Southland (TV series)

Southland
An intertitle from the series
Genre	Police procedural Drama
Starring	Kevin Alejandro Arija Bareikis Clifton Collins, Jr. Michael Cudlitz Shawn Hatosy Regina King Michael McGrady Benjamin McKenzie Tom Everett Scott
Theme music composer	Frederico de Brito and Ferrer Trindade
Opening theme	"Canção Do Mar" by Dulce Pontes (Instrumental Version)
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	30 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Ann Biderman Christopher Chulack John Wells
Location(s)	Los Angeles
Production company(s)	John Wells Productions Warner Bros. Television
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC (Season 1) TNT (Season 2–present)
Original run	April 9, 2009 – present
External links
Website

Southland (promotionally styled SouthLAnd) is an American drama series created by writer Ann Biderman and produced by Warner Bros. Television. It premiered on NBC on April 9, 2009. On May 1, 2009, NBC announced that Southland had been renewed for a second season with an initial 13-episode order to begin airing on Friday, September 25, 2009 at 9:00 pm, one hour earlier than its original time slot. On August 27, 2009, shortly before its scheduled premiere, NBC moved the opening of its second season to October 23, 2009, citing the need to promote the show more fully. On October 8, 2009, NBC announced that the series had been cancelled.

On November 2, 2009, TNT announced it has purchased the rights to Southland's original seven episodes, as well as six completed episodes from its second season. Southland began airing on TNT on January 12, 2010. On April 26, 2010, TNT announced it had picked up Southland for a ten-episode third season to begin airing on January 4, 2011. TNT's renewal of the show included a substantial budget cut and corresponding cast reduction. Southland was renewed for a ten-episode fourth season on March 22, 2011 The fourth season premiered on January 17, 2012.

Plot

See also: List of Southland episodes

According to NBC, Southland takes a "raw and authentic look" at Los Angeles and the lives of the LAPD officers who police it. The show's first season centers on the experiences and interactions of LAPD patrol officers and detectives, and is more a character-driven drama than a police procedural. Among the characters are rookie Officer Ben Sherman and his training officer, John Cooper; Detective Lydia Adams, who must balance work with responsibility for her mother; Officer Chickie Brown, who aspires to be the first woman on the elite SWAT Team; and Detective Sammy Bryant, whose home life interferes with his working life. Ultimately, it was the dark tone of the series, deemed inappropriate for 9:00 pm, that led NBC to shut down production and cancel the show after previewing the first six episodes of the second season. TNT began negotiating a move from NBC shortly after the show's cancellation, a process that took nearly a month. TNT's rebroadcast of the first season was less heavily censored, with only the more extreme profanity bleeped out.

Cast

Following the change of network, the second season, which premiered on TNT following the rebroadcast of the first season, de-emphasizes the ensemble cast and focuses more on the Adams and Sherman characters and their partners. Stories now center more on how crimes come together, with less-serialized storylines.

Main cast

Actor	Character	Rank	Notes
Kevin Alejandro	Nate Moretta	Detective II (Seasons 1–3)	Sammy Bryant's former partner in Gangs and Narcotics Division. Killed in a gang shootout in Season 3
Arija Bareikis	Chickie Brown	Police Officer III (Seasons 1–3)	Hollywood Division
Michael Cudlitz	John Cooper	Police Officer III+1 (Senior Lead Officer) (Seasons 1–)	Ben Sherman's former training officer (Seasons 1-3), Tang's partner (Season 4)
Shawn Hatosy	Sammy Bryant	Detective II (Season 1–3) Police Officer III (Season 4)	Gangs and Narcotics Division detective, later returns to patrol
Michael McGrady	Daniel "Sal" Salinger	Detective III (Seasons 1–3)	Supervisor in Gangs and Narcotics Division
Benjamin McKenzie	Ben Sherman	Police Officer I (Seasons 1–3) Police Officer II (Season 4)	Former rookie at Hollywood Division, partners with Sammy Bryant
Regina King	Lydia Adams	Detective II (Seasons 1-)	West Bureau Detectives
Tom Everett Scott	Russell Clarke	Detective II (Seasons 1–3)	West Bureau Detectives, Adams' former partner

Recurring cast

Actor	Character	Rank	Notes
C. Thomas Howell	Bill "Dewey" Dudek	Police Officer III (Season 1–)	Hollywood Division. Formerly Officer's Brown's partner
Denise Crosby	Susan Salinger	Captain (Seasons 1–2)	Detective Salinger's wife
Patrick Fischler	Kenny "No-Gun"	Detective I (Seasons 1–2)	Gang and Narcotics Division
Lex Medlin	Andy Williams	Detective I (Seasons 1–2)	Gang and Narcotics Division
Emily Bergl	Tammi Bryant	— (Season 1–3)	Detective Bryant's ex-wife
Hedy Burress	Laurie Cooper	— (Season 1–3)	Officer Cooper's ex-wife
Roxana Brusso	Alicia Fernandez	Detective III (Season 1–4)	Detectives Adams' and Ochoa's supervisor at West Bureau
Amaury Nolasco	Rene Cordero	Detective I (Season 2)	Adams' interim partner at West Bureau
Laz Alonso	Gil Puente	Detective III (Seasons 2–3)	Works with Bryant and Moretta in a gang task force
Jenny Gago	Josie Ochoa	Detective II (Season 3)	Adams' partner at West Bureau
Jamie McShane	Sgt. Hill	Sergeant I (Season 3-)	Assistant watch commander/supervisor at Hollywood Division
Lucy Liu	Jessica Tang	Police Officer III (Season 4)	Officer Cooper's partner
Dorian Missick	Ruben Robinson	Detective I (Season 4)	Adams' partner
Carl Lumbly	Joel Rucker	Captain I (Season 4)	New division patrol captain

Crew

The series was created by Emmy Award winning writer Ann Biderman. Biderman began her television writing career on the first season of police drama NYPD Blue. The series' executive producers are Biderman, Christopher Chulack and John Wells. Wells and Chulack, both also Emmy Award winners, had previously worked together on critically acclaimed medical drama ER and emergency services drama Third Watch. Many other crew members had previously worked with Wells and Chulack on these series. Wells and Biderman also write for the series and Chulack is a regular director. Biderman left her executive producer position after the second season but continued to write for the series third season.

