After a pair of British tourists are attacked on their second honeymoon in Venice Beach, the Major Crimes team must find the killers before a smug and dashing English journalist (SAG Award Winner Julian Ovenden, Downton Abbey) can damage the reputation of LA’s tourism industry for good.
In the MajorCrimesTV.net exclusive video below, Ovenden’s reporter also has some advice for Rusty on how to get more hits on his vlog, and more.
Major Crimes airs tonight at 10pm/9c on TNT.
After five seasons of Major Crimes, Sykes and Provenza have learned to rely on each other throughout all sort of situations. We spoke to their portrayers, Kearran Giovanni and GW Bailey to get the scoop about this odd-couple’s relationship, and found the great relationship between them extends far past their characters on the show.
MCTV: You guys are about halfway through filming this season. How is it all going?
GW Bailey: All the scenes that Kearran and I are in are quite wonderful. The others…
Kearran Giovanni: We’re not real sure about–
GW: Sort of sucky (laughs)
KG: No, we’re having a great time and it’s going well, it’s going swimmingly. By now we’ve got a nice formula going and everyone knows their roles, and–
GW: Yeah, or should! (laughs). We do have… at least it seems to me that Sykes and I are doing more interviews together. We’ve done a few interviews of suspects and witnesses, and it seems to me it’s more than we’ve done before.
MCTV: Sykes and Provenza have always had an interesting dynamic together – do you think that is why?
GW: Well, yeah. It’s always interesting in anything that has partners, it’s always interesting to have opposites…Beauty and the Beast.
(Kearran and GW laugh)
GW: In this case I won’t say which one’s the beauty, but it is Beauty and the Beast, it’s Laurel and Hardy, fat and skinny, I mean, it’s partnerships. It’s interesting, actually…I’m an older white man, she’s a gorgeous young African-American woman. That makes for a visual interest.
KG: Especially from where we started, obviously. Sykes probably wasn’t his favorite person, and now we work really well together.
GW: Exactly. I trust her and like her and it’s good.
MCTV: Speaking to that evolution of 
their relationship, to your minds, how is it that Amy has earned this, this spot with Provenza and his respect after starting off on such rocky footing?
KG: In the beginning, it wasn’t that she didn’t have the drive or the talent or whatever to do well, it was just the way that she went about it. I think she just had to kind of hold her own for a while and show what she really could do the job, and maybe also calm down with her excitement, and then I think he grew to respect her. She’s done a lot, she’s been given a lot of responsibility, she’s taken a lot of responsibility, and she kind of went rogue a few times. And he was one of the ones who always said “Let her do it. She’ll figure it out.” And I did, and I think that’s what garnered that respect.
GW: Well, also, she broke a few rules here and there–not big things, not against the law, but she stretched it and Provenza likes that. A lot. Continue reading
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Welcome to ‘What Would Sharon Raydor Do?‘, the podcast devoted to getting an in-depth view at Major Crimes Captain Sharon Raydor by the woman who knows her best, Mary McDonnell.
We will be including a few listener questions on the podcast each week – ask your questions below, or tweet them to us @MaryMcDonnell10 and @MajorCrimesTV using hashtag #WWSRD, and listen next week to see if your question has been answered!
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Wedding bells are in Provenza’s future – or are they?
Major Crimes wraps up its five-winter season tonight with an explosive season finale, but the case isn’t the only thing that’s going to be coming to a head. According to the sneak peek clip below, Provenza is up against more than one ticking clock as he tries to appease finance Patrice by getting wedding invitations out by her deadline, while still trying to help the team solve a gruesome series of murders.
Watch the below video to see how Provenza might be roping Buzz into his little scheme, and don’t miss the Major Crimes season finale tonight at 9PM/8C on TNT.
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This has been a big year for Julio “Scary” Sanchez on Major Crimes, as he has dealt with lingering anger management issues, coming to better terms with his wife’s death, and as we’ve seen the last few episodes, perhaps finding love again with a new member of the division. We visited with Raymond on the set of Major Crimes during the filming of the winter episode arc to find out some more of what we can expect this season and beyond from Julio, and what other projects Raymond is tackling during his hiatus.
