Production
The episode is written by Donald P. Bellisario & Don McGill and directed by Donald P. Bellisario. According to Bellisario, the NCIS pilot episode was easy to sell to CBS because of its low costs compared to the JAG pilot. Together with Billy Webb (editor of Photography), Bellisario wanted to give NCIS a different look than other shows, starting with the first episode of the series. First find out "how would we normally shoot this, now lets figure another way to shoot it". Short clips in between scenes became a trademark. "We moved fast, we jump cut in the middle of scenes, and we jump cut dialogues". "What we ended up with was a completely different shooting style".
In the first pilot episodes (back-door pilot), as a part of JAG, Robyn Lively is seen in the role as NCIS agent Vivian Blackadder. Bellisario stated that "she was a little soft for this kind of role", and is replaced by a new and different character in this episode. Portrayed by Sasha Alexander, Secret Service agent Caitlin Todd is recruited by Gibbs at the end of the episode, filling Blackadder's place at Gibbs' team.
Together with Alexander's character, also two recurring characters were introduced. FBI agent Tobias C. Fornell (portrayed by Joe Spano), who still is a part of the series, and Medical assistant Gerald Jackson (Pancho Demmings). Jackson departed from the series later in season 1 before returning for one final time in the Season 3 opening episodes, "Kill Ari (Part I)" and "Kill Ari (Part II)".
Read more about this topic: Yankee White (NCIS)
Famous quotes containing the word production:
“Constant revolutionizing of production ... distinguish the bourgeois epoch from all earlier ones. All fixed, fast-frozen relations, with their train of ancient and venerable prejudices are swept away, all new-formed ones become antiquated before they can ossify. All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned, and man is at last compelled to face with sober senses, his real conditions of life, and his relations with his kind.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)
“The development of civilization and industry in general has always shown itself so active in the destruction of forests that everything that has been done for their conservation and production is completely insignificant in comparison.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)
“The problem of culture is seldom grasped correctly. The goal of a culture is not the greatest possible happiness of a people, nor is it the unhindered development of all their talents; instead, culture shows itself in the correct proportion of these developments. Its aim points beyond earthly happiness: the production of great works is the aim of culture.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)