mol and David Kelley walks up on the stage and unplugged the cameras and said, "that's it." We didn't even finish the day. They just killed it. And that was my third FOX show in a row to die in a span of four years. So I thought maybe it was time. "Significant Others" was '98, "Dark Angel" was 2000 to 2002 and "girls club" was 2002 in the fall and I thought "hmmm, maybe no more FOX." FOX is not my friend. I'm the curse. So I thought I'll go in, it'll be an experiment. And then once I wrapped my head around the idea that this was never really going to go. I mean, "NCIS," I don't get the title because it sounds too much like "CSI." And I was just on something called "Dark Angel" where I've had to explain forevermore that it's not the Joss Whedon "Angel." I am the man for the series title confusion. So that all kind of gave way to this new attitude about doing the pilot, which was kind of I'm going to go in and try and have as much fun as I possibly can with this guy Don Bellisario who directed the first episode. And right from the get-go, we had instant... like Mark Harmon and I were on different poles. I was Antarctica, he was the North Pole and we was just looking down there going "what is up with your polarity? What's going on? The water goes down the drain the other way for me." And he was confused by my presence right from the get-go. When "CNN Showbiz Today" or one of those things asked what was the best part about doing the pilot when were doing the upfronts, I said, "I got a rubber gun and I got a fake badge." And Harmon looked at me like, "that is your CNN answer?" [Laughs.] And I was like a little kid who had one too many bowls of Count Chocula. And that could be.. Tony's a real sugar cereal kid, borderline diabetic. So the pilot was, I just assumed, you know, we had a lot of fun, made some money, we'll see what comes next. And Don called a few weeks later and he said [doing Don's gruff voice], "Alright, well, looks like we're going to have to make some more of these things." And so the first year we made 23. And that was it, we all flew to New York, walked on the stage. It was Pauley Perrette and David McCallum and myself and Mark. Because we didn't have Sasha [Alexander] yet [because] Robin Lively had been in the first two episodes as "the girl." That's, talk about a perilous position on our show, we're on our third "girl." And she's Israeli, I don't even know how she sticks around. [Laughs.] If I were her [lowers voice], I'd be really nervous. [Laughs.] I'd be like sweating all the time. I mean if I were her agents, I'd be like "just take the money, no negotiation." And of course, you know, now I've become comfortable with the fact I'm clearly northern Italian, near the Alps, the blonde Italians. And it just kind of continues, I'm just amazed sometimes that there are still stories to tell. But there always is. There's a lot of jeopardy. We have a lot of female serial killers too. continued.....
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Post by ML Fan on Feb 28, 2007 15:34:44 GMT -5
continued from above..... BFS: So what do you feel is the biggest change on the show from the pilot to today? MW: Well, initially, I had this idea. I always have the worst ideas, it's true. I had this concept that DiNozzo would be - this is totally my idea too. [Laughs.] Nobody else thought this was a good idea. I thought he would be a master of disguise. [Laughs.] So in the beginning of the show I tried to do like a different hair style in every single scene which really drove everyone nuts. Because first of all, Archie Bunker always wore the same shirt and pants and in television, you have the Hawaiian shirt and shorts, that's Magnum. There's like signature elements, like I'm watching "Extras" now with Ricky Gervais. "You havin' a laugh?" Like the whole catchphrase in the glasses and the wig. So hair is a really big deal. Like Keri Russell chops off her hair, kills the ratings. Hair is a big deal on television. And I should learned my lesson because on "Dark Angel" I had like a very spikey haircut in the first season and I came back the next year and had this idea that his should be down because he was sad that he thought Max was dead. So it's like be sad but keep the hair the same or it's going to confuse people. So like in the beginning I had a different hair style in every scene and I would actually build it into the arc of the script, like how Tony was feeling that day. And then I started backing myself into personality deficits that he might be experiencing, little blind spots that he had socially. And that the hair was some kind of manifestation of his insecurity. And then finally Don called me [again, in Don voice], "God damn it! Pick a hairdo and stick with it!" So that changed. We picked a hairdo and we stuck with it. Because initially it was all swept back, I was doing all kinds of things. And I really enjoyed how when you start a show, nobody really knows what it is, what the voices are. Because the creator has the show in their head that they've made and that's why showrunners like J.J. Abrams and David Kelley and Bellisario and Bochco, all those guys, David Chase, they have sort of an unfettered way of getting what's in their head into the box, into the TV. But a lot of TV, showrunners have to deal with a lot of network and studio kind of notes about tone and this or that, and I think the really great showrunners take what they need from that process, from that collaboration. But really they're like, "you know what, no, it has to be this or I can't do it." Because once you start watering it down, like "can they find a time machine? What if it was CSI with a time machine?" Then it's like, "well, then they would just back to the beginning of time where there's no crime." That's the wrong key to give a crime solver. Then they're like, "well, the obstacle could be interesting." [Sighs then laughs.] I always say that's when we jump the shark. When Ducky finds a time machine and we go back in time to the Civil War or the Kennedy assassination or whatever. Those are always the trickiest "Star Treks." So I have a feeling that the major shift in the last four years has just been getting the characters into their position. And like I was saying, in the beginning, you don't know what that position is because it's locked