Summer series set to debut in June on TNT. It stars Kyra Sedgwick as a police detective who transfers to LA to become the head of some special unit that investigates murders. Sounds like a "Glenn Close on The Shield" rip off and will probably suck but it's original programming and on in the summer so I'll probably watch.

I've been seeing commercials for this on TNT and they say it's going to premiere on Monday June 13th 9/8 PM CST.

It's been getting some pretty good critical buzz, and J.K. Simmons is in it! I'm in - love me some Schillinger.

I've had the L&O marathon on today and the promos for this have been on. I'm intrigued. She's supposedly ex-CIA and some kind of genius on difficult cases -- particularly good at interrogations, I gather.

Love that the suspect in the promo I'm seeing is Mallory from The West Wing. And JK Simmons -- I agree -- is a good reason to tune in.

I'm a little worried about the accent. It had better seem damn authentic or it's going to get old, quickly.

I'll be watching for the one the only G.W. Bailey aka Captain Thaddeus Harris. I'm a huge J.K. fan. I'm really hoping this is a good show.

Obviously not enough people are watching the NBA otherwise this thread would have more visitors. The ads for this show and the mini series "Into the West" have been going nonstop during NBA playoff games on TNT. So much so they have made jokes about them a few times during "Inside the NBA."

J.K. Simmons! Yay! They should have made him the star of a show. Man's a genius.

The premiere of The Closer will run commercial free. So "closer" means she gets confessions. I did not know that.

I'm thinking more of a "Helen Mirren in Prime Suspect" rip off. But I'm watching it anyway.

Some good actors lined up for this. I'll definitely give it a look.

Only I'm already annoyed about how she supposedly loves junk food--one preview went so far as to say she has an eating disorder. I guess it was between that and having her fall down a lot.

Kyra Sedgwick wears about a size 4, so unless we see regular scenes of her purging in the ladies' room, I'm not buying it.

Yeah, Kyra was talking about that on The View but she didn't mention anything about an eating disorder. A detective with an eating disorder--that's something different, at least.

Well, they're all ripping off the 'super-Closer': Andre Braugher's Emmy-winning role of Detective Pemberton on "Homicide: Life on the Streets", whose questioning sessions in "The Box" were awesome and legendary. But so what? Every city police dept probably has a closer.
This 'closer' really interests me. I've gone from mocking Kyra's southern accent delivery to really liking it, which is a triump for the repeated, incessant ads on TNT. It grew on me and now I want to see this show. Personally, I'm really curious when I see a 'Closer' cutting off the questions and leaving the room, while the 'suspect' demands she get back in there and continue the questioning. Talk about cockamamy! I'm intrigued and hooked, at least for the first show. And no commercials? I'm impressed.

Several of the reviews are comparing this (semi-favorably) to "Prime Suspect," and since I miss that show dearly, I'm looking foward to giving this a chance. And JKS? Can only mean good things.

I must respectfully disagree, Raider One. The more I see the ads the more her accent grates on my last nerve. The premise looks interesting, though, and I generally like Kyra Sedgewick, so I'll tune in. I just hope she tones down the accent a bit. We get it, you're from Atlanta, except that just about everyone from Atlanta does not sound like they're from extreme southwest Georgia.

Well, now that I've actually seen the show, I must agree. Boy is she annoying. I don't really like Kyra, but I was desperate for something to watch (read a book? perish the thought). Besides, I really liked her in the "The Woodsman" - she was both incredibly tough and incredibly vulnerable. But her character on this show was irritating. And what was with the obsession with snack foods? I didn't get the point. The best part was the interrogation, otherwise I was kinda bored...especially with the cookie cutter fellow detectives.

I liked it. Yes, there were some cliches among the detectives, but they're all good character actors and I thought they made it work well enough. I'm not crazy about the sugar fetish -- I agree, it wasn't clear what's up with that -- but I think she's an interesting character otherwise and there's clearly some backstory ("ethics investigation") to explore.

I, too, enjoyed this first episode, though granted, I am feeling bereft of drama with all the season finales a few weeks ago (Six Feet Under notwithstanding). There was enough here to make me come back again (though I pegged the switched gender early, and I'm not usually so quick with those things). Though the roles were somewhat stereotypical, the acting was good (JK is really a solid character actor). I can only hope that the writing starts to match up with the actors.

I, too, thought the sugar fix was heavy handed and gimmicky. Modern version of Telly's lollipop, IMO.

