Satellite TV Addict

The popular NBC TV series Southland has been picked up by TNT. NBC renewed then canceled Southland’s second season abruptly even after a good showing in the series first year. Southland is a fast moving gritty action drama following a police unit in Los Angeles. The show stars Benjamin McKenzie, (”The O.C.”) as new police officer Ben Sherman and Michael Cudlitz (”A River Runs Through It”) as John Cooper, the seasoned professional assigned to train the rookie cop. Warner Bros. owns and produces Southland and the same corporation owns TNT, making this deal easier to make for the sake of saving the new series.

TNT announced today that it will re-air the original seven episodes NBC previously broadcast as well as the six additional episodes that had not been aired by NBC. Southland will air on Tuesday nights at 10:00 p.m. opposite The Jay Leno Show. Leno’s show has been struggling for ratings, should be interesting to see this new competition in the Tuesday timeslot up against the NBC show. Speculation is that NBC thought Southland was too dark and violent at 9:00 p.m. to proceed the lighter fare of The Jay Leno show at 10:00 p.m.. A time slot on Fridays and lagging ratings did not help this promising show to survive on NBC. The dark nature of the series should work well on basic cable television, with a history of offering a number of outstanding, gritty shows such as The Shield, Rescue Me and Sons of Anarchy.

According to TNT if the ratings are good for Southland they will order more episodes. TNT has a number of other police dramas in its line-up so Southland should fit in well here. This is a great opportunity for viewers who have not seen Southland to check out the series. Fans of Southland should watch the series and help Southland ratings so the show can continue on TNT. The TNT network is becoming known for its high level dramas and the addition of Southland is no exception.

Catch the entire second season of Southland on TNT at 10:00 p.m. Tuesday nights beginning January 12, 2010.