The Closer

Brenda is the closest thing to a real character we've seen in police procedurals so far. [8 Jun 2005]

Johnson is such a multi-layered character, and Sedgwick plays her so beautifully that you can forgive the weaknesses of the opening episode and hope they get smoothed out in what could be a very long run for this show. [13 Jun 2005]

'The Closer' may be the first TV series to mimic ['Desperate Housewives''] ability to present women with textured, complicated lives. [12 Jun 2005]

Without Sedgwick, The Closer would be a standard-issue police procedural — a decent bit of TV entertainment, but nothing more. With Sedgwick's unforced charm and her witty iron-fist-meets-velvet-glove performance, The Closer rises to the top of TV's summer bill.

By making Johnson a sassy Southerner, The Closer is relying on the charm factor, and the show can be just as manipulative as Ms. Johnson herself. ... Fortunately, Sedgwick's is such a bracing performance, she sweeps briskly past these bumps.

Thanks to Sedgwick, the hour is a distinguished contribution to the cop genre, delving further into a character's personal life than the "Law & Order" procedurals, and avoiding the showy visual effects that are high points of the "CSI" brand. [13 Jun 2005]

A taut new crime drama that's happily more than the sum of its generic crime procedural parts. [13 Jun 2005]

The pilot's mutilated corpse and offbeat clues are intriguing, and Ms. Sedgwick has a compelling screen presence, though her accent is too generic to pass as authentic.

Surprisingly entertaining ... [though] hardly groundbreaking. [13 Jun 2005]

It's all a bit much in Monday's opener, and yet I suspect that, like the $400 shirts and luxury ride of Dennis Farina's "Law & Order" character, which initially came across as contrast run amok, Deputy Chief Johnson's contrived personality excesses will fade with time. And what will be left is a compelling character in a solid show - not a tradition-buster like FX's "The Shield" but probably a broader-based hit. [12 Jun 2005]

It's a fine group, and a good start - although parts of the initial exposition are clunky and Sedgwick's Southern accent seems to fade and strengthen at random. But there's a solid core here around which a good series can be built. [13 Jun 2005]

Sedgwick embraces the character's quirks, including a weakness for sugary snacks, while conveying her keen intelligence.

Sedgwick ... deserves better than "The Closer," but she still makes TNT's conventional new homicide drama worth checking out. [13 Jun 2005]

Another example of a main character being more intriguing than the plots.

The plot leaves something to be desired, but make no mistake, what is very good about "The Closer" is the charismatic Sedgwick. [11 Jun 2005]

Tries too hard to be tough, but fans of crime dramas might get hooked anyway. [12 Jun 2005]

It seems the writers got the initial idea in their heads -- Kyra Sedgwick raises hell -- then faltered in stacking the bricks around her. The accent is distracting, though the writers must have chosen Atlanta for a reason. The sweet tooth is gimmicky. And the fact she doesn't exactly close the trunk with force in the pilot is of some concern.

It ambles along with formulaic plotting and cop shop melodrama. [13 Jun 2005]