Jon Polito was fired from Homicide: Life on the Street by producer Tom Fontana after Polito made disparaging remarks about the show in the media. The two patched things up so that Polito (and the character of Det. Steve Crosetti) could appear in the series-ending Homicide: Life Everlasting movie.
Jon Polito: You can't act alone. Use the props, the setting, the crew around you, and of course your fellow actors. Acting is like a sporting match; a tennis game, but no one should win or lose. The game's the thing!
Jon Polito: (describing his character's fate on "Homicide") I asked Tom specifically—after we had our words and he was angry at me, I said, "Look, I don't care how angry you are with me, please don't have me commit suicide or anything negative with this character" because I knew the real policeman who I was playing. But he instead chose to have me commit suicide in a ridiculous way, I thought. So I never agreed with my death, and I never watched the show until they called me years later, and we had sort of patched it up and he said "You'll come back as a ghost," which I did.