Characters out of character: NCIS and others

Cafe Society
1

I just happened to see the original pilot episode for NCIS yesterday. Gibbs was helping out the Secret Service on an investigation aboard Air Force One. He kept looking around and comparing the real Air Force One to the fictional one in the Harrison Ford movie.

This bothered me on two levels: First, the Leroy Jethro Gibbs that I know would never waste time going to a movie. Not as long as there were bad guys to shoot, redheads to date, and boats to build. And second, shouldn’t it have been DiNozzo making all the movie connection comments?

Anyway, this was the pilot, so clearly the characters and their characteristics were not all that solidified yet. It occurs to me this must happen a lot.

Anyone have any other examples of long-running and well-defined TV characters behaving strangely out of character in early episodes?..TRM

2

In the Star Trek episode “Where No Man Has Gone Before” (the second pilot episode), Spock flashed a small smile at Kirk while they were playing tri-dimensional chess. Spock rarely ever smiles, except maybe under the influence of alien spores. There was also the time in “The Cage” when Spock actually had a broad grin.

That is not to say Spock doesn’t have a sense of humor. He did have a firm grip on the concept of sarcasm, especially when verbally jousting with Dr. McCoy. However, his comments are always delivered with a raised eyebrow and a deadpan expression on his face.

3

Early in Night Court, Dan was a bore with a pipe. He soon turned into the manic perv that we’ve all come to know and love.

I suppose a lot of this happens early in a shows run as characters, writers, and actors all settle into place.

4

Also on NCIS, early episodes suggest that Kate, not DiNozzo, has an extensive knowledge of films.

5

There is an early episode of The Simpsons where the Simpsons go to a company picnic. In the episode, Homer plays the embarrassed straight man and Marge makes a drunken scene.

6

I saw an NCIS rerun last night that showed a very out of character Gibbs. The team had to go back to his hometown in Kentucky to investigate a murder and Gibbs and his Dad had some serious issues. Gibbs and his Dad played by Andy Griffith had it out. After the blow out Gibbs is seen sweeping the floor at his Dad’s store and pricing canned goods?

But the end was awesome. Someone asks Gibbs if he got the rules from his Dad and he says no. He goes back to remember ing his first wife at the town train station and it turns out she was the one that got him into rules.

7

I thought Ralph Waite played the father?

8

[nitpick]And I thought the father lived in Pennsylvania?[/nitpick]

9

Does everything Brennan ever says or does in Bones count?

10

No, just the really stupid ones like the reunion episode where we find out she graduated high school in 1994 and has no idea who Nirvana is.

Yet, in the episode before that she showed she’s an accomplished guitar player that knows all the words to several Foreigner songs.

A pretty blatant example of the belief that all characters, regardless of gender or age, will reference things that are cool to 40-60 year old men.

11

You’re both right.

12

I like that episode, and Gibbs didn’t seem out of character at all. He was just in a different situation. I’m sure if we ever saw him and Abby during one of their birthday dinners, he’d behave somewhat differently than he does with her at work, and completely differently than he ever does with Tony.

13

It was a softer side of Gibbs that came out after reconciling with his Dad. When he hugged his Dad goodbye. I mean he hugs Abby but that was a long man hug. I admit I cried when he threw him the car keys and he took that ride. I also liked how I got to find out it was his first wife that taught him about rules. i don’t think Gibbs turned into a marshmallow but it showed him vulnerable which I found attractive. He was also able to forgive his Dad and that was noble. Great episode.

Thanks for pointing out the errors or nitpicks. I could have sworn that was Andy Griffith but it really was the Dad from the Waltons and I think it just looked like Kentucky to me.

14

Ah. I think we’re just having a mild disagreement about the meaning of out of character, is all. We’re good. :cool:

15

This drove me crazy back in the nineties - there was a scene in ER where all the 20-somethings started singing and dancing to Twist and Shout, a song 30 years done in regards to chart success (regardless of the minor bump it received from Ferris). :dubious:

16

Yes, “out of their normal character due to unusual circumstances” is one thing; “written to be inconsistent or contradictory to their established personality” is another. Both are interesting and worth discussing, but I meant the latter one in my OP…TRM

17

Obligatory TV Tropes linky:

18

I wouldn’t even use “out of character” as a component in the naming of the former. Just “behaving differently due to circumstances.”

Gibbs frequently hugs Abby and kisses kisses on the cheek or forehead; he never gropes her or slips her tongue. It would be out of character if he did either to her, but not if he did it to, say, the hot blond colonel from Army CID.

19

In the first episode of The Rockford Files, Rocky (Jim’s dad) is played by a different actor. And even once Noah Beery Jr. took over the role, it took a while to settle in to the salt-of-the-earth character that helped define the show. He started off just a tiny bit shifty; he loaned Jim his truck but suggested he fill the gas tank (40 gallons) before bringing it back.