Highlights
- The toxic work culture created by Bellisario on NCIS led to conflicts with cast and crew, causing several issues behind the scenes.
- Donald P. Bellisario was known for his perfectionism and chaotic working style, leading to exhaustion and frustration among those working with him.
- Mark Harmon almost left NCIS due to Bellisario's micromanaging and the stressful working conditions, ultimately impacting his personal life.
Mark Harmon has been the star of NCIS for many years, and to keep him happy, his show's network had to fire Donald P. Bellisario, the co-creator. Harmon and other NCIS cast members alleged Bellisario's toxic work culture was one of the main reasons that made filming the show extremely difficult. Bellisario worked on NCIS from the first season, which began airing in 2003, until his departure in 2007.
Several reports from the cast and crew detailed a challenging working environment that wasn't sustainable. Mark Harmon was a great colleague to work with, even though some cast members like Pauley Perrette have said otherwise. Harmon worked very hard every day on NCIS, but working with Bellisario was very difficult for him. This conflict left the network with a tough decision to make: either keep the co-creator or let their lead character, Gibbs, exit. This article will look at how Mark Harmon and other NCIS cast members felt working with Bellisario.
NCIS Co-Creator Donald Bellisario Left The Show Because Of His Toxic Work Culture
As co-creator, Donald P. Bellisario was heavily involved with NCIS, so much so that he called the shots regarding the show’s episodes and storylines for the characters. The tension caused friction between Bellisario and co-creator, Don McGill, and they eventually had a falling out, which ended with his departure from the hit CBS show. McGill shared with The Hollywood Reporter that leaving NCIS was the best decision for him and his career.
McGill also expressed his disdain for Bellisario’s perfectionism on the show, which left the cast and crew exhausted from long hours of filming the first two seasons, to his satisfaction. If Bellisario didn’t like the script on the day of the shoot, he would tear it apart, which made it hard for the cast to know their lines. In the end, his way of working caused problems for the writers, crew and most of the cast, especially Mark Harmon.
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“Since he was the boss and a very successful producer, I thought it was best for me and the show that I leave and move on, which was what I did.”
NCIS began airing on CBS in 2003 after JAG creators Donald P. Bellisario and Don McGill wrote a two-episode pilot on JAG. The main cast when the show first aired were Mark Harmon as Jethro Gibbs, Michael Weatherly as Tony DiNozzo, Sasha Alexander as Caitlin Todd and Pauley Perrette as Abby Sciuto.
However, NCIS didn’t take off until the third season, and by then, it had garnered a large following of committed viewers, even launching several spin-offs, including NCIS: Los Angeles and NCIS: New Orleans. Even though some of the spin-offs like NCIS:New Orleans were unsuccessful, NCIS remained popular and is still running for 21 seasons.
Several NCIS Cast Members Had Issues With Co-Creator, Bellisario
McGill was one of many people on NCIS who had a problem with how Bellisario ran things on set. Sasha Alexander, one of the series regulars in the first two seasons, expressed her desire for change in how the co-creator was running the show and her character got killed off in response. "I love this show, but I just can't work this hard."
Bellisario harshly responded to Alexander, saying, "Good news, your workload is going to be lighter. But you're going to die." Then Bellisario killed her character from the show with a shot to the head that came as a shock to many longtime fans. Harmon, who was praised for his work ethic and team leadership with the cast and crew, even got to a point where he couldn't stand to work with Bellisario anymore.
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Executive producer Charles Floyd Johnson said, Harmon never told the producers to get rid of Bellisario. Harmon only said, “This is too hard, to work this way.” Since Harmon was a vital part of the show, the network wanted to make him happy, so they approached Bellisario with an offer. “Maybe you should work from a distance and not be quite as involved in terms of the way you work.”
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By the fifth year of NCIS, Bellisario had left the show. The co-creator said of his departure from the CBS show, “It was just time for me to move on and do something else. I had done enough on the show, so I stepped away. It was my decision.”
Mark Harmon Almost Left NCIS After Only 4 Seasons Because Of Behind The Scenes Drama
Bellisario left the show in 2007, and it was widely reported that he left because of conflicts with Mark Harmon. During NCIS’ fourth season, Harmon was ready to leave the show. The long working hours and harsh working conditions saw him threaten the producers with his departure. According to Harmon, Ballesario made it hard to meet deadlines by forcing writers to write new scripts at the last minute, which made memorizing lines hard for the cast.
It got so bad that Harmon admitted the long working hours were affecting his life at home. Sources close to the show told TVGuide that Harmon was very frustrated with Bellisario’s micromanaging and chaotic working style, which had him working every single day for 16 hours.
"Script pages get faxed to the set at the last minute, and Mark is tired of dealing with the huge impact that makes on his life. He doesn't have time for his family or anything when he's working hours like that."
Harmon eventually left NCIS in 2021 during season 19, but the network’s decision to give Bellisario the boot in 2007 meant he was serious about leaving. Bellisario left CBS but didn’t stop working on the show, staying on as executive producer. Harmon’s departure recently was not due to conflicts with his cast or crew. He was just tired of playing the same character. Though Harmon stayed on as executive producer, ensuring the series would go on successfully without him.
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