The Hilarious Editing Mistake That Made It Into An Episode Of NCIS
As a series, "NCIS" has found ways to express a variety of emotions. Of course, any good crime drama wouldn't be complete without a healthy dose of the negative emotions: sadness, anger, grief, etc. However, it also finds ways of highlighting the positive feelings too. For every tragic death the series has, it also gives viewers something to be happy about or something to laugh at. That being said, there have been occasions where it does the latter unintentionally.
Editing mistakes aren't uncommon in television, even for popular shows. It wasn't all that long ago that the internet had its feathers ruffled by the presence of a distinctly modern coffee cup in the background of an episode of "Game of Thrones." However, the hilarious editing mistake that made into an episode "NCIS" had nothing to do with caffeinated beverages. Instead, it was about something far more subtle, and about one guy who probably has very tired legs.
This background extra can't stop using the stairs
The editing mistake in question came in Season 7, Episode 14, titled "Masquerade." The episode itself deals with the NCIS team tracking down a rogue terrorist organization after a car bombing. Unfortunately, none of that has to do with the mistake, which comes during a scene where Timothy McGee (Sean Murray) is attending a virtual wedding for one of his online gaming friends. As McGee's coworkers mock him for attending a wedding at work, the scene cuts back and forth between the digital wedding and McGee's reactions. It is during these various cuts that fans on Reddit spotted the error.
For every time that the scene cuts back to McGee and his coworkers, we can see the same background character walk down the stairs behind them. We never see him walk back up, he simply marches down from the top each time the camera focuses on McGee. It may seem mundane, but with no shots to establish continuity between each descension, it seems more like this poor soul is trapped in some sort of stair-based time loop. Alternatively, as Redditor u/heed101 suggested, "He's getting his cardio."
Whatever the reason for stair-man's repeated trips, the actor in question deserves some praise. We only see the final takes in this scene, but who knows how many times that poor extra had to climb up and down the stairs during filming? His efforts should not go unappreciated.