Posts with tag brenda johnson
Posted Aug 2nd 2007 8:30AM by Anna Johns
Filed under: The Closer, Pickups and Renewals
Kick-ass ratings and another Emmy nomination for Kyra Sedgwick have led TNT
to renew The Closer for a fourth season. The police procedural is currently in the middle of its third season and is enjoying
huge ratings for a cable series. Last week, it ranked #1 in cable Nielsens with more than 7 million viewers. Overall ratings for
The Closer are up 15 percent over last summer.
I review
The Closer for TV Squad, and I have to say that this is a spectacular season so far. The investigations are more thrilling and the characters--especially Dep. Chief Brenda Johnson--are getting more complicated, and therefore more interesting. If you haven't been keeping up, you can watch the latest episode on
TNT's website or the entire season
on iTunes.
Posted Dec 4th 2006 10:07AM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Programming, TNT, The Closer
Brenda Leigh Johnson is back for just one night! TNT is airing a special, BRAND NEW episode of
The Closer tonight at 8 pm.
The Closer wrapped its second season at the end of the summer, but it was
so successful that TNT decided to tease us with one more mystery before bringing back
season three next summer.
Tonight features back-to-back episodes that have Brenda going off the books. While on paid leave after the
season finale's shoot-out in the murder room, Brenda is asked by an "old friend" to solve the murder of an Arab teenager who is connected to terrorists. She'll be in a race to solve the case and protect her team from the divisive Commander Taylor. The second hour is directed by star Kyra Sedgwick's husband, Kevin Bacon.
Posted Sep 5th 2006 1:15AM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, OpEd, TNT, The Closer
(
S02E13) Well, I'm glad this season has come to an end. While I loved the first half, the second half just seemed to lose its steam. It's as though there were two teams of writers or something. The culmination of the season came tonight and it wasn't that great. Sure, we got to see more of Fritz and some of the minor characters got a few good lines in (Provenza's "Miss Scarlett to the rescue" line was great), but it was just like any one of the last 4-5 episodes. Nothing special. And the end? Well, although I didn't solve the case, I did see it coming with the Crown Royal bag and that's what the entire episode built up to, wasn't it?
Continue reading The Closer: Overkill (season finale)
Posted Aug 3rd 2006 8:25AM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, OpEd, TNT, The Closer
*Sorry for the delayed review. I was visiting my adorable 5-week-old niece in Utah and my in-laws don't have TiVo (I know, I know. But what can you do? They're family!).(
S02E08) Wow. What a change of pace from the last few episodes. I was wondering whether
The Closer was turning into a comedy... until this episode. Warning: Spoilers in the next paragraph.
Continue reading The Closer: Critical Missing
Posted Jul 4th 2006 7:21AM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, OpEd, TNT, The Closer
(S02E04) This week we get back to work and Brenda's personal life is pushed to the back burner-- sort of. It's her 40th birthday and she's a little upset about the number and, as several detectives suggest, she's acting stranger than usual.
The case was awfully convoluted, wasn't it? There were a handful of suspects, each with a motive, that kept sending Brenda in circles to choose a top suspect. She really, really wanted the killer of a restaurant manager to be Dennis Dutton, a man she knows kills women but hasn't been able to prove it. The evidence keeps pointing her to the woman's husband, the owner of another restaurant... everyone but Dutton. It turns out Karen, the victim, slept with each of the men in her life to get things from them: a restaurant, a job, and a good review. Two of the men she slept with knew she was using them, but the naive reviewer thought she loved him. At a fancy lunch, Brenda gets the reviewer to admit he killed Karen. Dutton isn't guilty. This time. And to laugh in her face, he sent her a set of chef's knives, like the one used to kill Karen. Brenda uses one of the knives to cut the yummy-looking chocolate cake that her staff bought her for her birthday.
Continue reading The Closer: Aftertaste
Posted Jun 27th 2006 7:42AM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, OpEd, TNT, The Closer
(S02E03) I loved the beginning of this episode. The editing and the dialogue made it look like we were starting off at another crime scene where a famous person died, but it turns out Brenda was out on a tour of stars' homes with her mama and her beau, Fritz. Great opening.
The show doesn't waste any time getting to the crime. Brenda's called away to a triple murder--an apparent gang shooting--leaving Fritz alone with her mother. The victims are teen-agers and one is the son of a friend of Det. Taylor. I found the monologue where Brenda was telling Det. Gabriel how to notify a family of a death to be riveting. That was very effective storytelling: cutting from Brenda's instructions to the interaction with Det. Gabriel and the parents of the murdered boy. Stirring line from Brenda: "You're about to become the main character in somebody's worst day ever." Remarkable.
Continue reading The Closer: Slippin'
The Cheers episode Ken Levine's still writing in his head
Giveaway Tuesday: Fastlane - The Complete Series
Giveaway Monday: The X-Files: Revelations on DVD
