The Closer

I have only a few television shows that I just have to see. Shows that while I watch them there must be peace and quiet. Children have to be in bed, chores must be done, cell phones are off, I have to be in my pajamas and I am ready to treat myself with The Closer. Even during the commercials, I am a serious viewer - no channel surfing. Don't even think about. I don't want to miss one delectable morsel of my one hour treat.
TNT advertises that The Closer is the highest rated show on cable. And so does TV Guide. Funny, since I only know one other person that watches it regularly. I ask co-workers and family if they watch it and I haven't found anyone yet. Their (and your) loss. It is a show that only comes on when the regular shows take their scheduled breaks - in the summer and somewhere around the holidays. New programming in the abyss of re-runs.
The Closer, in a word, is brilliant. TV Guide described it best when they said the formula of, "Unexpected moments of comedy, plucked heartstrings and a dash of gore - is working." It is really hard to describe. It's as if Lenny Brisco (from Law & Order) wrote a TV show. There are the wisecracks galore, over the top characters, wildly twisted plots and LAPD Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson played by Kyra Sedgwick.
You are asking yourself, "Who is she again?" She is and has been a working actress for over 25 years in television and films such as Born on the Fourth of July, Phenomenon, Heart & Souls and The Woodsman. All very different movies and very different characters. She is also a well educated and smart person. Smart enough to know that after rejecting even reading the script for The Closer, to listen to her husband, Kevin Bacon, and give the script a chance.
I am so glad she did! She is joined by such veteran actors as J.K. Simmons, Anthony John Denison, G.W. Bailey, Michael Paul Chan, Raymond Cruz and Robert Gossett. You may not know their names but they have very familiar faces and are the back bone of the LAPD's Priority Homicide Division. Chief Johnson directs these folks and works through their unique personalities and gets the job done. Catches the bad guy.
Her methods were unsettling for her team at first...they resisted but after seeing how she gets the suspects to confess (hence she is the closer)...they know she knows what she is doing. Johnson is the new Columbo. She has her catch phrases and that bag. She will come into the interview room with a suspect and start digging through this big tote bag she carries everywhere. It confuses the suspect and with her blond hair and deep southern drawl, they think she isn't that smart. That is their fatal error.
Never underestimate her. Or what this show will come up with next!
Watch The Closer and you will be a convert...but you will have to wait until the new season starts this winter. The season just ended. Sigh.