Major Crimes | |
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Genre | |
Created by | James Duff |
Starring | |
Composer | James S. Levine |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 6 |
No. of episodes | 105 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producers |
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Production locations | Los Angeles, California |
Running time | 43 minutes |
Production companies |
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Original release | |
Network | TNT |
Release | August 13, 2012 – January 9, 2018 |
Related | |
The Closer |
Major Crimes is an American police procedural television series starring Mary McDonnell. It was a continuation spin-off of The Closer , set in the same police division, now headed by McDonnell's character, Sharon Raydor. It premiered on TNT on August 13, 2012, following the finale of The Closer. [1] [2] [3]
In January 2017, during Major Crimes's fifth season, TNT renewed the series for a 13-episode sixth season. [4] On October 3, the network announced the sixth season would be its last. Series star McDonnell commented on Instagram, "as many of you have stated, this was not a surprise. The writing was clearly on the wall. Trying to make sense of TNT's choices is an activity that James Duff and Mike Robin and all of us have been engaged in for a long time." [5] The final season premiered on October 31, 2017, and ended on January 9, 2018, with a total of 105 episodes.
With the departure of Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson sending tremors throughout the entire Los Angeles Police Department, Captain Sharon Raydor faces difficult challenges as she assumes Johnson's former post as head of the Major Crimes Division. For one, as she is a former internal-affairs officer, many of her squad members do not trust her. Additionally, the controversial new rules she had instituted as head of the Force Investigation Division (FID) are reaping unintended consequences at crime scenes. Finally, the LAPD's new cost-saving policy of striking deals with violent criminals instead of extracting confessions from them is generating additional rancor among the rank and file, particularly with Major Crimes' senior officer and second-in-command, Lieutenant Provenza.
Raydor's foster son Rusty Beck (whom she later adopts) adds more drama to Raydor's personal life, but it bleeds into her professional life as well, since Rusty is the key eyewitness in the trial of serial killer Phillip Stroh (Billy Burke). Rusty ends up attending the same Catholic school Raydor's grown children once attended.
The series stars numerous cast members continuing in their roles from The Closer, including actors Mary McDonnell, G. W. Bailey, Tony Denison, Michael Paul Chan, Raymond Cruz, Phillip P. Keene, Robert Gossett, Jonathan Del Arco and Jon Tenney. They are joined by Graham Patrick Martin as Rusty and Kearran Giovanni as Detective Amy Sykes, the only main character not previously seen on The Closer. (Rusty only appeared in two episodes of The Closer, at the finale.)
On December 10, 2010, TNT announced that the upcoming seventh season of The Closer would be the show's last. The channel said the decision to retire the show was made by Kyra Sedgwick. [9] [10] On January 30, 2011, it was announced the final season would add six episodes to the usual 15-episode order, the final six being the build toward a possible spin-off series. [11] On May 18, 2011, TNT announced the spin-off, entitled Major Crimes and starring Mary McDonnell as Captain Sharon Raydor, had been picked up for a 10-episode season. [12]
Following an average of over 7 million viewers for its first season, TNT renewed Major Crimes for a 15-episode second season on September 27, 2012, [13] which the network increased to 19 episodes in April 2013. [14] Season 2 premiered on June 10, 2013. [15] The series was renewed for a third season of 15 episodes on August 15, 2013, [16] which aired from June 9, 2014, through January 12, 2015. [17] On July 18, 2014, TNT renewed Major Crimes for a 15-episode fourth season, later expanded to 23 episodes, [18] which aired from June 8, 2015, to March 14, 2016. On December 15, 2015, TNT renewed the series for a 13-episode fifth season, [19] On June 22, 2016, TNT ordered eight additional episodes for season five, bringing the total to 21. [20] On January 18, 2017, the series was renewed for a 13-episode sixth season, [4] clarified in October as the final season, [21] which aired from October 31, 2017, to January 9, 2018.
As of January 9,2018, [update] 105 episodes of Major Crimes have aired.
