I had a lot of issues with formatting this week, so I apologize in advance.
Here's what we learned this week from James and Tony:
From Tony:
- When asked about book recommendations Tony said Stephen King's 11-22-63 "was nothing short of brilliant."
- Tony's favorite authors are:
"Oh, I have 4 favorite authors. Hands down. Anything written by Charles Dickens, anything written by Mark Twain, anything written by William Shakespeare, and anything written by Joseph Campbell. Those are my favorites."
- Here's what he had to say about shooting and editing a show:
"Well, I guess that time varies. It takes 7.5 days (like they said) to shoot an episode from start to finish. But the editing process could take weeks, months even, because as soon as we finish one episode, we start another (obviously) and the editing crew, they get to work on one episode and the next one comes in and they have to set it up, and the episodes air week after week, and so it's conceivable that it could be well over a month before an episode is ready from when it's finished. But they could do it quicker if they have to because that's what they do. They're really good at that kind of stuff. We have a great post-production team."
- Tony Denison's favorite sandwich ingredients:
"I guess my favorite, I have 2: one would be a tuna melt, that would be tuna with cheese, and the tuna would be made with veganaise and not regular mayonnaise, and the second favorite would be... almond butter. Crunchy almond butter, on toast, those would be my 2 favorites." (I have to say that this is an awesome question, so I had to include it).
Here's what we learned from James:
- Many aspects of the Rusty character are taken from James' own life.
"Jill Z asks how much of Rusty's story is based on my own life. Quite a lot, really! But my parents were truly wonderful people who I loved enormously, and who were vitally important to my life. Much of Rusty's impossible attitude came from my own life as a teenager. And I did run away from home and live on my own before I graduated high school, a matter of some true difficult feelings in my family life. But my mother was not an alcoholic, she was a really great mother with an incredibly problematic teenage son. I tried to make up for it later in life. But my late teens and early twenties were not a lot of fun for anyone. Thankfully, I don't remember a lot of it."
- James was also asked why he made Rusty gay:
- "@Hope A-D says her husband wants to know why I made the Rusty character gay, because he didn't think it was necessary. I sort of disagree, for a few reasons. But first, I would like to note, that no one in my life has ever asked me why I made a character straight. But anyway! I write about Los Angeles, and in Los Angeles, which is an incredibly diverse city, there are a lot of people working very hard to build a better world. Diversity is America's strength. Los Angeles is proof of that. Every part of Los Angeles, we try to represent. As fairly was we can. And Rusty is part of this world. Also, the character is based a lot on me, which is probably why people don't like him that much."
- Next week's episode focuses on Julio and his issues with anger management
The rest of the recap is below. As usual, I've removed any references to this specific episode that may be construed as a spoiler. Because of the volume of questions, only James Duff's answers are included. He restates the questions in his answers so you can track all of the action.
James Duff Samantha K starts with a question most of you
have heard before, which is can Brenda come back for a
visit. The answer is, of course, she could. It's up to our schedules, really. She is a producer of another show on TNT. But we want to have her back and she wants to come. So it's a good possibility.
James Duff Nathan S notes that Fritz Howard's uniform doesn't fit him as well as his suit. That's true! He's wearing a vest around his chest that shocks him if his heart stops. Maybe he will have an implant by next season. A pacemaker. Right now, he has the vests
James Duff Evelyn David, a fellow mystery writer, asks if the gift Sharon was holding in her hand was something Andy gave to her in a scene that got edited out. Well. No. It was the box the gift came in, actually. I misunderstood this question from another person. Yes, the scene got edited down for the sake of time (we have to meet our format and that episode came in about six minutes over). A good eye, Evelyn, and Happy New Year to you!
James Duff Evelyn David, a fellow mystery writer, asks if the gift Sharon was holding in her hand was something Andy gave to her in a scene that got edited out. Well. No. It was the box the gift came in, actually. I misunderstood this question from another person. Yes, the scene got edited down for the sake of time (we have to meet our format and that episode came in about six minutes over). A good eye, Evelyn, and Happy New Year to you!
