Why was Rizzoli & Isles Cancelled?

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Rizzoli & Isles is getting ready to say goodbye.

The upcoming seventh season of the TNT drama will be its last, network president Kevin Reilly announced Thursday at the Television Critics Association’s winter press tour.

The show, which ranks as the Turner-owned cable network’s second-most-watched series ever, behind only The Closer, will return in the summer for an abbreviated 13-episode season. 

Reilly told reporters that stars Sasha Alexander and Angie Harmon have “had really satisfying runs,” and that he wasn’t aware whether or not the duo would or wouldn’t do more of the series. 

He noted that producers agreed that the show, produced by Warner Horizon Television, had run its course and said the series “had a good run.” 

“We felt like it was time,” said Reilly. “[Everyone agreed that they should] go out and finish with 13 great ones — and everyone felt good about that.” 

The 13 episodes are down from its series-high 18 in season six and its lowest order since its 10-episode freshman run. The news comes after the supporting cast was expected to renegotiate their contracts for season seven and after Harmon and Alexander renegotiated their deals together last season. 

The cop drama ranks as one of basic cable’s top five series every year in total viewers. It was last summer’s top show on basic cable in the metric. Jan Nash, who took over as showrunner after creator Janet Tamaro’s departure, will return for its final season.

The decision to end Rizzoli & Isles comes as TNT is plotting a new and edgier direction with series including Animal Kingdom, Good Behavior and the newly ordered Tales From the Crypt horror block. Reilly told reporters that he expects the network’s turnaround to take at least three years. 

Rizzoli & Isles becomes the latest TNT series to come to an end under Reilly, who also canceled Public Morals, Agent X and Legends recently. The executive told reporters Thursday that some of those decisions were based on ratings as well as the fact that the series didn’t fit in with his overall vision for the network. He singled out Major Crimes, which returns for an abbreviated 13-episode fifth season in the summer, as a show that doesn’t quite fit with the network that continues to stick around based on its ratings performance.

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TNT’s long-running drama “Rizzoli & Isles” will end after the upcoming seventh season.

Turner Entertainment chief creative officer Kevin Reilly confirmed the cancellation Thursday at the Television Critics Association press tour in Pasadena, Calif., saying “It felt like it was time.”

The final season will air summer 2016 with 13 episodes.

“I think both ladies had a very satisfying experience,” Reilly said of “Rizzoli & Isles” stars Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander, when asked if the series coming to end was influenced by the actress. Adding that the duo probably would have done more episodes, Reilly said, “It felt like it was time. Everybody felt good about that.”

In the police procedural, Harmon stars as police detective Jane Rizzoli and Alexander plays medical examiner Dr. Maura Isles.

“‘Rizzoli & Isles’ hit a cord with audiences the moment it aired, which is unusual and special,” Alexander told Variety. “And it has remained so for almost seven seasons thanks to the passionate commitment of our amazing fans. In this world, that’s a huge success. I believe we have two eyes so one can look back to the past as the other turns its gaze to the future. As ‘R&I’ comes to a close, I am deeply grateful and inspired by the work we have done and the friendships we have forged but also am excited to see what the future will hold.”

After Season 4, creator Janet Tamaro stepped down as showrunner, exiting the series with Jan Nash stepping in.

“Rizzoli & Isles” has faded since its very strong first two seasons in 2010 and 2011, but remains among the most popular cable programs. For the 2015 calendar year, it averaged 6.6 million viewers (ranking fourth among basic cable dramas) and a 1.3 rating in adults 18-49 (ranking 11th). The series was renewed for its seventh and final season last summer.

Also at TCA, Reilly announced that the DC Comics drama “Titans” was no longer in development.

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Partners in crime! Rizzoli & Isles took the crime show genre to the next level with its 2010 premiere, focusing on two female friends and colleagues who didn’t need anyone else to solve the case.

Based on the novels by Tess Gerritsen, the TNT drama followed detective Jane Rizzoli (Angie Harmon) and medical examiner Dr. Maura Isles (Sasha Alexander) as they worked together to put away bad guys in the greater Boston area.

The series ran for seven seasons — from 2010 to 2016 — and the chemistry between the two leads is what keeps fans yearning for a reboot.

“It’s pretty effortless, I must say,” Alexander told the Advocate magazine in 2012 of her onscreen connection with Harmon. “It’s kind of one of those things that clicked from the moment we read together.”

Despite being very different people off-screen, the two actresses made for believable friends and coworkers for years. Jane was a tough tomboy who had a big family, while Maura was prime and proper, and together they made sense.

“Angie and I are very different people. We’re raised different. In real life we’re very different, but the chemistry just works,” the NCIS alum explained. “I feel like we represent different types of women and we can celebrate all of that without it trying to be one or the other.”

The connection seen between the show’s stars on TV stretched to the rest of the cast, which was partially made up of Jane’s family members — brothers police officer Frankie Rizzoli Jr. (Jordan Bridges) and Tommy Rizzoli (Colin Egglesfield) and their “ma,” Angela (Lorraine Bracco).

The crime-solving duo’s coworkers were rounded out by detective Vince Korsak (Bruce McGill), detective Barry Frost (Lee Thompson Young) and lab tech Nina Holiday (Idara Victor).

Tragedy stuck the Rizzoli & Isles family in August 2013, when Lee Thompson Young died by suicide at the age of 29. The loss was felt throughout the cast and crew, which is what led to them honoring him in the season 5 premiere.

“We had one simple principle, which was to make sure that we were honoring Lee and the character of Barry Frost,” showrunner Jan Nash told Slate in June 2014. “If the people who loved Lee chose to see it, they would feel that we were honoring his memory.”

Scroll down to see what the cast of the TNT drama have been up to since its 2016 end.

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