The Closer: Complete First Season DVD: Review By jamesdickens

The Closer starring Kyra Sedgwick made its debut on TNT with little Fanfare and positive reviews. Slowly but surely the show found its audience and there was even talk of a possible Emmy award for Kyra Sedgwick. This DVD set from Warner Home Video arrived just before the start of the second season which began this month. Read on to see if it's worth your hard earned money.

Brenda Johnson (Kyra Sedgwick) is the Deputy Chief of L.A. county and head of her own special unit called the Priority Murder Squad. This unit is charged with the task of investigating celebrity murder cases. Brenda's resume is thorough; she's worked in Atlanta and Washington DC for the FBI and the CIA. Unfortunately this southern belle is not received with open arms in the land of palm trees and celebrities.

Brenda not only has to deal with the difficulty of heading a special unit she must also contend with her co-workers. Her orders are constantly questioned by the members of her squad, and she also must deal with Captain Taylor (Robert Gossett) who heads the Robbery and Homicide unit. As the season progresses Brenda slowly gains the respect of her unit with her obvious skill and some help. Sgt. David Gabriel (Corey Reynolds) is the only one willing to cut her some slack. Assistant Police Chief Will Pope's support of Brenda can be best described as tenuous at best. This is further complicated by the fact that Brenda and Pope had some "dealings" in the past.

In this 13 episode season we see Brenda trying to acclimate herself to the streets of Los Angeles, try to get a confession with each murder, and deal with co-workers who don't like taking orders from her. The episodes themselves are unique in structure. The show is all about Brenda interrogating various subjects in order to get a confession out of them. This could make for a boring TV, but when you had all of the elements of Brenda's personal and professional issues the episodes become very interesting. Kyra Sedgwick's performance cannot be understated. She makes the show work with her strong personality and southern drawl.

Fans hoping for a DVD packed with extras will be disappointed. Bonus Unaired Scenes are just some additional material that was removed from several of this seasons episodes. Some of the material presented here is cool to watch; you can why the majority of it was removed. This set deserved more extras; hopefully the next DVD set will have more.

This DVD set is presented in non-anamorphic and non-enhanced "standard" widescreen. The quality is what you would typically see on TV. You get a grainy picture which is unacceptable.

This DVD set is presented in merely broadcast quality sound. This unfortunately is the norm for TV DVD sets. Subtitles are available in French and Spanish.

The four-disc set comes in two thin, clear amaray cases. The cases are housed in a cardboard sleeve which has promotional art from the series. The episode listing and show synopsis are integrated with the episode art on the exterior of each case. The interior of each case has a cast photo with the actor and their characters clearly labeled. The shows many supporting characters are given their props as well which is a good thing.

The Closer is a good series that deserved a much better transition to DVD. The extras as well as the picture and sound quality are wack. Fans of the show may want buy this set, but if you're new to the series try before you buy.