Rescue Me controversy!!!
I don't post in like 4 days and here I'm being spammy today...
If you didn't see last night's episode, skip what's after the cut, because, hello, huge spoilers.
If you don't watch Rescue Me, read it anyway, because of the Dean Winters connection and the rumored explanation for why he left the show last season.
This, by the way, was found via a link from TV Tattle.com.
As everyone knows who watched last night, Jack McGee's character, the Chief, committed suicide. The character had been through a lot, and I personally hated the outcome of his storyline.
Well, as it turns out, Jack McGee did too, and he's not shy to talk about it.
Over at Television Without Pity, there's an interesting interview with McGee that goes more into his character's history, why he felt his character's end was unjustified, and why Leary is a bully on set. From TWoP:
McGee says that Leary, who declined requests to be interviewed for this piece, cultivates a public image as a bold, blunt, hands-on actor-writer-producer who loves collaboration, but is actually an insecure, controlling person who hogs the spotlight.[...] "He's a bully, is what he is," McGee says. "Bullies most of the time don't have the guts to do things themselves."
But even better than that is the rumored reason why Dean Winters, who played the Denis Leary character's (Tommy Gavin) brother Johnny, left the show:
Asked if he can recall any other actors being written out under circumstances similar to his, McGee mentions Dean Winters, who played Tommy Gavin's cop brother, Johnny, a character who was shot dead last season. McGee speculates that Leary had him written out "because Dean didn't kiss his ass."
You go, Deano! As some of you may recall, when I met Dean at the Oz Season 6 DVD signing a few months back, I told him I was sorry they killed him off Rescue Me. His response? "I'm not!" And he started laughing.
Innnnnteresting, because of what Peter Tolan, Leary's co-writer, says.
He says McGee's suggestion that Dean Winters was written out of the series for failing to kiss up to Leary is "hearsay, because Dean never said anything to me. I did hear from a second party that Dean was not exactly happy that he was being written out. But I never heard that it was specifically aimed at anybody. He liked the show, he liked the part, he was sorry to see it end. He never spoke to me, but I only heard anecdotally that he was kind of upset that it was done. It was never anything about Denis." Winters did not return phone calls seeking comment.
Read the whole refreshingly honest interview here.
If you didn't see last night's episode, skip what's after the cut, because, hello, huge spoilers.
If you don't watch Rescue Me, read it anyway, because of the Dean Winters connection and the rumored explanation for why he left the show last season.
This, by the way, was found via a link from TV Tattle.com.
As everyone knows who watched last night, Jack McGee's character, the Chief, committed suicide. The character had been through a lot, and I personally hated the outcome of his storyline.
Well, as it turns out, Jack McGee did too, and he's not shy to talk about it.
Over at Television Without Pity, there's an interesting interview with McGee that goes more into his character's history, why he felt his character's end was unjustified, and why Leary is a bully on set. From TWoP:
McGee says that Leary, who declined requests to be interviewed for this piece, cultivates a public image as a bold, blunt, hands-on actor-writer-producer who loves collaboration, but is actually an insecure, controlling person who hogs the spotlight.[...] "He's a bully, is what he is," McGee says. "Bullies most of the time don't have the guts to do things themselves."
But even better than that is the rumored reason why Dean Winters, who played the Denis Leary character's (Tommy Gavin) brother Johnny, left the show:
Asked if he can recall any other actors being written out under circumstances similar to his, McGee mentions Dean Winters, who played Tommy Gavin's cop brother, Johnny, a character who was shot dead last season. McGee speculates that Leary had him written out "because Dean didn't kiss his ass."
You go, Deano! As some of you may recall, when I met Dean at the Oz Season 6 DVD signing a few months back, I told him I was sorry they killed him off Rescue Me. His response? "I'm not!" And he started laughing.
Innnnnteresting, because of what Peter Tolan, Leary's co-writer, says.
He says McGee's suggestion that Dean Winters was written out of the series for failing to kiss up to Leary is "hearsay, because Dean never said anything to me. I did hear from a second party that Dean was not exactly happy that he was being written out. But I never heard that it was specifically aimed at anybody. He liked the show, he liked the part, he was sorry to see it end. He never spoke to me, but I only heard anecdotally that he was kind of upset that it was done. It was never anything about Denis." Winters did not return phone calls seeking comment.
Read the whole refreshingly honest interview here.