Will have a classic "90210" flashback a little later today.

Song stuck in my head this morning:

Band elbowing its way into my head:

Finally got around to Monday's "The Closer" yesterday afternoon/evening. Pretty good. Liked the Fritz-Brenda moment at the end, I always like it when Brenda's parents (Barry Corbin! Frances Sternagen!) are around, and loved the Pope-Brenda apology to the actor, as well as his reaction.

Watched the first hour of "America's Next Top Model" with the bride on Wednesday night, then moved on. Not a show I have to see, although I keep tabs on it through the bride's viewing, and I was happy over last cycle's winner, even if I can no longer remember her name.

Interesting, though, that after having a plus-size winner last time, this cycle had a contestant who was neither thin enough nor plus enough. And where are they finding contestants who have apparently never watched the show before? Even I know that you'd better have a list of designer names at your fingertips.

Spoilers and thoughts, after the jump…

Well, the anticipated fight between Brenda and Fritz was a good one, and Fritz was allowed to give as good as he got. And just as they fought well, they loved well at the end, in a scene that reminded us both that Brenda/Kyra has a sexy side — and that her love for chocolate is quite, well, passionate.

As for resolving the mystery at the end of the two-parter, it was OK. Lots of twists and turns, naturally, and Brenda still got her confessional moment, even if this one was not in the interrogation room. But I question those spots calling this "The Closer's" best season ever. This one was good in pieces, but still felt kind of spotty. Not enough of Brenda's parents, maybe. Or the way the budget issues were played more for comic relief than as a genuinely tough issue.

But I still enjoyed it. Enjoyed the sublime Ms. Sedgwick, of course, and JK Simmons (especially the look on his face when Brenda's folks dropped the wedding news on him), and the seemingly guileless but angle-seeing way Corey Reynolds played Gabriel, and the way it could ease into comedy even in the middle of grisly cases like the season finale's. Today, while talking to the Evergreens group at my church, I recalled how summers used to be rerun-land, and this one had a lot of pleasures — "Flight of the Conchords" and "Mad Men" and "Saving Grace." And "The Closer."

Since I've made clear my admiration for Barry Corbin and Frances Sternhagen as Brenda's parents on "The Closer," I'll try not to belabor the point here. …

Still, they were the most enjoyable element in Monday's telecast, and gave Jon Tenney as Fritz a chance to show some different moves. But I think the episode pushed the parental involvement a little too hard — hard to believe Brenda would have let them into the meeting with the doctor.

Not a strong episode overall, though, with the killer too easily tagged under the Least Likely Suspect theory: Find the person who is introduced but then gets the least screen time and bingo, you've solved the case.

I gave "Californication" a second chance and I think I'm done. I mean, does anyone out there think Hank/Duchovny is as irresistible as the show keeps insisting?

My review of "High School Musical 2" is here. My review of "Superbad" is here.

After the jump, Barry Corbin, and the perils of magazine deadlines … and a new part 2, with "Damages," "Mad Men," "Rescue Me" (so beware of spoilers if you haven't caught up)…

Barry Corbin finally appear as Brenda's father on "The Closer," and what fun it was. He is such a solid actor, able to play the comedy and drama in a character, sometimes within the same scene. He can, as he did on "The Closer," intimidate another character (in this case, Fritz), then make it a joke — and still make you remember the intimidation even as he is smiling. All that, and him playing off both Kyra Sedgwick and Frances Sternhagen. TV heaven, dropped in a sturdy episode. (The elevator scene!)

Talking to some of the "Closer" fans around my office, though, reminded me of the varieties of viewing habits. They were surprised to see Corbin's bald head, since they remembered him in the main from "Northern Exposure," where he had hair. But I;m sure there are other viewers — like my bride – who think of him the way he looked on "The Closer," because it is close to the way he looks on "One Tree Hill."

I made a magazine run last night, mainly to check on the Allure and OK! pieces about Britney Spears. (This is, after all, part of my pop culture mandate.) And while doing so, I began thinking about an item for tomorrow's HeldenFiles, probably to be called "Fun at the Newsstand."

