Posted Nov 22nd 2009 4:03PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Programming, OpEd, The Closer, Friday Night Lights, Breaking Bad, Reality-Free, Mad Men, Burn Notice, Glee
Thanksgiving is coming and for many of us it's time to eat, drink and watch football. It's also a time to reflect on the things you're grateful for and since TV Squad is all about television, here's what I'm grateful for this holiday season, with regard to the tube.
Mad Men season finale
There was really nothing as satisfying in the entire year for me. Matt Weiner promised a game-changing episode and he delivered it with a whopper of a wrap up. Actually, nothing was really wrapped; it was more like the cards have been dealt and we're still waiting to see how the hands are played.
Continue reading What Allison is thankful for
Posted Sep 30th 2008 5:04PM by Kelly Woo
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Industry, The Closer, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free
After the success of
The Closer, you can't blame TNT for going with a proven formula.
The cable network is close to
greenlighting two police drama pilots, a project from Jerry Bruckheimer about young undercover officers and
Bunker Hill starring Donnie Wahlberg (which actually already received an a pilot order).
TNT's certainly been a busy little bee, stacking up
new series left and right. Besides these two pilots, they've got
Time Heals, starring Jada Pinkett Smith as a hospital nursing director;
Night and Day, with William Fichtner playing an agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; and
Men of a Certain Age, a dramedy featuring Ray Romano, Scott Bakula and Andre Braugher.
Continue reading TNT making more cop dramas
Posted Sep 16th 2008 8:24AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: The Closer, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S04E10) For the season finale,
The Closer came up with an episode that was packed with a little bit of everything. There was high drama and suspense, real danger, inappropriate humor and gripping emotion. It wasn't a perfect blend of elements.
In fact, at times I was put off by the chicanery. However, there's an old adage in show business (or maybe it's just movies?) that says, audiences will forgive you for anything if you give them a good finish.
The Closer delivered by that measure in every respect. The big climax reveals are after the jump, so if you haven't watched the show yet, you've been warned.
The seriousness of the episode was really serious. The seemingly strange actions of some Valley Oak high schoolers were tied to the original victim, a guy who'd blown himself up with a pipe bomb. In this first act, even as fear of the building going up in an explosion was real, Brenda's comical exasperation was disarming.
Continue reading The Closer: Time Bomb (season finale)
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 Sep 4th 2008 12:23PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: The Closer, Reality-Free
Spinoffs are nothing new in TV. Some of the biggest hits of all time were spinoffs --
Frasier, Boston Legal, Private Practice, The Jeffersons, The Andy Griffith Show, Rhoda, Maude, CSI: Miami, CSI: New York, Law & Order: SVU, Law & Order: CI...the list goes on and on.
The news today that
TNT is backing a spinoff from The Closer is no surprise. It makes sense.
The Closer is the top drama on cable in the ratings and has garnered Emmy notice. That kind of success demands replication, and TNT has empowered the brains behind
The Closer, creator James Duff to make it happen.
Continue reading TNT plotting spinoff to The Closer
Posted Sep 1st 2008 11:18PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: The Closer, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
"Oh, goodness. Is this where they do Dancing with the Stars
?"
-- Willie Ray Johnson, Brenda's momma
(S04E08) Here was an episode that epitomized what I like about
The Closer. This was an excellent mystery. It was complicated and drew you into the chase. Like Brenda, you're wondering how it was done, why and by whom.
Of course, it didn't seem like it was going to be a heavy duty episode, not when the opening was all about Willie Ray and Clay's unexpected visit. That damn RV has brought Brenda's parents cross-country, even with gas at $4 a gallon!
Don't get me wrong, I like Barry Corbin and Frances Sternhagen. They're great actors, but the roles are so broadly drawn. The show uses them for comic relief, even though they can do drama brilliantly. The scenes at the film studio were too jokey to me, especially in light of the heinous crime scene that Brenda was investigating.
The murder reminded me of the O.J. Simpson case. It looked like Ryan -- an actor with anger management issues -- was the murderer. He lied and had a history of beating his wife. The sight of him with the gym bag and then those black gloves were all vaguely reminiscent of O.J. Of course, since he was the prime suspect, I never thought that he was the killer. Too obvious.
Continue reading The Closer: Split Ends
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 Aug 18th 2008 11:36PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: The Closer, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
"What makes a child go bad? Nurture or nature?"
(S04E06) For the first act of tonight's show, I kept thinking, what's the deal with Sergei? The episode unfolded like an onion, revealing more and more about this kid. The more I heard, the less I cared that he was missing.
It makes you wonder, how does someone like Brenda remain neutral and not form an opinion too soon in the investigation? It must be her training, because while Pope was quick to remove the "critical missing" status from the case, Fritz -- who came along to provide backup -- was not. It was up to Brenda to make the tough call. For a while there, it seemed like she may have messed up by yielding to Will's point of view.