I was born and raised in Atlanta and my accent keeps people guessing wherever I go. I do not have the typical "Southern" accent and have been mistaken, in Atlanta, for someone from Canada, Baltimore or the Midwest. Probably came from watching too much television when I was a kid, plus my mother's from West Virginia and my father from South Georgia, both distinctive accents which probably cancelled one another out. But, just about everyone I've ever met who was born and raised in Atlanta has no discernable accent and certainly not the typical "Southern" accent. However, since Atlanta's the capital and main hub of commerce in North Georgia, we have a lot of transplants from all over the region and country and many natives come from the outlying suburbs and definitely have discernable southern accents. If a woman from one of the surrounding regions has had the notion of the "typical Southern belle" pounded into her head, she may put on an even heavier accent that she'd normally speak if she's dealing with the public, and in particular, people not from the South and guys do too. I noted, for instance, that after I moved to New York, what little accent I had became more pronounced, but no one specifically tagged me as being from the South.

I've met plenty of women around town who sound a lot like Sedgwick's character, but they're usually from Cobb County or one of the outlying counties. The metro area currently encompasses a lot of places who would have been insulted if you'd referred to them as being from Atlanta 20-25 years ago. I'd guess she was either from the North Georgia mountains (where former senator Zell Miller's from) or possibly an Alabama transplant. She's almost definitely not from Tennessee which has a very distinctive accent (think Dolly Parton) which I used to think was the sexiest accent for a woman.

I'm not surprised that Sedgwick's character has had trouble with men and had to fight against a glass ceiling in her career. Compared to what she's probably encountered in a typical southern police force (Atlanta has the local police, state troopers, DeKalb and Fulton County police and sheriffs, MARTA police and several university police forces within its boundaries) a few detectives bent out of shape in Los Angeles probably seems like a cakewalk.

If the Emmy Awards ever decide to MTV-ize the show, she's a shoe in for the "best love scene with a snack cake" category.

I got a lot of "The District" vibe from it, and at first it was grating, but that show won me over too, so I'll give this one another shot or two. I just hope her ongoing brilliant deductions aren't quite as obvious as this one.

mrsdalgleish
I agree. I was excited by the many familiar bit players. I hope they keep them engaged; I'd hate to see them wasted.

I liked it, and her, and especially J.K. Simmons - I'm so happy he has second billing and a big part!

The only thing that irritated me was how long it took them to figure out what was really going on. I knew as soon as they brought up the fingerprint question.

I read an article that said this was supposed to show she's a regular girl..."See! I like junk food! I'm not obsessed with my weight and dieting! I'm normal and down to earth!...." or something to that effect.

J.K. Simmons looked unusually attractive. He's kept the weight down and he's got a winning smile. Let's just hope there are no romantic reunions between his character and Kyra's. I just don't think I could ever watch that.....

I liked the show well enough to come back. I saw the twist coming a mile away but I'm hoping the writing starts to match the acting. J.K. is so awesome. I loved his reaction shot in his last scene when she tells him that she knows what it is like to love the boss and realize he isn't the man you think he was.

I hope I wasn't supposed to like that woman, because she was a bitch. Whether or not she liked being called a bitch doesn't change the fact that she was an asshole from the start. And when she was all mad at JKS for telling her her management style sucks? It was a legitimate concern.

I hated that she seemingly won everyone's respect by cracking the no very difficult case. What, none of the other investigators had a clue? Come on. Even I knew it was the same person and I never see these things coming.

I may watch it once more, but if all the cases involve her being wonder-cop and the others are just doing the legwork, I'm gonna have to pass.

Good show. I wasn't sure about Kyra is the lead role but she pulled it off. Except for that accent. Gah. Get rid of it - soon! I actually enjoyed it more than The Inside. Not too surprising.

I missed the first 15 minutes where I assume they explained something about a sugar fixation. Anyway, later in the ep she picks up that doughnut and I kept wondering why she was staring at it so weird. I'm thinking - dude, either eat it or put it down but damn your mugging at it is distracting me.

As one who has lived in Atlanta since she was six years old (all of that time having been spent growing up and living in Cobb County, doctorwu...heh), I whole-heartedly agree. We have so many non-southerners moving into the city, it's extremely hard to find a native of Atlanta, much less one who talks like she just left Tara and her darling Ashley. Some people who grew up with a strong accent start working with a bunch of people with no accent and it starts to fade, so pretty soon you don't sound like you're from the south at all even if you were born and raised here. That being said, I didn't think the accent she's sporting was too far off for one who maybe lives in the sticks and drives to work in the city, so I let it pass. Like doctorwu pointed out, the majority of the people working within city limits drive in from the outlying areas and some of them really do have thick accents.

I had the same initial opinion of The Inside, as far as cookie-cutter characters and plotlines. Since this was the first episode, I'm willing to cut them some slack since they needed to cram all of the characters in there and introduce us to everyone. Probably didn't have enough time after that to come up with a decent story, so I'll give it a few more episodes and see where the show goes from here. Not that I hated the episode, I actually thought it was alright. But it didn't blow me away, so if something better comes along, I'll probably jump ship.

