After re-airing the first season that appeared on NBC, TNT will air the next six episodes beginning tonight at 10pm. Anyone checking this?

http://tv.nytimes.com/2010/03/02/arts/television/02southland.html?_r=1&ref=arts

Television Review
Southland
March 2, 2010
Patrolling for Felons and Kudos on Sun-Blinded Streets
By MIKE HALE
Published: March 2, 2010

There’s no other series on television now quite like the TNT cop drama “Southland,” for better and for worse. No show advertises its desire to be taken seriously — its bid for instant-classic status — as insistently as this visually austere account of the daily lives of Los Angeles patrol officers and detectives.


That intention is telegraphed right away in the sepia-toned opening-credits montage, with its images of the Los Angeles River and of Richard Ramirez, the Night Stalker. “Southland” wants to be seen alongside Chandler and Ellroy, “Chinatown” and “L.A. Confidential,” as part of the Southern California-noir pantheon.

That didn’t matter to NBC, which abruptly canceled the show in October before its second season had even begun. The series drew good reviews but middling-to-poor ratings, dropping as low as 4.6 million total viewers, during a seven-episode trial run last spring. It had the potential to radiate prestige — to be the type of production that network suits like to be associated with — but it wasn’t drawing viewers in. And NBC had devoted its 10 p.m. time slot, the show’s natural home, to Jay Leno.

Into the breach stepped the cable channel TNT, which doesn’t need to attract as many viewers as the broadcast networks do. It reran the seven first-season episodes (the premiere in January drew two million people) and beginning Tuesday will show six new episodes that were completed before NBC pulled the plug. No announcement has been made about the show’s future beyond those six; once again, “Southland” finds itself auditioning.

The show has always played a classic double game: it takes the “realistic,” nonsensational, 9-to-5 approach to police work while bringing in as much action, violence and sex around the edges as possible. Episodes begin with chaotic spectacles — the aftermath of a shooting, a car rolling and exploding during a high-speed chase — and then become long flashbacks. If you sit through the quotidian detail of the cops’ days, you’ll get to see the car blow up again.

At the same time, long-range plot strands are woven in, showing up as passing touches from week to week until they suddenly pay off, reflecting an abundance of thought in the show’s writing and planning. In the first season occasional glimpses of the angry neighbors of Russell Clarke, the detective played by Tom Everett Scott, suddenly culminated in Clarke’s being shot on their doorstep, a cliffhanger that’s resolved in Tuesday night’s episode.

Suddenly but not unexpectedly: the signs were obvious enough that we knew what was coming the moment Clarke told his wife that he was going to check on the people next door. That heavy-handedness, in various manifestations, has been the show’s main problem. It marred the otherwise excellent pilot episode when the veteran officer played by Michael Cudlitz kept giving his new partner, played by Ben McKenzie, sententious lectures about the nature of police work that stopped the story in its tracks.

But the solemnities of the writing are balanced by some excellent performances and superior production values. The hand-held camera work and jittery editing are reminiscent of “The Shield,” though “Southland” emphasizes a daytime, sun-struck Los Angeles rather than the nocturnal city that FX series favored.

Mr. Cudlitz, best known as Bull Randleman in “Band of Brothers,” is excellent as Cooper, an honest cop with a bad back who abuses painkillers, and the relationship between Cooper and his young partner, Sherman (Mr. McKenzie), is at the heart of the show.

Both roles are flimsy constructs — Cooper a bundle of working-class resentments, Sherman a trust-fund baby from a broken home — but Mr. Cudlitz is able to build a character from angry glowers and sarcastic remarks, while Mr. McKenzie, in his first big part since “The OC,” is a revelation. Freed up by a role in which he spends a lot of his time chasing and tackling suspects, he’s loose and natural — suddenly an actor.

The Cooper-Sherman squad-car dynamic is so good that you wish that the show didn’t devote so much time to the detectives, some of whom are played well —Shawn Hatosy stands out — but whose story lines are less interesting. (A first-season arc about the efforts of Mr. Hatosy’s Detective Bryant to protect a young witness was an exception.) The fun lies with the foot soldiers, including Arija Bareikis, who’s appealing as a stoic, frustrated female officer.

The temptation is strong to overrate “Southland,” to give it credit for its good intentions, even when they lead directly to its problems. It’s a worthy show, but to stand next to obvious inspirations like “The Shield” and especially “NYPD Blue” (for which Ann Biderman, the show’s creator, wrote scripts), it needs to learn a lesson from them and give space to its pulpy, low-brow side.

SOUTHLAND

TNT, Tuesday nights at 10, Eastern and Pacific times; 9, Central time.

Created by Ann Biderman; directed by Christopher Chulack; Ms. Biderman, Mr. Chulack and John Wells, executive producers. Produced by John Wells Productions in association with Warner Brothers Television.

