please note, they are NOT (at least not yet) picking up ANY NEW EPISODES of Southland, these are just the 13 that have already been made — the seven from last year that already aired, plus the six episodes of season two that were made, but never aired on NBC.
Via press release:
Release Date: 11/2/2009
TNT Picks Up Acclaimed Drama SOUTHLANDTNT has picked up the critically acclaimed series SOUTHLAND, closing a deal with Warner Bros. Television that will bring the drama from Emmy®-winning producer John Wells (ER, The West Wing) to the network in January. TNT has obtained exclusive rights to air all six episodes that have been shot for the second season, as well as the seven episodes from the series’ first season. SOUTHLAND will air on TNT Tuesdays at 10 p.m. (ET/PT), beginning with the first episode of the series on Jan. 12.
“This is a great win for fans of SOUTHLAND and a perfect opportunity to introduce the series to new viewers,” said Steve Koonin, president of Turner Entertainment Networks. “It’s also another outstanding example of how TNT has established itself as the go-to place for the best dramas on television.”
“We are extremely pleased that TNT has acquired all 13 episodes of SOUTHLAND, giving devoted fans the opportunity to watch a show that they passionately support,” said Peter Roth, president of Warner Bros. Television.
“We’re delighted that TNT has stepped forward to pick up SOUTHLAND. We are all extremely proud of the show,” Wells said.
SOUTHLAND premiered on NBC in April to rave reviews. The series was called “tough-minded [and] suspenseful” by The New York Times, which also said, “SOUTHLAND is commendably stinting and cold, a series that doesn’t aim to please, and is all the more pleasurable for it.” The Hollywood Reporter called SOUTHLAND “exciting, smart, realistic and brilliant,” while Daily Variety said, “[John] Wells and company have delivered a cop drama with its own racing pulse. The crisp execution … has a decidedly elite cable feel.
In SOUTHLAND, John Cooper (Michael Cudlitz – A River Runs Through It) is a veteran cop assigned to train young rookie Ben Sherman (Ben McKenzie – The O.C.). Cooper attacks his job with a no-nonsense firmness that sometimes leaves Sherman wondering if he’s really cut out to be a cop.
The series also follows Detective Lydia Adams (Regina King – Ray, Jerry Maguire), who spends her off-work hours serving as her mother’s primary caregiver. Her partner, Detective Russell Clarke (Tom Everett Scott – Boiler Room), is a father struggling with an unhappy marriage. Detective Daniel “Sal” Salinger (Michael McGrady – The Thin Red Line) oversees a unit of gang detectives, including Nate Moretta (Kevin Alejandro – Drive, Ugly Betty) and Sammy Bryant (Shawn Hatosy – Alpha Dog). And patrol officer Chickie Brown (Arija Bareikis – Crossing Jordan) is a single mom determined to make her mark as the first woman in the SWAT unit.
SOUTHLAND is from John Wells Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television. Created by Emmy winner Ann Biderman (NYPD Blue, Public Enemies), the series is executive-produced by Biderman, Emmy winner Chris Chulack (ER, Third Watch) and Wells. Chulack is also a primary director of the series.
Warner Bros. Television (WBTV) is one of the entertainment industry’s most respected providers of original content, producing award-winning drama and comedy series for both broadcast network television and cable. For the 2009-2010 television season, WBTV is producing more than 25 primetime series, with at least one show on each of the five broadcast networks. New programs include the one-hour drama The Vampire Diaries, the #1 show on The CW; one-hour shows Human Target and Past Life for Fox; the hourlong V, Eastwick and The Forgotten, as well as half-hour comedies The Middle and Hank for ABC; and an untitled medical drama from Jerry Bruckheimer Television for midseason on CBS, among others. Continuing programs include TV’s #1 comedy among households and total viewers in Two and a Half Men, TV’s #1 comedy among adults 18-49 in The Big Bang Theory, the #1 new program of 2008-2009 among households and total viewers in The Mentalist, the Julia Louis-Dreyfus-starring comedy The New Adventures of Old Christine and veteran drama Cold Case for CBS; the #1 new program of 2008-2009 among adults 18-49 in Fringe for Fox; Chuck for NBC; and Gossip Girl, One Tree Hill, Smallville and Supernatural for The CW. WBTV also produces The Closer for TNT and Nip/Tuck for FX.
