"Rizzoli & Isles" season 2 tidbits archive post!

Season 2 of "Rizzoli & Isles" was shot from March to September 2011. This post was updated and bumped every time new tweets (spoilers, photos, etc.) from the set came to light. Follow the Absolutely Angie R&I Twitter list to keep up with the cast and crew during the hiatus, and come back next year for the season 3 tidbits archive post!

A complete list of "Rizzoli & Isles" season 2 spoilers can be found HERE.

September 19
3. Nicki: That's an official wrap for season 2 of Rizzoli & Isles folks!
2. Nicki: Kogi truck today for lunch compliments of paramount! Yum!!!
1. Nicki: And I'm off to my last day on the R&I!

September 18
1. Nicki: I guess I should go to bed... it's my last day at R&I tomorrow. We have a few pick up shots to do & I have to wrap everything up. Night!

September 16
20. Nicki: Season 2 of #RandI is officially wrapped! Got to visit my #Castle peeps tonight on our lot as well... I hope you wrap soon @Stana_Katic! ;)
19. Nicki: Setting up for the big stunt of the night that will take us to a wrap on season 2 here at #RandI!
18. Nicki: Taco truck on set compliments of @JanetTamaro... Yum!! Thank you!
17. Janet: Angie, Sasha, me, Bruce in Last hours of Season 2. Amazing actors. Great fans.

Video: Angie Harmon on the best compliment she's ever received!

From TV Feeds My Family:

This press tour got off on the right foot Tuesday with a relaxed and Flip camera friendly visit to the set of Rizzoli & Isles. The TNT cop series--one of the most popular series on U.S. cable--stars Angie Harmon as police detective Jane Rizzoli. Sasha Alexander plays medical examiner Dr. Maura Isles. Bruce McGill, Lee Thompson Young and Lorraine Bracco (as Rizzoli's mom) are also on the series. Deep into production on its second season, Rizzoli & Isles airs in Canada on Super Channel.

The series shoots across a couple of sound stages on the storied Paramount Studios lot. TCA Journalists were given plenty of time to roam the set--maybe too much time judging by the above video. Those are press tour jokers Neal Justin and Roger Catlin, Bill Harris and Brad Oswald cutting up on the set. Damn--I didn't get any of them to sign a waiver.

The series is set in Boston. One of the well-dressed standing sets is the bar where the cops hang out--The Dirty Robber. Vancouver-based Post Media scribe Alex Strachan (left) did not appreciate the bar's prominent Boston Bruins Stanley Cup pennant.

Angie Harmon--striking in person--and co-star Thompson Young (who, as a teen, spent three years in Toronto shooting Disney Channel's The Famous Jet Jackson), share a story at the end of this clip that involves Harmon, a love goddess and a famous cartoon character.


Credit: billbrioux

Absolutely Angie: A fan site with news, photos, and commentary related to "Rizzoli & Isles" star Angie Harmon.

Lee Thompson Young & Sasha Alexander videos from the set of "Rizzoli & Isles"!

From TNT:





Watch HERE and HERE on YouTube.
Edit: Part two of Lee's video diary can be viewed HERE.
Absolutely Angie: A fan site with news, photos, and commentary related to "Rizzoli & Isles" star Angie Harmon.

Starry Constellation interviews Lee Thompson Young!

From Starry Constellation Magazine:

Q. What can you tell us is new this season on "Rizzoli & Isles" and with your character?

A. This season I think in general we're just building on what we did last year that worked well with new characters in the world of Boston. Also Angie and Sasha and their relationship and filling in the ensemble around them. As the other characters are filled in we're getting more backstory for me and where I came from. It's really fun for me to explore that for that character.

Q. Are there any plans to flesh out your character so we'll get to learn more about his background?

A. I don't want to give away any surprises, but there is definitely stuff about how he grew up and his background. Just the history of him and his life and what made him the man that he is.

Q. Where do you continue to draw from for your portrayal?

A. A lot of it is definitely in conversation with the writers, I'm definitely in conversation with the writers constantly, and them kind of giving me directions. A lot of stuff we don't even know because they haven't written it, so it became a mixture early on of what was in the books about the character and my personal research with the Boston Homicide Unit and what they showed me. Then there is also a lot of my own creativity and as the season goes on and more comes out about his history incorporating that into the direction we had going. I go back and forth with the writers and our technical advisor who was a cop in Boston for thirty years and a Homicide detective for twelve years with his input and also there is always the process of making the character with drawing on your own experiences to make it real. For me I draw on my own personal experience to make a deeper connection. The specifics often come from the show, the writing, and the setting and then really connecting to it and fulfilling the character and making it come alive.

Ask Lee Thompson Young!

Tweet your questions for Lee Thompson Young, a.k.a. Det. Barry Frost (a.k.a. The Famous Jett Jackson) HERE.

Absolutely Angie: A fan site with news, photos, and commentary related to "Rizzoli & Isles" star Angie Harmon.

Lee Thompson Young on workplace shifts & partner dynamics in season 2 of "Rizzoli & Isles"!

From ArcaMax:

Look for some changes when TNT's "Rizzoli & Isles" returns to the lineup in July. That's the word from Lee Thompson Young, who says the team is two episodes into its second season, production-wise.

According to him, we'll see a "deepening and strengthening of the relationships between the people inside the homicide unit ... Everyone's life is getting filled out, and that's really interesting to play as an actor."

He also says there are "definitely some partner dynamics" ahead between Angie Harmon's Rizzoli character and her former partner in the homicide detective squad, played by Bruce McGill.

"There'll be workplace shifts, too. And the sets have been updated."

He points out, "Obviously Sasha (Alexander) and Angie (Harmon) are fabulous, and they will always be the core of the show. But there are other avenues to explore with the rest of the ensemble, and they're doing a good job of introducing each person's character."

Young, who plays Harmon's new partner, Barry Frost, tells us the way the show took off and became a hit and "the size of the response we had was a pretty big surprise to all of us."

The personable actor and USC grad, who was once known as the title tween favorite of the Disney Channel's "The Famous Jett Jackson," has been busy elsewhere between "Rizzoli & Isles" camera calls.

'I did 'The Good Guys' on Fox, then an episode of 'The Event,' then came back to 'Rizzoli and Isles," says Young, whose credits also include the big-screen "Friday Night Lights" and "Akeelah and the Bee." "It's nice to mix it up a little bit and get a fresh perspective every time. It's like a palate cleanser. I like to fight against routine and getting stale."

And a word from Angie:

Absolutely Angie: A fan site with news, photos, and commentary related to "Rizzoli & Isles" star Angie Harmon.

"Glam Couture Magazine" interviews Lee Thompson Young!

From "Glam Couture Magazine" (download the PDF HERE):

"Yeah, it's great," he says. "But those particular women are really fantastic. Sasha has a very caring, nurturing kind of energy and she's also super hot. Angie's really sweet too. She just loves to have a good time. She's a jokester, a prankster, so she keeps everybody laughing." I ask if he ever feels overwhelmed by all the estrogen on set, and he laughs, holding his head with both of his hands. "Sometimes there are moments when the girl-talk gets a litle intense, and I have to walk away." He looks at me, almost accusingly. "Sometimes when they talk about those...feminine things I feel like I'm behind the curtain in Oz and the wizard is telling me all the secrets, and I'm like 'No! I don't wanna know!'"

Absolutely Angie: A fan site with news, pics, & commentary related to "Rizzoli & Isles" star Angie Harmon.