WITH: Michael Cudlitz (John Cooper), Ben McKenzie (Ben Sherman) Arija Bareikis (Chickie Brown), Regina King (Lydia Adams), Tom Everett Scott (Russell Clarke) and Shawn Hatosy (Sammy Bryant).

really enjoyed catching up with the first season, interested to see where they go.

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the last season was pretty good...can't wait to see what happens next

i dig the show. i still believe like most cop shows... DISCLAIMER: praise for the wire coming soon... it still creates carictatures of the people outside the badge. they are never fully fleshed out, multi-dimensional characters. AND AGAIN why the wire murked every damn show that tackled the subjects of cops, gangs/thugs, drugs, communities, politicos, schools and jobs or lack there of.

its shot very well, good dialogue and engaging though

Sure it doesn't touch The Wire, but I just can't expect that. I do like the characters, like the interactions and frankly, enjoy the action.

On a separate note, there's no way Ben and Chicky aren't getting down at some point this year.

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every time i start watching it's about to end LOL

Not all mexican lookin dudes look the same, smh

You're talking about Nolasco and Collins, right?

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2008-09 and 2006-07 Zeno Memorial League Champion

the gone. I was like wtf. That other guys is not as good.

he just up and left the role aka exited for no reason.

clifton collins was added as lydia's new partner.

apparently, nolasco and lydia's characters were supposed to be seeing each other had he stayed...but that never panned out.

NBC's loss is turning out to be TNT's gain.

According to a network press release, TNT has renewed the critically acclaimed drama 'Southland' for a 10-episode third season.


http://insidetv.aol.com/2010/04/26/tnt-renews-southland-for-third-season

Shit was way to short this year. I liked it, but it barely felt like the season had started, and it was over. I felt like they had to tell stories way too quickly and didn't get to dig in enough.

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vs. the NBC budget.

Season 2 was filmed for NBC and they must have spent more on S3 Ep1, because there was a glaring difference this week.

This was one of the better looking television shows up until last night. Is this that HD Red cam thing? (ps I don't know anything about cameras). Yes it is very high quality for handheld, but it looked like shit compared to the usual quality.

Their faces were really washed out in some of the daylight scenes.

With that said, maybe it was just the director's choice to shoot it that way, if so it was a poor choice.

....ep was pretty damn good too, altho I can't stand the dude who just came back from rehab

....btw, how effed up was that ending?!?!

yall r missing out

....dude. is better off without his flighty wife and shouldn't be imposing on his partner either...in fact, all the partners new and old where asking too much from their counterparts

damn @ them killing off nate (kevin alejandro).

what exactly happened? all i saw was an object strike his head and him going down.

with a bat or a pipe. Did not see that ending coming, but I knew it was trouble once they got out the car. Sammy should have stayed blasting that burner though...

When they started trying to get at his partner's pistol, he should've, at bare minimum, popped a few kneecaps. I've never been a cop but I doubt any jury would've convicted him if he said he feared for his life.


"I halfway hope people put "btw, rappers lie and shit" on CD covers, like a parental advisory sticker." - OKP Villain

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...Nate had a certain level of respect on the street or at the very least was tolerated as being cool for a cop. Was the arrest the straw that broke the camel's back?

I haven't seen it yet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

but I had been hearing that certain main characters were going to get killed off...

I just would have assumed it was someone like Dewey or Lydia's partner...

Wasn't expecting dude to get kilt

he was a good character. why they gotta kill the mexican lol

a gang would get wiped of the map if they really pulled some shit like that though. their injunctions would have injunctions

...a couple eps ago, when dude killed the kid in the drive by the cops FLOODED the streets....what are they gonna do now?? and why were the xicans THAt pissed? dude is wavin around a gun and shooting at people and they were STILL comin at the two cops like 'night of the living dead'...

the other storires were great too..Sherman fuckin up and the kid gettin his uncle kilt over a playstation...dude never even said PS2 or 3 either

playing both sides of the fence. he was down cause he came from that community and was using it to his advantage, but he was also locking up their foot soldiers and what not. i love the show, but if they, developed the street side characters more, it wouldn't be such a WTF moment.

but i also beleive his partner would've or should've been able to shoot at the esse's at that point. they attacked/killed an officer and where trying to reach for his gun.

i cant wait to see where they go with this

as for the kid and the playstation it seems like the mom is tied up in it too

I expect to see him take all of his anger/frustration out on the cats who killed his partner.

they were going for the gun and kicking his unconscious partner (who was probably still alive at the time). the show probably didn't want to depict an LA cop shooting unarmed people though.

you'd think they would have either scattered at that point or all bumrushed him but it was like nothing changed

shit, i was mad that he was wasting his bullets shooting in the air, thinking stop that shit before you run out, dude lol

intense scene, but ur comment was damn funny

and agreed with previous reply, i dont think the show wanted to show cops shooting the unarmed. Southland still suffers from cop heroism at times

I liked how the detectives tried to remdy the situation, but the scene with the officer and the kid reminded me of The Wire in a "been there, seen better" kinda way

It was a nice showcase of everything that Southland does well.

