Last night, NCIS aired a really emotional episode. It was a tribute to David McCallum, who played Dr. Mallard on the show for a long time.
Dr. Mallard’s death wasn’t a surprise because David McCallum passed away in September 2023. But there was something unexpected in the episode. It started with Dr. Jimmy Palmer, played by Brian Dietzen, bringing coffee to Dr. Mallard’s house. But when Palmer got there, he found out that Ducky had died in his sleep.
Instead of quickly starting the show with the usual opening, they did something different. The show slowly faded into the opening, and the theme song was played slower than usual. This decision was made on purpose, even though it was a bit hard to do.
VALENCIA, CA – SEPTEMBER 04: NCIS cast members (L-R) Michael Weatherly, Lauren Holly, Brian Deitzen, Pauley Perrette, David McCallum, Sean Murray, Cote de Pablo, and Mark Harmon at the NCIS 100th Episode Celebration at Valencia Studios on September 4, 2007 in Valencia, California. (Photo by John Shearer/WireImage)
Brian Dietzen, who plays Dr. Jimmy Palmer on NCIS, talked about how they struggled with what to do after the emotional opening scene in the episode. He said it didn’t feel right to suddenly jump into the usual fast-paced opening with explosions and action because of the serious tone of the episode.
He thought slowing down the intro was a great idea. Dietzen believed it was a beautiful way to start such an emotional episode, paying tribute to David McCallum and his character Ducky. He said he wouldn’t change anything about how they honored McCallum. He asked others to share if they agreed with him.