ARTICLES ABOUT RIZZOLI & ISLES
Rizzoli & Isles has been mentioned in a few year-end TV lists, so I thought it would be useful to compile a list. But when it got down to it, I could only track down three year-end mentions, so I’m also including three articles that came out around the time of the pilot for their advocacy of Jane and Maura to get it on :-).
AT THE END OF THE YEAR
Drama Mama, New York Post, December 22, 2010
A top 10 list of “characters that made Mama's year merry and bright.”
At #8:
Isles of "Rizzoli & Isles." Now that Kyra Sedgwick is hanging up her holster, Mama's new favorite female medical examiner, Maura Isles, can assume the title of basic cable's best female character.
Paige Wiser, Chicago Sun-Times, December 28, 2010
A list of the writer's 10 favorite things about television.
At #9:
“Rizzoli & Isles”
TV needs boundary pushers, but it also needs hourlong procedurals you can watch in reruns for decades. TNT added to its solid lineup (“Law & Order,” “Leverage,” “Bones”) with the absorbing “Rizzoli & Isles.” It’s become my favorite treadmill show - it’ll pass an hour of exercise drudgery, and the dialogue doesn’t suffer from your heavy breathing. Angie Harmon is a frumpy cop (!) and Sasha Alexander is her “queen of the dead” medical examiner pal. What’s the female equivalent of a “bromance”? Rizzoli and Isles is the best new couple of the year.
I don't really agree about the show being good merely for "exercise drudgery," and Paige Wiser clearly hadn’t thought of “womance” the way TV Guide did, but "best new couple" is certainly nice to see.
Brian Stelter, New York Times, January 2, 2011
And in the New York Times itself, in an article about the slight increase in television viewing in 2010:
“USA’s rival TNT had a breakout hit in “Rizzoli & Isles,” an opposites-attract crime-solving show.”
“Attract” indeed!
GOING BACK TO THE BEGINNING ...
Louis Peitzman, TV.com, July 13, 2010
Quotable quote
Why do Bones fans tune in every week? Why was The X-Files one of the most successful shows of the ’90s? Can we credit the compelling mysteries, the dynamic arcs, the strong performances? Nope. It’s all about the UnResolved Sexual Tension.
…
I was entertained by the pilot, in which Detective Jane Rizzoli (Angie Harmon) and Medical Examiner Maura Isles (Sasha Alexander) went after a murderer who they suspected was copying a serial killer from their past. It was standard fare, so I chose to focus on the elements that interested me-Law & Order’s Harmon returning to my TV screen, Billy Burke in something that isn’t Twilight, and the subtle-but-persistent URST between the title pair.
Don’t look so shocked. Yes, Rizzoli and Isles are both women, but this is 2010.
Todd VanDerWerff, AV Club, July 12, 2010
Quotable quote
Rizzoli & Isles … vacillates all over the place. It's quirky like Bones. Only then it's a dark horror movie like Criminal Minds. Then it's like Moonlighting, only between two women, which is weird. … I realize that, strictly within the concept of the show, neither character is a lesbian. I realize it's also kind of offensive to suggest that Harmon's character is a lesbian when she's a tomboy. But here's the thing: Harmon and Alexander have a ridiculous amount of chemistry. And not just friendship chemistry. You half expect these two to fall into each other's arms. I don't think this show SHOULD be about the two falling in love or anything like that, but that's literally the only thing we have to hang our hat on. The attempts to make them seem like old friends fall flat. The attempts to make them seem like partners who don't really like each other fall flat. The attempts to play them as people still getting to know each other fall flat. Pretty much the only scenes that work are the ones where you, say, contrive a way to get them in bed together and then hint, 'Ohhhhhh, are they gonna kiiiiissss?!'
Dorothy Snarker, AfterEllen, July 26, 2010
Quotable quote
Rizzoli & Isles is a good enough new crime show. It has two capable, attractive female leads. The cases have been intense. The supporting cast has been impressive. But something isn’t quite right. No, it’s not the politics of Angie Harmon (who plays detective Jane Rizzoli) - though, seriously, don’t get me started. No, it’s not that Sasha Alexander (who plays medical examiner Maura Isles) was shot in the head on that other show. It’s that Rizzoli & Isles should be a lesbian buddy cop show.