One of the virtues of
The Closer is that even though it's a procedural drama, they let true feelings show. There are visceral emotions at play, like when the neighbor cried about how his dog was killed, and when Theresa showed the detectives Sergei's room and revealed how evil her brother was (to her), and when Jason confessed that Sergei was terrorizing him.
Continue reading The Closer: Problem Child
Posted Aug 12th 2008 12:40AM by Brett Love
Filed under: The Closer, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S04E05) This was probably the most anticipated episode of The Closer ever, for me. I mentioned the episode in the early look at the season, and the idea of Provenza stepping into the spotlight and working undercover seemed like a can't miss. Add to that the dramatic conclusion to last week's "Live Wire" and we really seemed to have the makings of a great episode on our hands. Unfortunately, it didn't really work out that way. "Dial M For Provenza" certainly had it's moments, but overall, I'd call it hit and miss. I'll explain, after the jump..
Continue reading The Closer: Dial M For Provenza
Posted Aug 5th 2008 10:41AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: The Closer, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
"You didn't do it for the justice system. You did it to close your case."
(S04E04) Nobody would ever doubt that Chief Brenda Johnson is a smart woman, but how smart was it of her to use Fritz the way she did? That's the question I came away with after seeing this episode. Is closing a case so important for the closer that she'd mess up her personal relationship?
Fritz was rightfully incensed by Brenda's tactics, and yet I could see it from her point of view, too. I guess that's why
The Closer remains such a good drama -- the conflicts are real and there are no easy answers.
Continue reading The Closer: Live Wire
Posted Jul 29th 2008 12:04AM by Brett Love
Filed under: The Closer, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S04E03) "You cannot trust the police. They lie about everything." - Brenda
I think TNT over sold this episode in the preview. If you tuned in a few minutes early you would have heard their tag, "The only thing more surprising than the crime is the twist at the end." Honestly, I didn't think there was much of a twist at the end. I'll save any spoilers for after the jump, but the groundwork for the ending was laid out pretty clearly early on. That's not to say it was a bad episode though, because there was a lot to really enjoy here.
Continue reading The Closer: Cherry Bomb
Posted Jul 22nd 2008 12:41AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: The Closer, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
"Margaritas. One is never enough. Two is too many.
And 12, well, you're looking at 12." Is this our Brenda? So happy, so horny, so friendly and jovial. After last week's heavy duty episode, with the fires and the serial arsonist with the creepy (also very beguiling) smile, this episode found Brenda in a playful mood. Don't you love a well-rounded character?
It was very romantic the way Brenda was awakened by Fritzie, and for a show that tends to show more of the neurotic Brenda than the sexy Brenda, this was a lovely change of pace. And if you can consider a story in which homeless drunks are run over (and over) by cars -- vehicular homicide indeed -- for insurance money a light, comic turn, then this episode qualifies.
Continue reading The Closer: Speed Bumps
Posted Jul 16th 2008 9:41AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: The Closer, Reality-Free
Is that music coming from
The Closer production?
"Going to the chapel and we're gonna get married,
going to the chapel and we're gonna get married,
gee I really love you and we're gonna get married.
Going to the chapel of love!"
The Closer's Executive Producer James Duff, told
TV Guide -- exclusively -- that
a wedding may be in the works. Could Deputy Police Chief Brenda Johnson, a woman who's great at her job but a neurotic mess in her personal life, get it together to actually marry the love of her life, FBI agent Fritz Howard? Could it happen this season?
Continue reading The Closer nuptials? It looks good for Brenda and Fritzie
Posted Jul 14th 2008 11:13PM by Brett Love
Filed under: The Closer, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, Episode Recaps
(S04E01) "Hello, just plain Brenda." - Bill Croelick
Isn't it nice to have Brenda back on our televisions? It's like catching up with an old friend. Or, old friends, as the case may be. And what a way to come back. Multiple homicides, an entire park for a crime scene, the return of an old foe, and more shenanigans on the home front. Brenda's plate is very full as we jump into season four, and that's a good thing.
Continue reading The Closer: Controlled Burn (season premiere)
Posted Jul 12th 2008 2:42PM by Brett Love
Filed under: OpEd, The Closer, Early Looks, Reality-Free
For fans of The Closer, the wait is almost over. Season four finally kicks off next week, knocking off the third of the five shows that I have anxiously been waiting for. Burn Notice and Stargate Atlantis premiered this week. The Closer and Psych go live next week. And Eureka returns at the end of the month. It's going to be a great summer for television.
The fine folks over at TNT were nice enough to send along a press kit, so I've just finished watching the premiere and reading up on a few of the things they have planned for the new season. Last year we spent a lot of time on family as Brenda (Kyra Sedgwick) and Fritz (Jon Tenney) moved forward with their engagement. That, of course, involved finally revealing the engagement to Brenda's parents (Frances Sternhagen, Barry Corbin). And we followed along as the two of them began to search for a new house. Season four picks up from there. After the jump, a look at the premiere and a few things coming this season. Possibly a couple very minor spoilers, but no big plot points.
Continue reading The Closer season four -- An early look
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