And what was that fun? Well, there was Lindsay Lohan on the cover of the September issue of Elle, with the quote "I'm glad I went to rehab." But, as the magazine notes in the article, it's from an interview done just before her Memorial Day disaster, and the ensuing trip to rehab (which are at least described in the text with the interview) — and therefore well before her most recent troubles and her current reported stint in a Utah facility.

Then there's the Summer 2007 issue of In Style Weddings. Jennifer Morrison of "House" on the cover. Lovey-dovey pictures inside of Morrison and co-star/fiance Jesse Spencer. Description of wedding plans, discussion of The Dress.

They called off the engagement this week.

Part 2: I've been doing some catchup this weekend, for the past week's "Damages," "Rescue Me" and "Mad Men." I also have a couple of upcoming "Mad Men" I may get so, although our Viewing Of The Day is the forthcoming DVD of "Heroes."

I'm still watching "Damages" because I keep expecting it to get better. And every now and then there's something I like a great deal, like the look on Ted Danson's face when he talks about the cost of shipping a grenade. But I still think it's mainly implausible melodrama, and a clunky one at that. The time shifts from the present day (post killing) to the past (case in progress) and even to the deeper past (Florida) are just distracting; once the killing was established in the first episode, it should have settled for a more linear narrative from the case to the present day. The everybody's-got-secrets subtext is overworked, too, mainly because the secrets so far just aren't that interesting. But Glenn Close is growing on me, her behavioral tics seeming more understandable — at least, if we accept the idea that she is crazy as a bedbug. "Damages" has come one of those big potboiler novels that I'm determined to finish, even if doing so isn't all that enjoyable.

"Mad Men," in contrast, is just plain terrific. It also involves a world full of secrets, in particular those of Don Draper (the superb Jon Hamm), who has changed his name and abandoned his old life — including, we now know, an adoring younger brother. The story of Don and his wife Betty (January Jones) by itself is enough to carry a pretty good show, but the weaving in of other characters and stories remains strong. And unlike "Damages," where I feel as if I'm constantly having to fit someone new into the fabric, "Mad Men" does not overburden us in a given week by trying to tell too many stories.

Then there's "Rescue Me." For a moment this week, it had me — in the scene where Tommy is sitting on the rooftop and talking about what it means to bury your child. coming after we've gotten to the depth of Mike the ex-probie's pain. There was also the sheer amusement of the looks on Lou and Franco when they finally see what the new chief has been rumored to have. But I'm still not feeling that great old "Rescue Me" vibe. The intervention scene never quite worked. The baby-kidnapping — or was it a baby-un-kidnapping? — felt fake. The Gina Gershon scene, pointless. More and more this seems like one of those shows that had a season or two of greatness and now just can't figure out how to quit.

TNT has renewed the series for a fourth season. Announcement after the jump …

Here's the word:

There won't be any sleep for the guilty in 2008. Deputy Police Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson will remain on the case as TNT’s hit series THE CLOSER, ad-supported cable's #1 series of all time, has been renewed for a fourth season, according to an announcement today by Michael Wright, senior vice president in charge of the Content Creation Group for TNT, TBS and TCM. The critically acclaimed crime drama stars Golden Globe winner and two-time Emmy nominee Kyra Sedgwick as an LAPD investigator and interrogator with a remarkable talent for trapping criminals in their lies. The show's record-breaking third season is currently airing on TNT Mondays at 9 p.m. (ET/PT) and is averaging more than 7.8 million viewers, with time-shifted viewing (e.g. DVR) delivering more than 1.2 million of those viewers and making the show ad-supported cable's most DVR-ed drama among viewers, households and key adult demos. TNT has ordered 15 episodes for the fourth season, set to launch next summer.

"With each season, THE CLOSER keeps getting better while its audience keeps getting bigger," said Wright. "From its consistently excellent execution to its unprecedented popularity, including among young adults who are recording it in large numbers, it is constantly proving itself to be one of television's biggest success stories. We are absolutely thrilled to be welcoming back Kyra and the rest of the extraordinary cast, along with the immensely talented production team."

"Saving Grace," "The Closer," "Damages" and tonight's "Rescue Me," after the jump …

I was bummed by this week's "Closer," where the shooter seemed fairly obvious early on, and Brenda's medical condition is being dragged out to annoying length. I could at least forgive the weak mystery if there was something on the characters' personal side to think about, but there wasn't much of that either. Best thing about the episode was the way the other detectives tried to figure out how to deal with Brenda — reminding us that they admire her, but they're also afraid of her.

