NCIS episode predicted dog feud that led to Pauley Perrette leaving the show
TV shows sometimes predict actual events, and NCIS is one of them.
The hit television show seems to have hinted in previous episodes about a feud between stars Pauley Perrette and Mark Harmon. Pauley quit the show after starring as Abby Sciuto from 2003 to 2018 after a dispute between her and Mark about the latter’s dog.
According to the show’s executive producer Charles Floyd Johnson, Mark would bring his dog, who previously bit someone, to the set. This made Pauley uncomfortable and after her concerns were ignored, she left the show.
The show should have seen a dog-related feud coming, as an episode previously showed Pauley’s character Abby experiencing friction with Timothy McGee, played by Sean Murray. In the season five episode Dog Tags, the NCIS team investigate a Navy officer’s death that they think might have been caused by his dog.
Pauley and Mark did not get along (
Image:
CBS via Getty Images)
Timothy gets bitten by the dog and in self defense, wounds the animal. Abby comes to the defense of the potentially killer dog and almost risks her career to defend him and made Timothy feel bad for harming the animal in self defense.
The 2008 episode and Pauley’s exit a decade later are oddly similar, with the possibility of writers taking from the real life feud. Executive producer Charles told The Hollywood Reporter: “The dog was Mark Harmon’s, and apparently, the dog bit someone.”
“Pauley was a huge, huge, SPCA [the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals] animal person,” he continued, “And then the dog kept coming with Harmon, and she felt it wasn’t safe for the show. By the end of that year, she just felt like it wasn’t working for her anymore and it was time to move on.”
In 2019, Pauley took to X, then known as Twitter, to say she would never return to the show and accused Mark Harmon for attacking her. “NO I AM NOT COMING BACK! EVER! (Please stop asking?)” she wrote.
“I am terrified of Harmon and him attacking me. I have nightmares about it,” Pauley continued, “I have a new show that is SAFE AND HAPPY! You’ll love it!”
