We previously discussed Pauley Perrette and her surprisingly dramatic exit from NCIS. It was dramatic because NCIS is still, against all odds, an incredibly popular show on CBS and Pauley was one of the most beloved women on television. CBS would have given her a lot of money to stay on NCIS, but she decided to leave. Just after her last episode aired, Pauley got on Twitter and tweeted some very shady, cryptic stuff about “multiple physical assaults” on the set of NCIS. I questioned if Radar had it right when they reported months ago that there was some beef between Pauley and NCIS mega-star Mark Harmon over Harmon’s dog. As it turns out, that does seem to be the root of the problem, and that was what Pauley was referencing in her tweets, according to sources. Apparently, in the past two years, Mark Harmon and Pauley couldn’t even film in the same room, that’s how bad the drama was between them.
Many “NCIS” viewers started pointing out months ago that stars Pauley Perrette and Mark Harmon were no longer appearing together on screen: They didn’t even share a stage for Perrette’s final episode last week. The reason goes back to an incident in 2016 in which Harmon’s dog bit a member of the crew, requiring 15 stitches, and Perrette objected when the dog was allowed to return to the set afterward, according to multiple individuals familiar with the situation. The tension between the two stars became so bad after the dog-bite incident that the show came to an arrangement in which the stars never had to be in the same location together, individuals familiar with the situation told TheWrap.
“She did her scenes on one day and he did his work on other days, and they still produced a great show,” one insider said. “It was simply scheduled that they did not work the same days.”
“NCIS” is generally known as a dog-friendly set, and by all accounts Harmon’s dog got along fine with the cast and crew until October 2016. That’s when the dog bit an unidentified crew member who was playing with him, requiring about 15 stitches. TMZ wrote about the incident at the time, and Harmon’s attorney, Barry Axelrod, confirmed to TheWrap on Wednesday that he consulted with Harmon about the potential liability of the dog returning to the “NCIS” set after the bite. Axelrod disputed reports that the dog was a pitbull, but said he did not know the animal’s breed.
The situation escalated dramatically, creating discord between two key players on the set of one of CBS’ most bankable hits. Harmon serves as executive producer of “NCIS” as well as the show’s star, while Perrette is the most popular woman in primetime television, according to consumer surveys by the Q Scores Company. Though Axelrod said his client’s dog “did not come back to the set” after the bite, others who spoke to TheWrap on condition of anonymity said the dog did return.
“If he brought the dog to work, he was on a leash or in his trailer. He definitely took steps to make sure that the dog was with him and was not just roaming freely, and then he just stopped bringing him altogether,” one person familiar with the situation said. But concerns about the dog roiled the “NCIS” set. Several people were uncomfortable with the dog’s presence around the production after the bite, but were afraid to confront Harmon, their boss. But Perrette had plenty of clout and spoke up for the others who felt that they could not, people familiar with the situation said. Then things escalated.
I’ve read and seen interviews where other actors talk about how Mark Harmon is actually a really shy, low-key kind of guy. He’s not all about the drama, nor does he mistreat coworkers or anything like that. I think it says something about him that the big drama about a show that’s been on the air for 15 years is that Harmon’s dog bit someone and Pauley took issue with how it was handled afterwards. I mean, of course it’s awful for the guy who needed 15 stitches, and of course Harmon had no business bringing the dog back to the set. I would have had a problem with that too. But would I quit over it? I don’t know. I don’t think so.
Also – Pauley’s got drama with her ex-husband too. Maybe she’s the one who’s all about the drama? IDK.
Sigh… I miss Ziva. She was honestly a great character.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Ziva was the best and I left when she left…
me too, I just stopped watching!
Me too.
15 [fifteen] stitches sound like a LOTTTT of stitches!
Do people get that?
He must’ve settled w/the guy for a lot of money.
She owns a bakery down the street from where I live in New York.
Her celebrity is a big selling point as her picture is in the window. The baked goods are mediocre at best and the hours are inconsistent. I don’t know how they stay in business. Now she’ll have more time to work on improving her business.
lol
Jennifer Esposito owns a bakery in NYC…I would be surprised if Ziva did too!
The manager is also a dick and the pastries are often stale.
There is definitely more to this than meets the eye.
A dog bite doesn’t necessitate fifteen stitches. A dog ATTACK can cause an injury requiring fifteen stitches.