That scene with hung v. hanged was pretty hilarious.

Agree on the kid thing, it was pretty well done, but really rushed. Actually that whole ending with Cooper was a bit much, but still a really solid episode.

over a few episodes.

everything with Cooper was great. he's clearly the best character on the show

they overdid it with the santa ana wind references

i wasn't expecting them to not follow up on Nate's death in this ep. Look like Sammy's about to be on some revenge shit next week. should be good.

I can NOT get over how old C Thomas Howell looks. He's 44, but looks like he went to high school with Al Davis

I think Regina King is an okay actress but I have trouble buying her as a detective

good episode though

is him being gay a new thing?

so did ole girl really take those pics? & sammy has a really long road ahead and some tough choices

but never copped to selling them. Her former partner was acting real suspect when they were talking about the pics on the sidewalk. I think he found a way to get the pics and sold them to TMZ. Couple episodes back his accounts were frozen and he didn't even have lunch money. He was hitting her up for a loan and trying to sell anything he could.

Somebody else bout to die and I'm thinking its Bokeem. Its like an episode of Star Trek where Kirk, Spock, the Doctor, and the brother (Yeoman Johnson) beam down to a planet. We already know who's catching that L.

Bokeem even gave his speech about making it home at any cost. Sammy bout to get this negro kilt.

....I know sam is the ranking officer, but there's NO WAY i'd let him go back to that site on his first day back.....

...plus it's funny how much things change in a couple episodes...dude's wife didn't want sammy in the house 2 eps ago, and now he's welcome as long as he wants and she's even offerin to make him lunch...there are good reasons for the parallel, but it's wild too.....I think b4 he went into the house @ the end sammy thought about what bokeem said about comin home to fam, and now sammy sorta has two to look out for...and what is he gonna do about that when all he wants is to go frank castle on some gangs....

They've heavily hinted it during the previous seasons; getting his fix at a gay bar, his agave garden back home, some subtext w/ his ex wife when he was using her as a source, watching fireworks during the 4th of July with his buddy.

said Cooper was gay and they would address it over time.

season 1--him arresting dude for indecent exposure then seeing dude at the gay bar

Chickie making a reference about him season 1 (i.e. when Ben asked her what his deal was when he first started the job and why he was the way he was and she said "I have my suspicions..." and didn't say anything else..)

his getting his drugs..at the gay bar

the garden and his "buddy" (READ, his piece)

the ex-wife situation

the tip off--the red head who was fucking all the cops NEVER went after him (the assumption that she probably knew he was gay) and cooper even said he wasn't her "type"

its been there...they're just taking their time getting to addressing it.

half a mil tho? damn

"are you my daddy now" ahh sammy. no way that lasts. probably wont even get off the ground.

the hospital stuff was good

and uhh.. nice going ponyboy

>half a mil tho? damn
>
yeah, i wasn't even mad when he said that....if he had said he did it for a few thou i'da been pissed

>"are you my daddy now" ahh sammy. no way that lasts. probably
>wont even get off the ground.
>
...poor sammy, his pain won't lessen until the baby is born....otherise, hard times...

>the hospital stuff was good
>
that was effed up that the doctors wouldn't tell him the truth...

>and uhh.. nice going ponyboy

you talkin bout C Thomas?? this will be the event that pushes him off the wagon...

....the scene where Sammy holds his baby reminded me that this is the ONLY good thing that happened to him all season.....

..was i the only one laughing when dude went over that fence and almost into the trashcans?? his whole struggle to chase the suspect had me crackin UP....and dude shoulda known better than to try that jump twice....

like they actually got me carin about most of the characters

im hype 2 see homeboy back on patrol... i get a feeling he's gonna b gettin into a whole lot of shit...

I'm sure Ocha will cool off about her son but damn Lydia...

let a sista catch a break, and in this case, catch her that good young latino dick for real...

...either way it was overkill, but funny...

Especially because she was the main one telling her to rob the cradle in the first place. I don't think she can hold a grudge too long considering Lydia was on point during the shoot-out. I understand the anger though. That's a hard pill to swallow though. I also liked how the writers had Ochoa call her a child molester while they were actually tracking a child molester.

That scene with Cooper going for his surgery was pretty good too.

I'm surprised to say that I'm kinda liking Tammi now. I really disliked her the first two seasons.

>>I'm surprised to say that I'm kinda liking Tammi now. I
>really disliked her the first two seasons.


...i still can't stand her, but she's gotten better....