Army Wives

Army Wives' chief officer has been removed from duty.

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausiello reports that Katherine Fugate, creator of Lifetime's top-rated drama ever, has been shown the door.

"Army Wives is a fantastic tribute to the real life heroes serving in our armed forces and I'm so happy to have been a part of it," Fugate said.

"With the show such an established hit, now seems like a logical time for me to step away and focus on developing new projects."

Rumors of lingering behind-the-scenes tension between Fugate, Lifetime and ABC Studios have persisted pretty much since day one.

This is evidenced by the fact that Army Wives weathered three show-runner changes in less than two years (Season 2 is nearing its end).

The most recent Army Wives personnel switch came this spring, when Dee Johnson was relieved of duty and replaced by Nick Thiel.

In its own statement, ABC Studios said:

"Katherine Fugate is incredibly talented and we’re grateful for her work in creating Army Wives. We are very happy to have had the opportunity to work with her."

So what does this mean for Army Wives? Probably not much. Thiel has pretty much been running the show these past few months, and he's not going anywhere. An Army Wives source tells EW: "Everyone is very happy with Nick."