Tonight's bracing premiere of the seventh and final season of TNT's top-rated basic-cable series The Closer involves a chest-thumping rap star, lifeless bodies by the handful and an interrogation scene like no other. Viewers are also introduced to the season's ongoing plotline, which hovers over the show's various murder cases: a wrongful-death lawsuit against the LAPD's Major Crimes deputy chief Brenda Leigh Johnson that threatens to take her whole team down with her.
"I've always said the way she ...
read more
Jeers to the Screen Actors Guild Awards for overpraising The Closer.
Want more Cheers & Jeers? Subscribe to TV Guide Magazine.
I've never been impressed by ...
read more
Kyra Sedgwick lets out a big "Ha!" when asked how Brenda Leigh Johnson, the Georgia peach—turned—Los Angeles police babe she plays on The Closer, has changed after six seasons on TNT. "That's the wonderful and fun thing about Brenda," she says. "The woman really hasn't evolved."
On one level, Sedgwick is right. The Closer returns tonight for five episodes ending with ...
read more
Send questions to askmatt@tvguidemagazine.com and follow me on Twitter!
Question: I absolutely love The Closer! It's one of my favorite shows and I am always so eager to watch that I usually don't even wait for my DVR to get ahead enough to allow me to skip commercials. This season started off with a bang and I've loved it, but I'm a little concerned. What will happen if Brenda does become chief? On one hand, as a woman, I think it would be great for the character to be a female Chief of Police in Los Angeles. On the other hand, I am afraid for what that would mean for her position as a "closer." If she gets some distance from the cases, how can she possibly get all of those confessions that have the audience on the edge of their seats? Plus, I have not enjoyed the rather jerk-like qualities this whole process has brought out in Pope. I know he's got his heart set on being chief, but it seems a little uncharacteristic for him to be such a jerk now when he has not gone completely into that territory before. Please tell me that whatever is in the works is going to maintain the same quality of scripts and keep Brenda right in the middle of the action! Do you have any insight into the rest of the season or what impact this whole development would have for the future of the show? — Beth
Matt Roush: Now that's a true sign of devotion, watching a show in real time, not DVR time. I'm very fond of The Closer as well....
read more
Of all the attractive evils in the world perhaps none is more insidious than the desire to blame others for our own misfortunes. If history is any judge, scapegoating never loses its appeal and, especially in economic downturns, it can be extremely dangerous for those poor souls (or social groups) blamed for events over which they had no control. What's tragic about falsely assigning responsibility for disasters (like lost wars and financial collapse) is that pointing fingers and screaming does nothing to address the real problems. But gleaning what I can from cable news shows, determining who is to blame for a calamity is more important than getting out of one. Which is exactly where we find Assistant Chief Will Pope in The Closer's next episode, "Off the Hook" ...
read more