The Closer

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Closer

Genre	Crime Drama
Creator(s)	James Duff Michael M. Robin Greer Shephard
Starring	Kyra Sedgwick J.K. Simmons G.W. Bailey Michael Paul Chan Raymond Cruz Anthony John Denison Corey Reynolds Robert Gossett Gina Ravera Jon Tenney
Country of origin	USA
No. of episodes	28 (List of episodes)
Production
Running time	approx. 1 hour
Broadcast
Original channel	TNT
Original run	June 13, 2005 – Current
Links

The Closer is an American television police drama series. The show, which focuses upon the character of Deputy Police Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson (Kyra Sedgwick), is shown on Turner Network Television. Since its inception, the show has chronicled the cases of Johnson, who comes from Atlanta to Los Angeles to head up a special unit of the LAPD that handles sensitive, high-profile murder cases (Priority Homicide Division). Johnson's quirky personality and hard-nosed approach often rub her colleagues the wrong way, but her reputation as one of the world's best interrogators eventually wins over even her toughest critics.

It was created by James Duff and the Shephard/Robin Company in association with Warner Bros. Television. It is similar to CBS's Robbery Homicide Division.

1 Characters
2 Filming Information
- 2.1 Credits
3 Episode summaries
4 Trivia and other notes
5 Awards and Nominations:
6 U.S. Television Ratings
7 International Broadcasters
8 References
9 External links

[edit] Characters

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Deputy Police Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson: Brenda Johnson has been hired by Los Angeles Assistant Police Chief Will Pope, a former boss at the CIA, to head a new unit that handles high-profile murder cases. Pope tells Johnson that her unit is needed because prosecutors have had a dismal record obtaining convictions in these cases. A CIA-trained interrogator, she is clumsy in personal matters but she has managed to hold onto her relationship with Fritz.

Assistant Police Chief Will Pope: Despite bringing Brenda in for the job, he doesn't seem to want to let her actually do the job. Of course, some of it is standard department/city politics, but some of it could be the fact that when they last worked together, despite being married, he and Brenda had an affair. After he refused to leave his wife for Brenda, he did actually leave his wife to marry Estelle. Estelle and Pope have divorced and he has custody of the children. He, apparently, still has feelings for Brenda.

Sergeant David Gabriel: A bright young police detective who’s looking to make his mark in the department. One of his strengths is that he can defer to someone else when provided with a well-thought-out reason to do so. As a consequence of this, he is one of the first to accept Brenda. Gabriel confessed to Brenda that he and Detective Daniels are dating; Brenda initially did not receive this well, but she seems to have mostly come to terms with it.

Commander Taylor: A hard worker who has risen through the ranks. Of all the others, Taylor's resentment of Brenda is greatest because she was promoted over him to Deputy Chief. To his credit, he may not like Brenda, but is capable of putting personal feelings aside to get the job done (usually).

Detective Lieutenant Provenza: Provenza has no greater love for Brenda than any of the rest of the crew, but he seems to enjoy sitting back and watching what is going on around him with amusement. He also seems to love watching Brenda during an interrogation. Was instrumental in rallying the squad when Brenda was in trouble with the ethics board. Has recently been left in her debt due to a foul-up he had with Lt. Flynn and was forced by Brenda to pay off the squad for helping keep him and Flynn out of the fire. He was forced into retirement after a shootout incident at the murder room but was later reinstated when Brenda made a deal with the CIA to secretly investigate the murder of an Arab teenager. Lt. Provenza helped Brenda greatly in this investigation.

Lieutenant Michael Tao: The team's technical expert. It has been revealed that Tao attended one year of medical school. Because of this he can provide the team with some medical information. Tao, of Chinese ancestry, has a Japanese wife, and is functionally literate in Japanese.

Detective Lieutenant Andy Flynn: Originally sent to "assist" Brenda's Team by Commander Taylor. Constantly antagonistic with Brenda at first but after Commander Taylor hung him out to dry during an investigation he transferred to Brenda's team on a permanent basis and gained respect for her. Has recently been forced further into her debt due to a foul-up he had with Lt. Provenza and was forced by Brenda to pay off the squad for helping keep him and Provenza out of the fire.

Detective Julio Sanchez: Expert on Latino gangs and fluent in Spanish. He is married as shown by the wedding band on his finger, but flirts with younger female officers. He has a very short temper and often shouts at suspects when interrogating them. His attitude, whilst crude and chauvinistic, also shows that he cares.

Detective Irene Daniels: While her character is usually not in the foreground of the show or the investigation, it has been seen in recent episodes that Daniels is a very strong woman who can relate to the families of victims. She is currently dating Sergeant Gabriel, much to the dislike of Brenda.

FBI Agent Fritz Howard: An old "friend" of Brenda's from Atlanta, Fritz is Brenda's current FBI contact and current boyfriend. Fritz provides Brenda with access to FBI resources and inside information when local resources are unavailable. Fritz is currently living with Brenda.

