Michael Weatherly Once Revealed His Unsanctioned ‘NCIS’ Spin-Off Was Very Confusing
NCIS star Michael Weatherly will soon be starring in his own spin-off of the series with his co-star Cote de Pablo. But Weatherly once already starred and produced his own forgotten spin-off of sorts. However, Weatherly’s old Tony DiNozzo web show was a bit wackier than what was normally seen in the hit franchise.
Michael Weatherly’s ‘NCIS’ spin-off raised more than a few eyebrows
As tense and dramatic as NCIS could be, it had a healthy dose of personality to balance out its darker themes. A lot of the comedy came from Weatherly’s DiNozzo, who always had a quip ready to lighten the mood. Weatherly was the main reason his character turned into the comedic relief. When he initially read for the series, Tony DiNozzo was pictured as a gritter, perhaps more serious agent.
“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,” Weatherly once said in an interview with The Futon Critic. “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.”
Still, Weatherly’s performance was liked so much, that the character ended up being tailored to the actor’s own sensibilities. He and his NCIS co-star even made a pact to be as funny on the show as possible. But there was a point where Weatherly wanted to take DiNozzo’s humor even further than what was shown in NCIS. He did that by starring in a small spin-off of NCIS, which consisted of a couple of Youtube clips where DiNozzo would be interviewed by Dr. Phil. In an old interview with TV Guide, Weatherly shared that the show was based on “the idea that DiNozzo would get grilled psychologically by someone even more alpha-male than [Mark Harmon’s] Gibbs.”
But he confided that his decision to make this Youtube series confused a few people attached to NCIS. Weatherly didn’t let others’ reaction sway his opinion, however. He believed DiNozzo and other NCIS characters he featured on the spin-off would certainly make the premise work.
“There were definitely some raised eyebrows. But I think that DiNozzo, Jimmy Palmer [Brian Dietzen] and Abby Sciuto [Pauley Perrette] are the tricycle of comedy on the show, so that was an appropriate usage of characters,” he said.
“CBS allowed me to do this, but it’s definitely not sanctioned,” Weatherly added. “It’s the Never Say Never Again of NCIS.”
Michael Weatherly explained how ‘Tony & Ziva’ will be different than the original ‘NCIS’
De Pablo already found a good reason to return to the franchise way back in season 17. Now, Weatherly will be joining her in their officially CBS-sanctioned spin-off Tony & Ziva. From what’s known about the series so far, it will have a tone similar to its predecessor. But Weatherly asserted that the series will diverge from NCIS’ usual format of storytelling.
“It took some time to get them completely there because it is such a departure,” Weatherly told Variety. “It’s streaming. It’s not an evergreen procedural. It’s not structured the same way. Will the audience show up for that? Are we shooting out of our weight class here with a different kind of story? Is it not going to feel like the other show? All of those troubles. And John is not from the ‘NCIS’ universe. So we’re introducing a new voice. And I think those things that might a few years ago have been to our detriment became assets when people started really understanding streaming, and really understanding Paramount+ as a platform.”
Additionally, Tony & Ziva will cover more ground globally than even NCIS did.
“Tony and Ziva live in Paris, and we will be shooting in Budapest, because the Olympics are in Paris right now and that would be complicated,” Weatherly added. “But the show will have a lot of international locations that we will reveal later, and international casting that is going to be absolutely stellar. We’re a part of that as executive producers.”
