Michael Weatherly Would’ve Never Believed LL Cool J’s Spin-Off of ‘NCIS’ Would’ve Been a Hit
Michael Weatherly was already pleasantly surprised by how popular his own hit show wound up being. But he was perhaps even more shocked by the success of its spin-off series.
Michael Weatherly once shared his past self wouldn’t have believed ‘NCIS’ or its spin-off would be a success
Weatherly was cast on NCIS in 2003, and stayed on for 13 seasons before leaving the series to lead the tv show Bull. During his time there, NCIS was the most successful show he’d ever been on, drawing massive ratings and building a global fanbase. So much so that the series expanded into a spin-off show, LL Cool J’s NCIS Los Angeles, which enjoyed similar success. If Weatherly was asked at an earlier point in his life about the show’s accomplishments, he would’ve been skeptical at best.
“It’s been the kind of year,” Weatherly once began telling NJ. “That, if seven years ago, you had come up to me and said, ‘Michael, I just went with the Ghost of Christmas Future, and I was mostly paying attention to my own stuff, but I happened to notice that there’s an NCIS: LA with LL Cool J and Chris O’Donnell, which is a spin-off of your show, and it’s the No. 1 new show on television, and your show is the No. 1 show on television,’ I think I would have bet you maybe $40,000 that you were lying. Not a million dollars, but I would have bet you something big — like a car.”
Michael Weatherly didn’t have the best luck with tv shows before ‘NCIS Los Angeles’
It may be hard to imagine NCIS and its several spin-off shows failing. But for Weatherly, it seemed likelier that the series would’ve been canceled rather than become the smash hit it is today. Before he was hired as Tony DiNozzo, Weatherly featured in a string of television shows that faced cancellation. Either that, or the actor wouldn’t last long in the projects. His bad luck started with his part in the little known series Pier 66.
“One of the first pilots I did was an Aaron Spelling pilot [PIER 66]. I thought, ‘Aaron Spelling! That guy makes hit television!’ That didn’t get picked up. Then I did a Chris Columbus [pilot], who had just done Nine Months and Home Alone and was getting ready to do all of those Harry Potter [films]. Chris Columbus. Epic filmmaker. Patrick Dempsey was the lead guy in the show, so I did that pilot. I was like, ‘This is going to go!’ That didn’t go,” Weatherly once told Assignment X.
He also had feature roles in shows like Dark Angel, which he thought would’ve been successful based on James Cameron’s involvement. But the show only lasted for two seasons, leaving Weatherly once again looking for work.
Still, Weatherly appreciated the opportunities that came his way even though they might not have lasted all that long. He equated acting to being in several brief relationships before he landed NCIS.
“You just have to say, ‘Okay. I’m a guy who has relationships that’s three weeks to two years. And then they go away.’ And that was sort of like the acting job, was like short-term. And now I feel like I’m in a marriage,” he said.
Why LL Cool J did ‘NCIS: Los Angeles’
LL Cool J seemed to have little reservations about joining the spin-off show. Especially since he found the series an opportunity to further his growth as an actor. The hip hop artist already had a few acting credits to his name, playing his first character in 1991’s The Hard Way. Since then, he starred in notable projects like Halloween H20 and S.W.A.T. At one point, he even managed to have his own sitcom In the House, which lasted for five seasons. But it was only shortly before doing Los Angeles that the rapper wanted to give acting more serious effort than he did before.
“I had a great experience on another drama. I did the season opener of another drama a few seasons ago and I caught the bug. I really wanted to act, and I wanted to act on a regular basis. And I wanted to challenge myself and allow myself to go on another level and allow myself to mature and experience something new in my life,” Cool J once told The Early Show. “And part of that maturity process is not continuing to do the same things that you’ve always done. So, I decided to commit to this show, commit to what I thought was a great team.”
Like Weatherly, LL Cool J was also on Los Angeles for multiple seasons before the show’s recent conclusion after 14 seasons.
