Product Details

• Actors: Kyra Sedgwick
• Format: Box set, Color, Subtitled, Full Screen, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
• Subtitles: Spanish, French
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 4
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• DVD Release Date: May 23, 2006
• Run Time: 602 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (529 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000ENC6QY
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,343 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "The Closer: Complete First Season" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Deputy Police Chief Brenda Johnson (Kyra Sedgwick, Personal Velocity) isn't about making friends, she's about getting results. Days after her transfer from Atlanta, the LAPD's Priority Homicide Division decides they can't work with the blunt-talking Southern belle. Fortunately, she has former CIA colleague, Assistant Police Chief Will Pope (J.K. Simmons, Spider-Man), on her side. As he explains to Captain Taylor (Robert Gossett), who she has just replaced, "She is not miss congeniality...but she's a closer." Set to the sound of urban blues, TNT's The Closer is Columbo by way of Prime Suspect. In other words, Johnson may be as messy as Oscar Madison, but she's as sharp as Sherlock Holmes. Throughout the first season, she'll solve 13 murders, including those of a reclusive mathematician, a Russian prostitute, and a British butler. She won't get much support from her colleagues, except for Sergeant David Gabriel (Corey Reynolds, Broadway’s Hairspray)--to the consternation of his co-workers, like Detective Lieutenants Provenza (G.W. Bailey, M*A*S*H) and Flynn (Tony Denison, Melrose Place). Johnson also has a friend in FBI Special Agent Fritz Howard (Jon Tenney, You Can Count on Me). With his help, she'll eventually settle into her new environment, especially when she lands a house and a cat on the same day (conveniently left behind by a victim). Just as it takes awhile for the chief to grow on her squad--and to get used to driving in LA--Sedgwick's Golden Globe-nominated performance follows a similar trajectory. Fortunately, "Scarlett O'Hara," as the droll Provenza dubs her, becomes more fully-rounded as the season progresses, aided by a superb SAG Award-nominated ensemble cast. Consulting producer on The Closer is former LA District Attorney Gil Garcetti of O.J. infamy. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Product Description

Synopsis: An offbeat personality, a tough-as-nails approach and a track record as one of the country's leading investigators--these are just a few of the traits exhibited by television's next great detective, Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson, played by three-time Golden Globe Award nominee Kyra Sedgwick in "The Closer." In her first lead role in a dramatic series, Sedgwick plays a tough CIA-trained detective, with Southern charm, who has been brought from Atlanta to Los Angeles to head up the Priority Murder Squad, a special unit of the LAPD that handles sensitive, high-profile murder cases. "The Closer" is executive produced by the team behind "Nip/Tuck."

DVD Features:
Deleted Scenes
Deleted Scenes
Deleted Scenes
Deleted Scenes

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

106 of 112 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Great show, goofy presentation May 24, 2006

By Wayne Klein HALL OF FAMETOP 100 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:DVD

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

85 of 100 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars great series, lousy DVDs May 15, 2006

By J. Sinnott

Format:DVD

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.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Series, very fun March 13, 2007

By David W. Nicholas

Format:DVD

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.