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The Closer is must see TV for a variety of reasons, none of them having to do with the fact that it has broken all records for viewers of a basic cable show. In the season that recently finished, The Closer drew more than 7.47 million viewers an episode, more than those who tune into to many of the hits on the major networks. It’s TNT’s biggest success, and partly responsible for the high numbers Holly Hunter’s drawing in Saving Grace, but that’s another story.

Sedgwick plays Brenda Leigh Johnson, an Atlanta police chief brought to LA to work on high profile murder cases. Johnson’s an ultra femme, hard as nails investigator who sounds overly polite on the surface, but her trademark “Thank Yew” drips irony and superiority as she cracks the whip on her mostly male staff. While not pitched as a dramadey, Sedgwick gets plenty of laughs when she melts down, which she does at least once per episode, usually safe at home with her boyfriend/fiancé Fritz Howard (John Tenny.) The fact that she’s approaching 50 and still hasn’t told her parents that she’s living with her boyfriend adds another endearing, or maybe annoying, quirk to Johnson’s character. This season Tenny also came out as an alcoholic, another problem Sedgwick’s already overburdened Johnson has to deal with.

The ensemble cast is another selling point. The multiracial and multicultural detectives on The Closer are real characters and get plenty of face time. Unlike the secondary characters on some other big shows, they’re not there just to make Sedgwick look good. Slick, handsome, African American, and as ambitious as Johnson, Sgt. David Gabriel (Corey Reynolds) admires Johnson, but is put off by her Southern charm. Detective Lt. Provenza (G.W. Bailey) is a tired old career cop trying to stick it out to retirement, although he obviously loves the job. Lt. Andy Flynn (Tony Denison) is Povenza’s best friend, but their old school approach puts them at odds with Johnson and they often bristle at her desire to micromanage everything that goes on in the office. Lt. Mike Tao (Michael Paul Chan) is the squad’s unflappable nerd, a tech head who never looses his cool, living up to his perhaps punny name. Detective Julio Sanchez (Raymond Cruz) is the squad’s gang expert, a quiet methodical officer who doesn’t call attention to himself. Detective Irene Daniels (Gina Ravera), the only other woman featured regularly, has a no nonsense approach that puts her at odds with Johnson. The fact that she often sees clues Johnson misses may not help her long-term career prospects. The interactions between the squad are complex and nuanced, with plenty of deadpan humor, but the one time the show went into full tilt slapstick, when the body of a woman was found inside the casket of a dead cop during the funeral mass, things went terribly awry.

The show avoids a lot of the formulaic writing that makes every episode of some shows seem interchangeable. This year they dealt with cold cases, gang killings that were not all what they seemed to be, a serial killer in an old folk’s home, a Chinatown killing of a successful business woman and the tangled affairs of a Hollywood divorce lawyer who winds up face down in his own swimming pool with sea water in his lungs. All season Johnson was dealing with a mysterious ailment that might have been cancer, early menopause, or late life pregnancy. Johnson’s inability to directly confront her health issues or see a doctor and the problems that created in her relationship with Howard seemed real enough, and was finally resolved by pulling a medical rabbit out of a hat, a rare condition that brings on menopausal symptoms and can be treated with a simple surgical procedure. In real life, Sedgwick is probably approaching actual menopause and it would have been nice to fold that into the plot. It doesn’t look like she’s had any work done on her face yet, but dealing with women aging still seems to be taboo. So while it’s good to see an older woman taking charge in a lead role, Sedwick’s often-girlish wardrobe and the convenient escape from the most common marker of age in women, is disappointing. Still, the show’s ensemble cast, strong writing and Sedgwick’s scenery chewing turns as an investigator make it one of the more interesting shows currently on the air. New episodes began airing in December.

One last note about aging; on The Closer website there’s a photo showing Sedgwick eating a cookie. When it first comes on screen, it looks startlingly like she’s inserting her upper dentures. If Sedgwick’s Brenda Leigh doesn’t want to face menopause, it seems odd that this unflattering photo hasn’t been axed as well.