#would he really have the career that he has if the majority of viewers couldn't understand him?

[ncisfranchise-source]

The NCIS-verse aired its 1,000th episode tonight, and for Brian Dietzen, who plays lovable medical examiner Jimmy Palmer, “A Thousand Yards” wasn’t just the perfect way to honor the CBS show’s longevity. It was also the latest in a long line of episodes created with a team he’s proud to be a part of. 

“I love these people that I work with, and our crew that's been together with us for 21 years, a lot of them all the way through from the beginning to now,” Dietzen tells Entertainment Weekly. “I think you can see that camaraderie and the comfort and familiarity. It comes through to viewers.”

In a season shortened by the Hollywood labor strikes, Dietzen says the cast and crew turned lemons into lemonade with an inventive 10-episode season that culminates in a pulse-pounding finale.

“As per usual with NCIS, it's gonna leave a lot of people with their mouths wide open after the credits start to roll,” Dietzen teases. “I think everyone's pretty damn proud of what we put together.” 

Below, the actor and writer, who co-authored this season’s emotional tribute episode to Dr. Mallard and David McCallum, talks about this major TV milestone, the shape of the season to come, and how the medical examiner in the Harry Potter glasses evolved into a romantic lead over 21 years.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Congratulations on the 1,000th episode! How does it feel to be a part of that legacy?

BRIAN DIETZEN: Oh, my gosh, think about 1,000 episodes. That's some pretty rare stuff. It feels very humbling to be a part of something so humongous, you know, and to have any small part in helping in its success. So yeah, it's incredible. It's definitely some “pinch me” type of stuff.

I imagine! Well, I'd love to talk about the episode itself. Let me start by saying, poor Leon Vance [Rocky Carroll]. That man has suffered.

No kidding. We've got a few people like that on our team who've gone through the wringer, but I think none more so than Leon Vance. And, you know, you couldn't get a better actor than Rocky Carroll to play him. I mean, he just embodied that man and like you said, he’s gone through the wringer over the last 16, 17 years. I just love watching Rocky Carroll. I could listen to him read out of a phone book. So good. It's always an absolute pleasure to have a story where Vance is a central character.

The episode throws it way, way back. How important was it for everyone involved in the show to honor the deepest of those deep roots?

Well, I think you’ve got to honor everything. There are a lot of people. Those 1,000 episodes don't happen without over 1,000 people working behind the scenes over the course of these 21 years, not just on our show, but on our sister shows as well. So I was really, really happy when I was reading this script to see some shout-outs to past characters that are no longer on the show and also past storylines that meant a lot to the fans and meant a lot to us as NCIS family members.

The ending, it just got me. It’s one thing to read it in script form, but then when you get to see it, and see how visually it all comes together with the music swelling and you're showing some of these seminal moments from the history of NCIS and also simple moments like Gibbs helping a kid build a tree house. You know, the stuff that made NCIS what it is for two decades. And you're reminded that this is how we got here. Yeah, it definitely got me.

I would love to talk about the evolution of Jimmy Palmer over 20 seasons. What is it like as an actor to embody a character who’s growing professionally and personally over two decades?

It's really interesting. Obviously, it's not something that's generally done in most actors’ careers, you know? With procedural television like this, that character has a new story to tell each week, and he has to remain similar enough that people can recognize him as the character they've grown to love. But he needs to change a bit over time because that's what it means to be human, right? We grow and change. As an actor, what makes it interesting is to find those changes that are gradual and really playing the long game with it so that it doesn't seem like just overnight, oh, gosh, Jimmy's changed so dramatically from season 10 to 11, or from season 20 to 21, that those things make sense and still seem organic. It’s been a delightful challenge to play. And it’s not just me accepting that challenge.  It's our writers who are looking constantly at ways for our characters to evolve and to push us as actors. It’s definitely a group effort.

When you started on NCIS at the end of season 1, did you anticipate your character being the core romantic pairing on the show at some point in the future?