"Saving Grace's" climactic shooting was something of a surprise, although it wouldn't have been if I had read the press material — noting the arrival of the new boss — more carefully. But even if such shootings have become a shopworn cop-show device, I like "Grace" enough that I will be back for more episodes with genuine curiosity. Does a new boss mean more conflict for Grace, or more sympathy?

Watched a second "Damages" and found it more entertaining than the first. But I looked at it that way by putting aside any notion that this is a serious, credible drama and accepting it as an over-the-top, anything-can-happen melodrama, the kind where characters can change on a dime to keep people guessing and the plot going, but you don't see the different behaviors as part of a fully drawn character. (Have we seen anything up to this point to explain Ted Danson's little backseat dalliance? Does Glenn Close have a back room full of goodies — apartment keys, puppies — to ingratiate herself with?) Basically popcorn television, but I'm more inclined to watch again than I was after that slowwwwww premiere.

I have already seen tonight's "Rescue Me," and it ends with the sort of cliffhanger where I don't believe for a second that there's more than one outcome. The show continues its creative struggle, and it's losing the fight.

Yesterday I went to the wedding of the Black Keys' Pat Carney and Denise Grollmus. You can find a few notes, as well as photos, here.

The evening was devoted to TV viewing in what turned into a tough-women marathon: Monday's new episode of "The Closer," the premiere of the new series "Damages" (starting July 24 on FX) and two episodes of the new series "Saving Grace" (July 23 on TNT, in the post-"Closer" time slot). …

"The Closer," you should know, stars Kyra Sedgwick as L.A. homicide ace Brenda Johnson. It's a show that has been very adept at blending gritty drama with comedy — I have found myself laughing quite a bit at the third season's episodes — but Monday's telecast puts Brenda's comical personal life aside, to get very heavy on the drama, about a missing girl and a sex criminal suspected of having a hand in the case.

I don't want to get into too many details (except, perhaps, to urge you to be sure you're recording the whole thing — it's an extended episode). But not only is Sedgwick good, as usual, but it's a solid showcase for Corey Reynolds (who plays Gabriel). And Robert Gossett, as Taylor, once again gets to play a side of a character who is one of the show's most complicated — ambitious, a tad unscrupulous, but very, very smart about police ways.

That said, this is also a very disturbing episode, dealing not only with the ugliness of a certain kind of crime but layering a singularly creepy kind of racism on top of it. Still, it's a very good show.

I was looking forward to "Damages," which stars Glenn Close as the high-profile boss of a prominent New York City law firm. Close knows her onions, after all, and was so very good in her short run on "The Shield." The cast here is sold, with Tate Donovan making some strong early appearances, and I was looking forward to Ted Danson's moves as the villain in the piece. And "Damages" tries to intrigue, starting with a key character in big trouble, then flashing back six months to show us how she got to the point where the show begins.

But while a twist near the end of the episode might get me back for another week, the "Damages" premiere overall felt flat — not so much overplayed as unplayed, as if everyone was trying to hard to be ambiguous that they ended up indicating no emotion at all. This was especially frustrating in some key scenes — such as a job interview with Close — that should have popped and instead just kind of sat there. The first time we see Danson, he should be bold and powerful, but he's just kind of blah.

This may seem weird, but when I was watching a little bit of "The Devil Wears Prada" during a morning cable-flip, I thought that Close was taking some notes from Meryl Streep: the deceptively low-key but icy way of conveying power. It's an idea that seems even more prominent when you get to the end of the "Damages" premiere, only Close in this situation is not as watchable as Street — or as herself in "The Shield" or "Fatal Attraction," where she played powerful and charming with a stronger current of aggression.

After the disappointment of "Damages," I might have been a little more primed to enjoy "Saving Grace," which stars Holly Hunter as an Oklahoma City police detective who finds herself in intense conversations with an angel.

I know, you're thinking "Touched by an Angel" and "Joan of Arcadia." "Saving Grace" leans closer to the latter, but with a grime and sexual swagger that make it much more adult. Where I loved "Joan" for its first season, I'm not quite as wild about "Grace." Still, I want to see more.

