NCIS showrunner Gary Glasberg tragically passed away in his sleep last week at the age of 50. This week, the cast and crew of NCIS found the perfect way to pay tribute to the man who had helped turn their show into must-see TV for millions of viewers everywhere. The third episode of Season 14 closed on an end card featuring a loving message for Glasberg from his team at CBS. Take a look:
Gary Glasberg's death evidently came as a huge surprise to everybody at CBS. In fact, it was only last May that he signed a contract with the network that would have presumably kept him at the head of NCIS and NCIS: New Orleans through 2019. He seemed to still have a long future of procedural TV ahead of him. Judging by the NCIS end card, he'll certainly be missed.
The end card showed during the closing credits for Episode 3 of Season 14, entitled "Privileged Information." The episode drew 13.90 million viewers, so plenty of people were watching to see how the cast and crew of NCIS chose to honor their showrunner of many years. Gary Glasberg began working on NCIS in Season 7, and he was promoted to showrunner for Season 9. It was nice to see an official nod to Gary Glasberg's contributions to the franchise, especially after the outpouring of love for the man that came from various members of the NCIS cast on social media in the wake of his death.
In the years he worked on the series, Gary Glasberg guided the show through some rough patches, including the departures of Cote de Pablo as Ziva in the beginning of Season 11 and Michael Weatherly as Tony DiNozzo at the end of Season 14. Shows can easily begin to run out of steam as they age, but NCIS did so well under Glasberg's leadership that it scored an impressive two-season renewal earlier this year. Season 14 was going to go in another new direction with the additions of new cast members. It's a shame that we'll never get to see more of Glasberg's creative vision for the flagship of the NCIS franchise.
The end card paying tribute to Gary Glasberg will reportedly show up once more on the next episode of NCIS: New Orleans, which is set to air on October 11. Glasberg helped to create the NCIS spinoff, so another end card makes sense. Additionally, the USA Network that regularly broadcasts reruns of NCIS included an "In Memory Of Gary Glasberg" mention during a weekend marathon. Hopefully both NCIS and NCIS: New Orleans can carry on well enough to honor the man who has helped them stay on the air into 2016.
Tune in to NCIS: New Orleans on Tuesday, October 11 to see the next primetime honoring of Gary Glasberg.
