Bull [CBS] [** Spoilers **]

Agent Coulson

Back on Tuesday night in the States.

Nody

I don't think I ever ended up watching the last episodes of season 1 and have no intention to watch season 2.

budhabob

I've kind of enjoyed season 1 as brainless TV (something we all need from time to time). The team dynamic became a little more interesting as the season went on.

Clareman

I thought it was ok, 40something minutes of by the book procedural, nice background TV while doing something else.

Agent Coulson

Glenn Gordon Caron has taken over as showrunner and is writing episodes now as well.


If you don't know the name he created Moonlighting and Medium and wrote most of the first season of Remington Steele he also created and wrote the very underrated Now and Again.


I might give the second season a try now and see if he has added anything to it.

Clareman

Agent Coulson wrote: »

Glenn Gordon Caron has taken over as showrunner and is writing episodes now as well.


If you don't know the name he created Moonlighting and Medium and wrote most of the first season of Remington Steele he also created and wrote the very underrated Now and Again.


I might give the second season a try now and see if he has added anything to it.

It's a bit mixed up this season, they are broke to being able to spend a week doing whatever they want, it's the kind of program you have in the background knowing you won't miss anything if you're watching something on your laptop at the same time. It seems to have a bit of a House formula going as well, that is problem statement, theory, theory false, new solution and then everything works out.

Agent Coulson

Clareman wrote: »

It's a bit mixed up this season, they are broke to being able to spend a week doing whatever they want, it's the kind of program you have in the background knowing you won't miss anything if you're watching something on your laptop at the same time. It seems to have a bit of a House formula going as well, that is problem statement, theory, theory false, new solution and then everything works out.

Ah I was hoping with Glenn Gordon Caron coming on board he might put a season arc in place or at the very least a will they won't they storyline for Bull.

The Black Oil

To continue the **** show that is CBS's record with harassment...

According to a report by the New York Times, actress Eliza Dushku, who joined the cast of the CBS legal drama late in Season 1 as defense attorney J.P. Nunnelly, lodged a formal complaint with the network after being on the receiving end of several lewd comments made by series star Michael Weatherly. Dushku was poised to become a series regular, but soon after voicing her concerns, she was written off the show, and later given a $9.5 million settlement by the network as compensation.

CBS confirmed the settlement, which stemmed from a series of on-set incidents alleged by Dushku. She claims that Weatherly made demeaning comments about her appearance, saying “Here comes legs” when she arrived on set, said he would bend her over his leg and spank her in front of the cast and crew, and suggested she wanted to have a threesome with him and a male crew member. Dushku felt “disgusted and violated” following the incidents, according to interview notes from an internal CBS investigation.

TV Line

Agent Coulson

Didn't she also say she was sexually abused on the set of True Lies as well.




Weatherly also doesn't seem to have a great reputation either if you read Jessica Alba's accounts on him.

The Black Oil

Agent Coulson wrote: »

Didn't she also say she was sexually abused on the set of True Lies as well.

Yeah, by a crew member, iirc.

Weatherly also doesn't seem to have a great reputation either if you read Jessica Alba's accounts on him.

Was caught drink driving a few years back too.

JP Liz V1

Agent Coulson wrote: »

Didn't she also say she was sexually abused on the set of True Lies as well.




Weatherly also doesn't seem to have a great reputation either if you read Jessica Alba's accounts on him.

:eek:

I thought Alba and Weatherly dated

Sierra 117

They did. She was 19 and he was 30 so that should tell you what kind of guy he is.

JP Liz V1

NCIS ladies defending Mikey

https://tvline.com/2018/12/15/michael-weatherly-bull-controversy-eliza-dushku-harassment-ncis/

The Black Oil

So, Dushku has put out her own piece.

AV Club have some highlights https://news.avclub.com/eliza-dushku-has-now-released-her-own-account-of-harass-1831216368

Or, you can read (annoying sign up prompt thing) the Boston Globe which is her own own words and well-written and it makes Weatherly sound like a dick. Wait, no, he is. https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2018/12/19/eliza-dushku-responds-what-happened-cbs-took-job-and-because-objected-being-sexually-harassed-was-fired

PhiloCypher

Color me unsurprised that Michael Weatherly is the same overgrown jock douche he played in NCIS.

Agent Coulson

Surprised it has been renewed for season especially after what happened around Weatherly.


However....


‘Bull’: Steven Spielberg & Amblin TV Pull Out Of CBS Drama Over Michael Weatherly Harassment Controversy

EXCLUSIVE: Steven Spielberg’ Amblin Television is walking away from CBS’ popular legal drama Bull in the wake of the sexual harassment allegations against star Michael Weatherly.

“Steven Spielberg, Amblin Television, Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey are no longer attached to Bull,” a rep for the company said in a statement from Deadline, declining further comment.

Spielberg and Amblin TV co-heads Frank and Falvey served as executive producers on Bull for its first three seasons. The procedural drama was just renewed by CBS for a fourth season.