Major Crimes received a score of 65/100 and "generally favorable" reviews based on 17 critics at Metacritic. [22]
Newsday 's Verne Gay gave the series a B+ grade, calling it "sharply written, acted and directed", adding "producers now have to turn an (occasional) antagonist into a full-time protagonist. Let the metamorphosis begin." [23]
Robert Lloyd of the Los Angeles Times called the series a "nice balance between the tragic and comic", citing Mary McDonnell's performance as "modulated and cool, but with a blue-flame intensity". [24]
Entertainment Weekly 's Ken Tucker thought there were "fundamental distinctions" between The Closer's Brenda Leigh Johnson and Major Crimes' Sharon Raydor that "render the shows very different", adding "I've always found Raydor's serene assurance a palliative to the twitchy eccentricity of Kyra Sedgwick's Johnson." [25]
Mike Hale of The New York Times thought the series "[made] the dullest character from the old show the central figure of the new one," adding "Major Crimes feels like a reasonably sharp black-and-white copy of The Closer, but fans of the franchise are likely to miss the color provided by Ms. Sedgwick’s vivid performance." [26]
The first episode, helped by the final episode of The Closer airing beforehand, had 9.5 million viewers, the largest viewership for a series premiere on basic cable. Its first season ratings were the highest for any new show on cable. [27]
In late 2016, Major Crimes entered broadcast syndication in the United States. Reruns currently air on Lifetime and Start TV.
Prime Suspect is a British police procedural television series devised by Lynda La Plante. It stars Helen Mirren as Jane Tennison, one of the first female Detective Chief Inspectors in Greater London's Metropolitan Police Service, who rises to the rank of Detective Superintendent while confronting institutionalised sexism within the police force.
Mary Eileen McDonnell is an American film, stage, and television actress. She received Academy Award nominations for her roles as Stands With A Fist in Dances With Wolves and May-Alice Culhane in Passion Fish. McDonnell is well known for her performances as President Laura Roslin in Battlestar Galactica, First Lady Marilyn Whitmore in Independence Day, and Rose in Donnie Darko. She was featured as Captain Sharon Raydor during seasons 5–7 of the TNT series The Closer and starred as Commander Sharon Raydor in the spin-off series Major Crimes on the same network. In 2023, she played Madeleine Usher in the miniseries The Fall of the House of Usher on Netflix.
G. W. Bailey is an American actor. Although he has appeared in many dramatic roles, he may be best remembered for his "crusty" comedic characters such as Staff Sergeant Luther Rizzo in M*A*S*H ; Lieutenant/Captain Thaddeus Harris in the Police Academy films (1984–1994), and Captain Felix Maxwell in Mannequin (1987). He played the role of Detective Lieutenant Louie Provenza on TNT's television crime drama The Closer, and its spinoff series Major Crimes, from 2005 to 2018.
Kyra Minturn Sedgwick is an American film and television actress. She is best known for her starring role as Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson on the crime drama The Closer (2005–2012), for which she won a Golden Globe in 2007 and an Emmy Award in 2010. She also starred in the 1992 TV film Miss Rose White, which won an Emmy Award. She was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for her performance in the 1995 film Something to Talk About. Sedgwick's other film credits include Oliver Stone's Born on the Fourth of July (1989) and Cameron Crowe's Singles (1992). She also had a recurring role as Madeline Wuntch on the sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Sedgwick is married to fellow actor Kevin Bacon.
The Closer is an American police procedural television series starring Kyra Sedgwick as Brenda Leigh Johnson, a Los Angeles Police Department deputy chief. A CIA-trained interrogator originally from Atlanta, Georgia, Brenda has a reputation as a closer—an interrogator who not only solves a case, but also obtains confessions that lead to convictions, thus "closing" the case. The series ran on TNT from June 13, 2005, to August 13, 2012.
Jonathan Frederick Tenney is an American actor. He played Special Agent Fritz Howard in TNT's The Closer and continued in its spinoff Major Crimes.
William Albert Burke is an American actor and songwriter. Burke is known for his role as Charlie Swan in Twilight and its sequels. In 2011, he played Cesaire in Red Riding Hood. In 2012, he was cast as one of the lead characters, Miles Matheson, in the NBC science-fiction series Revolution. From 2015 to 2017, he starred in the CBS series Zoo. He has also appeared in the supernatural horror film Lights Out (2016) and the thriller Breaking In (2018).
Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson is a fictional character and the main protagonist featured in TNT's The Closer. She heads the Major Crimes Division of the Los Angeles Police Department. She is portrayed as an intelligent, determined, and exacting woman. The character has a tendency to offend coworkers and other people involved in her cases but is skilled at determining the facts of a crime, compelling confessions, and closing cases. Thus, she is "a closer".
Assistant Police Chief Will Pope is a fictional character featured in TNT's The Closer, portrayed by J. K. Simmons. Pope is the Assistant Chief for Operations of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). Pope, along with Commander Taylor, is one of two characters on the show who has a real-life equivalent, in this case Assistant Chief Earl Paysinger, Director and Commanding Officer of Office of Operations, Los Angeles Police Department.
Detective Lieutenant Andrew Flynn is a fictional character, originally featured on TNT's crime drama The Closer. Portrayed by Tony Denison, Flynn appears in all seven seasons of the James Duff-created crime procedural (2005-2012), before subsequently becoming a regular character on its successor series, Major Crimes (2012-2018).
Detective Lieutenant II Louie Provenza is a fictional character from TNT's television crime drama franchise The Closer/Major Crimes. He appeared on all seven seasons of The Closer and all six seasons of Major Crimes. The character was created by James Duff, and is portrayed by G. W. Bailey. Generally referred to as "Provenza", the character's first name was kept secret until his former partner, George Andrews, was heard to use it for the first time in the penultimate episode of the fifth season. It is said that only captains and above are allowed to address him by his first name and that even his own grandchildren call him "Lieutenant". He is also the only member of his academy class still on active duty with the rest having retired by the beginning of season 2 of Major Crimes.
Assistant Chief Russell Taylor was a fictional character featured in TNT's The Closer, portrayed by Robert Gossett. Commander Taylor is the Commanding Officer of the Los Angeles Police Department's (LAPD) Robbery-Homicide Division. He is also one of two characters on the show who have real-life equivalents on the LAPD, although his rank is one step higher. A hard worker who has risen through the ranks, he is extremely resentful of Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson's status and the respect she receives from the officers working with her. He does what he can to undermine her at every turn, under the guise of trying to assist in the case. In The Closer spin-off, Major Crimes, Taylor becomes the Assistant Chief of Operations for the LAPD. In the episode "White Lies, Part I," Taylor is killed in the line of duty during a courtroom shooting.
Lieutenant I Julio Sanchez is a fictional character featured in TNT's The Closer and its follow-up series Major Crimes, portrayed by Raymond Cruz. Sanchez was a detective with the Los Angeles Police Department's Major Crimes Division. He is now a lieutenant with Los Angeles Police Department's Criminal Intelligence Division, accepting the promotion in "By Any Means", Part 4"
Southland is an American crime drama television series created by writer Ann Biderman and produced by John Wells Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television. The series originally aired on NBC for one season from April 9 to May 21, 2009, and then on TNT for an additional four seasons from March 2, 2010, to April 17, 2013.
Rizzoli & Isles is an American crime drama television series starring Angie Harmon as Jane Rizzoli and Sasha Alexander as Maura Isles. Based on the series of Rizzoli & Isles novels by Tess Gerritsen, the plot follows Boston Homicide police detective Jane Rizzoli and Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Maura Isles combining their experiences and strikingly different personalities to solve cases. It premiered on TNT on July 12, 2010 and aired 105 episodes in seven seasons, concluding on September 5, 2016.
Mob City is an American neo-noir crime drama television series created by Frank Darabont for TNT. It is based on real-life accounts of the L.A.P.D. and gangsters in 1940s Los Angeles as chronicled in John Buntin's book L.A. Noir: The Struggle for the Soul of America's Most Seductive City. The series premiered on December 4, 2013.
Francis "Buzz" Watson is a fictional character appearing in TNT's two shows, The Closer and Major Crimes, and portrayed by Phillip P. Keene. He serves as a Civilian Service Coordinator, providing technical support to the Los Angeles Police Department's Major Crimes Division. His duties include filming crime scenes, and he runs the audio and video systems in the interrogation room with are his own cameras.
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