Southland: IT IS A TV SHOW

Hello, new favorite show! 1-Adam 12, 1-Adam 12, we have a 211 in progress, etc., fuck yeah.

Isn't it just called Southland?

This doesn't have anything to do with the movie, right?

I didn't see the movie

anyway this is the most 70s-like cop show I have seen in forever

you're right though it's just southland however since I thought it was "southland tales" I am going to call it that just out of spite

let them come and stop me

you're both wrong, the name of the show is Duck Tales

we've got a 211 in progress, singer-songwriter has mischaracterized a television show, i repeat, singer-songwriter has mischaracterized a television show, over

I saw the end of an episode last night and this looked pretty good!

yeah i just saw a teaser for this and got amped it looks dope

I watched it again last night, this is totally my new favorite show

lol I said that already

^^^ I volunteer "lol I said that already" for the new ile board description btw

hey this show is pretty rad

love the opening titles

i didn't get it! like he had a twin brother or was he from the future? waht.

"this is totally my new favorite show"

CO-SIGN

every actor in this show so far has been a "hey i know that guy from..."

this show is certainly alright. some great bits, some laboured bits. snatching the 'grit' and 'argh institutions!' from The Wire with the blandness of John Wells.

Little things, like the kid with the radar sign, are pretty great. next week is the last of the season, and i can't tell if it's building to anything.

xpost - yeah, like jimmy barrett from mad men/dharma security dude

Great screne where the guy from the o.c. chases down the two perps through back yards and alley ways.

chick officer - from deuce bigalow
veteran dude - band of brothers
detective w/ wife issues - the faculty/outside providence
chick detective - jerry maguire/enemy of the state
ryan from the OC - the OC
chick detectives partner - that thing you do

xxp i dont know that the wire is really the best antecedent for this. i mean obviously as the most critically acclaimed cop show of the last decade-plus it casts a long shadow but there isnt a lot thats very wire-like about this show--i mean this is more about beat cops and detectives in single-episode stories with a much greater focus on action (ie hill street blues or something), versus the wire which was incredibly methodical and revolutionary (imo) in its insistence on the nitty-gritty boring shit that goes into building a case. plus obviously the wires "all sides of the story" thing versus this show which has little to no sympathy for criminals and a lot of sympathy for its comparatively conservative cops

Not enough Ryan. I think I saw an episode last week or two weeks ago and he wasn't in it at all.

the "all sides of a story thing" = boomtown, if anyone remembers that.

the kid with the radar sign had me giggling for a while, that was great

best episode (thus far) was the one with tom sizemore and the whole sub-plot w/ him and the vet cop.

i wouldn't call this show a rip-off the wire, but i definitely think in terms of cops being flummoxed by institutional/money shortcomings (the backlog of rape kits, the girl that needs witness protection but can't get it), it does a smidgen of lifting. i could be wrong, but have largely self-contained cop shows thrown up these kinds of issues before the wire with any meaningful frequency? the old stand-bys for the revolutionary cop dramas (hill street blues, nypd blue) was more concerned with character flaws.

don't get me wrong, i really do enjoy the show, but it still feels pretty lightweight as far as the really great tv dramas of the last decade or so. i just can't help but feel that john wells productions like to water everything down, but i might still be influenced by the west wing sorkin/post-sorkin contrast.

xpost

the shield was all about budgetary complaints and admin!

xpost again - the sizemore story was great. also loved the dude with his missing dog.

if i could point out at a watered down aspect, i'd say last week's with the detective's gun. the 'we take care of our own' aspect was really good, and exploring that would have been better had it not handily led to them quickly taking down an illegal arms operation.

but the shield wasn't largely self-contained, was it? i haven't seen enough of it, tbh.

It is a TV show cockblocking my chances to see the end of KINGS.

FU SOUTHLAND!

