Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Kyra Sedgwick tells us that she and her "The Closer" compatriots have yet to succumb to the feeling of the show's days being numbered — despite the fact that they're shooting their final season. "I think everyone is in a healthy state of denial. It's a long year. It's like a network year, and we're not even halfway through shooting," she says of the 21-episode season that premieres tonight (7/11) on TNT. "Having to say goodbye — I think that's going to be rough. I'm sure the last few episodes will have their share of boo-hoo moments, as well as picking fights," adds the Emmy-winning actress, who celebrates her 23rd anniversary with husband Kevin Bacon this September.

"I don't know about anyone else, but with Kevin, I still have to pick fights — silly little fights when we have to spend time apart, I guess trying to make it easier to separate," she admits. With her "The Closer" series family, "having spent seven years together, it's going to be emotional. The quality of the time is really more than you spend with your real family. We're going to miss each other terribly."

This season's "The Closer" will have Kyra's inimitable interrogator extraordinaire, Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson, doing something breathtakingly unusual among TV's legions of audacious, rule-bending cops. She is going to have to face up to the consequences of her audacious, rule-bending actions. Kyra says she agreed to do the extra episodes because creator James Duff "really wanted to end with an epic journey. I wanted to be supportive of that."

There will be cliff-hangers along the way — when the summer's run of "The Closer" closes, its winter run follows, culminating at last with the series finale next summer. Expect Brenda to seriously break down along the way. Kyra has already shot the episode in which it happens, and she says, "That was a rough one. That was a really rough one. That was one I carried around for a few weeks before we shot it. I was fortunate I had the weekend to relax afterward. That was something I was happy to let go of once I did it."

AN UNEXPECTED TURN: A harrowing story that reached the depths of alcoholism — complete with lost jobs, lost weeks, flophouse living, smoking other people's abandoned cigarette butts, and inflicting untold misery upon his loved ones — is not what Edward Grinnan's followers would have expected of him. The highly regarded editor-in-chief of Guideposts magazine admits he worried about that.

"I wondered, 'How is my readership going to respond to this story when they have no idea of my background?' I knew that I was really going to puncture my own persona."

However, since the publication of his book "The Promise of Hope: Nine Keys to Powerful Personal Change," Grinnan's been swamped with thank-you mail from readers saying that they or their family members, or others in their lives, are dealing with alcohol or drug problems, and they're finding help and inspiration in his honest, brilliantly told story.

"They feel a connection. Now I don't know why I was so nervous about it," he says. "We get hundreds of thousands of letters a year. ... They're great letters, and some are funny and some are heartbreaking. They're all asking for prayer. I should have known from the number of letters we get from people who are dealing with compulsive-addictive behavior — whether it's drugs or alcohol, sex or money — they struggle with that."

Grinnan, who is also VP of the inspirational publication founded by the late, great Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, was in town from his New York City home base to tape a guest visit on this Sunday's (7/17) "Hour of Power" telecast. He's also been talking to film/TV industry types about prospects for a screen adaptation of "The Promise of Hope." Also, he reports, with its treasure trove of stories and huge readership, Guideposts is considering making more of a move into video — whether that means a television series, a web series or even a Guideposts channel.

"That would represent a tremendous investment, of course, and the core business that supports Guideposts is going through the struggles that everybody in publishing is going through," Grinnan notes. Nevertheless, "We are in talks with a couple of people," he says. "We can't do anything that would alienate or offend or disappoint our core audience. What it always comes down to — aside from money, because everything always comes down to money — is creative control. And we always have insisted that we need final control of all content, and that's hard for producers to give out."

A MUSICAL NOTE: "American Idol" Kris Allen, who is focusing his energies on the album he intends to get into release by the end of the year, has been taking time for a few appearances — including his "tiny little tour" this past spring to help raise funds and motivate fledgling musicians on behalf of the Music Empowers/Berklee City Music Program (affiliated with the Berklee College of Music). "The kids were great," he recalls. "It was an amazing time. I'm glad to do what I can raising awareness about the importance of music education. It's something I had, growing up, that shaped my life, my personality, everything."

To find out more about Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith and read their past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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