gw bailey-related stories
Posted Sep 9th 2008 8:23AM by Brett Love
Filed under: The Closer, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S04E09) It would appear that summer really is coming to an end. The Closer will wrap up its run next week with the big, explosive, finale. And with the end of the season in sight, "Tijuana Brass" started wrapping up the major ongoing story. The infamous Ramos article was finally published, and the the effects were many and varied. It couldn't have come at a worse time either, as Priority Homicide found themselves in the middle of a very delicate case.
Continue reading The Closer: Tijuana Brass
Posted Aug 26th 2008 8:05AM by Brett Love
Filed under: The Closer, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(
S04E07)
The Closer continues to get some great mileage out of the supporting cast in season four. With episodes featuring Flynn and Provenza already in the books, this week Sanchez steps to the front of the stage. The resulting story was quite a bit darker than what we saw with "
Dial M For Provenza." As Sanchez dealt with the murder of his younger brother, we got to take a closer look at him than the usual episode provides.
Continue reading The Closer: Sudden Death
Posted Dec 4th 2007 11:02AM by Anna Johns
Filed under: The Closer, Episode Reviews
(
S03E14) I'm sorry to say that I didn't like this "special" episode. It was a little too cheesy, over-the-top, and far-fetched. Yes, yes, it was great to see the cast during this time of the year since
The Closer only airs during the summer. It felt comforting to reunite with Brenda, Fritz and Lts. Flynn and Provenza... but the story wasn't really worth it. The whole thing didn't suck, but I did feel let down by the episode.
Continue reading The Closer: Next of Kin
Posted Aug 28th 2007 11:17AM by Anna Johns
Filed under: OpEd, The Closer, Episode Reviews
(
S03E11) This episode was chock full of stuff, wasn't it? I'm trying to figure out which story lines set us up for more issues down the road and I think there are several. But first, let's talk about Brenda Leigh. I was really feeling her pain during this episode. She just had abdominal surgery to reverse her Early Onset Menopause and she was obviously very uncomfortable. The woman should've been in bed, but we know she doesn't relax very well. And she wasn't even hiding her discomfort, which is a bit unusual for her. Also, I loved her near-breakdown when Fritz wouldn't help and she almost started crying about the fact that she couldn't eat chocolate anymore. That's a great personal issue that will no doubt bring on some comedy in the future.
Continue reading The Closer: Lover's Leap
Posted Aug 21st 2007 6:31AM by Anna Johns
Filed under: OpEd, The Closer, Episode Reviews
(
S03E10) You know what I like about this show? I like that, when each episode opens, the crime has already happened. With
CSI and
Law & Order, the crime usually happens at the opening of the episode. But we get absolutely no context from
The Closer, but I enjoy that.
Okay, so this wasn't my favorite episode this season. In fact, I'd say it was my least favorite. It didn't suck--not by any means--but I just didn't find it all that intriguing. I think the case just was too simple. Even though Brenda and the detectives interviewed a handful of people, it didn't really seem to take any twists or turns. And, the presence of Brenda's parents derailed the case for me (as it did for her).
Continue reading The Closer: Culture Shock
Posted Aug 14th 2007 6:33AM by Anna Johns
Filed under: OpEd, The Closer, Episode Reviews
(
S03E09) Another great episode of
The Closer! The writers of this show are really knocking it out of the park this season. Did anybody notice in the opening credits that Kevin Bacon directed this episode? I giggled when we saw Brenda nude in the shower (through the frosted glass) because that seemed like a Bacon touch there... show off his hot wife.
Once again, the writers were able to magically mix humor with emotion. And the emotions in this episode were very highly charged, yet the humor fit right in. I am continuously impressed by the show- by the way the story lines and subplots are balanced so perfectly. The writers have become experts at knowing when humor is appropriate and when it isn't.
