My Christmas Ennui - Favorite Holiday Related Episodes Of A Regular Series

The Closer. Hands down. To see the way that Brenda Lee's parents Clay and Willy Ray (Barry Corbin / Frances Sternhagen) dote and disrupt is pure Christmas chaos.

Watching this slick professional cast (full of great cop characters) perform is a joy I will not fully appreciate until this summer when I realize I have seen all 'The Closer' material that is out there. Richly rewarding and often hysterically funny - it's been a Monday night staple around the Cave for years and if I convince ONE person to get into this one I will feel that I did right by a series that never let me down.

How can I not have a connection to a show that makes a very important main character out of the stray cat that finds Brenda Lee early in Season One and who actually got sick and died during production later in the series?

The issues surrounding the loss of a pet were heavily followed for much of 'Kitty's' final season. Her picture and ashes were memorialized on the mantelpiece of the set house where she did her best work. The real life loss of this feline actor (who Brenda Lee always mistakenly called HE when it was SHE) really affected the cast and crew.


"One of the saddest examples of art imitating life came Monday night when Kyra Sedgwick wept genuine tears as she held Kitty, her character Brenda Johnson's cat, in her arms. According to Today/msnbc's article, the story line was necessary because Miss Kitty, the cat who played Kitty, was terminally ill, and the show's creator, James Duff didn't want to replace her.

Sedgwick broke down during the filming of this episode, because she had had to put to sleep her own cat just weeks before. Her tears were apparently not the only ones shed. Duff told the reporter,

"There were lots of people weeping when she went through the last scene with the cat," Her last moments with Kitty are so heart-wrenching. Everybody felt that way. In fact, I got more comments on the day we shot that scene than on any other scene we had in the show. We were all upset."

The scene showed Johnson holding Kitty in her arms as she was being euthanized in her home, and telling her tenderly, "It's only because I love you so much." That's much in line with what I would say to Kyra Sedgwick, and everyone else who reaches that painful decision time for their loved cat. "Making this final decision is the most loving, selfless acts you can do, and your cat will be grateful for giving her a dignified and peaceful passing."

You can see a classic scene between Fritz, Brenda Lee and Kitty by going HERE.