Harmon should have left his dog at home after attacking someone.
I totally agree with you Wendy.
Not defending Harmon or excusing the situation, but I had a one inch incision on my finger for surgery that had 6 stitches, so I can see a dog bite needing 15.
I thought the same thing until I read this person was “playing” with him when the attack happened. Sounds like there’s more to the story, but either way 15 stitches to anyone and the dog shouldn’t have been back on set, period.
I was bitten by a dog on the face a few years ago – it was a small bite on on nose, hardly a quarter cm, and it required 23 stitches. It was by NO MEANS an attack, but rather an overexcited dog nipping and me being careless enough to get my face close to a strange dog.
No idea what happened here – but in my case there was nothing vicious, nothing that can be called an ‘attack’, rather a careless human and a rambunctious dog.
Wow. I don’t even know how a medical professional can place 23 sutures in such a small wound. Must have looked like an intricate tapestry.
For face and hands, they use very small stitches to minimize scarring. 15 stitches sounds bad but it could be a small bite on the hand or a couple of puncture wounds.
Either way we’ll never really know if the bitten crew member got over it or is still upset. Is Perette projecting or standing up for a crew member? Who knows.
That’s not correct at all.
I’ve read it stated that it was a rescue dog, and the important part that folks seem to be missing was that the crew member was “playing” with the dog. What some people can think is harmless playing can be intimidating and frightening, especially to a rescue. That’s not a dog “attack”.
If a rescue dog over-reacts and gets vicious with someone just playing with him, perhaps he should not have been rescued. Unfortunately It’s just the type of random freak-out that rescue groups can’t test for. And, if someone thinks it might be a pitbull, it must be a big dog. Why not save/rescue/not-kill a beagle or a cocker spaniel?
Let me fix that for you. So if a rescue dog behaves like a DOG.
Any dog has the potential to snap at you if you get in it’s face, are rough with it, and ignore it’s warning signs. When you ignore a dog’s discomfort, it may feel threatened. And I would imagine that a rescue had an even greater potential for being frightened. This is why you ALWAYS pay attention when children are around dogs (and cats too for that matter). There was just an incident around here recently where a parent stepped away and a kid (not their child) was pulling on the dog’s ears and face. The dog ended up biting the kid.
Bridget, first you say any dog can become frightened, as if to say rescuing had nothing to do with it. Then you say *especially* a rescue dog. Anything can and does happen, but it seems unlikely an emp!oyee would be anything but careful when playing with the boss’s dog.
I’ve been bitten by a dog and while he did not break the skin, I had bruise for two weeks. It was absolutely an attack. It was only sheer luck that he did not break the skin. It certainly wasn’t for lack of trying.
@Merritt I guess the point is that the number of stitches doesn’t determine whether it was an ‘attack’ or not, and we shouldn’t intimate as much without knowing what happened.
Certainly you were attacked, but the dog didn’t break the skin, whereas I wasn’t and the the teeth DID break the skin and result in multiple stitches.
Anyway I hope you’re ok, because I know that shit can be scary and traumatic.
I was bitten recently by my friends dog. I knew the dog over a year, was just scratching him under the chin and he attacked me. I had several punctures and injuries but no stitches. It was still very bad, and i was very lucky because he could have ripped my hand off (huge male pit bull) i consider it an attack. I have scarring and some nerve damage. If i were in the shoes of the crew member, i wouldn’t want that dog around either. My friends are lovely, amazing people, and i asked only that they take him to the vet to make sure he was physically ok, and to get him some intensive training. What they chose to do after that was up to them. They did all of that… and they put him outside or kennel him when I’m there out of respect for my trauma. Not to say there’s not a lot more to this story, but… i would be hesitant to be on set around a dog that bites.
@wendy it looked pretty gory for a while but healed really well – there is hardly any scarring at all, so maybe that had something to do with the number and type of stitches? Lesson learned for me though – don’t present you face up close to animals (or people, lol) you don’t know!
why DOES he need to bring the dog to work? even before it attacked someone. be professional and leave the dog at home where it belongs.
much like children, no one thinks your dog is as cute and special as you do. important to remember.
I agree. The only dogs that should be allowed on a set should be dogs who are going to be on screen and have a handler or service dogs.
Eh, my dog is sleeping beside my desk at work as I write this. He is a good by, and is happier here than he would be at home on his own.