"if i could point out at a watered down aspect, i'd say last week's with the detective's gun. the 'we take care of our own' aspect was really good, and exploring that would have been better had it not handily led to them quickly taking down an illegal arms operation."

i was kinda afraid they were gonna wind up killing some innocent dude just so the cop could get his gun back. it was feeling kinda "la confidential" (a movie i hate for too many reasons to get into now)

wait until june, oilyrags.

are most of the cops on this show white?

yes

I saw part of an episode, maybe last week's, where they are interrogating some black kid about the cop's missing gun, and the cops shoot each other a look before 'cleverly' needling him about it being too powerful for him to shoot. Of course the kid's ego can't handle that and he like was like, "Sheeit, I shot it---" oops, did I just say that? Had to have been some of the least convincing acting, and laziest writing, I've seen in a while. I was cringing.

This show is beautiful-looking, and I want to like it, because I <3 cop shows, but little moments like that are definitely making it less appealing to Netflix when it comes out.

moments like that are generally balanced out by tom sizemore firing a heavy machine gun in his backyard.

like I have any choice in the matter. Anyway, it succcccccccx that this runs twice a week while I sit here with teleblueballs.

lots of good in the finale. drunk cop driving was lolsome, and the regina king under siege shotgun stuff was some kind of intense. ending was pretty good.

not to harp on the wire thing, but difficult to ignore the dudes calling in a fake shooting to get the patrol car away from the house (would have been better if it was drunk cop who caused the problem) and no music until finale montage w/ blues rock etc...

still, dug it.

missed last night again due to hockey playoffs, will probably continue missing anything tv-related for another few weeks for same reason

that was pretty much the end of the non-reality tv season, save breaking bad maybe?

not to harp on the wire thing, but difficult to ignore the dudes calling in a fake shooting to get the patrol car away from the house (would have been better if it was drunk cop who caused the problem) and no music until finale montage w/ blues rock etc...

haha yeah otm. although i have to say, the lack of music is almost more stark on this show than it ever was on The Wire. or at least, it's a different kind of silence. overall Homicide is probably a closer point of comparison, though.

totally resisted this show at first (watched a few minutes of the Sizemore ep and quickly tuned out), but last week's episode really really grabbed me, and last night's was almost as good.

I haven't watched this yet, because the rookie kid was such an awful, awful actor on The O.C. that I have a really hard time he wouldn't destroy this show with his pouting and brooding.

never watched him on The OC or anything else but i'm fine w/ him on this show

was the cop who lost this gun named "dozerman" -- that is the point that will settle this wire question for good

Same here. He plays a rookie well, without being goofy or terribly naive.

SPOILER

Remember that show Tom Everett Scott was on called Saved? It had a similar knocking on death's door season cliffhanger, except it never came back for a second season. I'd hate to see him die, though. :(

don't know how or why he patched things up with the wife (equally not sure there was any real justification for the separation). same with the raving daughter - was it a really bad comedown and that's why she went home and cried and hugged him? some of the relationship stuff is really half-assed.

i thought the final scene was kinda lame just interpreting it as he died, would be even worse if they're setting it up as a cliffhanger.

xpost

did this get renewed for a second season? sure as hell hope so

finale was intense

it did. moving to fridays due to leno.

STOKED

i'm so proud of regina king and her career. remember back when she was on 227? life is crazy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/227_(TV_series)

my god, that was on for way longer than i realized

^ OTM

hope they eventually order new episodes. That last one was NUTS

this was (is?) a pretty good show. i'm so sick of this leno horseshit.

when I am channel-surfing at that time of night, I flip past Leno quicker than I do paid programming.

I finally saw an ep of this. I love it. No, I LOVE IT.

I'm glad to hear this hasn't disappeared entirely.

