4/5 Great show, goofy presentation
  by Wayne Klein (My Little Blue Window, USA)
A great well written show with great performances and direction, "The Closer" focuses on Deputy Chief of Police Brenda Leigh Johnson (Kyra Sedgwick) is a fish out of water lured from Atlanta to L.A.by Assistant Police Chief Will Pope (J.K. Simmons J.J. Jameson from "Spider-Man" and "Spider-Man 2") lead an elite unite that tackles high profile murder cases with her unusual approach to solving crimes. Her Georgia accent immediately sets her apart from her colleagues. She's much savvier underneath her down home accent than many give her credit for allowing her, like Columbo to tackle crimes that others might not be able to solve. Like Columbo and Monk she's got her own quirks (an addiction to junk food, she shows up at a crime scenes with her sick cat--named Cat--in a paper back and her southern charm can't quite hide her abrasive personality). It's a marvelous TV show with a terrific supporting cast (Jon Tenney, Robert Gossett among others). Unlike Columbo this show is much harder edged.

"The Closer" is presented in a goofy looking presentation; the show is presented in widescreen but because its not anamorphic when you watch it on a widescreen TV the images are stretched or boxed on the sides, bottom and top. The presentation is rather bizarre and I can't quite figure out why they made this idiotic decision but, again, the show looks quite good despite this flaw. The colors are accurate with accurate skin tones. The show has a significant amount of dark sequences but that's the way the show is shot with lots of use of shadows and moody lighting dominating the look of the series. The audio sounds fine and is presented in 2.0 stereo surround as it was originally broadcast. It's primarily dialogue driven so there isn't a huge amount of surround type of effects.

Unfortunately there are no featurettes on the development of the series, how Kyra Sedgewick became involved in the show, interviews with the supporting cast or a glimpse into the creative process of the show. We get deleted scenes for the bulk of the episodes (they were clearly cut for time constraints) presented with the time code at the bottom of the images so clearly most were cut prior to the final assembly of the show. No commentary tracks which is disappointing but the price is right for the show and it's presented in thin packs making it easier to store the DVDs without taking up much room.

Well written, performed and directed "The Closer" looks solid in its DVD presentation but could be improved significantly for the second season. I'd suggest that Warner present the show anamorphically enhanced and include some featurettes or commentary tracks in addition to the deleted scenes. This top notch show one of the best of the season deserves a deluxe treatment but because it's on TNT and has a smaller audience it's unlikely we'll probably see either one of these improvements for future


3/5 great series, lousy DVDs
  by J. Sinnott (Gainesville, FL)
I have this set in hand, and I'm quite disappointed. Don't get me wrong, the show is great, but the DVD leaves something to be desired. This program was shown in widescreen originally, and that's the way it is presented here, but not anamorphically enhanced. That means that people with 16:9 monitors will see black bars on the sides as well as the top and bottom. They really blew it with that. :( The show gets 5 stars, but this DVD treatment brings the rating down to three.

5/5 She gets to the truth, and is HOT to boot!
  by MAC (Rosedale, NY United States)
When the 1st commercial previews for The Closer started airing last year, I'll admit that I wasn't interested! I mean, c'mon, who wanted to watch another crime drama?? Especially one where the lead, by all appearances, was a - let's say - b*tch! Yet, I watched anyway. Just to be sure. And guess what? I fell in love with it! The teasers did not do this awesome series justice, for what I (as well as many many other viewers) saw was a very strong and driven female detective who has to put up with the bruised egos of her subordinates! Kyra Sedgwick is terrific as Deputy Chief Brenda Lee Johnson (or ". . .just plain Brenda"). This Complete 1st season set will be a welcomed edition to my TV Drama collection. And, with the premiere of season 2 on TNT just a couple months away, The Closer will become even more popular with heart-stopping episodes rich with suspense and climaxes that will take your breath away and leave you speechless!

5/5 One of the greatest crime shows
  by R. A. Emert (Texas)
Kyra Sedgwick is brilliant in this show, and her supporting cast is also excellent. The fish-out-of-water aspect of an Atlanta cop taking over a predominantly male department in L.A. is only part of what makes this show so great. Brenda in the interrogation room is something to behold. I remember Columbo from my childhood, and I've begun collecting the DVD collections. I understand the comparisons of Brenda to Lt. Columbo, because on the surface, both appear inept. It's not often that a "crime show" can both satisfy the amateur detective in you, and make you laugh out loud -- but The Closer does just that in EVERY episode.
Brenda's quirks are endearing, and as she earns the respect of the men who work for her in the later episodes of the first season, there are many moments that equal the high emotion of feel-good blockbuster movies.
You simply can't miss.
I'm a little confused by people who absolutely hate this show yet buy the DVD box set. But, maybe they should watch the show again, with new eyes.
I never miss an episode, and I'll be pre-ordering every season.

5/5 Excellent Series, very fun
  by David W. Nicholas (Montrose, CA USA)
I typically like detective shows, especially if they have quirky, flawed characters. Kyra Sedgwick's Deputy Chief Brenda Lee Johnson is a marvelous, wonderful, funny, quirky character, with a flawed, insensitive personality. The amusing thing is that as the series goes along, she's obviously trying to figure out how to get along better with those she works with, and she generally succeeds (with one serious exception).

The supporting cast is also very good. Corey Reynolds' David Gabriel is the perfect sidekick for her, veteran character actors G.W. Bailey and Tony Dennison are wonderful as Lts. Provenza and Flynn, John Tenney is wonderful as the exasperated/bemused boyfriend/FBI colleague Fritz, and J.K. Simmons is wonderful as her boss Assistant Chief Will Pope.

The series's first season is especially good. For one thing, there's a plot thread throughout the first season as the whole team gets used to her, and she them. It's probably better if you watch the episodes in groups of two or three, over a period of only a few days. That will allow you to see the plot that continues from episode to episode, and that includes the whole dozen episodes. This is a very good collection and a very good series.