Via TNT Press Release:
TNT’s Hit Drama Series Major Crimes Returns Monday, November 25
With Complex Cases and One of Television’s Best Ensemble Casts
TNT’s hit drama series Major Crimes, which fired up summer as one of basic cable’s Top 10 dramas, returns this winter with eight powerful new episodes. Oscar® and Emmy® nominee Mary McDonnell stars as Los Angeles Police Captain Sharon Raydor, who heads up a special squad within the LAPD that deals with high-profile or particularly sensitive crimes. The series is set to begin its winter run Monday, Nov. 25, at 9 p.m. (ET/PT), with the season finale set for January 13.
Major Crimes explores how the American justice system approaches the art of the deals as law enforcement officers and prosecutors work together to score a conviction. In the series, McDonnell is joined by an extraordinary ensemble cast that includes G.W. Bailey as Lieutenant Provenza, Tony Denison as Lieutenant Andy Flynn, Michael Paul Chan as Lieutenant Mike Tao, Raymond Cruz as Detective Julio Sanchez, Kearran Giovanni as Detective Amy Sykes, Phillip P. Keene as tech expert Buzz Watson, Robert Gossett as Assistant Chief Russell Taylor, Nadine Velazquez as Deputy District Attorney Emma Rios and Jonathan Del Arco as Dr. Morales. Graham Patrick Martin also stars as Rusty Beck, a homeless teen and material witness taken in by Captain Raydor.
This past summer on Major Crimes, Raydor and the detectives in the squad finally settled into a good working relationship. But they are now under the watchful eye of Deputy District Attorney Emma Rios, who has been assigned to shadow investigations and work with Raydor’s team to build successful cases and secure plea deals whenever possible.
Throughout the summer, Rusty struggled to come to terms with his past and his own emotional turmoil. His close friendship with a female classmate showed signs of bringing his life some sense of normality, but Rusty pushed her away for reasons he refuses to explain. And Rusty’s distrust of DDA Rios will continue to grow as her actions make him begin to question her intentions.
In the winter episodes of Major Crimes, the squad will be called upon to investigate the deaths of two brothers who may have died as a result of a bad batch of drugs, track down a recently released prisoner whose therapist has concerns he could be dangerous and follow a money trail full of surprises when a body turns up at a posh country club. The winter episodes will also reveal the mysterious person sending threatening letters to Rusty and Raydor, and Rusty will finally testify against Phillip Stroh in a preliminary hearing. Jon Tenney – who played FBI Agent Fritz Howard on The Closer and the first season of Major Crimes – returns to direct the Dec. 16 episode and will guest star in two episodes.
TNT’s Major Crimes launched in 2012 and finished its first season ranking as basic cable’s #1 new series of the year. The drama returned earlier this year for its second season, averaging 6.9 million viewers in Live + 7 to rank as one of basic cable’s Top 5 summer series. In key demos, Major Crimes has averaged more than 2.1 million adults 25-54 and 1.6 million adults 18-49 in its second season.
Major Crimes is produced for TNT by The Shephard/Robin Company and Walking Entropy, Inc., in association with Warner Bros. Television. The Closer’s James Duff, Greer Shephard, Michael M. Robin, Adam Belanoff and Rick Wallace serve as executive producers on the series. The show is produced by Andrew J. Sacks
Season 3 may have just begun filming, but Major Crimes is already breaking records for 2014! TNT has announced that the ratings success of the winter episodes of Season 2 has propelled Major Crimes into the top spot as TNT’s most-watched show of Quarter 1 of 2014, beating out previous ratings darling Rizzoli & Isles.
