The Closer

Network: TNT
Episodes: Ongoing (hour)
Seasons: Ongoing

TV show dates: June 13, 2005 – present
Series status: Has not been cancelled

Performers include:
Kyra Sedgwick, J.K. Simmons, Corey Reynolds, Robert Gossett, G.W. Bailey, Jon Tenney, Anthony John Denison, Phillip P. Keene, Michael Paul Chan, Raymond Cruz, Gina Ravera, Ryan Van de Kamp Buchanan, Jonathan Del Arco, Frances Sternhagen, James Avery, Barry Corbin, Stephen Martines, Conan McCarty, and Bob Clendenin.

TV show description:
This crime drama centers around a Georgia police detective, Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson (Kyra Sedgwick), who makes a move to Los Angeles to head up the Priority Murder squad, which later becomes the Priority Homicide Division. Eventually the team changes focus, adding fraud, rape, and kidnapping cases, and is again renamed, this time to the Major Crimes Division.

After working with the CIA, and then the police departments of Washington D.C. and Atlanta, Brenda has moved on to L.A. to work in the same city as her boyfriend, FBI Agent Fritz Howard (Jon Tenney). Brenda’s boss in Los Angeles is William Pope (J.K. Simmons), the married man she once had an affair with when he was her boss in Washington. With her trademark Southern drawl, Brenda is a workaholic and has great skills in garnering confessions from suspects, earning her the nickname of “the Closer.”

Special Agent Fritz Howard received his FBI training in D.C. and then moved Los Angeles three years before Brenda did. His time on the job has given him many law enforcement connections that he uses to track down whatever he needs to solve criminal cases. He’s a recovering alcoholic and known to be a patient guy and a true gentleman. He puts up with Brenda’s being a workaholic and sometimes puts his own job on the line to help her solve a case.

Even though Assistant Chief Will Pope was the one to break off his affair with Brenda, he’s the one that brought her to L.A. for the Deputy Chief job. He has divorced and remarried since their relationship, yet still seems to carry some feelings for her. Pope and Brenda have some tensions between them on the job, but he still seems very ready to take her side when she needs to be backed up.

Commander Russell Taylor (Robert Gossett) is the Commanding Officer of the LAPD’s Robbery-Homicide Division. He does everything he can to undermine Brenda and her authority, as he’s resentful of her status there with the LAPD. It took him more than two decades to reach the level of Commander, and he headed up Brenda’s division before she took over, but was removed when the celebrity cases he was handling weren’t gathering enough evidence.

Sergeant David Gabriel (Corey Reynolds) acts as Brenda’s right hand man. He’s bright and young and looking to make it on his own in the LAPD. He was once very loyal to Commander Taylor, but the more Taylor tries to undermine Brenda, the more Gabriel loses respect for him. He’s always been kind to Brenda, even when the rest of the squad seemed to be against her. Gabriel has an outside relationship with Detective Irene Daniels (Gina Ravera) which they both try to keep private.

Detective Lieutenant Andrew Flynn (Tony Denison) was originally sent to Brenda’s team by Commander Taylor to “help” her. He’s initiatll antagonistic with her but changes his tune when the commander tries to blame him for a mishandled investigation. He sometimes likes to take the easy way out, leading to mistakes. Often, his partner is Detective Lieutenant Provenza (G. W. Bailey), who has been with the force for several decades. He refuses to retire, as he doesn’t want to share his pension with is first ex-wife.

Detective Lieutenant Michael Tao (Michael Paul Chan) is the Major Crimes Division technology expert. Of Chinese ancestry, Tao’s wife is Japanese, leading him to be functionally literate in Japanese, although he can’t read or speak Chinese. He also went through one year of medical school which leads him to also be a a medical expert for the division at times.

Detective Julio Sanchez (Raymond Cruz) is fluent in both Spanish and English and the expert on Latino gangs. He can be crude and chauvinistic yet refuses to remove the wedding ring from his deceased wife.

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