The Closer has an amazing supporting cast. J.K. Simmons plays the role of the Chief of Police, and his name is "Will Pop." That seems like a particularly uninspired choice for a name. Kyra Sedgwick plays the Lead Detective, and she has a face that could sour milk. Her "Sybil" character seems to alternate from motherly and compassionate when she is trying to get a criminal to confess; to abrasive and obnoxious when she is around everyone else.
The supporting actors all seem to be there to contrast against the style of Kyra Sedgwick. They don't like her, but she believes that "once they see how good she is at her work" they will love her. So the pilot story builds up her brilliant detective skills and by the end of the episode all the cops that wanted to quit are seen gaping in awe at her every move, as if she was the second coming of Sherlock Holmes.
After her first meeting with the other detectives, the entire squad tenders their resignations from the Unit and request transfers because she is so abrasive and demeaning. Later they kiss the ground she walks on. That seemed like a bit much, especially since their complaint about her as Deputy Chief is that she is rude and she was constantly belittling everyone that she worked with. The story tries to make Sedgwick bigger than life, and in the Police Drama field, that goes against the gritty realism that is the current trend. This show shoots for the gritty CSI style but it also wants to have a Crossing Jordan type of super-woman. I think the show could be more believable if Sedgwick was not portrayed as being so much smarter than everyone else on her squad.
Sedgwick's character seems to be trying too hard to be a female Colombo. She dresses in a frumpy manner, she is disorganized, and disgusting. She carries her files in a shopping bag, along with twinkies and other snack foods. I can only imagine how sticky and nasty those files would be if it were "real" life. Her office is full of half-eaten donuts and moonpies. When her boss, Will Pop drops by she spends several boring seconds tossing all her leftovers from the top of her desk into the shopping bag which has all her case files. What made Colombo so great was that he never tried to be Colombo. It was natural. Sedgwick on the other hand might as well wear a hat that says "Trying to be Colombo."
Sedgwick plays a southern woman from Atlanta. Sedgwick plays her southern character as some kind of yahoo. The thick southern accent borders on comical. I have never heard anyone speak like that unless they had been living on a farm their entire lives. I was wondering when Sedgwick would pull out the tobacco chaw and spitting cup. All the other weird personality traits just make Sedgwick very unbelievable as a master detective. Her extremely dull phone calls with her mother are another minus.
Sedgwick spends the entire show bullying everyone, and then she changes into super-sensitive woman when the suspect is brought in for an interview. That is the scene where the other detectives are all sitting lined-up like little kids looking through the two-way mirror at Sedgwick interviewing the suspect. This scene plays like a classroom scene from the ancient "Little Rascals" TV show as the detectives all gasp with their mouths open and make funny faces which are intended to convey their astonishment at the unbelievable interrogation skills of Sedgwick (Miss Crabtree?). I was wondering when the Ice Cream truck would drive by playing the traditional music so the detectives could run out and get ice cream bars and make more funny faces.
Of course, during interrogations Sedgwick is the princess of sweet, and she gets the suspect to confess her crime, and thus the State is assured an easy conviction (according to Will Pop). All this show needs is an Applause Track, so that every time Sedgwick performs an amazing Detective trick the Applause will come on to supplement the looks of wonder on the faces of her staff.