Yes, we all saw this coming. From season 1, the assistant to Donald Mallard, we were like, “That guy. That kid right there. The guy with the Harry Potter glasses. That's the guy that's gonna have the lead romantic relationship.” [Dietzen laughs.] No, of course not. That was never a thing. It was kind of a punchline that no, there's no way that guy could be the one to get the girls. But it's been nice to see that evolution for Jimmy for sure, and for him to find happiness has been great.

What Jimmy brings to the show is a huge part of what makes me love NCIS, that kindness and patience and optimism. Do you see that as an important component to a show with as much action as NCIS generally has?

I think it's vital. I really do. You can have an episode of NCIS and it's very action-filled, and you'll have people say, “I wish they had more comedy in this.” You'll have one that's very silly and people will say, “I wish they'd be a little more serious.” But that’s what makes our show go. Those things complement each other really well. And when we have that light-hearted nature, that optimism, it does set up the audience pretty well for a sucker punch that happens here and there that takes your breath away. Like when Vance falls to the ground and he’s been shot [in “A Thousand Yards”]. That’s not something you saw coming. I think the show does a really good job of setting up those moments, and the comedy, the light-hearted nature and the optimism, is integral to that type of storytelling.

What is it what is it that made you want to include writing in your arsenal of skills? [Dietzen co-wrote “The Helpers” in season 19, “Old Wounds” in season 20, and Ducky’s season 21 tribute “The Stories We Leave Behind.”]

I've always loved writing, and I have a huge appreciation for our writers and what they do. This show is not an easy show to write. Anybody who steps up to the plate and says, “Hey, I want to try this thing,” I say hats off to you. Including the history of the characters, the interactions, the optimism, the heart and the soul of what the show is, it's hard to get all those things together. 

So I was really happy when I submitted some writing samples to our showrunner Steve Binder and he said, “Hey, if you want to try it, go ahead.” So I teamed up with Scott Williams for “The Helpers” and we just went with it. I wanted that optimism, that thing that NCIS does so well, which is people looking after their own. I was really happy with the way that it turned out. And I was happy that I got to write again, two more times in the next three years.

I’m curious what kind of discussion went into putting you in the writer's room for the Ducky tribute episode.

Obviously, that was the episode that no one wants to write because it means we've lost someone that's so near and dear to us, a member of our family. And Scott, from what I understand, stood up and said “If we're going to do a Ducky tribute episode, I'd love to be a part of that.” Scott's has always been so good at writing for David, and he said, “I think that it's only right if Brian joins me on this. We’ll write this thing as a team.” I had already said I don't need to be taking scripts away from anybody else when we have such a such a truncated season, but everyone in the room said “No, that seems right that Brian should be a part of it considering how closely he and David worked over the years and how close they were as friends, too.” So I was beyond honored to throw my hat in the ring for that and to add whatever I could to it.

Have you seen a difference over the show's run in how people react to you when you're just walking down the street?

I have to say, those glasses did a lot of work for a long time. It was one of those things where I never got recognized, but now when I'm traveling to see my family in Colorado and/or Illinois, I definitely get stopped, a bit more so in the Midwest than I do in Los Angeles. But it's great. People don't stop you because they hate your show. People only stop you because they like it. So it's really been nice.

What can you tell us about what’s in store for the rest of this season? 

There's plenty in store there. It's only a 10-episode season, right? It just kind of feels like each of our writers kind of only gets one at-bat, and they're really swinging for the fences and they are not disappointing. One that's coming up pretty soon here highlights Gary Cole's character Parker in a way that, to me, is some of the funniest stuff I've seen in a long, long time on the show, just situationally funny. Having read it, I can't wait to see what Gary does with the material. 

Will you be glad to get back to a more traditional season next year, or are you hoping this will roll over into “let's keep swinging for the fences” with some new approaches?