See, Grace is a mess. She screws around, and isn't too picky about the marital status of her partners. She drinks too much. She takes a pill or three. She has a wicked temper, and as tiny as Hunter is, you quickly realize that it would be a mistake to pick a fight with her.

Then, one night, drunk and driving home, she hits a pedestrian. And asks God for help. Which arrives in the form of a tobacco-chewing, pudgy, T-shirt wearing angel named Earl (Leon Rippy). Grace, we find, has been on the fast track to hell — and Earl has been hanging around, waiting for a chance to untrack her.

It won't be easy, for Grace or for Earl. But the show is perfectly comfortable in making it difficult for them, because it is also comfortable with the idea that an angel has come to help Grace — no coyness, strong faith, even when Grace is skeptical.

There are good things, including what becomes of that pedestrian Grace hits. Still, I'm not sure how long the show can sustain its balance of the faith story, Grace's personal issues and police exploits. (In the personal/police combination, you can see how this would fit well with "The Closer.") The second episode was not as good as the first, mainly because the police case was a lot less interesting than Grace's life, but also because of a shocker ending that feels too out of left field.

Even so, you've got a lot of good people at work — Hunter, Rippy, "The Shield's" Kenneth Johnson, Laura San Giacomo among them. And they've been given plenty to work with. I'll be back for the third episode in any case, to see the aftershock from the second show, and I'll be around for the fourth because I like just enough of the first two.

During a break from compiling Paris Hilton news, I found this in the e-mail basket:

Emmy®-nominated actress Frances Sternhagen (Sex and the City) will return this season to TNT’s THE CLOSER as Brenda’s slightly overbearing mother, Willie Ray Johnson. And now we’ll meet Brenda’s dad, the tough, but charming Clay Johnson, played by Emmy-nominated actor Barry Corbin (Northern Exposure, TNT’s Monty Walsh). Clay is a retired military officer who owns auto parts stores around the metro Atlanta area. Both are slated to appear in episodes ten (August 20), eleven (August 27), fourteen (December) and fifteen (December).

I've been a fan of Corbin's work for long years, and have had the pleasure of talking with him a couple of times. This could be very cool.

Here's the official word: Cable television’s critically acclaimed series The Closer returns to DVD when Warner Home Video (WHV) releases The Closer: The Complete Second Season on May 29, 2007. The four disc collection features all 14 episodes from the series’ second season, along with bonus material, and will retail for $39.98 SRP. …
In the show’s second season, challenges both personal and professional await Brenda as her relationship with Fritz (Jon Tenney) elevates to a whole new level, her mom (Frances Sternhagen, ER, Sex and the City) comes to visit and Kyra Sedgwick’s real-life husband Kevin Bacon directs her in the season finale. …
Bonus features on the DVD set include the featurette, Breaking Down the Closer, a gag reel and deleted scenes.

So there we were, the bride and I, watching "The Closer" and talking here and there about what we thought had happened. Well, I was talking, anyway. I do that. Then, late in the show, as the pieces were falling together, TNT ran a promo that included a big scene from the episode we were watching. Which was also a scene that we had not actually watched in the episode yet. And which confirmed suspicions we had about one of the chararacters — before we had had those suspicions confirmed in the actual watching of the show.

What a delight. So much for surprise. Forget letting an episode unfold at its own pace. I know, it's not the first time a network has diminished a show with an overly revealing promo. But it's never fun, is it?

I finally caught up with Monday's episode of "The Closer" and for the most part liked it, at least until it got to that cliched justice-in-the-parking-deck moment. I felt as if the show wanted things both ways — to show that the system sometimes lets bad guys get away, but also to satisfy the audience that the bad guy was punished. But I've seen that kind of payoff before, and I would have preferred if the show just let Brenda Lee Johnson — Kyra Sedgwick's wonderful character — be frustrated for a change.

