lvjk

Mary/luvtiva · @lvjk

5th Jul 2016 from TwitLonger

Behind the Scenes info in regards to Mark and Michael from @SpecialAgntM #NCIS


The third part from Sam's sources.......

"After the confrontation with Harmon over the situation concerning Cote's departure, Weatherly's attitude regarding him, Glasberg, and the show in general, plummeted. He became -- well, a master at being "passive-aggressive". He made his displeasure with scripts known in indirect ways. He became disruptive without creating a scene, except when confronted by Glasberg. Then he became unpleasant and uncooperative. Difficult. And even more disruptive. And then he would drink. And drink some more.

The recent story about MW claiming to have developed a nervous tic whenever Harmon's name is mentioned isn't one that I have been able to determine is true or not. What I can tell you is true is that his drinking became a really serious problem, for himself and the show, during the course of the 11th season. It wasn't quite as bad as Charlie Sheen's drug use was, but it was bad enough that Glasberg began to advocate, to Harmon, to CBS officials, to others, that the network NOT extend another contract offer to Weather once his contract expired at the end of Season 11 -- to, in effect, fire him.

To his credit, Harmon refused to consider it. No matter how annoyed he was with how MW was acting -- and he was becoming extremely annoyed -- he was savvy enough to know that to lose him on the heels of losing CdP was to risk the show collapsing and going into the abyss. He knew how popular Weatherly was with many of the viewers -- only too aware of it. And while he was annoyed with him for a number of reasons, he didn't want to lose him. He also didn't want to antagonize his partner -- GG was the guy he depended on, the one who executed the decisions that he, Mark Harmon made, but would not take responsibility for, not as long as GG was willing to do so, thus taking the heat for things that were not always decisions that he had made, or had even gone along with. He knew that for both of their sakes, to maintain their authority and their control of the show, they had to do something to let MW know how displeased they were.

No one has ever been able to tell me a story that I have been able to prove, to my satisfaction, is THE accurate story on what happened next. What I can tell you is what you already know -- that there was an announcement that MW would not be directing any episode(s)that season. Glasberg was the one who made it. Neither Weatherly or Harmon ever commented on it, at least publicly.

Directing at least one episode per season was something that MW had put into his contract. It was guaranteed him, no matter what. Period.

What happened next? Slowly but surely MW began to get himself back on track. He cut back on the drinking, big time. His attitude on, around, and off the set got better. He also entered into negotiations with CBS, quietly, with very little fanfare. For a reason.

I am limited in what I can say about what took place in these negotiations, but here is what I can tell you: MW's agents informed CBS that there had been a breach of his contract, that he had been deprived of his guaranteed right to direct an episode. Their client had no desire to make a case out of it, but that he expected to be compensated in some fashion in his new contract.

CBS found itself in a position where they were anxious to get MW signed, to get the whole matter behind them. They found themselves going along with many of his demands. They also found themselves listening to a litany of complaints that MW had, regarding how his character was being written, how the show was being run, etc.

All of this was taken into consideration by the network. And all that I can tell you is that ultimately MW got a lot -- I mean A LOT -- of what he asked for. I can also tell you that not long after the negotiations concluded, with his getting a brand spanking new contract that made him THE #2 highest paid person on the show, still behind MH but well ahead of the rest of the cast, with all sorts of little deals to go along with what he would receive, per episode, that he met with Les Moonves. And from what little I know, it sounds as though many of the subjects brought up in negotiations, were brought up in this meeting.

So far we have dealt with why there was a falling out between Harmon and Weatherly from Weatherly's POV -- his reasons for the feud. We now come to MH's reasons.

