TNT nearing deal for 'Southland,' but don't pop the champagne just yet
In Hollywood's worst-kept secret, Warner Bros. and TNT are putting the finishing touches on a deal to bring the dark cop drama "Southland" to the cable channel.
But whether this means "Southland," which NBC abruptly canceled earlier this month, is getting a new life or a temporary stay of execution won't be known until next year.
Under the terms being negotiated, TNT will buy the seven episodes that ran last spring as well as the six new episodes that Warner Bros. and John Wells Productions made for NBC. The show is not going back into production because TNT will decide whether to order additional episodes of "Southland" after it sees how the drama performs. The show isn't expected to make its cable debut until after the new year, and the new episodes might not run until late February or early March.
The deal comes a few weeks after NBC pulled the plug on "Southland," a decision that surprised Warner Bros. and John Wells. Last season, NBC ran the show in a 10 p.m. time slot, but this season it was moving the drama about Los Angeles beat cops to a 9 p.m. home because Jay Leno now occupies all of the network's 10 p.m. time slots.
Although NBC expressed support of the cop drama last spring, the tone of the show apparently got a little too grim for the network. But because the time slot change meant "Southland" would air at 8 p.m. in much of the country, NBC wanted to cut back on some of the violence and language. There was resistance from the Wells camp, however, and NBC ultimately decided to drop the show and replace it with "Dateline," which is much cheaper to produce. There has been speculation that cost was also a factor in NBC's decision to cancel "Southland" -- the network had to pay about $1.5 million in license fees per episode, people close to the program said.
Because Wells is one of Warner Bros. biggest producers and is responsible for "ER," which made boatloads of money for the studio, there was a real push to find a new home for "Southland."
TNT will likely schedule "Southland" at 10 p.m. We'll see how it does against Leno.
-- Joe Flint
Related posts:
Deciphering NBC's "Southland" move
Photo: A scene from "Southland." Credit: Justin Lubin / NBC
Southland is a wonderful show. I hope this deal with TNT actually happens.
Posted by: mrs. robinson | October 27, 2009 at 06:07 PM
This show is awesome, it better get picked up.
Posted by: JackofNoTrades | October 27, 2009 at 07:19 PM
Total bad move by NBC. It was nice to see the LA of my home, my hood on prime time TV (Yes, I know, its messed up that it depicted the bad part of town, but that's the reality).
Posted by: LV | October 27, 2009 at 08:59 PM
I don't care what network its on as long as I can watch it on HULU...
Posted by: bigpicture | October 27, 2009 at 10:03 PM
At the very least, I want to see the six episodes originally produced for season two - I'd love to see the show thrive on TNT and get back into production eventually, but right now I'll be happy to just see all of the episodes they've already made. :)
Posted by: Faylinn | October 28, 2009 at 12:46 AM
Southland was my favorite show. I guess I and my friends must be out of the mainstream. We loved the realism of the show; we have zero complaints about the language or the "darkness", whatever that means. We'll watch the show wherever it airs. It's hard to find real drama. The shows with a male and female lead with a cutesy, flirty interplay between the two of them are just not interesting or appealing if what you're looking for is real drama. This show reminds me of another one of my favorites about 10-11 years ago---High Incident---; that got cancelled too.
Posted by: pickyviewer | October 28, 2009 at 07:15 AM
Sorry Southland fans, but:
$1.5 million license fee per episode + losing over half its audience from it's premiere to it's last episode on NBC = CANCELLED!
And keep in mind - that decrease in ratings came in the THU 10P time period!
Maybe it will do well on cable. Keep your fingers crossed.
Posted by: joe | October 28, 2009 at 11:15 AM
Southland is a terrific show. Jay Leno should be canceled.
Posted by: Susie | October 28, 2009 at 11:34 AM
A good show that will develop into a great one. Fans will follow to its new home.
Posted by: jojo76 | October 29, 2009 at 01:31 AM
I agree with everyone, except joe (sorry) :) I loved the realism of the show and that it wasn't your typical cutesy cop drama where everything magically works out. I LOVE the fact they didnt try to clean up the language either; they just used the censor beep. I have my fingers crossed b/c I adore this show.
Posted by: Michelle | October 29, 2009 at 01:10 PM
The sad truth is that if folks don't watch, shows get cancelled... no matter how great they might be.
Its seems like its hard right now for carefully scripted material to survive in a "Biggest Looser / Wife Swap" world.
Posted by: Seymour | October 29, 2009 at 03:13 PM