[edit] Filming Information

[edit] Credits

Regular Cast:

Kyra Sedgwick .... Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson
J.K. Simmons .... Assistant Police Chief Will Pope
Corey Reynolds .... Sgt. David Gabriel
Robert Gossett .... Commander Taylor, Head of the Robbery Homicide Division
Anthony Denison .... Detective Andy Flynn
G. W. Bailey .... Detective Lt. Provenza
Raymond Cruz .... Detective Julio Sanchez
Michael Paul Chan .... Detective Mike Tao
Gina Ravera .... Detective Irene Daniels
Jon Tenney .... FBI Agent Fritz Howard

Created by

James Duff

Writers:

James Duff
Rick Kellard
Nancy Miller
Wendy West
Hunt Baldwin
John Coveny
Roger Wolfson

Directors:

Other Directors:

Elodie Keene Episode: "The Big Picture"
Gloria Muzio Episode "You Are Here"

Executive Producers:

James Duff
Michael M. Robin
Greer Shephard

Other Producers:

Andrew J. Sacks

[edit] Episode summaries

Main article: List of The Closer episodes

[edit] Trivia and other notes

Former Los Angeles County District Attorney Gil Garcetti is a consulting producer on The Closer, and Los Angeles Police Department detective Mike Berchem is the show's technical advisor.
The show's title is the same as that of a short-lived CBS sitcom in 1998 that starred Tom Selleck as a persuasive ad agency exec.
The first airing of the pilot and the second season premiere were commercial-free.
Just 2 weeks after its debut, TNT ordered a second season of 15 episodes.
For the third season, Kyra Sedgwick will make an estimated $250,000-$300,000 an episode, including one-time bonuses. The actress has also signed a new deal to make her a producer on the show and agrees to extend her term on the show from six seasons to seven.

[edit] Awards and Nominations:

Screen Actors Guild*
2006
- Nominee: Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series: Kyra Sedgwick

2007
- Nominee: Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series: Kyra Sedgwick

Golden Globe Awards
2006
- Nominee: Best Performance by an Actress in a TV Series: Drama: Kyra Sedgwick

2007
- WINNER: Best Performance by an Actress in a TV Series: Drama: Kyra Sedgwick

Primetime Emmy Awards
2006
- Nominee: Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series: Kyra Sedgwick

Satellite Award
2005
- WINNER: Outstanding Female Lead in a Drama series: Kyra Sedgwick

Gracie Award
2006
- WINNER: Outstanding Female Lead in a Drama series: Kyra Sedgwick

[edit] U.S. Television Ratings

Viewer numbers (based on average total viewers per episode) of The Closer on TNT.

Season	Timeslot	Season Premiere				Season Finale				Viewers Total (in millions)	Viewers Age 18-49 (in millions)	Viewers Age 25-54 (in millions)
Season	Timeslot	Date	Viewers Total (in millions)	Viewers 18-49 (in millions)	Viewers 25-54 (in millions)	Date	Viewers Total (in millions)	Viewers 18-49 (in millions)	Viewers 25-54 (in millions)	Viewers Total (in millions)	Viewers Age 18-49 (in millions)	Viewers Age 25-54 (in millions)
1st	Monday 9:00PM	June 13, 2005	7.03^[1]	2.57^[1]	3.00^[1]	September 5, 2005	6.39^[2]	1.93^[2]	2.38^[2]	5.45^[3]	1.94^[3]	2.38^[3]
2nd	Monday 9:00PM	June 12, 2006	8.28^[4]	2.63^[4]	3.57^[4]	September 4, 2006	7.60^[3]	2.24^[3]	3.45^[3]	6.68^[3]	2.24^[3]	2.83^[3]

According to the trade publication Multichannel News, The Closer is "basic cable's most-viewed scripted series ever." ^[5]

[edit] International Broadcasters

Country	Alternate title/Translation	TV Network(s)	Series Premiere	Weekly Schedule
United States		TNT	June 20, 2005	Mondays 9:00pm ET
Canada		CH		Monday 10pm
Australia		Channel 9
New Zealand		TV 2
France		France 3
Germany		VOX	Nov 8, 2006	Wednesday 9.10pm CET
Hong Kong	真相追擊 (Pursuit of the truth)	ATV World	Jan 6, 2006	Fridays 9:00pm HKT
Hungary	A főnök (The boss)	RTL Klub	Oct 2006	Wednesdays 11:00pm CET
Ireland		Channel 6	2006-04-30
Japan		Lalatv	2007
Netherlands		NET 5
Sweden		TV3
United Kingdom		More4 & Channel 4 (& on demand on Virgin Central from February 2007)
Spain		Cuatro & Calle 13	March 2, 2006	Thursdays 10:00pm
Austria		ORF 1	January 8, 2007	Mondays 10:00pm
Czech Republic		TV Prima
Thailand		True Series		Tuesday 8:00pm
Turkey		e2		Thursday 10:00pm
Norway		TV Norge		Mondays 10:50pm