TNT, one of cable’s top-rated networks, is television’s destination for drama and home to such original series as the acclaimed and highly popular detective drama The Closer, starring Kyra Sedgwick; Saving Grace, starring Holly Hunter; HawthoRNe, with Jada Pinkett Smith; Leverage, starring Timothy Hutton; Raising the Bar, with Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Gloria Reuben and Jane Kaczmarek; and Dark Blue, starring Dylan McDermott. TNT also presents such powerful dramas as Bones, CSI: NY and Numb3rs; broadcast premiere movies; compelling primetime specials, such as the Screen Actors Guild Awards®; and championship sports coverage, including NASCAR and the NBA. TNT is available in high-definition.
Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner company, creates and programs branded news, entertainment, animation and young adult media environments on television and other platforms for consumers around the world.
so long dark blue….
Oh no, I can already hear the sound of bubble show fans saying, ‘Other networks will pick up our shows too!’
Good for fans of Southland though.
Glad it got picked up by TNT…. This is a Good Show and deserves this pick up.
Side Note to NBC Dump Leno!!!
Note for next set of bingo cards:
But they picked up Southland?!
All Right
Seems like “good news, bad news”… the good news being the pick-up, of course, the bad news being that there’s no indication (yet?) that there will be any new episodes beyond the existing 13. Wonder what the likelihood of that is, and what sort of ratings these 13 episodes will have to earn to make further episodes a possibility…
Yippee! I hope it blows Leno out of the water! Leno needs to go back to his old timeslot and NBC needs to fire all their big shots and get back to running the network properly!
Congrats! it really is a good show! hope it does well
Dark Blue is dead…..Raising the Bar could get a third year pending on its remaining eps.
This show had a lot of potential. It’s a shame the big networks can’t give a show a chance to run for a while and build up an audience but I guess that’s the nature of the business these days; either hit or miss but do it immediately so we can move on to the next thing! The old ‘throw everything against the wall and see what sticks’ mentality. It may make more money for them but it doesn’t make for good television.
Waitasec:
So a WB owned Cable Network agreed to purchase and broadcast already produced episodes of a WB television series.
Would someone explain to me why this is surprising at all?
Yes, this is great news to Southland fans, I congratulate you. But considering how much the studio likely doesn’t want to take a bath on the already produced episodes, this should be a no brainer.
Godfather, not surprising at all. In fact, what would have been surprising is if a non Time Warner network had picked it up.
So glad! I really enjoyed this show. By the odd, slim chance that it doesn beat Leno, NBC will sing the “Leno is more profitable” song!
So this gives TSCC fans hope (uhoh I just opened a big can of worms)
I am so excited and happy that Southland has been saved! I did the petition and got hundreds of signatures and fought so hard to keep the show alive! I cant thank TNT enough and will watch every episode, even the old ones because they never wear out as well. This truly made my day, and possible week!
Not to be a killjoy, but the show has NOT been saved, if “saved” = the production of new episodes. That COULD still happen, but it hasn’t happened yet.
For now, Southland remains effectively canceled, albeit with a home for the six episodes that never aired.
I’m still happy that they have 6 new episodes coming. Another bad thing is that it has only been picked up on its 6th episode on an originally schedules 13 episodes so that means that there will be some type of cliff-hanger (until TNT renews)
Robert, that’s a great pretzel twist you pull to declare this a failure for Southland and its fans. The show has been moved wholesale to another network with 6 unaired episodes to air first run.
The show has a new lease on life which by any definition is “saved” whether it is cancelled in 2010 or not. There is no reason to assume new production could not happen with a successful run which I imagine the network would want to green light (or not) as soon as the show appears viable (or failed on their air).
The deepest concern I have as a fan of the show is whether that decision will come on re-airing of shows from last spring or the first run episodes. I suspect the former which might be a slightly tougher hill to climb.
I’m just here to say…it’s not like NBC did a bad job of promoting the show. Not many people were interested, and many that were tuned out. Between that and the likely production costs for such a large ensemble, I’m reluctant to think a second season is in the cards.
