Sorry, I disagree, most heartily! Yes, there is a formula. Yes, The Closer can be a bit "precious." But it is a guilty pleasure to watch a woman make her way in a "man's world," to try to have a life ( including a sex life) and to deal with the silly world of La La Los Angeles while she solves crimes in a high-profile position under the man with whom she once had an adulterous affair. Does that seem far fetched? Well, maybe it is, maybe it isn't...

I am not sure about the acting of her co-stars -- but can you really dismiss the episode where two of her cops decide to ignore the body of a busty blonde in their own garage -- so they can use tickets to VIP Box seats for a Dodger game -- and then the body disappears? I mean, really? How fun is that? As the daughter and mother of Dodger fans, I find it completely realistic. As a woman, I find it, sadly, realistic. And what about the show where Brenda spends a small fortune on make-up and clothes "for a case" that she intends to return later but, after waaayyy too many compliments, decides to keep everything, succumbing to the seduction of LA's beauty culture...

Brenda's vulnerability, clumsiness, "fish out of water" charm and the aforementioned gems of plot and characterization make The Closer an interesting program to watch in spite of it's flaws. Watch it a few more times. You might see more than you did the few times you watched it for this article.

I'm not sure why you would choose to review a show you know very little about:

"I'll admit I haven't watched that many episodes of "The Closer" -- I was blissfully ignorant of its existence

until Season 2, and just started watching in hopes of finding a new Monday night police series standby".

While the show can be watched as episodic and stand-alone, a reviewer can't possibly understand the show's immense popularity without viewing Season 1. Season 1 sets up Johnson's fish-out-of-water character relationships and tensions with her boss, squad, inter-agency dealings, lover, and family. If you haven't watched the first season, you can't appreciate how deep the character is written. Or the other characters for that matter. You completely miss Flynn & Taylor, e.g.

"-- but I have to say it gets on my nerves in a way few shows do. The series suffers from a number of missteps,

some of them minor, like Deputy Police Chief Brenda Johnson's (Kyra Sedgwick) glaring, fire-truck-on-speed

lipstick; some of them major, like the episode in which she crawls in a dumpster to find a severed head and

just starts flinging out trash everywhere. We're living in a post-"CSI" era here -- what police show fan would

let that kind of sloppy crime-scene work slip past unnoticed?"

The Closer is not a police procedural and makes no attempt to be CSI. BTW, are you kidding me? You are criticizing a show because you don't like a character's lipstick? I don't even wear lipstick and I have to say I have never noticed Brenda Johnson's makeup as inappropriate for her character.

"Sedgwick's Johnson seems to spend a good deal of time each episode telling her staff exactly what to do, as if

they were a wayward bunch of students in her after-school class. Sure, she's the boss, but you can't help feeling

each time she has to tell one of the detectives to look up someone's license plate that she wishes they'd just

think of these things themselves. Their lack of imagination is mirrored by the show's writers, and it leaves you

wishing that both Sedgwick and Johnson could get free and clear of "The Closer," then maybe they could do something

really interesting."

I don't know what to think of this analysis of the show. Deputy Chief Johnson is the leader of a team in a situation where time is valuable and lives are literally at stake. She is delegating jobs that need to be done. Would you be more comfortble if it were a male doing the delegating like it is in all those other police shows you seem to watch? There is a whiff of misogyny running through this review.

Can I suggest doing a little work before writing a review? Doesn't being a television reviewer require more than sitting in front of your television and watching a couple of shows? Shouldn't you know the history of the show you are watching? I hear Netflix has the first season.

I'm trying to imagine writing a piece for a legitimate subscription funded magazine that might start...I haven't seen many episodes of Deadwood, but I dunno, they swear too much, and it seems unrealistic, and Ian McShane always wears the same suit.

This is a character driven series, and if you haven't seen the first season you can't appreciate the show...

I was shocked that Salon, apparently staffed by intelligent female editors, would let some guy hack away at a really enjoyable show about a woman dealing with the sexism of a police department. A woman in her early forties who doesn't look like a former model. Who's a slob and wears clothes from J.C. Penny, like many women in management positions. The way she treats a crime scene may not be realistic, but somehow she is.

Maybe it's getting a little formula, maybe the writers need to introduce some more interesting storylines...But that doesn't merit a nasty dismissal.

This is really one guy's uniformed opinion and I think the show and Sedgewick deserved a lot better from Salon.

I expect most of the letters written in response will be more worthy of publication than Scott Lamb's critique.

It isn't just a forced Southern accent, it is a stupidly fake Southern accent.

Awful.

I love it. It's hard to find smart and funny things on t.v. I think watching it falls into the voluntary category. Don't like it, don't watch it. Just don't try and get it killed.

The Closer is the only show on the nominated-for-cancellation list that my husband and I watch. We enjoy it, though I really loathed Kyra Sedgwick's version of a southern accent during the first season. But the show is so entertaining I've stopped cringing every single time she opens her mouth.

We watch very few shows as it is, and those have been in repeats, so The Closer and Saved get us through Monday evenings. The rest of the week it's high definition movies from HBO-HD, Universal, and HDNet Movies that we've recorded on our cable-company-supplied DVR that we've had for two months. Oh, and Deadwood on Sundays, but that show's about to bite the dust.

Just in time for the new TV season!