I'm with you, mrsdalgleish, that "ethics investigation" blurb made me sit up straight and say WTF?? Definitely curious to see what that's all about. Although as abrasive as she tends to be with her co-workers, I can't say I'm surprised by the notion that she probably pissed off the wrong person somewhere down the line. Couldn't have been too bad if she'd been offered a job with Homeland Security, though, could it?

Word. I've seen a lot of police procedurals over the years, and this one was lame.

What we've got here is the Maura Tierney syndrome. (I say this because of my dislike for the actress based on the kind of characters she plays). You have a very unlikable and annoying character. You have a show bending over backwards to show what a put-upon victim she is and to show how special and brilliant and talented she is, but they're trying too hard, because it doesn't add up. And the harder they try, the more apparent it becomes that she doesn't have all of those attributes.

In short, everything that is wrong with Abby Lockhart on ER. I thought Maura's character on Newsradio pretty much played with the same formula, too.

Brenda's not that pretty. She's not that special.

Bwah! ITA on the sentiment, although I don't think I would have ever thought to draw a comparison to MT.

I don't know if the character is much like Abby Lockhart, besides just being annoying. She's one in a long line of tough female cops who rub their male counterparts the wrong way - Kay Scarpetta, Olivia Benson, Clarice Starling etc. And while I usually enjoy that archetype, Brenda just irritates me. I think they tried too hard to have Brenda show her 'feminine' side. I could almost hear the flutter of notes from the studio execs: "Let's not have another mannish bitch, why not give her an eating disorder? Or have her futz with her long, flowing hair constantly? Or how about if we have Kyra do her very best Vivian Leigh impression? Girly Girly Girly." Uch. I wish Kyra could disappear and the show could be restructured to star Kay Howard from Homicide. Producers should study Melissa Leo's portrayal of that character when they feel the need to write a feminine detective.

Maybe my opinion is the fault of having seen pretty much every single cop procedural, thriller, or mystery show made in the last ten years. I'm just so used to all this stuff, all of it's been done a million times. Like Brenda throwing out the transfer requests, seen that. Brenda impressing her doubters watching on closed circuit TV, seen that. Brenda making snarky comments about ex-husbands, yup, seen that too. Maybe what I need is to switch to a different genre. Romantic comedies here I come.

I actually loved this aspect. When she was looking at that donut like it was going to jump up and wave to her I knew exactly how she felt. Donuts are a special weakness for me and they serve them to employees every Friday where I work. Like Kyra's character they can drive me to distraction until I either cave or get far away from them.
All in all, I liked it ok. I will probably watch again.

In EW they mentioned this was an intention because they thought all the other female characters on police procedurals were "just like men". Okay, whatever. If this is the definition of a woman, I'm seriously embarassed.

The MT reference is mainly because the show seemed to go overboard in convincing us brilliant and talented and special this woman is. I'm not seeing it.
The more you tell me about it, the more apparent it's going to be to me that she's not. It's not so much that she's just like Abby Lockhart, but that they're using that old trick of telling me how great a character is instead of showing me.

ggjunkie423 (and please tell me there weren't 422 other ggjunkies who got to TWoP before you), I totally agree with you about Maura Tierney's Abby, but even with her it took a while to feel the hate, and for me, it was all about the crappy writing.

Here, I'm willing to give it some time. Obviously this character is meant to have the brilliant detective/lousy manager features, but I'm not going to reject her just because of that. With Abby, there were never any consequences for her attitude and behavior. If they can come up with some for Brenda, then it might work.

And I thought, as the episode went on, that they showed Brenda trying, a little bit, to be more friendly with her team. Actually, when she was deep into investigating/interrogating, and when they were too (instead of resenting or complaining), there were few problems between them and that appealed to me. First instance was the negotiation with the owner of the company and how the detective had the document and pen ready. Then, a scene as they all walked around to various computers in the office, gathering evidence. Later, the coordination in the second interrogation.

I liked seeing that as long as everyone focused on the case, the friction decreased significantly.

It was hard for me to tell. I couldn't quit staring at her overly-made up lips that appeared to stretch from ear to ear. Kyra's got a big mouth, and I mean that literally...not that I wouldn't want her to give me a big ole slobbering kiss.

On a much more geekier note, it was nice to see the show's creators and writers did their homework. The LA Police Chief's office, for instance, is on the sixth floor of Parker Center, and also houses many of the chief's senior staff. And then last night, one of the characters had a throwaway line that Brenda's office (as deputy chief) wouldn't be on the sixth floor.

Also, novelist Michael Connelly, who's written 15 novels involving the LA Police Department, titled his most recent book The Closers. It was published a couple of months back.

