You Need A New Duo During 'Rizzoli & Isles' Hiatus

These days, it's getting more and more rare to have a long-standing television show. It's more common to have a series put in fewer, smaller, high-quality seasons — if it's lucky enough to make it to a second season to begin with, that is — than keep going and going and going on one network. Of course, there are exceptions. Rizzoli & Isles, for example, is finishing up its sixth season on Sept. 1. and has already been renewed for another, according to Deadline. And though I'm relieved the TNT series is safe, I'm already wondering when Rizzoli & Isles willreturn for Season 7.

I'm not surprised the show is renewed for another season. It's a solid summer performer. As Deadline wrote when it reported the renewal, "Rizzoli & Isles ranked as basic cable’s No. 1 summer series last year and currently occupies the top spot this summer." It would be silly for TNT to let that go. The bad news, though, is that, since it is such a dependable summer staple, we have to wait until next summer for another 13 episodes. Though there is no official premiere date for Season 7 besides "next summer," the past four seasons have premiered in June, so that's when fans should expect to see it again. I'd say that's a bummer, except, after six years, we all should have seen it coming. Still, hooray for another season! Seven is a hard milestone to make.

So, in the absence of our favorite crime-fighting duo (sorry, Batman and Robin), here are some ampersand-ed TV pairs you can watch throughout the fall.

Doll & Em

Tonally, this show is pretty much the opposite of Rizzoli & Isles, with a low-key vibe and a handheld look to the camera. Yet, even coming from totally opposite directions, they both explore female friendships/working relationships, which is nice to see on TV (if still annoyingly rare). The third season of Doll & Em premieres on HBO on Sept. 13, which is hardly a wait at all.

Mike & Molly

Not only does this show have an ampersand in the title, it also is tangentially related to law enforcement, since Mike is a police officer. Only instead of a procedural crime drama with a new case to solve each week, you get the comedy stylings of Melissa McCarthy. Mike and Molly has been renewed for a sixth season — making almost as long-running as Rizzoli & Isles — but the CBS premiere date has yet to be announced beyond "midseason." Still, that's earlier than next summer.

Blood & Oil

This is more of an ensemble drama than a pairing of tough lady characters, but there are a bunch of women in the bunch, including Rebecca Rittenhouse, Amber Villetta, Miranda Rae Mayo, and India de Beaufort, who plays the town shark (which is awesome). They're all mired together in a North Dakota town where everyone's trying to get rich off of an oil discovery. That doesn't sound like it'll have the teamwork of Rizzoli & Isles, but it does make for soapy drama, which is almost as good. The show debuts on ABC on Sept. 27.

Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll

It's nothing like Rizzoli & Isles. It isn't about law enforcement, isn't a procedural, and only has one woman star. But there's one thing this show has: all of the ampersands. On that front, it has Rizzoli & Isles totally beat.

Images: TNT; absolutelyangie, not-all-the-prayers/Tumblr; Giphy