It was May 17, 2017. The Plaza Hotel’s Food Hall and adjacent spaces over multiple floors were packed with people for CBS‘ annual upfront party — an opulent display in the final years of broadcast dominance. Having won the lottery — beating the daunting odds of pilot season where hundreds of scripts vie for 20 so pilot spots and ultimately a handful of series pickups by a major network — the teams behind the new CBS shows were beaming. Except for the producers of military drama SEAL Team, who were not in a festive mood.
The reason was an effort by CBS brass to replace the female lead opposite star David Boreanaz in the pilot, Jessica Paré. There was already a red flag for eagle-eyed attendees at the network’s upfront presentation at Carnegie Hall earlier that afternoon when the main cast of SEAL Team walked onstage sans Paré. The
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