Michael Ausiello at TV Guide is reporting a big scoop: NCIS star Mark Harmon is threatening to walk off the hit CBS show.
Citing inside sources, Ausiello says that Harmon has always been fed up with producer Donald Bellisario's (Magnum, P.I., JAG, Quantum Leap) "chaotic management style" and wants off the show. The source also says that Harmon is one of the nicest guys on television and that he's in the right on this one. The dispute is described as "a big standoff."
So I'll ask you readers the same thing that Ausiello asks his readers: can NCIS survive without Mark Harmon, or is he the main reason to watch the show?
I have never actually watched an episode of "NCIS" and the possible defection of Mark Harmon won't likely change that.
I wonder if Les Moonves and Co. will play hardball with Harmon like he did with "CSI" players Georges Eads and Jorja Fox when they infamously held out for more money?
Being an armchair network exec for a moment, I would force Harmon to honor his contract, at least thru the end of the 2007-08 season. In the meantime, I would introduce a possible replacement (a la Bellisario's move to introduce Chris Beetem as a possible replacement for David James Elliott on the last season of "JAG"). That way, the audience could get used to this new character and get feedback on the appeal of the new guy.
If "Close to Home" is axed, as rumored, perhaps Elliott could reprise his "JAG" character and transfer to the NCIS (if that is even possible in the military heirarcy).