I found it enjoyable, decent summer brain candy. And thank you to whoever pegged the suspect as Leo's daughter from WW, it was driving me crazy that she looked familiar, and I couldn't pinpoint who she was.

I like the character. It's a little sad that they have to play to the bitch stereotype, but Helen Mirren had to deal with it, so why shouldn't Kyra Sedgwick? I noticed quite a few parallels to the early Prime Suspects.

Good point on the attempts to get along, mrs.d. When they focused on the job, rather than petty resentments, everything went a lot more smoothly. Kind of like real life.

The dearth of new scripted programs was my only reason for watching last night. I hadn't expected to like it due to the reviews I'd read but I was pleasanly surprised. I'll be tuning in again next week.

I was just coming over here to post about this. I'm still trying to make it through the pilot, but I keep fiddling with the color on my television because the overly pink lipstick (and blush) make Kyra look like a drag queen in some shots.

And I'm not a person to pay close attention to that kind of thing.

Just out of curiosity, kieyra, when you got the lips right, what color was everyone else?

Seriously? If I reached the point of eradicating the pink blotches on her cheeks, everyone else ended up colorless indeed.

It's especially bad in the parking-garage scene with the guy who hired her. I'm watching on my local TNT affiliate's hi-def channel, not sure if that's somehow making it worse.

I had missed the first fifteen to twenty minutes as well so I was unaware of the sugar fixation. The scene at the end where she pulled the object from her desk and laid on her bed made me at first think she had a vibrator (then she unwrapped it and put in her mouth which at that point I still wasn't one-hundred percent sure).

Not a bad first episode so I'll tune in next time as well.

Hee! That was supposed to be a moonpie right? Moonpies: Junkfood symbols of the South.

I thought it looked like a Ding Dong. But that could just be my own snack food prejudices rearing their ugly sugary heads. Mmmm, sugary heads.

'Twas not a Moon Pie. Looked more like a Ding Dong or Ho Ho (and this from someone with three flavors of Moon Pies in his pantry).

There are *three* flavors of Moonpies?

I stand corrected. But a moon pie would have been more fun, and in keeping with her character. Nothing cures homesickness like snackfood.

I'm enjoying the Moonpie website at the moment: "The phrase "RC Cola and a MoonPie®" became well known around the South, as many people enjoyed this delicious, bargain-priced combination." I LOVE when junkfood companies have "history" sections on their homepage.

More than three, but I prefer the cornerstone flavors - chocolate, vanilla and banana - which come in single or double-decker sizes. Other flavors are lemon, strawberry, orange and fruit-filled. But purchasing any of those flavors south of the Mason-Dixon Line could lead to a severe ass whippin'.

It did look dark and chocolatey (probably ding-dong) when she unwrapped it but the speculation that it was a moonpie did bring back memories for me fo the aforementioned *three* flavors of moonpies. Banana probably was my favorite.

It was a Ring-Ding.

ETA: Shut up! All of you! I was really little when I ate them.

Heh. We've been discussing desserts for the last page, what does that say about this show?

Topic...I just saw a commercial for next weeks episode, and Kyra was wearing this silly bright red shirt with white stripes encircling her boobs. I haven't seen anything that ridiculous since ADA Lilith's show got cancelled. I really hope she wasn't wearing that to work, 'cause...not appropriate.

Did anyone see those annoying commercials for The Closer during "The Twenty" at Regal Theaters? They had all these ex-cons testifying as to how amazing professional interrogators are IRL. And I think they had actual cops discussing the amazing nature of closers. It was WEIRD. And I wonder where they got those shady criminals from, and how much they paid them to discuss how clever the police had to be to get them to confess to murder, rape, or whatever.

Funny, as a deputy D.A., my first reaction was, "Thank God she saved whatever they're going to find in the garage by insisting on a warrant." I really didn't mind the inherent bitchiness of her character. And I really appreciated how she handled that last interview with Mallory (ditto on the thanks to whoever pegged her WW self... it was so very distracting).

IMO it was pretty meh. I might watch it if the rest of the household is watching it and I have nothing better to do.

I totally enjoyed it. I really like how strong of a personality she has and the interview with the suspect was well done. I'm definitely recording this series.

I'm with the meh group. I like KS well enough and love JKS, but what an irritating woman detective. With the hair thing and the bad accent and the ring dings. Huh. Not to mention she's an uber-bitch. I would not want to work with this person, no matter how brilliant. I'll stick with Olivia Benson, thankewverymuch!

I, too, spotted the gender switch early on. Come on. Is that the best they can do? I'll give it one more try, but I'm probably already gone.


Does not bode well, although now I'm surfing over to the Food Network...