Kyra Sedgwick made a confession on 'Late Show with David Letterman' (weeknights, 11:35PM on CBS): She frequently makes social faux pas.

Letterman didn't believe it, so Sedgwick offered up a story for further proof.

Sedgwick was hanging out at Tom Cruise's house and was quite proud she hadn't said anything embarrassing. She had lasted through dinner and made it to socializing in the library when her eye spied a button. Just a button. No signs, just a button on a mantle.

"It wasn't attached to anything, didn't have any sign or anything ... just kind of this floating button, so I pressed it," Sedgwick said. "I don't know why, but I did, and nothing happened and I got scared, I got concerned."

So what did the mystery button do? Call the entire Beverly Hills Police Dept. to Cruise's house. "It was the panic button ... [the police] wouldn't leave until they saw Tom in person," she said.

Some dinner guest, right?

A dead body tangled in some telephone wires. Some stargazing. A drunk slutty woman cheating on her husband. What does it all add up to? ... Well, for one thing, it means that we're back for the sixth season of 'The Closer' (Mon., 9PM ET on TNT).

[Spoiler alert.]

Detective Brenda Leigh Johnson (Kyra Sedgwick) returns for a new season of the show -- and her first case is a weird one. A dead man is found hanging in the power lines outside an apartment, and Brenda interrogates the married girl who had an affair with the murder victim.

Meanwhile, as Brenda is asking her questions, the bloody body is being lowered down right outside the girl's window. Which makes the interrogation a very delicate task -- and which requires some distraction on the detective's part.

There's change -- actually, quite a few major changes -- afoot for Deputy Police Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson (Kyra Sedgwick) as 'The Closer' kicks off its sixth season on July 12 (9PM ET, TNT): a new, state-of-the-art police headquarters and a new LAPD chief.

And we know how Brenda deals with change ... let's just say that as she grows more and more frustrated with trying to navigate her way through the complicated new building, with its many high-tech, though unfamiliar and sometimes unreliable, gadgetry, the one bit of comfort she can find comes from the moving box full of assorted candies she's brought to the new office.

There was a great scene in 'The Closer' in the season finale last December, in which Mary McDonnell made a guest appearance as Captain Sharon Raydor. It was all about how much their two characters disliked each other.

From the TV Squad review, we wrote: "They may be on the same LAPD, but they are not sisters in blue. Pope would be wise not to keep throwing them together, although Commander Taylor and Johnson eventually worked out their differences and now are best buddies. Still, the scene with Mary McDonnell and Kyra Sedgwick explaining how they dislike each other was very good."

Well, Mary and Kyra will get a chance to rekindle that antipathy. In the upcoming season, Mary McDonnell is coming back to 'The Closer,'

According to Kevin Bacon, it wasn't easy winning over Kyra Sedgwick when they first met on the set of the 1988 made-for-TV movie 'Lemon Sky.' Sedgwick thought Bacon was "cocky," when in fact he was just nervous and unsure how to approach her, he said on 'The Rachael Ray Show' (weekdays, syndicated).

"I had to really fight my way in there. It was a real challenge," Bacon said. "I don't think she was all that into actors necessarily. She just thought I was a jerk."

Watch the video after the jump.

Beau Bridges' upcoming guest spot on 'The Closer,' airing Mon., Dec. 14, 9PM on TNT, will fascinate fans of the longtime actor. He plays Det. George Andrews, former partner of G.W. Bailey's crusty and hard-edged Lt. Provenza. About a decade has gone by since they last saw each other and much has changed -- including Det. Andrews' sex change.

The context for the episode involves the Major Crimes Unit reopening an old case in which Det. Andrews figured in prominently. That means Provenza isn't just dealing with Andrews' news but doing so publicly -- to the delight, maybe, of Kyra Sedgwick's Brenda, who is only too happy to forget her own low-simmer turmoil with Jon Tenney's Fritz.

(S05E12) Kind of like the summer season finale for Burn Notice, it seemed like they saved the best for last with The Closer. There was an interesting case, a colorful new character to go nose to nose with Brenda, and an up tick in the action, including a chase that was top notch. Kudos to Kevin Bacon who directed the episode and brought it all together.

