,” Duff said. ” was a big winner for them, so they wanted a companion piece. It s fantastic when your network partner knows what it wants and TNT is great at fine-tuning. They get it. And that s unusual.” stars Golden Globe winner and Emmy nominee Kyra Sedgwick as an offbeat but forceful detective. According to Duff, the character is based on several people in his life even himself. “Brenda (Brenda Leigh Johnson, Sedgwick s character) is part my mom, sister and a lot of me,” Duff said.

“My uncle was a judge advocate with the Air Force and his negotiating style always fascinated me when I was younger. So, there s police work in my family, and I ve stayed abreast of intelligence in the U.S., including torture, which I ve found to be a bad method of extracting the truth.” The series and its protagonist also embody many of Women in Cable Telecommunications goals of advancing positive portrayals of women on TV.

“Brenda brings the strength of a woman and proof she can be a woman and do a man s job as well, or better than a man,” Duff said. “Her professionalism was given a feminine spin and portrays a woman at the top of her game. She acts like a woman because she is one.” Duff, who began his career as an actor, has been a successful executive producer, creator and writer.