One other surprise about the show was how suddenly it dispatched the hospital administrator — played by "Boston Public's" Anthony Heald — after doing so much to set him up as an obnoxious, irritating counterpart to Brenda and her team. Indeed, the show seems to be searching for a strong, consistent rival to Brenda, someone who can get under her skin on a recurring basis. After all, her original foes have all been softened or co-opted; the detective squad that was once so hostile to her now consists entirely of allies, and her one major bureaucratic foe is allowed to take her side at times and even to be reasonable. (Who wouldn't want help dealing with a possible spree killer?)

So it feels as if the show is trying things out, trying out Heald, trying out Ray Wise's defense-attorney character (who's due back on the show).

It has played with the idea of tough-to-crack criminals (like the one who murdered his wife and hild in a recent episode), but that goes against the grain of the show. Fans want Brenda to get the bad guy at the end of the hour, with character flourishes and developing relationships along the way.

So it has to be someone who is in the middle of her cases without being the target, like Wise has been, or Heald could be (if his hospital becomes a Cabot Cove-like hotbed of murder). The snotty prosecutor, sneering at Brenda's case, is another possibility, and one that would give her trouble not only in dealing with cases but in making progress in her own shop. But it sure seems that, to keep the show fresh, they have to come up with someone who might even outmaneuver Brenda now and then. Any thoughts from you viewers?

From today's e-mail:

TNT’s blockbuster original series THE CLOSER – which ranks as ad-supported cable’s top original scripted series of the year and which kicked off its second season with record-breaking numbers – has been renewed for a third 15-episode season, according to an announcement today by Steve Koonin, executive vice president and chief operating officer for TNT and sister network TBS.

Glad to hear it. "The Closer" has been off to a good start this season, and I'm looking forward to more this year and more in the next season.

This arrived from TNT today:

Cable's top sensation is heading before cameras once again on Feb. 27, when TNT's THE CLOSER begins production on its second dramatically charged season.  In just its first year on the air, the series earned star Kyra Sedgwick (Something To Talk About, Loverboy, TNT's Door to
Door) both Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations,
while also ranking as cable's #1 new series of 2005.  TNT is currently
in the midst of airing an encore of the first season, which is scoring
extremely high ratings, this week delivering 5.2 million viewers and
outperforming the original telecast of the episode, as well as series'
premiere average, among targeted adult demos.
Production for the second season in Los Angeles will also feature the
return of the entire SAG Award(tm)-nominated ensemble cast, including
Sedgwick as Deputy Police Chief Brenda Johnson; Jon Tenney (You Can
Count on Me, Get Real) as FBI Agent Fritz Howard, Brenda's love interest
who also sometimes works with her on investigations; J.K. Simmons
(Spider-Man, Law & Order, Oz) as Brenda's boss, Assistant Police Chief
Will Pope, with whom she once had an affair; Corey Reynolds (The
Terminal, Tony nominee for Hairspray) as Sgt. David Gabriel, Brenda's
right-hand man; Robert Gossett (Arlington Road, The Net) as Commander
Taylor, head of the robbery homicide division and a frequent thorn in
Brenda's side; G.W. Bailey (M*A*S*H, St. Elsewhere, Police Academy) as
quick-witted veteran Detective Lt. Provenza; Tony Denison (Melrose
Place, The Amy Fisher Story) as disgruntled Detective Andy Flynn;
Michael Paul Chan (Robbery Homicide Division, The Insider) as
technology-minded Detective Mike Tao; Raymond Cruz (Collateral Damage,
Training Day) as Detective Julio Sanchez; and Gina Ravera (The
Temptations, Soul Food) as Detective Irene Daniels.
…

THE CLOSER follows the ever-challenging world of Chief Detective Brenda
Johnson (Sedgwick), a transplant from Atlanta who is now working for the
Priority Homicide Division of the Los Angeles Police Department.  Her
position on this elite detective squad, which handles high-profile cases
of a sensitive nature, is one a tenuous balancing act.  She faces
sometimes-antagonistic roadblocks, even from her own peers within the
department, and must manage a team that is only now to the point of
accepting her unconventional style and giving her the benefit of the
doubt.  Meanwhile, she finds herself trying to keep her head above water
in the rushing mayhem of Los Angeles, finding comfort in her beau, FBI
Agent Fritz Howard (Tenney), or sometimes in a package of snack cakes.
But Brenda's primary focus is her job.  She has an impeccable talent for
knowing a person's secrets and obtaining confessions, with skills that
stem from understanding her own quirks, imperfections and neuroses.  No
matter the personal costs, she does whatever it takes to find out the
truth, even if it means alienating others in her squad.