James Duff Julia K asks if we are going to see Sharon in danger in a future episode. We try to avoid false jeopardy on the show unless it is absolutely necessary to tell the story. But she has been in danger before and every police officer is in danger every day they go to work.
James Duff Eileen F-L likes that we have given Flynn a big part of the story line tonight. But notes that it's an icky plot.
It's an icky world sometimes. But Flynn is right for the lead in this episode, because hope for reform is the theme.
And Flynn has been successfully not drinking for almost twenty years.
James Duff @Deborah Lacy asks when you know a difficult scene has worked. Sadly, not until you've shot it. Very hard to know how a scene is going to work entirely before it's shot, but you go with your hopes!
It's an icky world sometimes. But Flynn is right for the lead in this episode, because hope for reform is the theme.
And Flynn has been successfully not drinking for almost twenty years.
James Duff Tracy E-M asks if Major Crimes could rerun on Saturday mornings as it used to do. I think the issue is that the show is sometimes running twice in a row and that TNT has a limited number of times they can run it on the license fee they pay the studio. Or, in other words, it's a business issue!
James Duff Remember they don't call it show art!
James Duff@Jill Z asks how much of Rusty's story is based on my own life. Quite a lot, really! But my parents were truly wonderful people who I loved enormously, and who were vitally important to my life. Much of Rusty's impossible attitude came from my own life as a teenager. And I did run away from home and live on my own before I graduated high school, a matter of some true difficult feelings in my family life. But my mother was not an alcoholic, she was a really great mother with an incredibly problematic teenage son. I tried to make up for it later in life. But my late teens and early twenties were not a lot of fun for anyone. Thankfully, I don't remember a lot of it.
James Duff Ashley T-R asks what made us bring Fritz back to the show and will we see more of Laurie Holden.
James Duff Jon never really permanently left the show. He was in every season and we just wanted to put him in as often as possible because we love working with Jon so much and because he's been such an important part of our lives for so long.
James Duff Laurie Holden is an amazing actor and everyone wants to work for her. Us more than anybody, really. My hope is that you will be seeing a lot more of her. We will see!
James Duff @Emily P asks if Charlie Hunnam played last week's villain, our first dead Santa. Absolutely not.
James Duff Except that if we had Charlie for a guest star we would have certainly given him a lot more to do!
James Duff And we would have been shouting it from the mountaintops.
James Duff He's a great actor. If he wants to be on Major Crimes, all he has to do is call us!
James Duff Terri Ann S S asks if there will be more seasons.
James Duff Yes! Major Crimes has already been picked up for next year, so we will be seeing you again next summer. But we still have three more winter episodes after this.
James Duff Denise A notes that, as a Deputy Chief, Fritz is
not as nice as he was when he appeared mainly as Brenda's
husband. Actually, he was always really tough, we just mainly
saw him in his domestic environment or helping his wife.
Unshackled by the rules of the FBI, he is much, much
tougher. A lot of people don't know that it's illegal for the FBI
to lie to suspects, but not illegal for local police. Fritz has
always had to rely very heavily on the FBI's rules. And all
that's over.
James Duff @Vickie O wants to see more of Julio. You get
your wish next week, because the episode is all about Julio.
And Raymond Cruz is amazing in it. Also brilliantly directed
by Anthony Hemingway.
James Duff A couple of people have made an issue of Rusty
keeping the same hair he had when he was a kid. This isn't
true, actually! His hair was much longer when the show
started. And it changed gradually. Maybe too gradually.
James Duff @Jane, whose last name I won't put here for
obvious reasons, thanks us for telling the real story of police
officers, and showing the long, hard hours they put in. We
only indicate how tough this job is. And it's not a job really, it's
a calling. And it's a calling that's an amazing service to the
community. Especially when the jurisdictions properly train
their officers, and those officers adhere to the law. People, I
think, would be surprised to know how much of themselves
police officers give up for the job. We indicate that, I hope,
with an authentic look at their work.
James Duff And with that, ladies and gentlemen, as per
usual, I leave you to watch the end of the show without me.
Come back next week when we'll see Julio face his demons.
I don't want to give anything away, but things are going to get
serious for our resident rageaholic.
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