TNT’s Major Crimes Returns, With A Possible Spin-Off?

 

I was a huge fan of The Closer, and though Major Crimes is pretty much the same show, not having Kyra Sedgwick’s spunky Brenda Leigh Johnson around running things has made the show a tad less enjoyable for me to watch.  I thought Mary McDonnell’s Sharron Raydor was far more interesting when she was a ruthless I.A. investigator than she is as the quiet, strong, female lead the producers softened her up to be.  And the addition of the beyond annoying Rusty didn’t help matters.  The thing I liked about Sedgwick’s character is that she always put work in front of her personal life, so the small peeks into her domestic situation were always brief enough to be lighthearted or interesting without distracting from the crime drama.  Unfortunately, Major Crimes made their entire first two seasons pretty much about Rusty, which I got sick of pretty quick.  I was very happy when Season 2 apparently wrapped up the whole “Rusty testifying” plot that dragged out way, way too long.  When that ended, I’d hoped Rusty would begin to fade into the background.

Unfortunately for me, it sounds like Season 3 is going to have ever MOAR Rusty in it.  *le sigh.*

After two seasons of tracking Rusty (Graham Patrick Martin) through the emotional turmoil he felt after being abandoned by his family and forced to prostitute himself to survive, the TNT drama’s third season (premiering Monday, June 9 at 9/8c) will finally introduce Sharon Beck, the mother who eventually left him behind. Eureka and 24 alum Ever Carradine will play the crucial role, Major Crimes creator James Duff tells TVGuide.com.

“We begin our first episode with a different Rusty,” Duff says. “He has changed quite a bit. The experience of testifying on his own and having his say in the courtroom, reduced the whining, reduced the teenage angst. He’s sort of moving beyond and looking into his own heart and how he can make things better. Then, out of the blue, he’s knocked off stride by the reappearance of [his mother] who he had thought he was separated from for good.”

However, Rusty doesn’t tell the other Sharon in his life — Capt. Sharon Raydor (Mary McDonnell), who took Rusty in — about his mother’s reappearance, at least not right away. When he does, you can expect things to get a little messy. “The anxiety he has about his mother will reveal itself, and he [does] introduce his mother to Sharon,” Duff says. “His mother has a very different take on where he is in life than Sharon does. It’s so disturbing.”

But Rusty’s mother isn’t the only one weighing in on Rusty and Capt. Raydor’s relationship. In fact, later in the season Raydor’s husband (Tom Berenger) and her yet-to-be-cast son Ricky will have a point of view as Sharon considers adopting Rusty outright. “The theme of our first 10 episodes this season is expectations,” Duff says. “We have an expectation of a lot of things in our lives that it turns out that we have no right to expect. Family is not a given. Family is something you are sometimes obligated to create for yourself and that you embark upon with other people. How do you include other people? What does the word family mean? Do you have any right to expect that your family will always be exactly what it is?”

Really, Mr. Duff.  I DON’T CARE.  It was bad enough I had to suffer through that go-nowhere subplot with Rusty’s dad where he tries to be a good father and ends up hitting his kid because Rusty is a little snot.  No one ever pulled this melodramatic B.S. when Brenda was around, because they knew better than to mess with her.  Raydor is practically living something out of “As The World Turns” or something similar.  But even though I’m distressed by this news, the next bit gives me hope, because I love Jon Tenney (in a heterosexual life-mate type of way).  Though I was sad his show King And Maxwell got cancelled (it was a surprisingly good show), its nice to have him back with the gang at the good ol’ LAPD.  And from the sound of it, its possible his expanded role in Season 3 could lead to a spin off…

In terms of the Major Crimes family, Season 3 will also dedicate a little more time to extended family member Fritz Howard (Jon Tenney), who has reprised his role from The Closer off-and-on during the first two seasons. And this season’s Fritz spotlight episode is going to be bigger than ever. “Episode 7 involves another section of the L.A.P.D. called the Special Operations Bureau,” Duff says. “The S.O.B., as its called inside the department, is in charge of the largest municipal air force in the world, the dive team, the SWAT team, the bomb team, criminal intelligence, gang intelligence, K9. … We’re rolling out S.O. B. [for] a huge, disturbing, frustrating manhunt involving Major Crimes and S.O.B. in tactical support.”

However, Duff says that some reports that the episode will serve as possible pilot for a spin-off series may be premature. “It’s an episode of Major Crimes, slightly super-sized because it’s in the middle of our season when usually do very well,” he says. “I guess the episode could serve as proof of concept for a show about S.O.B., but it’s not what I would call a spin-off or a pilot. If TNT wants to order a series based on it, I won’t tell them no. But I will tell you with absolute frankness that I have no deal to do a series called S.O.B. at this particular moment.”

But Duff doesn’t rule out seeing more of Fritz and that team if audiences respond to the story. “We thought we’d give our audiences a great big thrillride,” he says. “It puts Fritz in the center of it. If it looks interesting or feels interesting, we might pursue more stories like that, especially in the back nine.”

Is it too late to change that acronym?  Really, if you’re going to have a possible spin-off, its probably not too wise to have its initials mimic those of a swear word.  I mean, I can understand it if they’re using it as a gag for the Major Crimes unit to riff on, referring to Fitz’s unit as the S.O.B.’s, but that’s not exactly a winning title for a spin off.  Maybe just “Special Operations?”  (Hire me now, TNT.  I’ll work cheap.)

Despite my bickering, I’m really looking forward to having something enjoyable to watch on Mondays again.  TNT does make good TV, and Major Crimes has never been boring (though it has been irritating occasionally).  So I’m excited to see it return.  Major Crimes starts once more on Monday, June 9 at 9/8c on TNT.

Question for the day:  Would you watch a spin-off with Fritz? Are you excited to meet Rusty’s mother?  Do you hate Rusty as much as I do?  (Answer the last question first.)

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