Arts: Kyra Sedgwick Interrogates the Procedural

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Culturebox Kyra Sedgwick Interrogates the Procedural TNT's underappreciated The Closer is challenging a tired genre. By June Thomas Posted Tuesday, Dec 06, 2011, at 10:37 PM ET People have been underestimating Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson of the LAPD for seven seasons now. Villains are thrown off-guard when the ditsy blonde saunters into the interview room and completely disarmed when she unleashes her Southern drawl. But lurking behind that charming exterior is a cunning officer who extracts confessions from murder suspects as easily as she separates Ding Dongs from their wrappers. Critics and casual viewers have also sorely misjudged The Closer, which airs on TNT Mondays at 9 p.m. ET. If you've thought about the series at all in the past few years, you've likely considered it to be just another procedural—comfort TV for fans of CSI and Law & Order. But don't let the squad-room setting and the show's popularity fool you. The Closer is complex, riveting, and beautifully acted, and it belongs in the TV pantheon alongside The Sopranos, The Wire, and Breaking Bad. The show aired its 100th episode Monday night, and as it nears the halfway point in its final season, The Closer is challenging the TV convention of the heroic crime-solver who takes justice into her own hands—and, in the process, challenging the entire genre of procedural television. Good procedurals are like Old Faithful: Reliability is their defining characteristic. The Closer offers up a quality mystery and a tricky interrogation each week, but unlike, say, CSI, it does so without becoming predictable. Instead, it keeps viewers guessing by varying its dramatic tone. Sometimes the show ... To continue reading, click here. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Iowa Conservatives Ought To Loathe Gingrich. Why Are They Flocking to Him? How Winner-Takes-All Markets Are Making the Rich Even Richer Why Publishing Movie Reviews Early Is Bad for Everyone	Advertisement
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