Pop culture Q&A: Maura has 2 sets of parents on 'Rizzoli and Isles'
Question: I am a great fan of “Rizzoli and Isles,” but am somewhat confused regarding the story that introduced Maura's father. I remember a storyline a few years ago where Maura's father was a mobster and she testified against him in court, donated a kidney to her sister and met her doctor mother. Can you clear this up for me?
Answer: The biological parents of Maura Isles (Sasha Alexander) are the mobster Patrick Doyle (John Doman) and Dr. Hope Martin (Sharon Lawrence). But she did not meet them until she was an adult. To protect her from his enemies, Doyle claimed baby Maura died and had her adopted by another couple. That was Constance and Arthur Isles, played by Jacqueline Bisset and — you finally saw recently — David Ogden Stiers.
Q: My husband and I recently finished watching all six seasons of “HeartLand,” a Canadian-made series. We enjoyed it so much, but were disappointed in the last episode. It left a lot of questions unanswered. Will there be more episodes of this?
A: There already are. You must have been watching the show on Netflix, which has six seasons. A seventh and eighth season have also been made, and aired on UP TV, the self-described home of “uplifting entertainment.” The seventh season is now on DVD and the eighth is, at least for a time, on demand. (Check your local service provider.) A ninth season will begin airing in Canada in October, but I do not yet know where and when it will run in the United States.
Q: I read that “Longmire” would be returning. I have been watching the TV schedules for this but have not seen it yet. Any info?
A: The contemporary western drama unveiled its fourth, 10-episode season Sept. 10 on Netflix. For those of you unaware of Netflix, it is not a broadcast or cable channel but a service streaming programs online or through devices such as smart TVs when they are connected to the Internet. It has a subscription fee.
Q: Will “Grimm” be coming back?
A: Yes. The NBC horror drama begins its fifth season on Oct. 30.
Q: Will there be a new season of “Who Wants To Be a Millionaire” in the fall?
A: Yes, although it won't be everywhere you've seen it in the past. If you do see the show, though, you will find another new host, Chris Harrison of “The Bachelor”/“Bachelorette.” (Starting Sept. 14, it will air at 10 a.m. weekdays on WATM, Altoona, and The CW, Pittsburgh, and at 12:30 p.m. on WTOV, Steubenville.)
Harrison succeeds Terry Crews, who, after a single season, is reportedly focusing on other projects, both as an actor and a host. And, according to numerous reports, the format is getting changed — going back to the classic “ladder” approach to questions, where their value increases with each new question, instead of the random shuffling of values used more recently.
Mailbag update: A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that “Under the Dome” was wrapping up its third season with the dome coming down, but it was not yet clear that was the end of the series. On Aug. 31, CBS confirmed that the third-season finale on Sept. 10 would also be the series finale.
Rich Heldenfels is a staff writer for the Akron Beacon Journal. Write him at Akron Beacon Journal, 44 E. Exchange St., Akron, OH 44328 or rheldenfels@thebeaconjournal.com.