I'm still a little new at this blog system, and am not quite sure how to reply to comments. So I'm going to do it here.

On the Al Gore posting, about trying to get a question in at a Gore press conference, a reader asked: "So what were the questions (and answers)? "

My first question (suggested by a colleague) was, "How current will Current be? For instance, can you go live with reports or events?"

Current Programming President David Neuman took that one, saying ""We will imminently have the ability to do that when merited, and it will be a judgment call."

My other question was to Gore: "When mainstream cable networks look at what they think the audience wants, we get the runaway bride and Aruba. How are you going to be sure that you're giving the audience what they need, as well as what they want?"

Gore's reply was: "We're going about it in a completely new and different way. I know that you all have probably been saturated with so-called reality TV. In our experience … a lot of reality TV quickly becomes fantasy TV with people who, from real life, are assigned to play certain roles. We think of ourselves as authenticity TV, with the difference being that the people who are watching have the opportunity to actually help make the programming. And by interacting with us on a regular basis, it's not a question of conducting focus groups or polls or advertising surveys. It's a question of being in an intelligent ongoing dialogue with our audience and learning from them as we invite them to participate."

Which, as I said in the Beacon Journal, doesn't quite answer my question. You can find more of what Gore had to say in my story, posted on www.ohio.com.

The other reader comment, about "The Closer," said in part that "I'm also glad to again see Barry Shabaka Henley and the bald actor (can't remember his name)…both from the Tom Sizemore cop show that was cancelled."

The show was "Robbery Homicide Division," and Michael Paul Chan is the other actor on "The Closer" who was also on "Robbery Homicide." But he's not the only one in the "Closer" cast who is hair-challenged. J.K. Simmons is as well; you may remember him from "Oz" or a recurring role in "Law & Order."

Former Los Angeles District Attorney Gil Garcetti seems happy to be out of his old line of work. He's been busy as a photographer, declines comment on current legal cases and is a consultant to the drama "The Closer."

But because he was such a high-profile law enforcer, he stil gets asked what he thinks of crime shows on TV. And he answers, not kindly. "Everyone was talking about how great 'Law & Order' was," he recalled during a "Closer" press conference. "I watched about 20 minutes of one. I said, 'This is ridiculous.' "

Apparently he spoke before thinking things through.

"The shrink wasn't in that episode, right?" said "Closer" co-star J.K. Simmons. He had a recurring role as a shrink on "L&O."

"Those are not the episodes currently replaying on TNT," added "Closer" executive producer James Duff. "The Closer," like "Law & Order" reruns, airs on TNT.

But Garcetti once again said, "I watched some of it and said, 'This is crazy.' … I got to tell you, I still don't watch 'Law & Order,' not even the reruns of it."

Actors take parts for a variety of reasons. If you ask them, more often than not they'll say they've been attracted by the script, but there's more to it than that.

Actor-writer-director-producer-charades-player Bob Balaban said — not entirely joking — that he likes to work with people whose home phone numbers he has; that way, he not only knows them, he doesn't have to go through the many filters of an entourage. Barry Shabaka Henley  has talked more seriously about the importance of working with people he trusts, hence his frequent appearances in the movies of Michael Mann.

Then there's actor G.W. Bailey. You might remember him from "M*A*S*H." Lately he has been playing the grumpy but smart detective Provenza on "The Closer," the fine new drama on TNT. He said he decided to play the role based not on the pilot script, but on one word in it..

"I have never had a one-word line, a one-word response that told so much about a character," he told me at a "Closer" press conference Sunday.

He was talking about the scene in the pilot when he referred to a character as "a murderer and a lesbo." But that's not the word. He then recalled how Brenda — Provenza's boss, and the closer of the show's title, played by Kyra Sedgwick — warned Provenza that such language meant Provenza might have to take two weeks of sensitivity training.

"And I had a one-word response," Bailey said. "I said, 'Again?'  …

"It all became clear to me," he said. "I said, if this is picked up (as a series), this is going to be a great guy to play. … And I knew from that one-word response."