___________________________________________________________________
Mr. Peitzman, Mr. VanDerWerff, Ms. Snarker - excellent arguments all. If it was this apparent at the beginning of the season, how much more true was it by the end?
AT THE END OF THE YEAR
Drama Mama, New York Post, December 22, 2010
A top 10 list of “characters that made Mama's year merry and bright.”
At #8:
Isles of "Rizzoli & Isles." Now that Kyra Sedgwick is hanging up her holster, Mama's new favorite female medical examiner, Maura Isles, can assume the title of basic cable's best female character.
Paige Wiser, Chicago Sun-Times, December 28, 2010
A list of the writer's 10 favorite things about television.
At #9:
“Rizzoli & Isles”
TV needs boundary pushers, but it also needs hourlong procedurals you can watch in reruns for decades. TNT added to its solid lineup (“Law & Order,” “Leverage,” “Bones”) with the absorbing “Rizzoli & Isles.” It’s become my favorite treadmill show - it’ll pass an hour of exercise drudgery, and the dialogue doesn’t suffer from your heavy breathing. Angie Harmon is a frumpy cop (!) and Sasha Alexander is her “queen of the dead” medical examiner pal. What’s the female equivalent of a “bromance”? Rizzoli and Isles is the best new couple of the year.
I don't really agree about the show being good merely for "exercise drudgery," and Paige Wiser clearly hadn’t thought of “womance” the way TV Guide did, but "best new couple" is certainly nice to see.
Brian Stelter, New York Times, January 2, 2011
And in the New York Times itself, in an article about the slight increase in television viewing in 2010:
“USA’s rival TNT had a breakout hit in “Rizzoli & Isles,” an opposites-attract crime-solving show.”
“Attract” indeed!
GOING BACK TO THE BEGINNING ...
Louis Peitzman, TV.com, July 13, 2010
Quotable quote
Why do Bones fans tune in every week? Why was The X-Files one of the most successful shows of the ’90s? Can we credit the compelling mysteries, the dynamic arcs, the strong performances? Nope. It’s all about the UnResolved Sexual Tension.
…
I was entertained by the pilot, in which Detective Jane Rizzoli (Angie Harmon) and Medical Examiner Maura Isles (Sasha Alexander) went after a murderer who they suspected was copying a serial killer from their past. It was standard fare, so I chose to focus on the elements that interested me-Law & Order’s Harmon returning to my TV screen, Billy Burke in something that isn’t Twilight, and the subtle-but-persistent URST between the title pair.
Don’t look so shocked. Yes, Rizzoli and Isles are both women, but this is 2010.
Todd VanDerWerff, AV Club, July 12, 2010
Quotable quote
Rizzoli & Isles … vacillates all over the place. It's quirky like Bones. Only then it's a dark horror movie like Criminal Minds. Then it's like Moonlighting, only between two women, which is weird. … I realize that, strictly within the concept of the show, neither character is a lesbian. I realize it's also kind of offensive to suggest that Harmon's character is a lesbian when she's a tomboy. But here's the thing: Harmon and Alexander have a ridiculous amount of chemistry. And not just friendship chemistry. You half expect these two to fall into each other's arms. I don't think this show SHOULD be about the two falling in love or anything like that, but that's literally the only thing we have to hang our hat on. The attempts to make them seem like old friends fall flat. The attempts to make them seem like partners who don't really like each other fall flat. The attempts to play them as people still getting to know each other fall flat. Pretty much the only scenes that work are the ones where you, say, contrive a way to get them in bed together and then hint, 'Ohhhhhh, are they gonna kiiiiissss?!'
Dorothy Snarker, AfterEllen, July 26, 2010
Quotable quote
Rizzoli & Isles is a good enough new crime show. It has two capable, attractive female leads. The cases have been intense. The supporting cast has been impressive. But something isn’t quite right. No, it’s not the politics of Angie Harmon (who plays detective Jane Rizzoli) - though, seriously, don’t get me started. No, it’s not that Sasha Alexander (who plays medical examiner Maura Isles) was shot in the head on that other show. It’s that Rizzoli & Isles should be a lesbian buddy cop show.
___________________________________________________________________
Mr. Peitzman, Mr. VanDerWerff, Ms. Snarker - excellent arguments all. If it was this apparent at the beginning of the season, how much more true was it by the end?