Why I Heart Brenda Leigh Johnson

Tonight marks the opening of season 7 (and the FINAL *sad sigh*) of The Closer.  If you're not acquainted with it, the main character is a woman named Brenda Leigh Johnson and here are several reasons why she is one of the few shows I make a point to watch.

1. She is deeply, irrepressibly, southern.  (Okay, so her accent is not exactly true to Georgia, but she's the only modern character I can recall that has an accent that thick and she's not the brunt of a joke.)
2. Her sweet tooth.  I love how she tries to hide her candy from everyone-her husband, her squad, and Chief Delk.  (This is coming from a woman who kept a well stocked snack cabinet at work and if you are on my good side, you know where it is.)
3. Her ability to get to the bottom of something.  Us southern girls like to know what's going on.  Brenda Leigh knows how to wrangle a confession out of a suspect by using sugar coated words or a little bit of heat.
4. Introducing herself as, "I'm Brenda Leigh Johnson, L.A.P.D."  Who else makes introductions by their full name?
5. When quoted in the paper, she was not miffed by the unflattering quote.  Rather, she was miffed, "Because they misspelled my middle name."
6. While she can solve the trickiest of murders, she cannot tell if her pet Kitty is male or female.
7. She is unfailingly polite.  Whether asking for overtime or simply in line at the Atlanta detention center, she never forgets to add a, "Thank yew...thank yew so very much."