Our cast and, more importantly, our crew really depends on working day in and day out on our show, and we really, really love it. I'm proud of the season that we put together in spite of two major strikes in Hollywood, and I can definitely speak for our crew and the rest of our cast when I say we're looking forward to a full slate of 22 shows, 22 different stories, and a full season's worth of work for all of us. Maybe we can take some of the lessons that we learned this year and apply them to a full 22, yeah. I'm hoping that we hold each other to high standards and we keep making some good stories because it’s hard to get a better gig than this when you're working with people that you care for, and you really love what they do artistically as well. I'm very, very excited for everyone to join us next year to have 22 fresh episodes — you know, building toward episode number 2,000.

[alphawolfice1989]

These two are clearly made for each other. Shame the showrunners couldn't see it.

Yeah, I think that's the part that frustrates me the most. Because that's just how shows like that work, you show the viewers a pairing, convince them with your writing they should be together and then you make it happen. And since HIMYM was written for a mature audience it isn't quite as simple as X doing big impersonal "romantic" gestures for Y all the time to make us believe it, which is in CB/CT land sadly the pinnacle of romanticism while in reality it simply is not, quite the opposite since those gestures that Ted did were usually very impersonal on top of it. Blue horn, orchestra etc. you could just exchange the woman they're meant for and it wouldn't really matter, especially since the woman in question already made it clear she doesn't even like such things. While the big things that Barney did for said woman were at least very personal, they were specifically tailored towards her. We have to go with reality when selling a relationship because of HIMYM's audience and in reality the most important cornerstones of a good and long lasting relationship look as following 1.) Love. 2.) Can you work together, on a day to day basis? Can you steer around problems? Can you take care of a home together? 3.) Children or life goals in general. 4.) Do you share similar interests, a similar worldview? I'm just going to compare B/R to T/R now regarding these points, I'm not even going to bother with bringing T/T in the mix. 1.) Love. We perfectly understand why B is in love with R, the show has made that clear, he thinks of her as his soulmate, he also sees her as his only hope of escaping that very sad life of his leave it behind forever and have something truly fulfilling with her, he adores her charm her wit and her overall personality, Baby Talk made that very clear. And as a bit of a shallow addition because I don't want to sound too cheesy now, I'm sure he's also very fond of her body. As for R loving B, I think he's the only boyfriend that ever made her feel appreciated for who she really is and not for what she is expected to be, and I think that is a major "love reason" (for the lack of better word, damn you English!) for someone like her, who was never deemed good enough by all the men in her life prior, from her own father, first boyfriend, first serious adult boyfriend T etc. who all did a very good job with making her feel inferior, and then comes B who likes her exactly the way she is which must be a very uplifting feeling for her (as you mentioned, he saw her without being annoyed or unmanned, but actually being impressed by it), so she obviously sees him as her soulmate, that's just logical. As for T loving R. Why exactly? We don't know why, I saw this point being brought up by someone here a few weeks ago and I was thinking about it a bit and my answer too is that I don't know why. The show never tells us, the show just says T loves R and that's it. So we have to look at the way it started and then and I must say T's supposed love is even quite shallow, he sees his friends getting engaged and he goes down to the bar because he wants that too, sees R and decides he's in love with her. So what T loves about R is the possibility of a lifestyle she can give him, a pretty face and a tight body, that's it. And I don't even know why R would love T, I can't even come up with a single reason, he's safe and dependable I guess? Wow, what a grande romance...

If, after nine years, the viewership as a whole doesn't know why the male lead is supposedly crazy in love with his female friend and runs after her the second he's done grieving his wife, then guess what? It was written poorly.  Why did Ted love Robin? Umm, she was there? Would it have been any different if any other woman had walked in at that given moment? Or if Barney swooped in and put a move on Robin instead of playing "haaave you met Ted?" Ted moves on to the next girl?  Young man sees a beautiful young woman, attraction is only natural. But does he love her at first sight? He doesn't even know her. First date, Ted is in love with Robin, but she's only looking to jump that turnstile (her words.) The hook HIMYM had was that the lead didn't spot his dream girl across a crowded room, declare he'll get her and then get her. No, lead sees dream girl across a crowded room, but she's not his dream girl after all, ends up becoming one of his best platonic friends and marrying his perpetual bachelor best friend, now there's something original.  No matter how many Ted Mosby Grand Romantic Gestures (patent pending) Ted hauled out of his bag of tricks, they didn't work on Robin. Not the blue French horn (any of the times) not the whole orchestra, not making it rain, etc. He shot, but he didn't hit the target. Ted's gestures toward Robin were all about Ted. When Barney made a grand gesture, it was all about Robin. For all his derision of Canada, he brought Canada to her, because that's what she wanted. There's a difference.  As for why Robin would love Ted, she doesn't. Said so in her own words, but I guess that's not plain enough, or the woman's wishes and feelings don't matter in this story world? Eh, he's safe and it's better than being alone? Not good enough. :whipcrack:

 They don't, it's all written in the show that they don't. I never found out why Robin even puts up with Ted's antics, his gestures are meaningless to her and she isn't attracted to those gestures or Ted himself so why does she even like Ted. They have zero in common, they couldn't even live together without fighting, they were a terrible couple totally unmatched and had wanted different things. All the things Ted did for her was all about him, it's very true and everything Barney did for her was FOR HER. Barney sees the actual real woman she is, Ted sees what he wants to see because she's hot. What's the real reason behind any romantic feelings between two people who aren't right for each other. There's a difference between real love that's selfless and fake love that's selfish. Robin loves Barney, end of point that is all there because she loves him just like he loves her. For each other, those feelings, that love would never go away ever because they are each other ONE.

 The Ted and Robin relationship that I love is not the implausible romance, but the very plausible platonic friendship. Ted goes all out with his grand romantic gestures, and they fall flat with Robin because those aren't things that impress her. Ted's gestures are for Ted. The mutual spark isn't there, but it is with Barney. Barney's gestures are for Robin.  Ted and Robin don't work as a romantic pair, because they don't want the same things or have the same worldview, but as friends, the rub along quite well. Take the romantic/sexual angle out of the relationship and they do fine. Brother/sister, almost, which fits with both of them having their own respective spouses; the spouses, Tracy and Barney, each make Ted and Robin more themselves, not less.

 I've always saw them as a brother/sister/platonic/friends type relationship it works for them. Romance doesn't, she loves the little things that Barney does for her because she knows those things he does are for her not for something to get from it. Barney loves to make her happy and by doing that it means putting her first and doing things for her because she wants them. IE, getting her a job to stay in the country cause she loves being in NY with her friends who are her family and the rehearsal dinner which was his surprise to her because she's always wanted to get married in her home country. All those things he does is to make her happy everything Ted does is for himself ie winning her back when she's happy with Barney and sees that with his own two eyes.

 Barney has done much to make Robin happy; we find out that he went with her to rehome the dogs Ted insisted she give up because their presence made him uncomfortable. Barney got Robin a job in an extremely competitive industry on extremely short notice to keep her in the country (and would have married her if that would have done the job) brought Canada to her, etc. For a man who had spent several years chasing his own momentary pleasures, investing this much and doing this much for someone else's happiness is huge.

