Major Crimes Boss Sounds Off: I Hope New Wednesday Slot Isn't a Problem

Matt Webb Mitovich

Updated 20 February 2017 at 2:35 pm

TNT’s Major Crimes at long last resumes Season 5 this week — though for the first time in its history, not airing on Mondays.

Instead, the offshoot of The Closer — which also called Monday home — will be airing Wednesdays at 9/8c, starting Feb. 22. As such, you can understand if the series’ creator is a bit anxious.

“This is not the night I would have picked, and this is not the time of year that I would have picked to come back on,” James Duff shared with TVLine, as part of our Season 5B preview (coming later this week). But with TNT hosting NBA basketball on Mondays this time of year, and there being a need for scripted fare on the cabler, the stalwart procedural was called into action.

As for how Major Crimes — which in Season 5A averaged 3.8 million viewers and a 0.5 rating in Live+Same Day numbers — will hold up against fellow crime dramas Criminal Minds (averaging 7.6 mil/1.4) and Law & Order: SVU (6.2 mil/1.5) — Duff clutches onto this advice: “What I’m told is that the live numbers are no longer important,” that TNT instead keeps an eye on Live+7 DVR playback and such.

There’s also the none-too-small fact that Major Crimes already has been renewed for Season 6 — for at least a preliminary 13 episodes.

Duff also has great faith in his cast and their presence on social media, to raise awareness about the new time slot and then drum up excitement on Wednesday evenings. “I do believe that we have some experience in locating our viewers, and letting them know where we are,” he says. “We do keep up a very active social media presence, and we are in communications with our viewers as closely as we can be.”

But despite the best promotional efforts that any TV show can put out, Duff admits that he himself has been blindsided many a time by, say, the onset of each new Survivor season. “When it comes back I’m always surprised, because somehow the message doesn’t get to me,” he says.

“But we are very actively trying to get the message out to people,” about Major Crimes‘ big move, he reiterates. “I do hope that Wednesday night at 9 doesn’t end up being a big problem for us.”

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