Having said that, if any of my coworkers express discomfort with him being here (mine isn’t the only pup here), I wouldn’t bring him any more – but I do choose this specific workplace based on their dog-friendly office policy. It’s a perk of the job, and is important to me. I personally think it’s harsh to say only service/working animals should be allowed in certain spaces.
Harsh… or necessary in light of the fact that people have allergies.
Yes, some of us do have allergies but when we protest or even just wordlessly move to avoid being around the big and small dogs that people bring into every business, we’re labelled as dog haters. No, friend. I wish I could be around dogs but I’m allergic. And also, yes, your sweet puppy may be sweet to you but dogs *do* bite and I’m not going to be on the receiving end of that for any reason. So I guess it’s just accepting the vitriol from dog owners who refused to respect other people’s rights because their fur babies come first.
Clare, people who bring their dogs or other pets (or their children) to the work-place are very annoying
That nobody said anything doesnt mean they are not annoyed with this habit….. they are just polite and wait patiently to you and the other pet-owners to realize on their own, that their pets and children dont belong to the work-place
no such luck, as most owners are blind when it comes to their pets
It’s a “dog friendly” workplace. Meaning, people are bringing their dogs, not just Harmon.
Clearly that rule should have been changed in the light of this incident
I love animals but I wouldn’t want to work in a place that allows pets. I leave my cat at home. I don’t want to deal with other people’s pets. I work at a car dealership and dog owners are the worst. Why would you go car shopping with a dog? It’s ridiculous. They bring them into service also. I grew up w dogs but there’s a time and place for everything.
I have never watched a single episode of the show. I might be the only on the planet. I think Pauley was maybe looking for an out and she is using this as an excuse. I could be wrong.
Nope. I know nothing either lol.
me three!
well considering that she has been there for the past 15 years i dont think she needed an out
I read that they agreed last year that she would work one more year on the show and then leave. She allegedly had asked for the dog to not be allowed on set and Harmon said that she needed to go instead.
Pauley’s ex-husband is an abuser taking advantage of the current situation. He’s disgusting.
Was about to say this. Coyote Shivers has multiple restraining orders from various ex-wives and ex-girlfriends. He’s a serial abuser and gross.
The ex husband used to be married to Bebe Buell, Liv Tyler’s mom. I looked but didn’t see anything that she might have said about him being awful. Obv they divorced, so it didn’t work out, but I was curious about his history.
I never realized Coyote Shivers was married Liv Tyler’s mom. He was actually her stepfather while they filmed Empire Records then. Huh, you learn something new everyday.
People should be able to come to work without fear of the co-workers or pets.
The reports don’t say, but after a dog attack that required 15 stitches, the dog would have been quarantined in many jurisdictions to ensure there was no rabies risk. Maybe it was enough for Harmon to produce proof of vaccination. He’s lucky his dog wasn’t put down.
It doesn’t have to be a pit bull to cause that kind of damage. My mother’s lahso/shitsu mix once bit a child on the face requiring 12 stitches. He was quarantined by animal control for two or three weeks. I can vouch for the power of those little jaws — he almost put my eye out. Anyway, my mother was lucky that she didn’t get sued, that her insurance coverage satisfied the poor parents, and the dog was turned over to a shelter with the stipulation that he not be placed with a family having small children.
Cosigned x 1000. A mastiff in a nearby community attacked another dog and I think it was a huge lawsuit. I believe the stipulations were that it if it attacked another pet or human again it would be put down. Any breed can be dangerous. I think I also read that Mark Harmon brought the dog to the set after the attack but kept it in his trailer. How happy do you think the dog was being kept in a trailer all day?
Right. I love my dog and hate to be away from him all day, but he’s far more comfortable at home. If I’m away for more than six hours or so, I get someone to come in and spend time with him. It’s selfish for a human to drag their pet with them to work and then confine them. Just my ever so humble opinion.
Actors on shows like this spend a ton of time in their trailers. The dog was likely much happier in the trailer with its owner visiting with it constantly than it would have left at home.
I mean, how is that really an issue? Dogs are kept in kennels all day, and I imagine that Harmon’s trailer is pretty decked out and spacious after being #1 on a hit show for 15 years. The dog probably relaxed on a couch in A/C all day.