MCTV: Julio has had the opportunity to work through his anger management and emotional trauma in previous seasons. In these final episodes, a lot of that has been coming full circle as he is faced once again with the memory of his late wife, and sharing that experience of having lost a spouse with Stephanie Dunn. How has this arc been for you to film?
Cruz: The subject matter is very 
difficult. It’s been a lot of hard work as an actor to deal with these storylines because you have this character who suffers from a traumatic incident in his life, then he carries his post traumatic stress syndrome throughout the rest of his life. You [Julio] never get over it. So that always has to be there for him, it haunts him. As the actor who portrays all of this, it begins to wear you out. It’s a very heavy weight to carry and after a while, it affects you. It exhausts you.
MCTV: As a result of Julio’s anger and outbursts, we saw him go head to head with Flynn earlier this season. Has that conflict with Flynn and Julio now been resolved?
Cruz: I actually think it’s still there somewhere underneath. If someone doesn’t trust you, that’s always an issue. You never know when that could happen again. But if you have a family, which this team of people are to each other, there is always conflict.
Is there any family that doesn’t have conflict? I doubt it, but that’s okay.
We’ve created a real family atmosphere with the characters on set, and they really relate to each other. The term of their experience together has been like 11 years, so they’ve really gotten to know each other. But also as in all families, if something comes up no one is afraid to say anything, they just tell you. So that can be a new source of conflict as well.
MajorCrimesTV: This season has held a lot for Julio so far, both personally and professionally. Any hints on what we can expect to see in these final two episodes of the winter season?
Raymond Cruz: You mean a little romance? I really can’t say much about that. But there is a lot on the horizon for Julio. I can say that I’m just taking it as it comes, the writers haven’t even shown us the last scripts from this arc yet, so I truly don’t know where it’s all going.
MCTV: We’ve seen a different side to Julio this season. Looking forward, do you think we’ll continue to see any changes for him?
Cruz: To be honest, I don’t think that my character has ever really changed. I think that rather, the viewers have been allowed more access to the characters because they’ve been granted that increased time with them in a way that they never were on The Closer. They get a more complete picture of the unit and how the police department works. With Major Crimes you get more of a sense of who they are and how they are bound to each other. You’ve seen them work together forever, they are bound together. If you spend a long time with someone, then you get to know them extremely well. The viewers have spent so long with the characters, and now they know them extremely well. They’ve gotten little bits in every episode. It’s like peeling an onion, you get new layers every episode.
MCTV: Like how viewers knew 
Julio’s wife had died in The Closer, but didn’t get the complete picture until years later on Major Crimes?
Cruz: Yes, exactly, and that detail canonically took place even before the events of The Closer. Julio always wore a wedding ring, so people always wondered if he was married. And then slowly over the years we’ve learned more about that, and how that has affected him.
MCTV: Do you have any projects that you will be working on during the hiatus?
Cruz: Yeah, I am working on another series called Full Circle for Direct TV. It’s a great project and the writing is really good. I started the day after our wrap for Major Crimes. No rest for the wicked!
The penultimate episode of Major Crimes winter season airs this Monday at 9pm/8c on TNT. You can next catch Raymond Cruz in season two of Full Circle, airing this March on DirecTV.
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Four seasons into TNT’s hit series Major Crimes, viewers have developed a personal connection to the LAPD’s fiercely loyal Captain in the same way that her detectives have developed a devotion to her. For Raydor, family extends beyond the people with whom she shares bloodlines or family names. For Mary McDonnell, the chance to portray a woman of equal emotional and intellectual strength and integrity is a source of joy for her as an actress.
When we spoke to McDonnell several weeks ago, season four of Major Crimes was just completing filming, and she was effusive about the season experience as a whole, and the people who have become her on-set family. She notes that this season’s super-sized episode order has allowed the team behind Major Crimes to have more creative liberty. “It takes a tremendous amount of energy and focus to keep the quality of the show high. I feel pleased by what we were able to do, because I don’t think that the quality dropped out at all. And knowing that gives us all a great sense of fulfillment.”