away inside the crazy showrunner's head. Like Aaron Sorkin doesn't know to communicate it to you unless he, you know, has a fever dream and screams it into a microphone. But really they write the script and you have to sort of divine from that script what it is that they want. But I mean "Lost" must have been a terribly confusing read because you're like "oh wait, so if this really happening or is it just a dream? And if it's a dream, then do we know it's a dream?" You can just hear the story consult on that by the studio and the network people going, "Okay... do they find other animals?" And they're like, "well, there's a tree that talks." It's very difficult to explain a TV show concept - did you just have something with the "Criminal Minds" guy? BFS: Yeah, Ed Bernero. MW: Yeah, I loved reading that. That was really interesting to hear about the process. And he had come to that show after it had already been through a lot of the original banging around. But the voice of the show is the single hardest thing to find. And then trusting that voice and not chocolate with it when things get a little wonky and wobbly. Because you don't do out of the box big ratings and people are kind of wondering, so they try and fix it. Then you get a time machine or something. [Laughs.] Or on "Dark Angel," you have mutants appear. [Laughs.] You don't want to do that. And so we had to fight for that really hard. Harmon came in and did that crazy haircut which was his call. You don't want to make Mark Harmon unattractive. He's an attractive looking man. BFS: And there was a mustache at some point right? MW: Yeah. [Laughs.] That was season four, this year. But he always fights, and it's character first. And Mark's a proper actor, he's a craftsman. He takes it really seriously, like step by step by step. He doesn't make a big deal about it either. He'd like stomp on my head for even talking about his process but I know that he's very careful in executing each of those steps. And he doesn't bother anybody about it, he's just, "this is what I'm doing." And I was the same way in that, I felt very formalized and stiff after several parts that I played and I just felt like I was in a hostage video. Like I was reading the cards from extremist Muslim hostage takers. Like, "I... am... here... and... everything... is... good... Fallujah is beautiful this time of year." When I look at some of my previous performances it looks like I'm screaming "help me" from behind my eyes while I'm saying technobabble. So what I wanted to do with this character was have none of that. I wanted him to be unfiltered and a little bit more like me. But the difference between me and that character is that I have a tendency to overthink sweets to such a degree that I get confused. But he doesn't. He lives in a very simple Captain Crunch universe. Where it's like, "that's good, if they could figure out how to make it not cut the roof of your mouth, Captain Crunch would be the only food you would ever need." [Laughs.] "You just can't eat it too much because it really cuts up the roof of your mouth." He has a very simple worldview, politically I think. He doesn't have a lot of responsibilities. I don't think he has parents that are alive. Any sadness that he's felt in his life I think he's dealt with in a kind of childlike way. I don't think he's learned any of these adult tools that everyone else around him has. And I had heard Sean Hayes talk about on "Will & Grace" that he based his character on a six-year-old. And that six-year-olds just kind of like, "Mama, that man is black! Why is that man chocolate colored?" And you're in store going like [cringes to cover the child]. And if you've been with kids, kids say things that occur to them. You know, and if they grow up in a white neighborhood and they walk into a supermarket and they see somebody who doesn't look like everybody else they're going to ask that question. So "Will & Grace" always cracked me up so much and I thought how about a federal agent who's completely, just politically so gone. Like women are chicks and he's living like it's the '70s. And there's no enlightenment whatsoever. He's kinda like, "what's the bra burning about?" He's an Aqua Velva man. And with the chest hair and Magnum, P.I. being a hero. I was in Virgin Records and there was this book "The Male of the Species" or something like that. It was this super-cheesy book and it was ads from the '60s. And it was all about this male dominated world. Like a man with his shirt off wearing Lee Jeans and wearing a lion's head. Like just sanding there like this [stands up triumphantly] with his chest hair and a gold chain with the medallion. That was the Sean Connery [does Sean Connery voice] "you never hit her with a closed fist, you hit her with an open hand" period. And that was the idea behind this male dominated patriarchal society. Its vestiges live today in the White House I believe. [Laughs.] And I do believe that George Bush is a cousin of the DiNozzo. And that was just really freeing and this has been my favorite job for a million reasons. It is not about creature comforts here. We're in our two-banger trailers, there's no "star" stuff anywhere. There's no personal assistants. We got a photo shoot and there's just, we'll have flack from CBS that I don't make sure that I say anything incredibly stupid to Brian Ford Sullivan over at TheFutonCritic.com. [Laughs.] There's no lunacy here. I'm the only one by the way he comes in wearing sunglasses. BFS: Going forward then, is there anything you'd like to see happen to DiNozzo? MW: Well that is the test right? First you have to create a character that is like Meathead on "Archie Bunker," someone that is kind of TV worthy. Like are you 200 episode proof? Frasier Crane, like 20 years of that character, how does that happen? And I think it's because you have to create someone who's flawed deeply - and maybe even a little mean and surly sometimes - but also you have to keep rooting for that person to finally figure it out. And I think that's the hallmark of television - or at least the kind of television that's interesting to me, like Andy Millman - where you're following characters that are deeply flawed. I could watch "Extras" every day for I think the next 10 years. I have to pause it because it makes me so