That said, I too would be uncomfortable if a dog that attacked someone was brought back to set. My bosses bring their dogs to work and it just smells so bad and is so unprofessional. They just wander around begging for food and barking for attention.
Dogs sleep most of the day. A trailer is a fine place for a dog. A lot of people keep their dogs in crates all day, and they’re perfectly happy, healthy animals.
When I work from home, I see that my dogs sleep all day long between bouts of howling at sirens. They have an entire fenced yard at their disposal, but they lie around in the house. They don’t need to be at work with me to be happy.
I work in a dog-friendly office and have been growled at several times when I approached a coworker’s cubicle. I take issue with that. I shouldn’t have to tread carefully in an office to avoid being bitten. Plus, those who share a cubicle row with a dog owner have to climb over baby gates constantly to get to their own space/fend off dogs while they eat, etc.
I
@elle Dude, that sucks. I’m very much a dog person, but I’m grateful I don’t work in a dog friendly office. It just seems like such a bad idea.
I loved NCIS and watched every episode. I worked nightshift for awhile and would sleep during the day, watch it on TV when I woke up and then went into work. This is sad to me. 🙁 Drama or not she is right to object to someone bringing a pet to the workplace who straight up attacked someone else. Mark Harmon is the star and a producer…he def has $$$$ to get a decent pet sitter. If you can’t stand to be away from your pet, make a choice to work a job to give you more time with them.
Why did Ziva leave, does anyone know?
I think she left to move to Brazil with her boyfriend. Don’t quote me though, I may have totally made that up!
I’m pretty sure it was over a pay disparity….
She wasn’t making as much as some of her colleagues who had also started exactly when she did, I also remember Paulie being rude about it as well….
Everyone has the right to a safe work environment, if true, good for her in sticking up for those afraid of complaining.
/I personally think she just wanted out
I agree he should have left the dog at home, but she made it sound like she was straight up assaulted by someone. Those words don’t jive with this story. There has to be more to this.
I’ve read several stories where the person playing with the dog was handling him roughly, it wasn’t an actor/staff person the dog was familiar with, dog gave several cues that it was uncomfortable, and it finally bit. If it was an attack no matter how big a deal Harmon is, CBS would have nixed the dog being around for the liability.
As for the stitches, I got 15 stitches after being bit by a German Shepherd. It was my fault, and was a single bite, not an attack by any means. And truthfully, I felt guilty because the owner, friends of my parents, were never comfortable leaving the dog with other people but it never before, or again, gave even the smallest cue it would bite again.
Long way of saying sounds like some overblown drama all around.
15 stitches is no joke, that had to have been a pretty serious bite. I’m an animal lover and really enjoyed we when had a dog in my workplace, but that dog should not have returned to that set, end of story. I hope Harmon covered all of the victim’s medical and other expenses too.
That said…what Pauley originally posted led me to think SHE had been physically assaulted on set, more than once. That doesn’t make sense if this was about 1 dog bite to someone else. And if they were able to work on different days, I’m not sure what caused her to suddenly quit.
I don’t know, there have been a lot of people leaving the guaranteed paycheque of this hit show for this smoke to become a fire. I don’t think it was just about the dog.
This show is running for 15 years now, of course a lot of people come and go. Actors leave steady paychecks all the time – sometimes because they get bored, sometimes because they don’t like the direction the show is going, sometimes they think they’re a bigger deal than they actually are and sometimes they don’t get along with other people in the cast.
Also, sometimes they don’t want to get stuck being seen as a specific character. I’ve watched Michael Weatherly’s new show, Bull, where he plays a more serious character. It was hard to watch because I kept thinking him of DiNozzo on NCIS.
Exactly. I have watched an episode of NCIS here and there but was never a fan. I have seen Michael Weatherly also in Angel with Jessica Alba, but he is always ‘the guy from NCIS’ for me. Lauren Holly will always be the officer from ‘Picket Fences’. Mark Harmon is even more the cute teacher from the summer school movie than his character from NCIS.
Actors often get stuck with a specific role and some leave before they become to attached or they want to get rid of that image. So actors leaving a steady paycheck does not equal trouble on set.
I’m not downplaying dog bites, I’ve seen how serious they can be first hand, but cryptically classifying this as “multiple physical assaults” without any attempt to clarify what exactly happened is just an attempt to draw speculation. This woman is a full-blown drama queen. Come on.