Despite the intensity of long work days and a 23-episode season, the longest of any TNT series to date, McDonnell says the tone on set and among the cast remained positive. “There was a very strong sense of ensemble this year, more than ever before; there were people working together easily, quickly, economically, and enjoying it. It had a wonderful feeling of familiarity and professional respect down there on the floor and a great appreciation for the continuing workplace. Everyone appreciates it, the cast, the crew. There are a lot of us on that floor every day, and to keep going with the flow, and knowing we’re coming back again, gives everyone a great sense of security.” Continue reading
Over the last four seasons, viewers have watched as Rusty Beck, played by Graham Patrick Martin, has gone from being an abandoned and mistrustful teen, to a young man with a stable support system of family and friends, and a burgeoning journalism career. We recently caught up with Graham on the set Major Crimes to talk about the evolution of his character’s growth, and what he calls “The Year of Rusty” this season.
MCTV: This year has been especially action-packed for Rusty. We’ve seen him take on challenges that he has never had to face before, and we’ve seen him really start to mature and move away from adolescence into adulthood. How has it been filming all of this and processing all the shifts in Rusty’s life?
Graham Patrick Martin: It’s been really fun for me! I feel like this is really The Year of Rusty in terms of how much he has come into his own. He’s been in the process of coming into his own this whole time but I really feel like this season is the first time where he seems to be acting like more of an adult in the sense that he’s taking responsibility for his actions and he’s not as self-centered. For the first time, he’s able to think about and focus on other people and I think that this process really started out with Alice, then Slider, and then just in general with his interactions with everyone in his life. At the same time though, he is still learning and growing, as we saw when he was being flaky with Gus, and avoiding acknowledging his feelings. I feel like that’s really interesting, because now it’s like Rusty has finally broken through that threshold of being a child and now he’s officially a young adult. He’s now figuring out who he is rather than just growing up into who he is.
MCTV: One particular initiative that we’ve seen Rusty take this year is with his journalistic ambitions and his commitment to his video blogs. How has that experience been for you? And will we see the vlog continue for Rusty next season?
GPM: It’s been a really different experience for me, and one that I have enjoyed. Initially James had this idea of Rusty getting into journalism and it’s something that we planted in season one. Prior to filming Major Crimes and around the time that I found out that we got the green light for the series, I went to James and pitched this idea to him. I thought that Rusty should have this notebook with him that he writes in very frequently because I feel like on the streets Rusty didn’t make any friends, and he had no one to talk to, so I felt like he needed an outlet, and therefore why not make it this notebook? James liked the idea and let me run with it, so if you notice, during the first season Rusty was always writing in this notebook, so that seed was kind of planted very early on. Then this year, James decided that we were going to take it a step further and go this whole route of Rusty the journalist.
Exploring this through his video 
blogs is a good way to further explore the whole storyline, and also to get the audience more involved. Plus it’s so much fun because at the end of the day, this show is a police procedural, not really a show about a teenage journalist, these two hardly ever go hand in hand. But, having the vlogs let’s us have the show as it is, as a police procedural, but also let’s us have this bonus material where fans can be engaged further and gain extra insight into the story and what Rusty is doing, all of which also then informs the A storyline with the rest of the cast. It’s just been a really fun thing to do this season, and I’m happy to say that we will be continuing them next season as well. (Editors note: Catch up with all of Rusty’s vlogs here)
MCTV: Speaking of Rusty coming into his own and maturing, it seems like there has been a shift in his relationship with Sharon this season both in how they relate to one another, and also with regards to her relationship with Andy Flynn, and having him in their lives. How has all of that been for Rusty?
GPM: I’m glad that you picked up on that shift. Firstly I want to note that Sharon and Rusty’s dialogue is a lot more equal now that it has been in past seasons and I think that is due to the fact that Rusty has grown a lot; he’s really maturing and he’s really trying to be an adult and I think that in turn warrants a lot of respect from Sharon. I mean, Sharon has always respected Rusty, but now that Rusty is growing and really taken control of his own life and not acting like such a victim of his circumstances, Sharon is now able to speak with him as more of an adult. Their relationship has really blossomed and now they’re also in a way, friends. He goes to her for advice like a friend would, so in a way, she’s both his mom and his friend, which I think is fantastic.
