After watching The Closer's Season 4 premiere episode (airing tonight at 9 pm on TNT), I think I figured out what it is I like most about this show.

It is without a doubt the most unpretentious cop drama in the history of the genre.

While the heydays of Law and Order and NYPD Blue, had the shows going out of their way to beat into the viewer, THIS IS A COP SHOW AND THERE WILL BE NO LAUGHING OR ENJOYMENT OR GENERAL LIGHTHEARTEDNESS WHATSOEVER FOR THE NEXT 59 MINUTES, The Closer rather revels in its uncool, almost folksy silliness.

From Brenda's Mary Poppins purse (why she can't leave it in the car while she trolls around a crime scene, I don't know) to the anachronistic fashions sported by pretty much everyone in this division of the LAPD (nearly all the male detectives look like they just rushed a Men's Wearhouse liquidation sale), The Closer poses zero threat to dethroning the great crime serials of the modern age, and I love it for that.

But back to the premiere, which doesn't start off with a bang as much as a spark. Actually lots of them. Deputy Brenda Leigh Johnson, that Southern-Belle L.A. transplant played with winning finesse by Emmy-winner Kyra Sedgwick, is called to investigate an arson-murder scene in L.A.'s Griffith Park, where three charred bodies are found amidst a raging inferno. But did they die before or after the fire?

As is typical of a Closer plot, the crime scene isn't so much littered with clues as possible suspects, one in particular. Cloaked in a hoodie and looking properly mischievous is one Billy Croelick, a former Brenda-interogatee and psychopath from Season 1 whom, for lack of evidence the team couldn't pin down for murder.

Played with demented delight by the Irish actor Jason O'Mara (who recently employed his knack for playing kookie-scary as the victim of a bear mauling who discovers he has inoperable brain cancer on Grey's Anatomy), Croelick is that consummate Closer bad guy: You know you shouldn't trust him. But wait, he might be ok. No, definitely not. Or, maybe? In this case, Croelick turns out to be more than just a creepy dude from Season 1 who resurfaces for no good reason.

The plot for this premiere is admittedly only so-so (I can count five eps from Season 3 that kicked way more butt), but that is fine. I took more delight in all the quirks of this episode, like seeing Brenda and her long-suffering fiance Fritz (Jon Tenney) try and hide their cat from the landlord, or come to terms with Fritz's having relieved himself in the shower (hey, give him a break, the plumbing wasn't working!) and my favorite bit in the premiere, the goofy L.A. Times reporter-character who tags along with the team during their investigation.

I'm not sure if the producers did any research into this area, but as a journalist who's covered crime and worked with cops, I can safely vouch for the following:

A. A reporter from a major newspaper would not show up at a crime scene wearing a tight leather jacket resembling that of a gay-nightclub bouncer.

B. He would not take his own photos.

C. He would not be remotely good-looking.

If suspension of belief is paramount to enjoying television (and clearly it is or else we wouldn't waste our time), then I can definitely embrace The Closer's nerdiness for another season. The cast is flawless, the plots -- for better and worse-- are totally original, and Brenda is just so cotton-picking cute, how can I resist?

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