 2.) Can you work together, on a day to day basis, can you steer around problems? Can you take care of a home together? All we saw of B/R ever since they got engaged was them steering around problems, together like mature people, so OFC they can. As for the home, they never said they can't and the fortress looked in pretty good shape at the end Something New, even with flowers and stuff which I'm sure R brought into it, so he let her change stuff which both means they can take care of a home. Remember what happened when Quinn wanted to change stuff? I know that these problems probably shouldn't even come up in CB/CT land, and the very fact they do means the marriage is doomed in their crazy mind, and that notion is OFC rubbish in reality. As for T/R. I haven't quite followed that relationship enough, but all I know is that whenever some problems arose they were being dealt with in the "Ted behaves like a douche, Robin is mad, someone convinces Robin that Ted is right (even though he isn't), Robin goes back to her father boyfriend to apologize, they kiss, I yawn" manner. They couldn't even move in together when paired up, and when not paired up they couldn't even run the apartment together without fighting. 3.) Children and life goals in general. B/R have both been shown that the idea of children entertains them. As long as they aren't their own. As for R's career ambitions, I would say that depends on the R we're talking about, if it's the s3-s9 Robin then there are no issues since she already has a career, doesn't care about travelling and values love and friendship over career and travel anyhow. She's a big city girl who loves NY and doesn't want to live in a suburban hell (her own words not mine.) As for B, I don't think he really has a live goal, the only one I can think of is successfully leaving his womanizing behind for something more fulfilling, which he has with R, I know he loves NY like R does and since the real s3-s9 R doesn't want to travel anyhow and has a high ranking job in NY it should work. As for T/R. T wants his own family, he wants children and he wants to live in his house in Westchester with them, that is all. I don't think R secretly wants children, and I'm sure she would rather set herself on fire than live suburban (again, her own words not mine.) 4.) Do you share similar interests, a similar worldview? I'm not even going to bother with a lengthy passage here since my comment is already getting way longer than I originally planned. I'm just going to say 3 episode names off the top of my head, Zip Zip Zip, Natural History and Something New. I see two cynical people who both also remained a bit of a child at heart. T/R have never been shown to have similar interests, other than drinking alcohol at the bar which OFC can't be seen as a basis for a relationship. As for the worldview, he's a hopeless romantic, and she's the exact opposite of that. Just imagine how she would react to T when he tries the same moves on her like he did with Victoria in the one episode where M/L where trapped inside the bathroom. Carter and Craig had all bases covered when it comes to B/R. And not covered when it comes to T/R, they successfully convinced us with it why whose two should not be together, all they had to do is make both of it happen. But no, they went with stolen decor and some locket instead. And these two clowns have the gall to say what they did was "realistic" and "true to life"? No wonder this exploded so hard in their face as it did.

 Wow. So much good reasoning here. Very true. (And when did I become a Shiba Inu? Blaming cold meds.)  All of these things are essential for a lasting relationship, and it's plain to see, given these criteria, which couple would last, and which one would either go down in flames or simmer in silent resentment for decades, as we did see in one of the potential flashforwards in The Front Porch.  Love the description of Barney and Robin as both being cynical people who are a bit of a child at heart. That's a huge part of what makes them as well suited for each other as they are. They do have similar goals, mindsets and worldviews. They function as a couple even when not a couple, and when they are together, they become more than the sum of their parts.  By the end of the show, we were all perfectly set up to see exactly why Ted and Robin would never work (and how many times did Ted get over Robin for real this time?) that Barney and Robin would, and the reward for Ted for hanging in there was his true perfect match, Tracy, whom he could only meet once he really did give up on the dream of (his idea of) Robin. By 9.22, we had the satisfying ending within reach. You had one job, CB/CT. One job. Bad writers. No spinoff.

https://barneyrobin.livejournal.com/1213594.html

[thelocalshooter]

The Local Shooter Vs. Quan Draper

(LS) Hello thank you being apart of this great come up can we go ahead and start by introducing yourself for those who don’t know you? Who are you? Where are you from and what do you do?

(QD) What's good! My name is Quan Draper. I'm an artist and entrepreneur from Iowa - born and raised in Sioux City. I graduated from Iowa State University in May '18, but I been in the music game since before I even went to college.

(LS) How do you think music affected your life? What was your first memory you remember where you knew that music would be your passion?

(QD) Music's always resonated with me especially as a young half black / half white kid. Music is woven through sports, TV, film, etc and it shaped who I wanted to be. Music affords me the opportunity to influence people and relate to them without having to get to know them. I'm able to entertain, inspire, empathize, and educate people by using my creativity and my taste. Some of my first memories of music stem from early memories of my father. Having looked up to him as my primary role model, I looked forward to him picking me up from daycare and after school activities with his 22" rims blastin' hip hop through his speakers. He's a hip hop head so my preference for bars comes directly from him. Since I could remember, music was important for me and it was always a passion. As a kid though, I was encouraged to do some other things that I was good at - mainly academics. It got me a full ride to college, but I knew music would prevail for me because I was always writing music - in class, in traffic, at home. That type of consistency spoke to how much I loved it and it drove me to take my career seriously as I got my bag up.