Robert – At the very least, the series’ 6 season 2 episodes as well as 7 season 1 episodes, will see the light of day. TNT is airing Southland’s first 7 episodes in the slot and then the remaining eps. Hopefully the new eps will do better than the reruns but who knows. I doubt the series will get a third year but at least the episodes will be aired.
Dru? It’s no pretzel twist: it’s a fact: no new episodes have been ordered.
Is this “better news” than nothing for fans of the show? Yes, for at least two reasons:
1.) the six episodes that didn’t air will likely air a heck of a lot sooner than they would’ve if WB hadn’t gotten those rights back from NBC. NBC would’ve aired the episodes sooner or later, but it might have been MUCH later during “summer burn off theater”
2.) there is at least a chance TNT will order new episodes. There is no chance NBC would’ve!
Since there is no doubt TNT will air all the episodes, I really doubt that the fate of future episodes would be decided until the new episodes air unless the already aired episodes are doing very well. If the already aired episodes pull a 1.9 on TNT, that would be very well received by the network, but if they pull, say a 1.2, I can’t imagine they won’t wait until late February and perhaps even a few weeks beyond to see how the yet-to-air episodes perform.
Robert – Yeah if NBC would have burned them off saturdays like they wouldve done, there wouldnt be any more new eps but atleast with TNT, theres a slight chance. Because Southland didnt air a few eps to low ratings and then get pulled (like most shows) it didnt air because NBC didnt want it in the early 9:00 timeslot and Dateline was cheaper.
With Southland “saved” only 2 series are officially axed, Trauma and The Beautiful Life. My guess of the next shows are (in order)
Three Rivers (This week)
Hank (Pulled after November 18th airing)
The Forgotten (Pulled after December 15th airing)
Brothers (Finishing December 27, 2009)
Eastwick (Finishing likely December 30, 2009)
Dollhouse (Finishing January 22, 2010)
ABC’s Hank will likely be pulled (but not officially axed) Eastwick will run all 13 episodes (but also probably not officially axed), The Forgotten may be axed soon but will likely run through December.
CBS’ Three Rivers should get the axe in a few days,
FOX’s Brothers has gotten the unofficial axe and the eps will just be burned off, as will Dollhouse.
With the exception of Accidentally on Purpose, all other freshman network shows have gotten a full season or already axed.
New episodes or not, this is great news for a great tv show. Out of curiosity, what kind of numbers was southland putting up on NBC and what kind of numbers does it have to put up for more episodes to be ordered?? I know it has to do with budget, but just for kicks, how much of the NBC audience does it have to bring over?
Great News. I do understand that TNT is taking a cautious approach to this and it’s a very wise move on their part. I don’t think this will get The Closer type numbers, especially the repeats, but I think it will do alrought…probably better than Dark Blue and Raising the Bar.
Does anyone think if this manages to get Leverage/Saving Grace-type numbers (3-3.5M viewers a week) that will be enough for a “2nd” season?
However, the one drawback is the cast and crew of the show isn’t going to wait around for TNT to make a decision. Don’t be surprised if some of the cast and crew take other jobs on films or Pilots during Pilot season.
Well this makes me very happy! I hope they end up picking up new episodes as well. Now for part 2, NBC needs to get rid of the original problem: Jay Leno.
I’m hoping this doesn’t mean the end to Dark Blue. Since there’s no announcement of new episodes for Southland, I’m not going to assume anything about Dark Blue until an announcement is made. TNT is still airing repeats and the show was still mentioned in the TNT press release, so I take that as a good sign.
I’m not thinking Southland will have great ratings. It could, but I don’t think it has the steady fan base that a show that has aired for even a full half season would have and it did lose viewers almost every week when it did air. They might be like me, its a good show, but not great, and too depressing to watch every week, so after a few weeks, they opted out. If I want to watch riveting intense depressing drama, I’ll watch the brilliance that is Breaking Bad.
If the ratings are good for Southland, I just can’t see them keeping 3 dramas centered on the LAPD. That’s a little bit overkill IMO.
Dark Blue is likely dead, even with Southland TNT still has a lot of programming for next year and it seems they dont have room for the struggling freshman series. in otherwords if TNT was going to renew Dark Blue, they would have already.
This is what I think cable is for to help find struggling network shows a place to succeed
love this show