Ex-police officer Angela Amato Velez served as a consulting producer and writer for the first season. She had previously worked for the executive producers on Third Watch. Dee Johnson also served as a consulting producer and writer for the first season. She had previously worked with Wells and Chulack on ER. Emmy Award winning writing team Mitchell Burgess & Robin Green were hired as executive consultants and writers for the second and third seasons. They had previously worked together as executive producers on The Sopranos. Diana Son served as a consulting producer and writer for the second season. She had previously worked on the crime drama Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

David Graziano became a co-executive producer for the second season. Andrew Stearn was a producer for the first two seasons and was promoted to co-executive producer for the third season. Stearn had previously worked on Third Watch. Jonathan Lisco was hired as a co-executive producer for the third season. Lisco is a former lawyer and created the New Orleans police drama K-Ville. The series is produced by Jon Pare.

ER and Third Watch veteran Nelson McCormick is also a regular director for Southland. Steadicam expert J. Michael Muro serves as a regular cinematographer and occasional director for the series. Dana Gonzales is the other regular director of photography.

Reception

Critical response

Southland has received widespread critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the first season received an average score of 69, based on 22 reviews and the second season received an average score of 77, based on 12 reviews both indicating "Generally favorable reviews". Upon returning for its third and fourth season the series received wide critical acclaim, receiving an average score of 81, based on 9 reviews for the third season and an average score of 90, based on 6 reviews for the fourth season both indicating "Universal acclaim".

Alessandra Stanley for The New York Times compared Southland favorably to series like The Shield, Rescue Me and The Wire in citing the series debut as "one of the most gripping opening episodes of any network crime series". Noting the show's "bold, contemporary tone", Stanley concluded that "Southland is commendably stinting and cold, a series that doesn’t aim to please, and is all the more pleasurable for it." In a second review a year later, Mike Hale was less effusive in his praise. While commending the series for fine performances from its cast—in particular Cudlitz, McKenzie and Hatosy—and its combination of straightforward immediate plots and long-range storytelling, Hale criticized the "heavyhandedness" he saw in some of the writing, noting especially the "sententious lectures about the nature of police work" delivered to Sherman by Cooper in the pilot episode. He finds the show "worthy" but in need of work to qualify as a classic.

Dorothy Rabinowitz of The Wall Street Journal says "Prattle is, in any case, a minor note compared with the crackling pace of the first script, its evocative mood of menace at every turn, each police car racing to destinations that will reveal who knows what tragedy or unspeakable sight." The Kansas City Star stated the show in even a more positive light saying "Southland is built to be bigger, and in that sense it succeeds immediately, thanks to excellent casting (especially Michael Cudlitz and Regina King as a cop and a detective), gritty location shooting around L.A. and storytelling that doesn’t hold the viewer’s hand."

DVD release

Shortly before its TNT premiere, Warner Home Video released the first season on DVD in an uncensored version, with the profanities intact.

In May 2011, they also released the second season in a similarly uncensored version. However, the title is only available through the studio's manufacture-on-demand program.

No release date has been given for the third season to be released on DVD, but it will also be available only through Warner's MOD program.

The studio is not currently considering Blu-ray releases for any of the show's three seasons.

DVD Name	Region 1 Release Date	Region 2 Release Date	Region 4 Release Date	Ep #	Discs	Additional Information
Season 1	January 26, 2010	TBA	TBA	7	2	Southland: Redefining the Cop Drama. Available in HD from iTunes
Season 2	May 24, 2011	TBA	TBA	6	2	This DVD is made available through the Warner Bros. Made on Demand DVD Program at WBShop.com, Amazon.com, Walmart.com, and Target.com. Available in HD on iTunes.
Seasons 1 and 2	TBA	September 26, 2011	TBA	13	3	Southland: Redefining the Cop Drama Southland: Crime Tour Pods
Season 3	TBA	TBA	TBA	10	TBA

International broadcasting

Country	Network	Series Premiere
Argentina	Space	June 10, 2010
Australia	GEM	November, 2010
Brazil	SBT Space	March 14, 2011
Bulgaria	PRO.BG	January, 2010
Canada (English) Quebec (French)	CTV Super Channel Séries+	April 9, 2009 (season 1) March 15, 2010 June 5, 2010
Finland	MTV3	February 23, 2011
France	Orange Cinéchoc	January 10, 2010
Germany	Kabel1	2011
Iceland	Stöð 2	April 6, 2010
Ireland	3e	June 6, 2010
Italy	AXN	January, 2010
New Zealand	TV1	November, 2011
Norway	TVNorge	September 28, 2009
Portugal	Fox Portugal	November 30, 2009
South Africa	M-Net Action	May 2010
Slovenia	Kanal A	September 2011
Sweden	TV3	October 7, 2009
Turkey	DiziMax	January 2010
United Kingdom	More4	July 1, 2010

External links

• Official website
• Southland at the Internet Movie Database
• Southland at TV.com