RIZZOLI AND ISLES: Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander on Friendships and Strong Female Characters

Anyone remember that old ABC show WOMEN’S MURDER CLUB?

Based off the similarly-titled James Patterson book series, four friends — an inspector, a medical examiner, a district attorney, and a journalist — worked together to solve crimes. Angie Harmon led the cast of WMC, but it launched the year of the Writers Guild strike and quietly died.

Now, however, Harmon is back with a new crime-solving show, RIZZOLI & ISLES — based on the Tess Gerritsen book series  — about a cop and a medical examiner. Yes, there’s a bit of a deja vu thing happening here and we’re not the only ones who’ve recognized the similarities.

“This is a perfected version of [WOMEN’S MURDER CLUB],” Harmon (Rizzoli) says. “It really is. Am I not supposed to say that? I feel like WOMEN’S MURDER CLUB was a dress rehearsal for this.”

And while there are certainly a good deal of parallels between WMC and R&I, Harmon actually thinks R&I is more like the popular show CAGNEY & LACEY.

But the show — which is a lot of fun and certainly fits in with TNT’s other female-led dramas — premieres this week, so you can watch it and make your own comparisons.

Check out the video below to see our Q&A with Harmon and co-star Sasha Alexander (Isles) and get their take on strong female TV leads, what they dig about the way their on-screen friendship is playing out and why they’re dying for an 80s flashback…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFq4WlgLcbA[/youtube]

Will you be checking out RIZZOLI & ISLES on TNT tonight (July 12) at 10 ET/PT?

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