In Plain Sight

Did You Know?

• The series was originally scheduled to premiere on Thursday, April 24, 2008, but was delayed to Sunday, June 1, 2008, due to the WGA strike delaying production of Burn Notice.
• The third season was reduced from 16 to 13 episodes when new showrunner John McNamara took a leave of absence for medical reasons.

Development and production

In Plain Sight, an American drama series, first aired on the USA Network on June 1, 2008. The show centers on Mary Shannon, a deputy U.S. marshal working for the Federal Witness Security Program in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She juggles the demands of protecting witnesses, her partnership with fellow marshal Marshall Mann, and a troubled personal life. Filming took place in Albuquerque, and the series ended on May 4, 2012, after five seasons.

The premiere was originally set for April 24, 2008, but was postponed due to the WGA strike delaying Burn Notice. It debuted on June 1 instead. A 16-episode second season was ordered on July 21, 2008, and began on April 19, 2009. After creative differences with executive producer David Maples, USA Network used the 15th episode, the first part of a planned two-part finale, as the season ender. Maples and co-producer Paul Stupin left as executive producers after season two, becoming consulting producers, with John McNamara taking over. Todd Williams and Lesley Ann Warren became guest stars, and the writing shifted to focus more on Mary’s cases and less on her personal life, while keeping character-driven storytelling. USA executive Jeff Wachtel said the producer change reflected a desire for the show to stay upbeat rather than dark.

A third season of 16 episodes was ordered on August 2, 2009. The planned 16th episode of season two, intended to open season three, was shelved and replaced by a new opener written by McNamara. The season was cut to 13 episodes when McNamara took medical leave. John Romano became executive producer for the remaining episodes, and the season ended with a cliffhanger in episode 13. After season three, USA ordered two more seasons. Season four premiered on May 1, 2011, in its original time slot. The fifth and final season, with eight episodes, began on March 16, 2012, and concluded on May 4, 2012.

Jeff Beal composed the theme song. W. G. Snuffy Walden scored the first season, Tree Adams the second, and Evan Frankfort, Liz Phair, and Marc Dauer handled the music for the rest of the series.

Cast and characters

Mary Shannon (Mary McCormack) is a capable officer, a nonconformist uninterested in typical feminine wiles. To her witnesses, she is known as Mary Shepard. She has trust and abandonment issues that lead her to have difficulties with relationships due to a difficult childhood resulting from her fugitive father's abandonment and her mother's alcoholism. During the first two seasons, Mary dates Raphael 'Raph' Ramirez, a minor-league baseball player, and they eventually become engaged; however, she often seems unhappy with the relationship and the engagement, and her feelings of doubt about marriage cause Raphael to call off the engagement during the third season. During the fourth season, she has a one-night stand with her ex-husband, Mark, and becomes pregnant. Throughout her pregnancy, Mary is convinced that she wants to give the baby up for adoption and becomes agitated whenever everyone around her starts treating her differently. In the season-four finale, 'Something Borrowed, Something Blew Up', she goes into premature labor. In the season-five premiere, 'The Anti-Social Network', after Mary gave birth to a daughter, she changed her mind about giving her up and decided to keep her because she felt that no one could protect her baby better than she could. She names her daughter Norah Shannon, and shares custody with Mark. During the final season, she meets and begins a relationship with Kenny, a single dad. Marshall Mann (Fred Weller) is a fifth-generation deputy U.S. marshal; to his witnesses, he is known as Marshall Miller. Marshall Mann is Mary's partner, as well as her best (and only) friend, and occasionally appeared to desire more than her friendship as the series progressed. Laconic and laid-back, he seems to know a little about everything, what Mary calls 'useless information', and is rarely ever speechless. The only time this has ever happened was in the season-three episode 'Whistle Stop', when he discovered Raphael and Mary had broken up, leading her to declare him 'verbally impotent'. Friction between Marshall and Mary occurs at times, often due to Marshall's cerebral approach and Mary's gut instinct, though both are extremely protective of witnesses and each other. In later seasons, Marshall begins a relationship with Detective Abigail Chaffee of the Albuquerque police force. Abigail and he eventually move in together and ultimately become engaged. In the series finale, he is made chief inspector for WITSEC's southwest region. Stan McQueen (Paul Ben-Victor) is chief inspector for WITSEC's southwest region and is Marshall and Mary's boss. He is a flexible boss and stand-up guy, quickly backing up both Marshall and Mary when they hit trouble. Stan likes to stick to official WITSEC doctrine as often as possible and is reluctant to bend the rules without authorization. During the second season, Eleanor and he have a one-time intimate encounter. In the final season, he begins a relationship with his dance instructor, Lia Hernandez, and gets promoted to chief deputy director of WITSEC in Washington, DC. Jinx Shannon (Lesley Ann Warren) is Mary's alcoholic mother, abandoned by her bank-robbing husband to raise her two daughters alone. Although she adores her daughters, she has never been a traditional, supportive, job-holding, maternal figure. She recognizes that Mary is the stable member of their family, and this has inspired her to live up to her daughter's example. Firmly on the path to recovery, Jinx slowly grows into her own woman. Currently sober, she still follows Mary's lead, but is slowly becoming more reliable now, having a job and a house of her own. In the final season, she goes to Miami to support Brandi while she is going through rehabilitation for alcoholism. Brandi Shannon (Nichole Hiltz) is Mary's younger sister, very much her mother's daughter and the baby of the family. She lives in the moment and was originally involved with a shady man named Chuck. Despite this, she looks up to Mary, and at times, sees her as an example. Brandi is loyal to a fault, but is slowly developing a conscience independent of others' approval. Moved by seeing a young infant in the hands of a meth addict and a drug-dealing boyfriend, Brandi backed out of a drug deal initiated by Chuck so child services would protect the baby. During the second season, she meets and dates Peter Alpert, a man she met in Alcoholics Anonymous, who later turned out to be very rich. Brandi takes this information differently, believing she is just 'one of his girls' and initially tries to act selfishly to have him break up with her. After he stays with her, he states his desire that they continue to date, to which she agrees. Brandi eventually moves in with Peter.

Reception

The series premiere of In Plain Sight brought in 5.25 million viewers, a record for USA Network that hadn't been seen since Psych premiered in 2006. Its audience was 32% larger than Burn Notice's summer debut and 40% larger than the network's first airing of Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Season one hit DVD on March 31, 2009, followed by season two on March 9, 2010. The season-four DVD had a wide release on June 5, 2012, after an early Target exclusive on March 13, 2012. Start TV carried reruns from October 14, 2019, until May 14, 2026.