Southland

When LAPD cop show Southland first premiered on NBC a few years ago, I was excited.  It's not exactly that TV is lacking in the cop show department, but this one seemed to be at least partially devoted to a perspective we haven't seen on TV for a while, the patrol officer.  Most cop shows these days revolve around detectives and special details tracking down drug dealers and sex criminals.  Either that or they're specially gifted and usually oddball profilers or psychics or something.  But the police that you and I are most likely to have had any contact with, the patrol cop, hasn't been featured on TV for a long time, at least that I can remember.  Adam-12 anybody?

For the most part, I haven't been disappointed.  In its initial run on NBC Southland split its time between a training officer and his trainee, a few other patrol officer characters, and a host of detectives.  There were a few too many characters and story lines, and it felt a little bloated.  But the stuff with the patrol officers felt mostly authentic, at least as authentic as Hollywood can probably get.

The first two seasons were cut short by the writers strike and NBC actually dropped it from its lineup after the first season and TNT picked it up.  With the move to basic cable, the cast was reduced, which was a good thing.  For the past two seasons, TNT has been running 10 episodes a season focusing on about six central characters, four patrol officers and two detectives.

I have a bit of a background in law enforcement, and am able to pick apart cop shows pretty well.  But Southland does a pretty terrific job and gets a lot of things right about the day to day police work, at least on the patrol side.  A lot of the details would go unnoticed by the general viewing public (how and where an officer parks his car on a traffic stop, radio traffic, clearing a room, contact/cover, etc.), but it gives the show an authenticity most cop shows lack.  Though it does drive me insane they stand directly in front of a door every time they knock!

The show is at it's best when it takes a day-in-the-life approach to its characters, rather than following a storyline arc.  With patrol officers working for LAPD its just one call after another after another after another, and the show does a good job of finding a rhythm and conveying just how exhausting police work can be even when you're not chasing people through back alleys or trying to wrestle a 300 pounder with excited delirium to the ground.  But since this is LA, there is plenty of that stuff too and Southland does a great job with it's action sequences.

The acting on the show is great, bringing to life a bevy of multi-dimensional characters.  The best is the gruff and flawed John Cooper played by Michael Cudlitz, probably best known as Sgt. Bull Randleman in Band of Brothers.  Regina King is near as great as no-nonsense but not cold hearted Detective Lydia Adams.  Even pretty boy Ben McKenzie from The OC is good as the rookie Ben Sherman.  Shawn Hatosy looks baby-faced, but can burn with intensity as Sammy Bryant.  Also, Southland has apparently become a comeback destination for 80's castoffs.  They got C. Thomas Howell and Lou Diamond Phillips!  They play fairly minor characters, but they play them well.  Who'd a thought, Soul Man and Richie Valens!  Though to the best of my recollection C. Thomas does not drink any deer blood, which is sort of disappointing.

The fourth season has just concluded on TNT, but if you enjoy gritty police drama that's a little bit different, I would definitely check out Southland.  It's not perfect, but definitely worth the effort.

Here's a brief sample: