A new episode of Rizzoli & Isles titled “There Be Ghosts” airs tonight (July 11) at 9PM on TNT, and two weeks later, the series hits 100 episodes in a special milestone story that is directed by “Jane Rizzoli” herself, Angie Harmon.
At a recent event celebrating the milestone, we spoke with Executive Producer Jan Nash about all that’s coming up, including tonight’s show, in which Jane and Maura must unravel an old ghost story in order to solve a double murder at a hospital, and Angela convinces Frankie to stop avoiding Kent and accept his invitation to a concert.
“It’s a super fun ghost story kind of episode,” Nash told us about tonight’s new installment… and there’s a special guest. “Tess Gerritsen, the author of the original Rizzoli & Isles novels, actually does appear in the episode,” she teased. The novels that inspired the show have led to what has now been seven seasons of the highly-rated TNT series, and Nash said it has been “incredibly satisfying” to play in that sandbox.
“It’s always wonderful in television to write for fully fleshed out characters, so we all feel really lucky that we’ve had an opportunity to write for characters that were so fully formed and have such strong attitudes,” she told us.
Looking further into the future, the series’ 100th episode on July 25 features TV icon Sharon Gless (Cagney and Lacey), who became a part of Rizzoli’s 100th after a chance encounter at a Los Angeles eatery.
“Angie [Harmon] saw her at a restaurant,” Nash recalled. “She sent me a text with a picture saying ‘Look who I saw!’ Apparently when they were at dinner, Angie said ‘will you be in our 100th episode?’ and Sharon said ‘sure!'”
“We came up with an arc for her in the episode, we told her what it was, and she was kind enough to jump on board, and she was fantastic,” she enthused. As Cagney and Lacey paved the way for strong women on television, it’s not surprising that the series has come up among the production team before. “We talked a lot about what it would be like to actually do something that evoked Cagney and Lacey more directly, in a joking way more than in a concrete way, and the fact that we actually did it, I think, is actually kind of amazing,” she said.
“[The 100th episode] is really exciting,” she continued. “I think tonally, it sort of evokes the pilot. Some wonderful performances. It’s a very exciting episode of television. Angie did a wonderful job directing it. It’s terrific.”
Was it a challenge or was it a joy to have to wrap up the character’s story arcs as they go into the final episodes? “Yes,” she said. “It was both a challenge and a joy. I think as sad as we are that it’s ending, if it is going to end, we’re glad that we get to end it in a way that allows us to take the characters to a place where we would like to leave them. We feel very fortunate that we’ve gotten that opportunity, but again, it is very sad. We started shooting the final episode last week. It’s been very emotional.” As for what fans can expect? “Laughter and tears,” she promised.
Come back to KSiteTV soon for more Rizzoli & Isles coverage from the 100th episode red carpet, including interviews with the series’ lead actors! Some photos from tonight’s episode can be found below.
4 Comments
“It’s always wonderful in television to write for fully fleshed out characters, so we all feel really lucky that we’ve had an opportunity to write for characters that were so fully formed and have such strong attitudes,” Please, unless it is Maura or Jane we don’t want fleshed out characters, in fact we don’t give a rats a** about the ridiculous B characters, Nash destroyed what was once a pretty good show, She diminished Sasha Alexander’s part and increased Angie’s and the B characters, she made it more about the crime, and sorry Nash, no one watches your little show for the crime stories, your writers are not even remotely of the quality of NCIS or CSI or the like, you have sub par writers working on your staff, your only draw was the chemistry between Sasha and Angie and you screwed it all up. Hope you end up unemployed for a very long time.
Ditto to Susan’s comment. Nash took some fleshed-out characters and complete wrecked them, erased their backstories, their quirks, their typical behaviors — all in order to bring unimportant minor characters front and center while at the same time sending a strong misogynist message to the mostly female viewers (e.g., Maura has been sexually assaulted TWICE without repercussions for the men). Shame on Nash for taking credit for something she had no involvement in creating. The only thing she can take credit for is making this show unwatchable in its last few seasons.
Absolutely agree with you both.
The Show is called ‘Rizzoli AND Isles’
Not Rizzoli Rizzoli Rizzoli Korsak and Isles (as an After thought)
Jane AND Maura should be front and centre ALWAYS not boring B characters nor lack lustre crimes or other piffling stuff.
Tamero wasn’t perfect but Nash basked in the glorious chemistry and rapport she inherited then tore the core of the show apart ..namely Jane and Maura’s amazing friendship…shame on her and her feeble team for ruining a fascinating show
I also hope she never works again.
Let me jump on the bandwagon too. This became the Angie Harmon and Friends Hour. Sasha took a back seat all too often. Maura Isles is a remarkable character and seems to have gotten lost in the police stories that Jan Nash seems to be in love with. The chemistry between R and I is what drove this show and JT got that. Now you get passing obligatory scenes just to remind the audience that oh yeah by the way they are friends. Not really feeling it. Love the cast but the writers missed so many chances. I am glad to have fanfiction because those writers get the characters and take the audience where we hoped to go. Knew there was trouble when Bass and Jo Friday got banished. Still holding out hope that Jan Nash will redeem herself with Jane and Maura as a true couple.