Last Monday marked the season premiers of The Closer and Saving Grace on TNT. Many people shrug off stations like TBS and TNT because more often than not, they show reruns of other stations’ popular shows. In the last few years, however, stations like these (and A&E, Bravo, etc.) have become very popular in terms of original programming. They help bridge the summer sinkhole of low budget reality television (How many “do you want to be famous” shows do we really need anyway?) and give us fantastic characters and storylines to focus on.
I started watching The Closer via my Netflix subscription and, honestly, was surprised by how much I liked it! Brenda Lee Johnson, the show’s main character, is funny and hardcore all at the same time and can switch between the two on a dime. Kyra Sedgwick plays her to perfection and her surrounding cast of characters is all top notch. You might recognize her boss, JK Simmons, from his turn as the newspaper editor in the Spiderman movies! This season is the fourth season of the Closer and new episodes can be watched on Monday nights at 9PM.
Following The Closer on Monday nights is Saving Grace, starring Holly Hunter. I watched my very first episode of Saving Grace last Monday and was immediately impressed. The story follows Grace, a tougher than nails cop in Oklahoma City and her angel, Earl. I absolutely was surprised by the performances in this show and cannot wait to get the first season on DVD so that I can catch up.
Summertime is often a quagmire in terms of television programming, but these are just two of the shows offered up by the “not so popular” networks. Imagine if the “major” networks put this much effort into their regular programming!