For a time, it looked like Brenda and Major Crimes were on the trail of a ninja. No, not a real ninja, but a guy dressed all in black who kind of looked like a ninja. He used a blade, albeit a knife, and he was a stone cold killer who showed no mercy and seemed to take pleasure in the kill.

(S05E11) After last week's show, it was great to see The Closer bounce back with a particularly strong episode. The case itself wasn't overly complicated or multi-layered, as some Major Crimes are, but that's probably because Brenda literally wandered into this one. And she wasn't alone. Charlie, her niece from Atlanta, was in the car. More on the Brenda/Charlie relationship as well as the case, after the jump.

(S05E10) One of the reasons The Closer is a good show is that it's smart. It presents challenging situations and complicated crimes, and as Brenda and her crew figure out what happened and how to get the guilty to incriminate themselves, the viewer is along for the ride. The title of tonight's show was Smells Like Murder. I think the subhead should have been, smells like a dud.

There was a good premise, a decent set up, suspects that were interesting ... all the elements were there. What went wrong was character. Things happened that were so out of character that it sunk the entire episode. More on that -- and Jack in the box -- after the jump.

If the recession is still hurting your wallet, you may want to consider a career in TV.

TV Guide Magazine has released its annual list of the highest paid stars on television, highlighting salaries most people won't even see in their lifetime (as a preview: last season, the four 'Desperate Housewives' leads made a combined $38 million plus).

Who came out on top? Check out the top TV earners after the jump.

(S05E08) When I say that a lot of this episode of The Closer felt like a CSI episode, with the emphasis on the gory and gruesome aspects of original murder, I'm not being critical. And when I mention there were also elements that reminded of Cold Case, that's also not a diss because Cold Case is an underrated show.

But unlike Cold Case, which brings the past to life, The Closer remained very much in the present. Generally speaking, this was a pretty strong episode that played up Brenda's vulnerability.

The actresses who have been competing for the Primetime Emmy award in the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series category these past few years are some of the top names in the business. Two-time Oscar winner Sally Field for Brothers & Sisters, multiple Emmy winner -- including last year's award -- Glenn Close for Damages. Previous winner Mariska Hargitay for Law & Order: SVU. Oh, yes, there's also Saving Grace's Holly Hunter, another former Oscar winner, and Golden Globe winner Kyra Sedgwick for The Closer.

All these ladies are worthy of winning nominations again, and it wouldn't be surprising to see one or all of them nominated. But if I were to have a say, there are some other women I hope to see recognized when the Primetime Emmy nominations are announced this Thursday.

(S05E06) There's an old show biz line that goes, "Dying is easy, comedy is hard." Well, sometimes when dramas try a comic episode, it can be a little like death warmed over. Or a show can completely succumb to humor and forget the original genre entirely (you know that I'm talking about you, Mr. Monk). Fortunately, when The Closer chooses to take a walk on the funny side, it usually hits the mark. This episode was a bull's eye.

It was also great to see The Closer shine a light on J.K. Simmons. As Assistant Chief Will Pope, Simmons is great as Brenda's boss and the face of the L.A. cops in many tense situations, political and otherwise. A consummate character actor -- Juno, Burn After Reading, Spider-Man -- Simmons always brings a lot to the show. This episode was prime Simmons, with Pope the butt of the jokes and off his game, if you will. How else could a faux police detective named Dick Tracy dupe the chief?

(S05E05) Sometimes you'll see an episode of a show and everything is going along as you expect, you're entertained and intrigued, the actors and writers and producers and director have done their job well. For most of this episode, that was the case. If only that were true about the last five minutes.

There is no sense in gang violence, even as it was presented in this show. But the random, out of the blue quality made the ending even more senseless.

(S05E04) After an intense, heavy-duty The Closer last week, it was probably a wise move to roll out a lighter episode. That's what this show was, a change of pace with some insight into the delicate dance that makes Fritz and Brenda's relationship work.

The decision to not work together since they're not married was news to me. But Fritz had an ulterior motive in getting Major Crimes into the case of missing person Austin Blair. The motive was not just to distract Brenda Leigh from her grief of losing Kitty, but at first that seemed to be his intent.