With Flynn coming along into their lives, it gets complicated. This is a guy that Rusty knows, and we’ve had some nice moments together and shared a lot. He’s been there for Rusty since the beginning even back in season one when he takes Rusty to the bus stop to see his mother. But, when it comes to this situation, the situation of grown men entering Rusty’s life as partners to the mother figure in his life, it has never been good. So when Flynn comes into Rusty’s life in this way, Rusty’s not incredibly supportive of it. It’s subtle though, it’s never straight up. He’s not against it, and he likes them both individually and he’s happy for them, but he’s got this risk radar that’s going off like crazy. In his mind, he’s thinking, okay, here’s another male coming into my life in this way. If you recall, going back to Jack Raydor, and then even as far back as Sharon Beck’s boyfriend, who dropped Rusty off at the zoo, this whole situation has just never been a good thing for Rusty.
Rusty trusts Flynn, and he likes Flynn, and Flynn has been an important person in his life, but in this specific circumstance, it’s hard for Rusty. At the end of the day though, I think he’s supportive of it and he sees that Flynn has good intentions and that Sharon’s happy. Had this happened a few years ago, I think that Rusty would be more inclined to freak out, but at this point, again, he’s older now and he’s grown, so he is able to look past his inhibitions.
MCTV: Two people who have really characterized Rusty’s adolescence have been his biological mother, Sharon Beck, and Philip Stroh. Will these two characters continue to shape Rusty’s life and his sense of security he goes forward? Or will he finally leave them behind?
I mean, the risk of Phillip Stroh is always there. The last season ended with him driving off in an Uber, and you don’t know where he’s going. But I think Rusty’s constant feeling is that he isn’t going to let fear rule his life. He’s going to go out there into the world, and he’s learned these counter-surveillance measures from Cooper and Syke
s, so he’s going to use them to the best of his ability. He’s not going to live in fear, he’s just going to live with a sense of awareness.
With respect to his mother, he loves her and he wants what is best for her, unfortunately he has the instinct to always want to be there for her. And that is still there within him. She is where she is, and he is not going to inhibit his life and feel guilty about this new opportunity that he has been given and how he’s going to take it and make the most out of it. He’s also not going to live in guilt.
Major Crimes continues its winter season this Monday at 9pm/8c on TNT
Though his perpetual troublemaker days may never truly been behind him, evidence suggests that Lt. Provenza may at last be mellowing a bit. MajorCrimesTV.net spoke with G.W. Bailey during a recent set visit to get the scoop on the upcoming winter episodes of Major Crimes, and find out if Provenza may finally be a changed man (hint: there may be wedding bells in his near future!)
MajorCrimesTV: You’re almost through filming this super-sized season of Major Crimes. Have you found there to be any unique challenges involved with the longer season?
G.W. Bailey: Doing 23 episodes is definitely not an easy thing, and its been a little bit like trial by fire. At the same time though, it is a very unique experience. I have been playing this character for so many years, but I actually never did a long-term series prior to The Closer or Major Crimes, though I have been involved in a lot of different network shows over the years. Some of those either didn’t last very long, or I was simply a recurring character. So to now film 23 in a row is very trying; and it’s especially trying on the writers, as they’ve been working virtually non-stop this year, but it’s rewarding at the same time. It’s just a different sort of an experience for them, and for all of us working on the show.
So doing more is always a challenge – mentally, emotionally, you just get tired. So yes it does have its challenges but in the great scheme of things, this is gravy; this is a great gig! It’s a safe place to work, good food, good housing, you know, it’s not a bad gig!
MCTV: Not only is this season longer than any other that you have done previously, but the structure itself is very unique. Can you speak a little bit about what is different in this upcoming winter arc?
G.W. Bailey: The writers are doing something that’s very new to us and that is a lot of fun for the final five episodes. They are a serial piece as opposed to a procedural piece, which of course means that there is one crime, or rather series of crimes, and they’re all connected to either a killer or a group of killers. We will be spending the entire final five episodes trying to solve those murders and bring that killer or killers to justice.
Structuring the show in this way is a 
big first for us, so that’s been fun to explore. And the best part is that we (the actors) truly don’t know, or rather we won’t know the outcome until the final episode, so all of us on set have our own theories as to who it might be.