Continue reading The Closer: Blindsided
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 Jul 31st 2007 12:41PM by Anna Johns
Filed under: OpEd, The Closer, Episode Reviews
(
S03E07) Those evil, evil writers over at
The Closer kept us hanging on for one more week about what on earth is wrong with Brenda. While it was frustrating that we didn't get an answer, it was also very well done. I thought the fact that Brenda went to see her doctor but didn't ask any questions about what could be wrong was very within her quirky character. She didn't want to know all the possibilities... just the facts. Now I'm strongly suspecting she's at the beginning of menopause. I just don't think her symptoms are of pregnancy.
Continue reading The Closer: Four to Eight
Posted Jul 24th 2007 4:41PM by Anna Johns
Filed under: OpEd, The Closer, Episode Reviews
(
S03E06) So... what's wrong with Brenda? She's getting fevers, she's highly emotional and weepy, and she feels like she has a cold. It seemed like the writers were hinting to us that she's pregnant because of her weepiness, irritability and her apparent craving for mashed potatoes. But, what about the fevers? I went on to WebMD to try and figure it out and I'm stumped.
Continue reading The Closer: Dumb Luck
Posted Jul 10th 2007 7:25AM by Anna Johns
Filed under: The Closer, Episode Reviews
(
S03E04) Wow. Just... wow. I had to keep reminding myself to breathe during this episode. I held my breath as Brenda and the Priority Homicide team looked for a kidnapper. And then I held it as Brenda, and then Sgt. Gabriel, interviewed the creepiest sex offender ever shown on television. And then again, as they found the kidnapped 8-year old they were looking for. Let's just say my brain didn't get a whole lot of oxygen tonight.
And let's talk about that sex offender for a second. Was he scary or what? I am going to have nightmares about that guy tonight. I kept muttering, "Oh my God" to myself as the guy said, "You see, everyone pretends kids don't want to have sex. But they do."
*Shiver*
Continue reading The Closer: Ruby
Posted Jul 3rd 2007 12:03PM by Anna Johns
Filed under: The Closer, Episode Reviews
(
S03E03) Does anybody else really, really want cake? The scene near the end of this episode where the entire team was eating an angry bride's wedding cake made that cake look so damn good. Yeah, it was a good episode. But, what stuck with me was the cake.
I love when the writers pull out episodes like this one. Sure, there's a dead person and an investigation, but the entire episode still manages to be light-hearted. It all started with Lt. Provenza dropping a coffin down a flight of stairs, then proceeded to a fight between an angry bride and Brenda, and to the entire homicide team eating the bride's $30,000 catering (including that damn cake).
Continue reading The Closer: Saving Face
Posted Jun 26th 2007 4:21PM by Anna Johns
Filed under: OpEd, The Closer, Episode Reviews
(
S03E02) This was one of those great episodes that went seamlessly from comedy to drama, something
The Closer does better than any other procedural on television. Think about it:
CSI slips the comedy in throughout the investigation, but
The Closer gets serious when it needs to.
The beginning of the episode was laugh-out-loud funny thanks to some great one-liners from Lt. Provenza (aren't you glad the budget cuts didn't get him?). When Pope's not around to bring the funny, Provenza can always step in. Some of the more memorables lines were:
Continue reading The Closer: Grave Doubts
Posted Aug 22nd 2006 1:38AM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, OpEd, TNT, The Closer
(
S02E11) Brenda's back! You probably thought she was getting her act together, thanks to the last few episodes. But, no. She's just as bumbling and unorganized as ever and it ends up with her backing her police vehicle into some guy's SUV. Brenda neglects to report the accident, as she was in a rush to get to a crime scene. Seems harmless, right? Wrong!
Continue reading The Closer: Borderline
Posted Jul 25th 2006 1:38AM by Anna Johns
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, OpEd, TNT, The Closer
(
S02E07) Is it me, or is this show getting better and better? There was a lot of humor in this episode. From Det. Sanchez's knowledge of porn stars to Brenda's frustration with the inter-office romance to the master-of-the-obvious coroner, there were a lot of little quirks that made this episode particularly enjoyable.
Continue reading The Closer: Head Over Heels
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
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