Daily Variety (5/24/02)
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Sexual harassment in the Navy, a pilot downed in Bosnia, an intelligence agent who becomes a traitorous foreign mole - the stories in "JAG," Bellisario says, either have come from real events or, eerily, predated actual happenings.</div> <bR> <div> So it came as no surprise that after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Bellisario led the drama, a Belisarius Production in association with Paramount Network Television, directly into the center of the emotionally charged subject.</div> <bR> <div> The three-time Emmy winning drama (twice for costuming, once for editing) took on a new immediacy that had some media critics questioning the motives of the show.</div> <bR> <div> Bellisario, a primetime veteran (his Emmy-nominated creations include "Magnum, P.I." and "Quantum Leap"), relies on cooperation from the Pentagon in its filming, but he feels his treatments have been objective, often including scenes and information the government would rather not see broadcast to millions.</div> <bR> <div> "JAG" has moved up in the ratings from its No. 28 spot last year to become the 10th most popular show in primetime.</div> <bR> <div> Bellisario spoke with -Variety- on the day when the media had responded to the first of four "JAG" episodes that focused on an Al Qaeda terrorist on trial. The -New York Times-, among other news outlets, criticized the segs, collectively called "The Tribunal," as presenting an Americanized view of the events of 9/11 and potential outcomes in the courts.</div> <bR> <div> VARIETY: Today has been a big day for "JAG" publicity."</div> <bR> <div> DONALD B. BELLISARIO: The media has been in quite an uproar. Having just come from Australia, I would say they have their knickers in a knot, because they are saying we are a propaganda tool for the Pentagon, which is the furthest thing from the truth.</div> <bR> <div> We went to the Pentagon and said, "We are doing a tribunal story. Do you see it working this way?" The Pentagon corrected us on some issues. In fact, what I find amusing about this is, rather than being a tool to the Pentagon there was a least three issues in the (tribunal) show that the Pentagon asked us, "Do you guys really have to do that?" and we did. We were trying to give a balanced look at it.</div> <bR> <div> V: You are a former Marine. Do you carry patriotism into the content of the show?</div> <bR> <div> BELLISARIO: Are we a patriotic show? Yes, we always have been. Are we jingoistic? I don't think so, but that is my opinion. I have always been pro-military. I believe in the United States military, and I am pro-military. I am not a warmonger. We have done stories on rapes in the military. We have done stories on sexual harassment in the Navy. We have done stories on homosexuality in the Navy. So it's not like we are out there whitewashing everything and doing documentaries.</div> <bR> <div> V: Does the military usually help you with the show?</div> <bR> <div> BELLISARIO: The Navy in the beginning wanted nothing to do with this show. They were obstructionists when I did the pilot. I was filming on the Hornet, which is a museum ship in Corpus Christi, Texas, and for a while they threatened to withdraw support from the Hornet museum ship.</div> <bR> <div> I understand it. At that time the Navy was just coming off Tailhook, the sexual harassment scandal up at the convention in Nevada. They are thinking, "Oh my God, here's this guy putting out a TV show about JAG, about criminal prosecutions in the Navy and investigations in the Navy." So they were very reticent to do anything, nor did they for almost two years.</div> <bR> <div> I think after two years of looking at the show and seeing that we presented dedicated, professional lawyers at work and showed the good and the bad in the Navy, and that in the long run it was more good than bad, [they changed their minds]. We are very thankful they give us support.</div> <bR> <div> V: "Dateline" on NBC is a good example of news becoming more like entertainment. "JAG" Is a perfect example of entertainment becoming more like news. In the middle, somewhere, you are blurring the lines between real information and entertainment. Do you feel a responsibility to be accurate? Are you delivering information or entertainment?</div> <bR> <div> BELLISARIO: I always feel the viewer is watching to be entertained, No. 1. We don't do documentaries; they are boring. We have turned out to be accurate in the past. I remember when (Scott) O'Grady went down in Bosnia; we had already done that same story.</div> <bR> <div> V: You are presenting what looks like a judicial process in a military court, and it has a feeling of historical accuracy to it. .</div> <bR> <div> BELLISARIO: But I don't think it has any more of that than you would walking away from looking at a "Law and Order" or "L.A. Law."</div> <bR> <div> V: They ride the same line, definitely. But it seems to be a signature style of yours.</div> <bR> <div> BELLISARIO: It's also because I think it's so topical and it's on everyone's mind. I don't know if there is going to be a tribunal. Certainly if they capture Osama Bin Laden there will be a tribunal. They may take this No. 3 man and have a tribunal. I see this so-called 20th hijacker, and they are not doing a tribunal.</div> <bR> <div> V: How long do you see "JAG" going on? With this topical approach and the stronger military climate these days, it seems to be fresher than ever.</div> <bR> <div> BELLISARIO: It does, because it was so slow catching on. Everybody wants to credit 9/11 with "JAG's" resurgence in the numbers, but if you look back at the history of "JAG," you will see that it was reaching the numbers that it's at now three years ago. That was then ("Who Wants to Be a Millionaire") came on and was placed against us, and that knocked us down. So we have attained the numbers and the levels that we are at now when they put "Millionaire" on. When "Millionaire" went off and burned out, I told everyone that this year we are going to go right back to where we were and we are going to climb back up and we are going to get into the top 10. I can feel it.</div> <bR> <div> V: Did 9/11 contribute to that?</div> <bR> <div> BELLISARIO: I am sure it did. How much I don't know. The show would still be up there regardless. Of course, like everyone else, I wish 9/11 never happened.</div> <bR> <div> V: In watching the "Tribunal" show in which the Al Qaeda terrorist gets sentenced to death by means of lethal injection, there is definitely a release there for America, a wish fulfillment that you are tapping into.</div> <bR> <div> BELLISARIO: I think lethal injection is too easy.</div> <bR> <div> V: Will we see anymore feature film work from you in the future?</div> <bR> <div> BELLISARIO: I hope so. I am working on two feature ideas right now. That is my next step: to do a feature. Neither one of them as anything to do with the Navy.</div> <bR> <div> {THE END}</div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>