End of series BIG TIME SPOILERS.

I love this show. Although I've seen each episode, some numerous times, I never paid much attention to behind the scenes stuff, so maybe those of you who have, can enlighten me on some questions.

When I first learned that Sharon was getting killed off I was pretty shocked and kind of bummed. but after seeing the last few episodes without her, it seemed clear, at least to me, that she wasn't really needed. I liked the show better without her. It was an ensemble show and that was why I liked it so much. I can't say I liked it better than The Closer, but I liked them in different ways.

I was more interested in Raydor on The Closer. In Major Crimes she got too sappy. She had no faults, not one. Brenda was more complex and deeply flawed, but redeemable.

So my question is: Does anyone know of any creative or personal differences Mary McDonnell had with the series creator? I wonder if he killed her off to stick it to her by saying: "See? You're not all that. We never really needed you to begin with."

Then there was the issue of her not being in the final episodes credits. Who cared? She wasn't in the episodes! She wrote a pompous essay for Variety that was hard to forget for how inflated her sense of the character she played on MC was. She claimed her Twitter feed turned black by the pics fans had used of her name in the starring position on MC in protest to her not being listed in the credits. I went back to November in her feed and I saw one. Maybe she meant that the fans profile pics blackened out her feed and now they're changed. Still, it seems like an arrogant, pumped up exaggeration.

Anyway, I do love the show and I would have loved it just as much without her cloying character Sharon Raydor.