"Southland" will make its TNT debut on Tuesday, Jan. 12 at 10 p.m.
By only committing to episodes that have already been produced, the deal minimizes TNT's financial risk and allows the cable network to evaluate the success of the show before investing in a re-start of production.
As first reported by THR's Nellie Andreeva, the TNT pickup has been anticipated for weeks.
This is good news for aficionados of the cop drama. Although I didn't love Southland when it first premiered, the carping and pestering by readers and fellow scribes led me to check it out a few more times, and I grew to really appreciate it. (Once again, kids, it's not unusual for me to be wrong on this blog from time to time...and when I am, I cop to it, cuz that's just how Daddy rolls.)
Besides, the show that I really loved, that really took the cop thing in a new direction, was D.O.A. pretty soon after its debut. Ah The Unusuals, we hardly knew ye.
Heard an interesting tidbit from MIP recently -- something that doesn't bode well for The Bridge, and the ever-present Canadian impulse to float knockoffs of American-style shows --
--apparently France was littered with a glut, a passel of coppers; a meat-morgue freezerful of unsellable cop-like procedurals with nothing really to break them through or make them stick out. The upcoming Copper at least has the Grey's Anatomy-like subtext to set it apart. But boy, I'd be nervous if I had a meat and potatoes police procedural I was trying to peddle.
Especially when you need that international component to make your budget or complete your financing, or just, I don't know...stay out of the poorhouse.
Time, perhaps, finally, to tap a different well?
Guess we'll see.
7 comments:
I preferred The Unusuals myself. Didn't much care for Southland. But I think TNT is a better home for it.
Maybe this will make it easier to get The Bridge on CTV.
Will CTV still run Southland now that it's no longer on NBC?
It really is more of a cable show. Maybe now they can stop bleeping out the dialogue.
Glad to hear Southland may live on - there's usually a glut of police procedurals in my market/living room, but I liked this one despite my cop fatigue.
Really wanted to like The Unusuals, but I didn't see them making the premise clear or exploiting it the way they could have. It seemed to be moving towards an internal affairs show rather than a show about unusual detectives. Did I miss something?
There seems to be no such thing as a plain procedural anymore - The Mentalist, Lie to Me, The Good Wife - all procedurals with a big twist. I can't wait to see how Copper works its twist.
Bravo Canada has been running ads for 'brand new' Southland's starting in November for past month...new as in NEW? Or last season's...
Speaking as the person who cut the Southland Promo for Bravo!, I can tell you it never ran.
Bravo! had generic "this fall" spots which included shots from Southland but those shots and mentions were removed post haste once the cancellation news broke.
No news yet on whether CTV or Bravo! will run the six along with AMC.
Whoops. I meant TNT.
Oh, I forgot to mention, The Bridge has alredy been sold to most markets; germany, Italy, France, latin America, etc..
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