Selleck Sitcom ‘Closer’ Loses the Laugh Account

As a comedy about a Denver super-salesman with a passion for golf, CBS’ “The Closer” never gets out of the rough.

Tom Selleck gets points for energy, none for laughs as smoothie Jack McLaren, who gets fired from one ad agency despite being a world-class “closer” of deals, but forms another with his former co-workers, who also lost their jobs.

They include Ed Asner as the firm’s creative director and Penelope Ann Miller as an Ivy League accountant who tries her hand at selling in the premiere.

Jack has a wife who’s divorcing him, a snowboarding teenage daughter who’s bugging him, an overbearing personality that’s corroding him and a voice that’s loud. All the better to hear those lame jokes.

Selleck is noisily revved up to distraction here. After paying his dues as a dramatic actor as well as displaying a comedic side from time to time, he surely can do better than this.

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* “The Closer” premieres at 9 tonight on CBS (Channel 2). The network has rated it TV-PG-D-L (may be unsuitable for young children, with advisories for suggestive dialogue and coarse language).