uncomfortable when I know what's about to happen. But you get a character to a certain place and then in a sense you can't let them grow or change too much because they have to take baby steps but inevitably they have to have their hair cut and they have to have a certain... like The Bionic Man is The Bionic Man. There's like certain TV parameters. So I think that this character only exists in relation to all the other characters. It's like "M*A*S*H," that show was on much longer than the Korean War. And ultimately, Hawkeye and I think Hot Lips - did Hot Lips make it to the end? - and Radar, and Radar made it from the movie. So I would assume that if there was any sort of cataclysmic change in the show itself it would be something that would change everything. But we had a cataclysmic moment when Sasha Alexander's character got killed. And we all struggled with how do we come back for this third season and keep our characters, because you want to have the same voice. And it was very hard. And I think Don always flirts with change, having Gibbs leave last year and then I went into this leadership position. It was interesting because they had me wearing the jacket and holding the coffee cup and sort of imitating Gibbs. And it's kind of like a little boy who isn't a man yet so he just goes and puts his dad's slippers and bathrobe on and sits in his dad's chair in the living room and like just pretends he's dad until dad comes home. And maybe dad will make the scary feeling go away. [Laughs.] And I think that's how he responded to the situation. I mean I live in a world of DiNozzo. DiNozzo's hero is David Caruso. DiNozzo watches "CSI: Miami," owns all the seasons. I'm looking forward to the day when there's a crime scene on the set of "CSI: Miami" and DiNozzo has to go and he just sort of keeps seeing the back of someone's head, their red hair as they go around the corner. He'd be like, [hushed excitement] "I think David Caruso is here. Do we have to talk to him? Should I interview him?" Because I think the Caruso is what Tony as a cop wants to be. It's like he's the perfect man [does the Caruso removing his sunglasses]. Tony is always wearing sunglasses, doing a slight homage - but never really well - to the Caruso. He tries to wear the badge the same way [begins impersonating Caruso], he tries to sweep has jacket back and do a little bit of the turn. He likes to get down on one knee there. But he's never very good at it. That's the other fun thing about somebody like Tony. Because Tony is endlessly humored by things that have long ago stopped being interesting or funny to those around him. The goldfish swims across the bowl and goes - "oh look at that!" - and turns around and swims across the same bowl. BFS: Now that you've been in Tony's head for four years, has he basically become part of your personality? MW: Very much so. And the people that know me here know a different version of me than is at home because when I'm here - like I had three cups of coffee right before I came here - and we're going to be here until midnight doing this crime scene. So rehearsal for instance, like I haven't read what we're doing today. [Laughs then digs around for the script.] But I don't have to because Tony is just really excited. Like when they were at a crime scene earlier this year and he was taking pictures of the body and he went, "Hey, this is my 100th crime scene!" And just about starts to go, "Can you take a picture?" And Gibbs just looks at him like, "Are you chocolate kidding me? You want a picture with the body? This is someone's loved one who's dead." So he's a little off, the DiNozzo. And so when we go into a rehearsal, that's my whole attitude - and I think it does irritate some of the others - but I think it kind of plays. This is real irritation. [Laughs.] When you work on a TV set, there's a prop department, there's a sound department, there's the wardrobe department, there's the script supervisor, there's the focus puller, and these are all people that if you are a slob at craft service or go like this [scratches his chest] when the microphone is right here or step over here when they've lit you for here, or step forward when you've got your focus mark right here, or say the line slightly different than what's in the script, or whatever it is - you can help with like seven different people's worlds by going like this [scratches his chest and steps forward] - "What's the line?" [Laughs.] Like literally everything can fly out of there. And so when you become aware of this like a professional organ grinder/monkey boy, you get a little freaked out by it. And you really care because you don't want anyone's job to be harder because you got distracted or because you had an itch or because you forgot your line. But if you live in constant fear of not getting someone else's approval or not making someone else's job easier, it's a little bit of a death spiral, a little trap. So my approach now is - without trying to be a huge pain in the ass - I just don't worry about it. Because I don't think Tony's worried about it. [Laughs.] It seems like a giant rationalization for being lazy, like, "Mom, here's why I'm not going to do my homework - the universe is expanding, and one day it will implode... why deal with the homework?" BFS: So how long do you think "NCIS" will go? MW: You wonder how long a show like this stays on the air, it'll be interesting to see. Because like I said, I don't think we're done. I think there's certain ways that this show is going to get more interesting and I'm sure Don has up his sleeve a hideous, kinky - to use a Kate Winslet movie title - future for us all. Thanks to csa at NCIS Special Ops for the info.
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Post by dzero on Mar 1, 2007 1:01:18 GMT -5
WOW that's the longest interview I've ever seen from him ;D. Did anybody ever see his part in "girls club"? I had always thought he had just done a guest starring bit on that but from what he says here it sounds more like he was a regular?
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Post by dzero on Mar 23, 2007 11:09:45 GMT -5
Saw an internet report that MWs ex-wife Amelia Heinle has gotten married to her Young and Restless costar Thad Luckinbill.
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