When does it start up on TNT? I know it's just a burn off at the moment, but am still keen to see the 6 unaired Season 2 eps.

it starts in mid-January, so it should be done w/ the already aired eps and start running the unaired ones around late Feb or early March

it is on TNT now & is still fucking dope imo

I know you guys are still psyched to find out whether I am still calling it "southland tales" well the answer is YES I AM

<3 u

TNTers should let the thread know when the season 2 shit is about to start

GREAT first episode!!!

forgot how much i dig this show

oh fuck did I just miss this because or work? fuck that imo

it was on yesterday actually but i p1r4t3d that 5h1t

max feel free to f-book me a link if you feel up to it

u just got facebooked

Very glad this show made it back!

ok 1) max, you are the man 2) WHAT A FUCKING AWESOME EPISODE. the one thing was, what about that guy who stopped at the yellow & was acting weird - did I drift off & miss the resolve on that, or is that a for-later thing? real possibility of option A btw, since watching on laptop = show + several other windows, I coulda missed a key point

nothing really came of that, maybe we'll see this guy again or something.

i missed last week. what happened to the first replacement partner of the chick from 227?

i don't watch any other current cop shows but this one has to be the best.

@EW: TNT picked up a third season of Southland, to air in January 2011!

luv that TNT is clearly staffed by some ppl who agree w/me about the quality of this show

I never fit watching the new eps into my schedule, so I'm going to have to torrent them or something. How many are there?

yes so psyched

short, concise season might be just what this show needs. slightly reduced cast wouldn't hurt. i just hope it still looks as good.

i am psyched; maybe tnt can decide to take on damages, too?

Good cop show. Starts up again tuesday.

Is it me or would this show be massively improved if it was just Cudlitz and the OC kid driving around? They could solve crimes and in between have rambling Emilio Estevez-and-Harry Dean Stanton-in-Repo Man conversations.

The story lines may be very predictable but damn it is all done very well. That last scene had some great tension

<3 this show. coming back tonight

i'm starting to think this show might suck. sorry 4 bad attitude.

this season is off so far, yeah. still the best cop show on tv now that prime suspect has been cancelled.

regina king's "this is the job" speech to her partner in the premiere and her "that's your speech" moment with him in the last episode are emblematic of what's going wrong, i think? so obvious and heavyhanded. i will keep watching but i am annoyed.

tbf i have been rewatching the shield and southland suffers by comparison

the predictably of this show bugs me a bunch but I still like it

it also feels like every single episode theyve done the "this cop seems like a bad guy, but look how he saved everyones life"

still looks great though

plus obviously the wires "all sides of the story" thing versus this show which has little to no sympathy for criminals and a lot of sympathy for its comparatively conservative cops

― rip dom passantino 3/5/09 never forget (max), Tuesday, May 12, 2009 11:28 AM (2 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this has always been true of this show but it's bugging me more now that the writing is getting stupider, or something.

yeah it is so pretty to look at. but that just makes me suspicious.

like it's a longform advertising campaign for the LAPD

makes it look like a great gig if your the kid from the o.c. living in silverlake and bagging hot latinas every night

Man, I have no idea what's happening with this show qt this point, totally outta touch. Last I knew that one detective's partner got whacked and he decided to go back to being q beat cop. Plus the whole "we're firing people to save money" cast fuckery. Also this thread is awesome because it reminds me that I used to call myself "Beatrix Kiddo."

Have we talked about the death of that one detective

is he really called ben sherman

okay that one was a lot better than everything else this season. whoever wrote it should write them all.

the police chief's speech about how all cops burn out framed all the bad behavior by cops this season nicely. made me feel kind of dumb, like maybe the intention of the show hadn't been to glorify cops all along. (but it clearly sometimes has been.) i like this show a lot better when it's about what a shitty job being a cop must be.

also, d'angelo barksdale! love that actor!

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/27/arts/television/southland-on-tnt-pursues-bad-guys-and-realism.html?src=dayp&_r=0

“Southland” is not a perfect show, by any means, and sometimes it balances its gloominess with epiphanies that are undeniably pat, if not excessively heavy-handed by the standards of basic cable. As the seasons have passed, its lapses into preachiness and formulaic plotting have increased. Weaving two or three seemingly everyday story lines into a satisfying narrative every episode is a delicate trick, and when it doesn’t work, you’re left with something that feels inconsequential. The temptation to resort to proven dramatic and emotional strategies — that is, melodrama — must be strong.