James Duff (2015)

Yes. The gift was given to Sharon by Lt. Andy Flynn, and it was a little angel ornament for her tree.

The scene was cut for time.

Yes, all of that is pretty much on purpose. I wanted to give Jack some of the flaws that I felt like Andy had overcome.

It's an interesting story.

I was a big fan of Mary's from BATTLESTAR GALACTICA and before, and when it went off the air, Kyra ran into her at an awards banquet, and Mary said she liked the Closer, and Kyra suggested I write a role for her.

So I reached out to her, and worked very hard to create the right part for her. And after a lot of collaboration, we came up with the part of Sharon.

It was partly happenstance. But also, great good fortune. That our first meeting, in the writer's room, I set it up a little like the conference room in BATTLESTAR GALACTICA - where the delegates from all the planets met.
And I kept her title as "President of the Colonies" for her.

I still think that BATTLESTAR GALACTICA Is one of the best shows ever made for television.

Hi Evelyn! Glad to see you here. There will be movement at the end of the episode tonight. It's a grace note. But one worth watching.

Yes. Next season we're going to be studying the concept of courage, and how that affects our daily lives.

There's not enough bravery in the world today, and we'd like to know why.

I can't answer the question just yet about whether Sharon's parents are still alive, but she does have siblings. We have not yet seen them.

Yes. Tom Derringer is Sharon's ex-husband, and I can't see writing him off the series, especially since he's SUCH an amazing actor. He fits in with our company as if he were in every episode. We can't wait to work with Tom again!

Like a lot of single mothers with full-time jobs and 60-hour-a-week responsibilities, Sharon is fairly tied to the department and her family. Naturally, she will have friends at her church, and from schools where her children went... but our storytelling obligates us to find a killer every week... and so sometimes there's a limit to how much of her personal story we can share.

Gavin & Sharon are friends and we hope to see Gavin again someday.

Kathe is a brilliant actor and a really good friend. I love her work as much as any fan ever could. She constantly impresses all of us with her skill & professionalism. And nothing would make me happier than seeing her name appear in the dips to black.

The pictures of 2 little girls you see on his desk are his nieces. He has 3 sons, all of whom are in college.

I don't know if you will hear Sharon singing in the future, but it was fantastic to hear her humming THE NUTCRACKER. And she definitely has a great singing voice. Mary - as probably many people know - can do practically anything, and has been nominated for 2 Academy Awards. So singing should be a breeze. I just don't know how many police captains do it on a daily basis.

My favorite episode this season for various reasons was the Christmas episode, because I always love the Christmas episodes. From an artistic point of view, I would probably say our episode with Raymond Cruz that we did last week.

Yes, you will see movement tonight near the end of the 2 hour finale in the Shandy relationship.

I love Provenza too! And the actor who plays him was my acting teacher in high school, so it's especially fun to write for him. But I also love writing for Rusty, and Sharon, and all the other characters on the show. Probably Rusty is the character who speaks most often in my own voice.

We hope very much to have more of Flynn's family next year as we go deeper into all the characters of MAJOR CRIMES and get more personal in relating their pasts.

Rusty has already met his biological father & his biological mother he knows very well. He will hopefully continue to visit his mother in county jail until she is released. More on this matter... but you're on the right track!

Please don't worry about an SOB-spin-off as I feel very strongly that my first loyalty would always be to MAJOR CRIMES.

Besides, the further away we get from the SOB storyline, the less likely it seems that we would spin it off.

Still a big possibility. But I can say no more.

I think that Rusty wants to be a journalist when he grows up, because I see him writing all the time. We'll see!

Annie Pott's character, Clarissa, would tell you she is NOT a psychic.

I can't tell you anything else because it would give away the plot, except that she was brilliant and fun to work with.

No! Hahahaha!

Before I created THE CLOSER, I started as an actor, working in the regional theater system in Texas. I did a couple of off-off-broadway plays, and then I segued into writing. My first play for adults was produced on broadway, and pretty much around the world, and though I wrote more theater, I found myself drawn to television. A TV movie I wrote called "Doing Time on Maple Drive" got me an Emmy nomination, and my career in television seemed pretty well begun.

I know that everyone wants to see that deleted scene between Andy & Sharon. I hated to cut it because of time. Unfortunately, I have very little to say about what goes on the MAJOR CRIMES DVDs. You'd be surprised at how little executive producers have to do with what happens to their shows after their initial airdate. I wish I could order a gag reel, because they really are very very funny!

Sharon is supposed to be in her late 50's.

Of course, we'd love to see Eddie Redmayne and Brad Pitt and Meryl Streep ... but we are mostly happy just to find the best actors working in Los Angeles and give them an opportunity to show their stuff. You'd be surprised at all the talent available here that goes untapped. We make a point of searching out and looking for great & under-used actors.

Amy was in the military police in Afghanistan. And has a degree in criminal justice. She is probably the smartest person in the division, and very often has to hide a little bit of her intelligence in order not to seem like a smarty-pants. She is played by a gifted & beautiful actor whom i love and adore. And you will be seeing a good deal more of Amy in our next season.

Thank you for complimenting our stunts & our action. Several times, our stunt coordinator has been nominated for SAG awards for the job he does making us look real and genuine. Our stunts are planned out with the cooperation of real LAPD officers, so we are trying very hard to make them look as authentic as possible. If you knew how many meetings went into getting a single stunt right, you'd probably be shocked by the sheer volume of it all!

Unfortunately, putting more about stunts on the DVDs is not up to me. But I agree with you - they deserve a featurette.

Jack is trying to get back into his ex-wife's good graces. And knows he's screwed up his life. And is hunting for a way to make things better. Difficult to find after 30+ years of bad behavior. But you have to give the guy credit for trying!

Of the shows airing right now, I would love an opportunity to write for GAME OF THRONES or DOWNTON ABBEY or in the recent past, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA. But I think I more enjoy watching these shows than I would enjoy creating a script for one!

All 3 of these gentlemen are fantastic actors and great & worthy performers whom I admire. I would never say never to any one of them.

Briefly, since i want to keep it short: a great concept with great collaborators and a LOT of hard work, joyfully done! I pitch a story and the characters to a network, and a network pitches it back to me, and then I pitch them a story, and then I pitch them how that story morphs into a series, and then I write a script. And then they either pick it up, or they don't.

Sharon is absolutely a straight woman. But she has nothing but respect for the LGBT community.

I can't wait to be inspired. I write for a living. But I will say that I do find inspiration in the justice system, and how complex and simple it is at the same time. And I have several projects I'm working on but i don't like to talk about them until production begins, because so many things can happen between inception and filming that I hate to promote something if it doesn't happen. And that's due to experiences early in my career, where I was told productions were going forward and then for one reason or another, they did not.

For legal reasons, I'm not allowed to read fan fiction or spec scripts or any material related to the storytelling of MAJOR CRIMES. But I am thrilled to know that people like the show so much that they commit themselves to this new art form.

We are very flattered by it.

We always felt like this was a possibility, Sharon and Andy together. And that we always feel like it's a problem - Sharon & Andy together. But we feel determined to explore the nature of romance in middle age. And Tony and Mary are with us 100%.

Graham was the last person to audition for the part. And he was the only actor who completely understood it - from the top down. I never intended for the Rusty character to transit from THE CLOSER to MAJOR CRIMES. This is a case of an actor being so brilliant that I could not let go of him - from a writer standpoint, you do not find performers like this often enough to let them slip through your fingers.

I think, most importantly, the courage to change.

And the courage to face new challenges.

And to let go of the safety (which is really a mirage) of the status quo is how we are thinking of it.

You can expect a lot of murders! And you can expect to know a great deal more about the character's personal lives, as each of them faces their own demons.

I think Rusty would be neither supportive nor in opposition to a relationship between Sharon and Andy. I think that Rusty believes such a relationship already exists and they aren't as aware of it as he is.

There will be a moment when you see Deputy Chief Howard worry about his heart, and moments when we worry about his heart. The Tao / Howard dynamic is hilarious to me. I also like that Tao is a consultant on a tv show, so very much like Detective Mike who works with me on MAJOR CRIMES.

Of course we want to meet Andy's son & to see Nicole again! this will depend on their schedules, and on our breaking of the stories. But yes, we hope so.

We would love to see JK Simmons back as Chief of Police Pope. Unfortunately, though, you probably won't be seeing him on MAJOR CRIMES. You will be seeing him on big screens and maybe seeing him win an Oscar for WHIPLASH in which he gives the performance of a lifetime. The only proper response to hearing "JK Simmons wants to work with you" is to say "thank you."

Hahaha!
I agree with you on both points.
We will see a Buzz-centric story next season as he rises up in the ranks of Reserve Police Officers.

It is always possible that Provenza will get married again, because he's already been married 5 Times! Sometimes people keep doing something until they get it right. Maybe Patrice is his opportunity to get it right.

We will see.

Haha! The truth is - I always feel like it takes about 250 people to create a successful show. And that the real joy I feel comes from my participation in this community.

Yes, the plan was to always have the show be more of an ensemble, and to let individual characters rise & fall inside the storytelling from week to week. We are always shifting points of view inside MAJOR CRIMES. During THE CLOSER, the story was always told from Brenda's perspective. Now, in MAJOR CRIMES, the plot can unfold from literally anyone's point of view.

Normally, a person has a little bit more life experience before they pen their autobiography. I like where Rusty's story has gone so far, and I hope to continue telling it for a few more years.

In a way, the story is somewhat autobiographical - since the character is somewhat based on me.

Brenda does not figure into the story tonight. But definitely Deputy Chief Howard has his wife's best interests at heart. And that will be obvious from the very start.

Your english is fantastic!

We've discussed revising the Bill & Dennis stories. Brenda didn't have their murders to solve because they didn't happen on her watch.

We would like to have a police officer visiting from a foreign jurisdiction of some sort, working with the MAJOR CRIMES unit to catch an international killer. It will be much more likely this coming season than last season.

Flynn & Provenza always find a way to make a problem bigger! We will see Provenza & Flynn once again encounter a serious problem that they inflate into a crisis. I call Provenza "Kid Kerosene" because there's no fire he can't make bigger!

1) I have a much more open idea of how MAJOR CRIMES could end. If I am given the opportunity to know when it will end. But MAJOR CRIMES is much more diffuse in its point of view than THE CLOSER was, and can go more places than THE CLOSER went. The second it stops being new, we should take it off the air.

2) We have a contract with Kyra to appear in several episodes of MAJOR CRIMES pending her availability and our schedule, and we continue to work to find an opportunity when she can reappear. Kyra and I are very good, close friends. We talk constantly. So it's not just bullshit. Haha!