"Rizzoli & Isles" Season 7 premieres tonight at 9pm, June 6 on TNT. Titled "Two Shots: Move Forward," episode 1 will focus on the team's effort to find Alice before she destroys Jane's (Angie Hamon) life. Episode 2, "Dangerous Curve Ahead" will immediately follow at 10pm.
According to USA Today, "Rizzoli & Isles" is TNT's most-watched series, with an average of 7.6 million viewers per episode, which is why it definitely came as a surprise when the network eventually decided to pull the plug on the show. As it turns out, it was not the ratings that caused the cancellation, but rather it was the network trying to overhaul their lineup.
"The cancellation comes as a new programming team is rebranding TNT away from meat-and-potatoes cop and legal shows toward edgier series, such as thrillers Animal Kingdom and Good Behavior. Both series focus on flawed characters, a contrast to Rizzoli's do-gooder leads," the outlet pointed out.
Nonetheless, fans of the series were still devastated with the cancellation. TNT chief Kevin Reilly, however, felt that Season 7 was a good time to end "Rizzoli & Isles." While they cannot help but feel down about the cancellation, lead stars Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander held that it was, at the end of the day, an amazing show. They added that being on air for more than 105 episodes is a feat of its own.
"Our pilot had TV magic ...after a few seasons you start to deal with, naturally, the politics of any studio or network of just television business," Alexander explained.
"Rizzoli & Isles" executive producer Jan Nash speculated that perhaps one of the reasons why the series lasted this long, was because it was able to capitalize on a very important theme often neglected in drama series today: great female friendships.
"There are a few, mostly in comedies, now - but there have not been great female friendships that have been at the forefront of a drama since Cagney and Lacey," Nash said.
"Rizzoli & Isles" Season 7 premieres June 6 on TNT. Tune in for more spoilers and cast update. Watch the promo for "Two Shots: Move Forward" and "Dangerous Curve Ahead" below: