The Easter Egg You Missed In NCIS Season 19 Episode 6

"NCIS" may be in its post-Gibbs (Mark Harmon) era but that doesn't mean it's not still delivering.

If you've been watching Season 19, then you're already aware that the series brought in Special Agent Alden Parker (Gary Cole) to fill the void of the "older and wiser team leader" character. Parker is quite different from Gibbs (something fans have actually been appreciating) and brings his own brand of humor to the series, as well as at least one fun Easter egg.

This week's episode, "False Start," sees the NCIS squad trying to track the sale of performance-enhancing drugs that may be related to the death of a popular Navy athletic coach. This naturally leads them to an underground market for used athletic clothing, which then leads them to a scientist who buys said clothing for DNA research. When Parker and McGee (Sean Murray) show up at her warehouse lab, she threatens to blow the whole place up, convinced that the pair are mercenaries paid by the Chinese government to steal her research.

In order to distract her for long enough to neutralize the threat of explosion, Parker asks the woman to look him up on Google. He promises that she'll find evidence of his birdwatching hobby, which means he can't be a shadowy international spy, right?

The scientist reluctantly agrees and goes to her computer. Parker instructs her, "Just type in 'Alden Parker, birdman.'"

In the context of the scene, the line is just Parker's improvised banter to try and buy McGee more time to hack into her computer system. However, as a fan on Reddit pointed out, it's also a callback to one of Cole's former roles.

In the Reddit episode discussion thread for "False Start," u/bobmystery chimed in to point out a fun Easter egg seemingly left by the series' writers. "Did anyone catch when Gary Cole told the woman with the lighter to google 'Alden Parker... Birdman'?" they wrote. "Gary Cole was the voice actor for the titular character on Cartoon Network's show 'Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law' from 2000-2007."

They are absolutely correct. "Harvey Birdman, Attorney At Law" was an Adult Swim/Cartoon Network series from the early 2000s that saw Cole voicing the titular avian-themed superhero. On the series, Harvey worked with and tried cases involving classic Hanna-Barbera cartoon characters like Fred Flinstone and Jonny Quest. It ran for four seasons and even got a special revival episode in 2018 titled "Harvey Birdman: Attorney General."

While Cole is the only real connection between "Harvey Birdman, Attorney At Law" and "NCIS" (other than the criminal justice system setting), it's still a fun little treat for those who have long followed the actor's career.

Season 19 of "NCIS" is currently airing on CBS.