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So Long 'til December
What a year it's been for The Closer family!
Thank y’all so much for your continued support and interest. As our regular season ends tonight (we're still editing and working on our two-part December special) we can look back at our summer (and ahead to this evening) and answer a few lingering questions.
For example, in Ruby, the story of a little girl murdered and raped by a serial child molester, many of you noted that though the confession was written with one hand, the suicide note was composed with the other. How did this happen? What did it mean? Was our villain summarily dispatched by the LAPD?
Actually, the mystery is more mundane. Our guest star in that particular episode, the talented Heath Freeman , is ambidextrous! We didn’t notice it at the time, but many members of you picked up on it right away. We should have been more vigilant.
Why didn't Fritz tell Brenda he was an alcoholic before? And how long has this twist in our story been planned?
On the first day of shooting, in the first scene of The Closer committed to film (like other television projects, we often shoot out of sequence) John Tenney's character, Frtiz Howard, waits downstairs in a hotel lobby bar for a catch-up drink with newly installed LAPD Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson. John elected to have a mineral water and suggested to me that, just perhaps, Fritz didn't drink (which would help explain his character’s loss of thirty pounds). I went with John’s suggestion. And for three seasons, we held off discussing Fritz’s bout with alcoholism based my personal experience with a friend who married a man who had kept a previous substance abuse problem secret; it finally came to light when a related bankruptcy threatened his new wife's credit rating. Yes, these things happen. People who watched the premiere should have no problem guessing the end, since The Closer tries very, very hard to match its endings to those of its beginnings.
In so far as the trial in our two-part finale goes, yes, LAPD officers often sit at the prosecutor's table during jury trials of the criminals they arrested. The investigating detectives often have a perspective on witnesses that D.A.s find invaluable.
Lawyers, in California anyway, are not allowed to approach the witness any further than the podium from which they ask questions. This explains our stationary lawyers. Our consulting producer, Gil Garcetti, former District Attorney for the County of Los Angeles was immovable on this point.
We stopped shooting the last Thursday in August, but that doesn't mean The Closer family has completely dispersed. Kyra Sedgwick has gone back to New York briefly in order to accompany her son on his first day at college: a bittersweet end to one phase of motherhood. She'll be back in L.A. next weekend for her second Emmy ceremony, since she is once again nominated for Best Actress in a Dramatic Series.
G.W. Baily has been escorting the Sunshine Kids all over Los Angeles - taking them to Disneyland, Wickid (the musical), the beach and the set of The Closer. For those of you who don't know, G.W. is the President of the Sunshine Kids Foundation, which organizes and provides field trips for kids fighting cancer. Aiding G.W. in this endeavor, one way or another: Michael Paul Chan, Raymond Cruz, Gina Rivera, Phillip P. Keene, Mike Robin, Andy Sacks (our line producer), Robert Gossett, J.K. Simmons, Tony Dennison, Corey Reynolds, not to mention the never ending efforts of Det. Mike Berchem, my writing partner and our technical adviser. Last week, the Sunshine Kids arrived at The Closer set via police motorcade and were sworn in as Deputies. They had a fun morning in Brenda's office and then went to the beach. This is, after all, L.A. Our crew also gave a big assist. Most of you probably know that G.W. was one of my acting teachers in high school. He continues to inspire children. And me.
Kyra's work for the Sunshine Kids has moved others to get involved. There are worse things one could do with their off-season. She also has a Disney moving opening shortly: Game Plan, starring The Rock. It looks like a ball! Her husband, Kevin Bacon (kiddingly known around our set as Mr. Sedgwick), and who's now directed two episodes of our show (did you like the confession in the elevator: Kevin shot it!), is also lighting up local screens. Not only is Death Sentence in theatres right now, but Rails and Ties comes in early October.
Hunt Baldwin and John Coveny, two of our co-executive producers from the writers’ room, have a pilot for TNT they will be shooting with Greer Shephard and Michael Robin next month. Currently titled Truth in Advertising, it promises to be a fantastic show. Personally, I must hope the pilot gets picked up to series and runs for eternity, because they are such good friends and have worked so hard to make The Closer what it is today. But they are irreplaceable, and that means I must spend a great deal of the next two months searching for new voices to add to those of Adam Belanoff, Mike Berchem, Steven Kane, Michael Alimo, Duppy Demetirus and Ken Martin, just in case Hunt and John’s much deserved success prevents their return for season four.
Among other firsts this season, I finally directed an episode of our show (at the insistence of my producing partner, Mike Robin), the second-half of our Christmas two-parter, "Next-of-Kin." Scheduled to air in early December, “Next-of-Kin” takes our protagonist back to Atlanta in search of a runaway fugitive. I don't want to give away too much of the plot, but it involves Brenda, her parents, Fritz, Provenza and Flynn driving back to Los Angeles form Georgia in an RV with an occasionally violent suspect and some missing Perry Como holiday CDs.
So even though we say good-bye to our regular season tonight, we'll be back for some "seasonal greetings" this December.
As for Corey Reynolds, my new neighbor, well, he's popping by my house sometime in the next few minutes for coffee and a bit of chit-chat. We will no doubt scratch our heads in wonder at just how lucky we are to have an audience like you. And, also, think about how sad it is that we are done for the year. Each one seems to pass so quickly.
But while we’re off the air, we'll be thinking up brand new episodes and more fun and interesting cases for the crew at Priority Homicide. In the meantime, from Kyra and Mike and Greer and the rest of our cast and crew, as well as our good friends at TNT and Warner’s television, we say thank yew so very much for your kind support, and we'll be back to visit at Christmas. And all summer long in 2008.
'Till then,
James
Posted by James Duff 09/10/07 1:38 PM
Permalink: So Long 'til December
Here's a link to the article if you wish to leave a comment for James, like our wonderful Celcool has, or just want to read the comments others have written.
http://community.tvguide.com/blog-entry/Ce...ember/800021945
This post has been edited by Gussiedup: 10 September 2007 - 02:28 PM
: :txfan:
I could seriously read what he has to say about life, love, the pursuit of happiness, and The Closer until my eyeballs fall out.
So while my head screams, "awesome!" my heart screams, "Oh GOD!" and I don't know which one will be louder. I guess I'll know that one for sure by tomorrow, too. 