My husband got a dog “bite” from rough housing and wrestling with a dog, he simply came into contact with it’s teeth when it’s mouth was open and got a big gash that still needed stitches. It’s entirely possible that the crew member was actually playing with it and this was just an accident.
If the dog was kept in the trailer and off set them I don’t see the problem. I understand if people feel uncomfortable with the dog on set after the attack but if he was not on set anymore then there shouldn’t be a problem, especially not something to quit over. Also I’ve never heard anything bad about Mark Harmon as a person or boss.
She sounds like a nut to me.
Agreed.
Yep super nutty to not like aggressive dogs. Guess im a nut too.
Everyone talks about the dog being happier WITH Mark Harmon on set than at home alone…how is the dog alone at home when it would be WITH Mrs. Mark Harmon a.k.a. Pam Dawber and possibly their children, house workers such as maids, etc.?
I DIDN’T KNOW HE WAS MARRIED TO PAM DAWBER.
But also, some dogs bond with specific people. One of my dogs is very much mine. Even when my husband is home and available to give him more attention, he follows me around and is glued to me. He’s just my buddy in a special way and is happier when I’m there. Our other dog will lay in front of the front door when my husband is gone and wait for him to come home.
My mini English bulldog was exactly like that. She is bonded to my dad. She sleeps all day and she’ll interact if you play with her or pet her, but as soon as my dad walked through the door she would get up and follow him around EVERYWHERE.
The survey that ranked PP as America’s favorite prime time female is very questionable, to me. I don’t watch the show much but find do her character annoying in the extreme. Chirpy & smug are a couple of things I associate with her role and the pigtails are ridiculous.
The dog? Should be elsewhere but if Harmon produces, I guess he does what he wants.
You mean the “Q Score” measurement?
That’s pretty much the industry standard for measuring popularity of celebrities, it’s been around for years and years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q_Score
It seems like there have been a number of high-profile departures from this show over the years, mostly female. First was Sasha Alexander after the first few years. Then Cote d’Pablo. Now Pauley. Something is going on.
Is anyone else annoyed by the way she framed those tweets? At the height of #metoo, it seems intentional that these tweets made it sound like someone on the set was physically assaulting someone (actually, not just someone – HER).
I am not trying to minimize the dog bite, because 15 stitches sounds terrible. BUt there is a difference between a possibly careless dog owner and a frightened or aggressive dog and someone intentionally assaulting someone.
I think it is unfair to all the men on the cast and crew because you know everyone was giving them a hard look trying to figure out who it was. If her beef was just with Harmon, that’s a pretty crappy thing to do to your former coworkers.
She’s been on the show for years and probably has screw you levels of money at this point. I can see her quitting, both because she’s uncomfortable with the dog and because the producers are making it clear who’s more important.
That’s nothing against the pup. My cat has bitten me pretty badly. I know why he did it and consider the fault mine. But I don’t foist him on other people who don’t get to choose their risks.
All I know about Mark Harmon is that when a priest in my Archdiocese was at the end stages of cancer, Mark Harmon somehow heard he was a big NCIS/Gibbs fan and called him.
Based on that one incident I give him the benefit of the doubt!
What a sweet story. I’ve always gotten the impression that he’s a decent guy.
If it was about a one-time dog bite and nothing else but upset the dog came for a period of time after, then her tweeting was way over the top. I thought it was about something more sinister. Was she drunk when tweeting? Just say what it is instead of this bizarre shady tweeting leaving imaginations to run wild. I find it so immature when adults use twitter for this. All we all reverting back to high school?
I’ve seen her in several interviews, some about her ex-husband some about her stalker, and something always strikes me as inauthentic. Almost like she’s badly acting a role of victim.
As far as the dogbite, the circumstances will never be known until the person who experienced the bite speaks out. I read someplace that the only time the dog, Dave, came to the set after that was when Mark Harmon was working and 18 or 19 hour day and no one was going to be home with the dog. On those occasions Dave was in the trailer with an assistant or Mark Harmon.
For me the bottom line is it’s not her fight. Everybody on that set is protected by a union and if there was a widespread problem I don’t think they would need her to “fight” for them and that makes me suspicious of her whole story.
I don’t know why she did it but she set up a homeless man. http://alisablogq.blogspot.com/2018/05/paulley-perrettes-next-target-is-mark.html