Once Harmon found out what many of the basics were in Weatherly's contract, he hit the roof. The idea of MW getting the amount of money he was getting, not just what he was getting paid for per episode, but what he was getting via perks and guarantees for promoting the show, etc., was something that he strenuously objected to, first because it meant that there would be that much less money available for him to ask for when he began to negotiate his new contract with CBS, secondly because it would make it impossible for the rest of the cast to get anymore money for themselves. The main thing that sent Harmon's blood pressure up, however, was HOW MW had gotten this deal -- by telling Moonves and the rest of the network all that had been going on ever since Glasberg had been put in charge of the show -- him officially, and MH unofficially. Harmon saw this as an attack on his leadership and on how he was running the show. Many of the concerns that Weatherly had brought up were ones that the network had brought to them by other people and through various other channels late in the 9th season. Harmon had personally allayed the fears and concerns that CBS had at that point about Glasberg, thus insuring that he would remain in charge -- and so MH would remain in charge too. Now he was made to look, at the least, bad, and at the most a liar. Not a position that MH enjoyed being in.

Harmon made his displeasure known to numerous people at CBS, including Moonves. The subsequent discussion that these two had concerning this subject was so heated that it effectively damaged their friendship, if not end it outright, and severely damaged their professional relationship, to the point that Moonves has others at the network deal with MH, something he once did almost exclusively. It also soured MH on CBS -- not enough to cause him to end his relations with them, but enough to make him look on them differently -- and not favorably.

The person who felt the real wrath over this situation was none other than Michael Weatherly. Long before work on the 12th season began, Harmon let him know what he thought about what he had done. When work on the new season began, it seems as though he let Weatherly have it again. Things got worse, deteriorating to the point that they began communicating through exchanged notes, as I reported earlier. And, well, you know the rest. The tension built, the quality of the work was affected, the network told them to clean up their acts, they tried -- well, MW tried; MH -- made a half hearted effort at best. The fact of the matter is that as badly as MW behaved, at his worst, during Season 11, MH matched it and then began to surpass it, in his own way, in his own style. All of which brings us to Season 13.

Sometime after Season 12 began, but shortly before work on Season 13 commenced, Weatherly decided that the upcoming season would be his last. He communicated this to Moonves at some point before everybody started working on the new season. Shortly after work on the season commenced he informed everybody with the show of his decision -- long before the week of the airing of the season premiere. This didn't make for an easier season; if anything, the closer they got to the end of the season, the more tense things became. Very tense.

There has been speculation concerning whether or not Harmon and Weatherly actually filmed many, if any, of their scenes in the finale together. At this point in time, I cannot answer that question either way. I will, however, say this: Glasberg made a point of mentioning how surprised he was that Harmon actually hugged Weatherly in their final scene together - - that wasn't in the script, nor was what Harmon said to him. I joked with some people about it, saying that maybe he did it because he didn't want people saying that they didn't film that scene together, the way Julia Margulies and Archie Punjabie (sp?)filmed the scene with Alicia saying goodbye to Khalinda at their favorite bar in AP's final appearance on "The Good Wife". In retrospect, based on the speculation involving all of their other scenes, I have to conclude that there my have been more to my joke than what even I realized.

Now, there is more to all of this -- much, much more -- and I intend to go into greater detail over the next couple of weeks or so. But for those who have been wondering about what the truth regarding the stories of a feud between Harmon and Weatherly, I believe all of this serves as brief a summation of what has been going on between these two for the past few years. Has it ended now that Weatherly has left? All I can tell you is that there are stories out there about how Harmon has bad mouthed Weatherly's new show, "Bull", that it is no good and will not last. Based on what I have heard, I suspect there is some truth to this. I have also heard that he tried to influence the network into not putting the show on the fall schedule. I have heard nothing that would convince me that this is true. It is interesting that "Bull" has been placed between NCIS and NCIS: New Orleans. Personally, I doubt either MH or GG are happy about that. It may say a lot about where Weather stands with CBS and where Harmon and Glasberg stand with them. Perhaps.

For those who are unfamiliar with any of this, I hope it helps them to understand the situation better. For those who have read my posts on this before, this serves as just a brief summation of the situation. Like I said, I'll be going a bit more in-depth on all of this in posts yet to come."

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