Producer here... can confirm my business is a giant cesspool of bullshit of epic proportions.

Maybe he had some ins with the union? But yes, it does seem odd, but apparently reached its limit.

And aren’t grips,stagehands and rest of the support crew and such all union? Seems weird to me you could fire a dozen union guys with no repercussions at the time.

This is weird to me, because why would so many production companies cover for a DP on a show that’s not really known for groundbreaking visuals? How hard could it be to replace a DP on a show that had its house style locked from the pilot?