(LS) You have a couple projects out of major platforms right now, with lovely being your most recent release what’s your next move? What’s in the works right now for Quan?

(QD) I have a lot of music in the vault, I just have to prepare them for release! I wanna drop a couple visuals, a couple EPs, and a lot of singles to really establish myself with my core fans. I gotta be more invested in giving them content and being visible.

(LS) What are you goals as a musician are you looking to get signed eventually if so what would be the top three label you would want offers from or are you better of being independent?

(QD) I'm honestly not looking for a deal right now. I believe in my skills as an entrepreneur so I don't see myself needing to work with a major unless they could solve a problem that I couldn't solve myself like radio play or securing a direct support slot on a major tour which could benefit me greatly. Most production can be done without a label's backing, you just have to get on the phone or get in the DMs of the right people and take action. It's cliché, but life really is what you make it. Nobody will pickup the phone and give you opportunities. You have to earn them and you have to ask for what you want.

(LS) When it comes to your creative process are you picky about your studio? The time? The people or are you one of those who can literally put a mic in the center of the room and get things done?

(QD) I'm particular, yes, but I'm all about working with what you have. You can successfully record at home, on the road in a hotel room, at a recording studio, or anywhere. It depends on context though.

(LS) Who are some artist you look forward to working locally or even out of state? Do you look for certain something in the artist you work with or how does that work?

(QD) Features goin up in 2020 for sure. Psychedelic Sidekick, Zypher, and iswearimjoey from my city are all dope as fuck. Marc J as well. I'm good friends with Norman from Ames, Iowa. We got a solid rapport. And there are a couple guys out of Omaha that are nice, too - BODA and K Sean. I pay attention to how guys move and if they're forward thinking. I wanna link with guys who are building short term and long term. It's not easy or cheap to move like a boss, but I refuse to work with anybody who moves like an employee. I can hire for that, I need partnership.

(LS) As far as local talent how do you think you place? Do you find your friendly locals to be more of competition or just peers?

(QD) I'm not gonna compare because everyone has their own lens on it, but I know I'm top tier talent-wise globally. I'm not even thinking locally. I haven't proven myself completely, but I can compete with anybody when it comes to this music shit. I'm comin from all angles - merch, visuals, projects, singles, and at some point short films and a youtube show, etc. It's all in the works, I just need time. We're peers though. They wouldn't fuck with me on a competitive standpoint. I don't think they have any incentive to make that sort of choice.

(LS) You have visuals out for “QB1” already do you plan on doing any more for any other singles this year or is your focus more on the tracks for now?

(QD) Visuals are a toppppp priority. I got a few concepts I'm ready to shoot with my guy Devin Phaly. Hardest working guy I know! Very grateful to work with him. He pushes me to be great and not just good at my craft. We'll do at least 3 more videos this year, maybe 4 if I can build momentum.

(LS) As you’ve grown and traveled through the journey of making music what’s one valuable lesson you learned going through it that you carry with yourself through the rest of the journey?

(QD) I think trusting the process and commitment to your definite chief aim is mission critical. I've learned that you don't get better at making songs unless you make more songs. It's easy to set long term goals. It's a challenge to stay committed when you aren't seeing results. Detaching from results and focusing on what you control can really drive productivity and quality up because you're harnessing your energy in the right place - the product. That's what lasts. That's what people remember. Not the cover, not marketing, but the song itself. I've made a commitment to myself that I'll chase this dream and I'll make the necessary sacrifices to see it through.

(LS) Thank you again for being apart of this great come up, anything else you’d like to let the fans and viewers know about what you got going on or any links you’d like to drop where they can listen to your music? Should we keep our eyes open for anything else coming this 2020?

(QD) Add me on every platform - Quan Draper or @quandraper. I'll have more everything out in 2020, but specifically be ready for content in all forms. Thank you for having me! I gotta do this again soon. I appreciate your time!

The Local Shooter Vs. Quan Draper