TVSqaud Talks To "NCIS" Star Brian Dietzen on the New Season and Musical Episode

[JamesG]

Up Close with "NCIS" Star Brian Dietzen
by Allison Waldman
posted Oct 5th 2010


Playing the quizzical sidekick Jimmy Palmer, assistant to the medical examiner on "NCIS", actor Brian Dietzen thinks he's a pretty lucky guy.

He's not only on America's most watched drama series, but as an actor he gets to play opposite the inimitable David McCallum.




Dietzen spoke with TV Squad recently about the new season, working on a hit series and the possibility of a musical "NCIS" episode in the future ... yes, really.





How do you see the character of Jimmy Palmer?

Everybody has to start somewhere and Jimmy's definitely in the process of paying his dues. I do believe that this is something that he wants to do with his life.



I talked to Craig Harvey, the medical examiner for L.A. who's a consultant on the show, and he said that 10-15 years ago people who came in and said they wanted to be medical examiners were tossed out because everyone thought they were crazy.

Who'd want to work with dead bodies all day? But now it's become a competitive field.






Is that how it is for Jimmy?

People are interested in becoming post-mortem detectives and I think that's what Jimmy wants. What we're seeing right now is a young guy trying to figure it all out.

He's somebody who often asks the impossibly obvious question, but they're things that need to be answered and he's not afraid to ask them. Practically speaking, he gives the audience a voice.



Jimmy is trying to put in his two cents more and more over the seasons. He's getting more involved in solving the cases, as opposed to just pushing gurneys and hauling dead bodies.












Do you enjoy the role?

It's a blast. I get to do some of the most fun stuff in all of "NCIS" in my opinion. Although I'm not usually speaking the most lines in any scene, I get some of the juiciest bits. I'm very thankful that I get to play him.

And I'm playing opposite David McCallum, one of the best scene partners in the business.






What's it like working with him?

David is more than famous on our set for being extremely meticulous about his research and preparation for every scene. Which is great for me because most of my scenes are with him.

Prior to most scenes, we get to go in and rehearse just the two of us, and go over what it is we're going to do and how they're going to work out, the blocking, the wording.

And he researches so much of the technical jargon and medical lingo that he makes sure to double and triple check everything that the writers give to us. If anything can be fleshed out a little more, we can go to them with changes. The guy is a machine.

It's pretty cool having David to work with and it's been awesome to work alongside him.









When Jimmy was involved with Agent Lee (Liza Lapira), were you surprised by how indiscreet he was, fooling around on the job and in the lab?

Oh yes, incredibly so. Jimmy was really sloppy about things.

But, of course, the guy wanted to date and have a relationship of some sort. It was born out of the thought that these people are government employees, working 16-17 hours a day with absolutely no time off at all, so the only logical conclusion is dating someone that they work with. The writers had some fun with it.

That was Don Bellisario's idea. He wanted someone to have an office romance where, literally, everything happened in the office. It was more of a lark at first and we then didn't see her for a year. Then she came back and she turned out to be a double agent!












Do you prefer the field scenes to the lab scenes?

No, I really treasure the autopsy scenes between David and I. That's where some of our most fun scenes happen. We get to rehearse quite a bit and we exchange wonderful ideas. So between the two of us, we treasure that stuff.

Going out in the field has been fun also, and it's given room for growth with other characters. I value both the studio and location shoots. The Jimmy and Ducky stuff has always been a fun, fun part of the show and kind of a staple.









What do you think of "NCIS's" popularity?

If you look at our numbers lately, we're skewing younger and I think a lot of that has to do with the syndication and the show airing on USA Network. When that started happening, college folks started watching because it was on all the time, and they started to fall in love with the fact that this was not your ordinary procedural. It was a show where people were having fun while doing all these things.


I guess you can say we have the most overall viewers of any show in the United States -- and a couple of other countries as well -- and the fact that it's not just the 18-49 audience, that doesn't bother me in the slightest. We're doing pretty well in that demo and the others as well.

I think eyeballs are eyeballs and popularity is popularity. We're definitely not hurting. We're just a very solid show.









How do fans react to your character?

The loyalty to these characters is just great. People will write in and talk about Jimmy and how they relate to him. Jimmy reacts to crime scenes the way a lot of people think they'd react. He's not a steel-jawed Gibbs, and he doesn't have the track record of Ducky.

Jimmy comes off as a real person and I think that's one thing that's really helped me with this character. It's the knowledge that we're not all grizzled veterans of crime scenes.












Is it true that there could there be a musical episode of the show?

Co-executive producer Reed Steiner brought up the possibility of an "NCIS" musical episode. We do have a lot of musical experience on the show, we have some really talented musicians, Cote de Pablo sang on Broadway, David was raised by musicians ... I think it would be awesome.

But by the same token, Fox has put "Glee" up against us, so I'm not sure if it would look like we're trying to keep up with them. What I would want to see is Mark Harmon belting 'Oklahoma.'











You auditioned for a one-day role and seven years later, you're still on the show; how do you react to that?

You say, 'thank you.' You are grateful and you do what you can with every scene that you get.

I get a lot of advice from Mark Harmon and I take it all to heart because I respect the heck out of him.







What kind of advice has Harmon given you?

He's always said that you should take each scene, do everything you can with it, because the show is all about moments. People will forget story lines here and there, they'll forget certain cases, but there are moments in every TV show that stand out to them with a line or a look or a short conversation between two characters, but that will stick with people for years.


He says it's our job to dig those out and do them to the best of our ability. So when you get something, even if it's only one line, make a meal out of it. I've taken that to heart and it's really served me well.









Where do you see yourself five years from now?

I think I'm probably still working out here in L.A. It may be feature stuff, it may be television, but you find what it is you love and you figure out a way to get paid for it.

That's what my dad always said. If you're very lucky, it'll work out. I love what it is I do and I realize how blessed I am. So now it's just about doing the work as good as possible and enjoying the ride.

I think five years from now; I'll still be enjoying the ride.

http://www.tvsquad.com/2010/10/05/up...brian-dietzen/