Bull, which has been a solid ratings performer for CBS, was never in doubt for renewal though the show became a center of controversy earlier this season over sexual harassment allegations against Weatherly by then-co-star Eliza Dushku, which resulted in a $9.5 settlement with the actress by CBS.

Spielberg and his wife Kate Capshaw have been major supporters of the Time’s Up movement from the start, and I hear Spielberg, who had met with Duschu, didn’t want to be associated with the series any longer. That is a bold move as la long-running CBS procedural is considered one of the most lucrative propositions in TV, often associated with a financial windfall for producers.

“I actually spent the morning with the three heads of the Time’s Up organization and Mr. Steven Spielberg,” Dushku said in a March with Deadline. “We sat and brainstormed and discussed possible solutions for this systemic imbalance of power, the abuse and harassment that we’ve been seeing and hearing and experiencing and both in our industry and beyond.”

The Bull controversy erupted in December when it was revealed that former cast member Dushku had reached a $9.5 million settlement with CBS over claims she was sexually harassed by Weatherly during her time on the show. Dushku detailed her allegations in a stinging Boston Globe op-ed, including what she described as the toxic atmosphere on the CBS procedural and lewd comments that Weatherly allegedly made toward that led her to filing a formal complaint. She was let go form the show shortly thereafter.

Weatherly denied having been part of Dushku’s firing, but admitted that he engaged in behavior that was “both not funny and not appropriate,” saying he was “sorry” and that he regretted the pain he had caused the actress.

Created by Dr. Phil McGraw and Paul Attanasio, Bull stars Weatherly as Dr. Jason Bull in a drama inspired by the early career of Dr. Phil McGraw. Brilliant, brash and charming, Dr. Bull is the ultimate puppet master as he combines psychology, human intuition and high-tech data to learn what makes jurors, attorneys, witnesses and the accused tick.

Bull is produced by CBS Television Studios in association with Stage 29 Productions. Glenn Gordon Caron, Paul Attanasio, Dr. Phil McGraw and Jay McGraw are the executive producers.

Glenn Gordon Caron, who served as showrunner this season, is in talks to return.

https://deadline.com/2019/05/bull-steven-spielberg-amblin-tv-pulls-out-cbs-drama-michael-weatherly-controsy-sexual-harassment-1202611184/

Clareman

The power of syndication is still strong. It's just a standard court room drama at this stage that I guess is very cheap to produce so I'd expect it to continue till the magic 100

Agent Coulson

Not sure how or why however it has been renewed for a 6th season.

Clareman

Agent Coulson wrote: »

Not sure how or why however it has been renewed for a 6th season.

I can only guess cause its cheap and easy, there's no real over arching storylines and in the event of a lockdown it's easily made

JP Liz V1

Glenn Gordon Caron and co star actor Freddy Rodriguez are both exiting following a workplace investigation - TV Line

Agent Coulson

How this show is still on and Weatherly still has a job is just WOW really.

Eliza Dushku Speaks Out on Sexual Harassment, Firing and Retaliation on CBS’ ‘Bull’ for House Judiciary Committee

Actor Eliza Dushku shared her experience facing sexual harassment on the set of CBS’ “Bull” in front of a House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, speaking out about being fired from the show and forced to sign a non-disclosure agreement.

In 2016, Dushku had a recurring role in Season 1 of “Bull” that was meant to become a regular role, but she alleges that she was fired from the show after accusing star Michael Weatherly of sexual harassment. She received a $9.5 million settlement from CBS, the Boston Globe reported in 2018.

“I was told that the role would be a six-year commitment to play a smart, strong leading lady, a confident high-powered lawyer meant to counterbalance the existing male lead, and that the role had been written specifically with me in mind,” Dushku said. “However, in my first week on my new job I found myself the brunt of crude, sexualized and lewd verbal assaults. I suffered near constant sexual harassment from my co-star. This was beyond anything I had experienced in my 30-year career.”

She didn’t refer to Weatherly by name, but she added that the male co-star “frequently referred to me as ‘legs.’ He would smell me and leeringly look me up and down. Off script, in front of about 100 crew members and cast members, he once said that he would take me to his rape van and use lube and long phallic things on me and take me over his knee and spank me like a little girl. Another time he told me that his sperm were powerful swimmers.”

Dushku alleged that after speaking to the co-star about toning down his comments, he texted the head of CBS Studios and she was fired the next day. She added that she was silenced by the arbitration clause in her contract.

“I’ve worked as an actress since I was a child and signed countless contracts negotiated on my behalf, but never understood that there were mandatory arbitration clauses that would be used to keep what had happened to me a secret and would protect CBS and the sexual harassment perpetrator, who had blatantly retaliated against me for trying the stop the harassment in my workplace,” Dushku said.

Dushku spoke in front of a House Judiciary Committee hearing titled “Silenced: How Forced Arbitration Keeps Victims of Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment in the Shadow.” CBS did not immediately respond to Variety‘s request for comment.

See Dushku’s remarks below.

https://twitter.com/HouseJudiciary/status/1460645844449955840?s=20

https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/eliza-dushku-fired-bull-sexual-harassment-1235113193/

JP Liz V1

It is ending with 6