Major Crimes Facebook Chat with Phillip Keene, Ralph Gifford, Carson Moore & James Duff

Phillip Keene who plays Buzz joined co-creator and executive producer James Duff and writers Ralph Gifford and Carson Moore for tonight's Major Crimes Facebook chat. 

What did we learn tonight?

• Sanchez may get a love interest next year and in two weeks the episode we will see some of his personal life. 
• Phillip Keene thinks the show should be renamed, "Buzz Crimes." I think he's been hanging around Provenza too much.
• Phillip's Twitter ID is: @phillipkeene. He likes to know where everyone is watching the show from
• Next week's episode features a Santa flash mob. It really doesn't get better than that.

One of the best questions was about Sharon and Andy from Alona Arcari:

James Duff Ilona Arcari asks if Tony and Sharon are officially in "a relationship." Of course, they are. They are in a boss/subordinate relationship, they are in a detective and detective relationship.

- Ilona Arcari hahaha I meant in ROMANTIC relationship but I deserved that! haha 

James Duff We will have to see. Sharon just figured out a couple of things last week.

James Duff She doesn't know what to make of it.

James Duff But further than that...

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 Special Guest chatters with us here tonight are the writers of tonight's episode, Ralph Gifford & Carson Moore. And Phillip P. Keene, who plays Buzz, just stepped into the office (by mistake) and we are not letting him leave!

James Duff And then, of course, there's me!

James Duff Carson and Ralph, the writers of the show tonight, were really excited to work with the FORCE OF NATURE we call Stacey K. Black, who also directed the episode of The Closer in which Mary was nominated for an Emmy.

James Duff Bill N asks how we manage to inject so much humor in a crime show. The truth is, if you go to crime scenes, the people who do this for a living participate in a lot of dark humor.

James Duff There is no other way to get through the darkness which we must travel without a little light.

James Duff Murder is the darkness. Humor is the light.

James Duff Katie Bartz Photography asks if the infamous Stroh will return? Yes, he will!

James Duff He's in the winter finale!

James Duff And Carson and Ralph wrote the episode he appears in!

James Duff Jeanette N says Buzz is easily her favorite character and wants to see more of him. Also she asks about returning characters from SOB.

James Duff Phillip says thank you! And he agrees: he is the best character on the show and can't think why he doesn't have more scenes!

James Duff Why isn't it called Buzz Crimes?

James Duff And we will see more of our SOB characters, starting tonight!

James Duff Fritz is back as Deputy Chief Fritz Howard.

James Duff And, happily, in our last two episodes, our favorite SWAT characters make it back.

James Duff And in our finale, Commander McGinnis and City Attorney Gloria Linn put in an appearance.

James Duff Tonight, of course, we say hello again to Judge Richwood, played with genius authenticity by Steve Tom.

James Duff Evelyn David says she is rewatching her favorite scene from last week, which would be Andy, Sharon, Rusty and Andy's daughter in the condo. We love that moment, too! Tony and Mary were great together, and Graham was sly and charming and Torrey did a great job as Flynn's daughter.

James Duff Faylee James says her cable has been out for three hours.

James Duff Carson and Ralph are horrified and are on their way over to fix it.

James Duff They will there between the hours of 2 and 7 the day after Christmas.

James Duff @Katie B asks if we have to worry about any team casualties. There might be an unexpected resignation tonight.

James Duff Yes. There could be an unexpected resignation. The papers are ready.

James Duff Ralphie and Carson are both happy with the way the first act turned out. They're seeing it for the first time tonight, with all of you.

James Duff Ralph, I mean.

James Duff Just want to say, Stacey K. Black directs with real élan

James Duff Thad A asks if there is any truth to the rumor that we may have a spinoff of Major Crimes with Jon Tenney and Malcom-Jamal Warner. Yes, there is a little truth to that rumor.

James Duff But it is not written in stone!

James Duff Of course, the whole cable business is undergoing tremendous change. We are lucky to be here with our characters on Major Crimes for so long.

James Duff Kathy G mentions that Phillip P. Keene is a wonderful dinner party. And she should know! Kathy, we love you and miss you!

James Duff Lorraine B asks if Sanchez will get a love interest. Very probably. We are doing a lot with Sanchez next year. And in two weeks, we are diving very deeply into his personal life!

James Duff Ilona Arcari asks if next year we'll ever see any more of Provenza's ex-wives. Oh. Maybe!

James Duff No, but next week you will see her both her biological children together with Rusty for the first time.

James Duff Along with a Santa Flash mob dancing to Johnny Mathis singing, "We Need a Little Christmas."

James Duff And yes, Jack deliberately mispronounces Sharon's name. It annoys her.

James Duff And it annoys the editors, too!

James Duff For those of us asking about Alice, or who have been asking about Alice, we will get to her next year.

James Duff But we don't want to give away how.

James Duff We have a plan for Alice that Carson cooked up!

James Duff Oh, did I mention Tom Berenger was in the episode tonight?

James Duff @EvelynDavid points out it's the first time Rusty has ever called Sharon, Mom.

James Duff Yes, it is.

James Duff And it was to avoid talking about himself.

James Duff Paize B asks if Sharon could be made a Commander, or if there is still a promotional freeze in the LAPD. We could see a promotion! That is a distinct possibility!

James Duff -Jackie C also asks if Sharon can be promoted. Ralph and Carson are suggesting yes. Phillip is suggesting yes. I don't know.

James Duff Benjamin S asks if Nadine will return as DDA Rios. Yes. She is in our last two episodes this winter. 

James Duff And she rocks!

James Duff Deborah Lacy asks us what our favorite episode is this season. I liked 305, where Dr. Joe and Rusty framed the episode, and Rusty shared his big secret with the squad. Phillip likes the one you're watching. So far, we are only mentioning episodes written by Ralph and Carson. I'm sure that's coincidental.

 James Duff Honestly, I think we had a pretty decent summer  of good shows. And I really loved our winter premiere.

 
James Duff Next week, for example, Christmas figures largely. But the crime is really interesting, too. It's a difficult balance to strike.

James Duff We try to have more personal stories in the winter, and delve more deeply into the character's personal lives and feelings. It's a different tone.

James Duff  They tried to put Phillip in a jacket and he said he was fine with a L.A. sweater.

James Duff They all say it was really, really hot outside, and even though it's a Christmas episode, we shot it in September and it was maybe the hottest day of the year.
 

James Duff Ralph and Carson were there when the car was burned up and Phillip came the next day.

James Duff Phillip says it most definitely is him.

James Duff @ToddH asks if there is any consensus on the show about whether Phillip or Jonathan DelArco is cuter.

James Duff And Jack Raydor is about to be very surprising, ladies and gentlemen.

James Duff We didn't!

James Duff And Carson and Ralph are anxious to watch the end of the end of their episode and hope we didn't screw it up for them.

James Duff I don't use Twitter that much myself...

James Duff Phillip says he would really like to know where everyone is watching from and you can follow him @phillipkeene on Twitter.

To read a pre-season interviews with James Duff and crew, click here, here and here. You can read last week's recap here.