If you're feeling a little blue now that the summer TV season is winding down, don't fret, at least if you're a TNT fan. Why? The network has announced return dates for three of its current summer shows, which will allow them to finish out their seasons, and a date for arguably their most critically acclaimed show early next year.
Leverage will be returning on Sunday, November 27th for the first of 8 additional episodes in season four. The following night, The Closer and Rizzoli & Isles will both be returning (9:00 and 10:00, respectively) for 5 episode stints. All three will be coming back summer 2012 for their next full seasons, with The Closer's summer 2012 being its swan song.
Southland may not be joining the party of short episode stints in late fall/early winter, but that's because its fourth season will be premiering on Tuesday, January 17th, 2012 (10:00) for another 10 episode installment. Season four will be featuring actress Lucy Liu as a guest star.
TNT has also confirmed a TNT Mystery Movie Night that will feature six movies based on mystery novels and featuring a slew of familiar faces portraying pivotal characters. Scott Turow's Innocent, starring Bill Pullman and Marcia Gay Harden, will be the first to premiere, airing on Tuesday, November 29th at 9:00. It tells the story of a judge (Pullman) "charged with the murder of his wife 20 years after he was cleared of the death of his mistress". The following night, Ricochet (9:00), based on the best-selling book by Sandra Brown, will premiere, as John Corbett will be playing a detective investigating a judge while carrying on an affair with the judge's wife.
The next week will see the next two mystery movies, starting with Hide (Tuesday, December 6th, 9:00), which is all Carla Gugino, mental hospitals, and missing persons. On December 7th (9:00), we'll find an attorney (Dermot Mulroney) coming home for where he thinks is a routine case, but what is really a way to confront past demons in Silent Witness. Based on the April Smith novel of the same name, December 13th's Good Morning, Killer (9:00) will focus on Catherine Bell's Ana Gray, an FBI Special Agent tracking down a serial kidnapper.
If you're a little worn out by all the missing persons, affairs, and death from the first five movies, December 20th's Deck the Halls (9:00) may be just what you need, as we get to see two characters from the Mary Higgins Clark Universe (Alvirah Meegan and Regan Reilly) come to life for the first time.
Additional actors featured in TNT Mystery Movie Night include Richard Schiff, Kevin Alejandro, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Gary Cole, Julie Benz, Cole Hauser, and Kathy Najimy.
