NBC axes 'Southland' before its second season premiere

NBC has pulled the plug on John Wells' "Southland."

The move comes just two weeks before the gritty cop drama was set to premiere in its new Friday at 9 p.m. time period. Now, in its place NBC will schedule the less expensive news magazine "Dateline NBC."

"I am disappointed that NBC no longer has the time periods available to support the kind of critically acclaimed series that was for so many years the hallmark of their success," "Southland" executive producer John Wells said in a statement.

Wells added that he will shop the show to another network.

NBC will have to cough up some cash to producer Warner Bros. Television and Wells' production company, which had already received a 13-episode order for Season 2. Producers were busy wrapping production on episode 6 when NBC canceled the show. The network was paying about $1.5 million per episode in license fees for the show, and it will eat the costs of the finished episodes as well as the cost of shutting down the production, people familiar with the situation said.

Canceling a show before any of its new episodes have even aired is highly unusual. It begs the question of why NBC renewed in the first place. Ratings for the first season started strong in the spring but quickly cooled over its short, six-episode run.

Insiders also said that once NBC execs saw the initial Season 2 episodes, they were deemed too dark for network TV.

Because NBC now programs "The Jay Leno Show" at 10 p.m. across five nights a week, it had limited options as to where to program "Southland" once it decided Friday wasn't a suitable home.

Of course, Wells may not have endeared himself to the network when in August he criticized NBC's decision to give five hours of prime time to Leno. "I wish NBC and Jay Leno well; personally, he's a very nice guy, but I hope he falls flat on his face and we get five dramas back."

Actor Michael Cudlitz, who played John Cooper on the series, didn't take the news well and via his official Twitter account encouraged viewers to contact NBC in protest. "Don't go quietly. People need to know when they ... up this big," he wrote. He also posted the number to NBC's comment line but said "snail mail is the best."

-- Joe Flint and Denise Martin

Related:
Jay Leno has fewer guests to choose from thanks to rival networks' boycott
NBC and 'Southland' producers worried about the bleeping FCC

Photo: Ben McKenzie as Ben Sherman, Michael Cudlitz as John Cooper in "Southland." Credit: NBC

Comments

[Kali]

I commend John Wells' and his statements. I hope you find a new and better network for your amazing show.

[Tony]

The "NBC had limited options" spiel is garbage. There was saturday. There was Sunday after football. And, the elephant in the room, there's canceling Jay Leno at 10 altogether, his contract and his unfunny show be damned. That they didn't do any of those things suggests NBC isn't trying, or just doesn't care about, y'know, actually creatively entertaining its audience.

[Alexandra]

Southland was the best new show of the year - NBC is making a huge mistake. If you're disappointed about the cancellation, please e-mail NBC to complain. Scroll half way down the page, click the Select Show menu and choose Other (Southland isn't one of the choices.) http://www.nbc.com/Footer/Contact_Us/

[Brian]

I like Leno, but Southland was the only drama I watched on Tv. Last season was just a tease. I could't wait until it began it's new season. There are endless people (friends and family) that I know would agree. The fact that ratings fell off last year makes no sense. We are all disapointed.

[R.M. Weber]

This is thoroughly disappointing news. "Southland" is a show that I didn't expect to like based on its early promos, but it won me over with its quality. It was a show whose return I was eagerly awaiting, and one of the very few shows left on NBC that I cared about. Such good casting is hard to achieve, and I hate to see that squandered.

NBC is a fourth-place network. All of its shows—save for football—have audience trouble. So why axe a critically acclaimed show that could still find an audience? Also, the decision to make this move now and take the financial hit of breaking the production deal really speaks to the poor management at the network. (Don't even get me started on that abysmal Leno show every night.) And to put the wholly unwatchable "Dateline" in its place is an insult.

I sincerely hope this show finds a home on another network.

[MLA17]

I am in complete shock over this news! Southland is an excellent show. The last episode alone was amazing. Regina King and the rest of the cast are outstanding. I really hope another network picks up Southland. NBC's decision is a bad one.

[hbw]

Southland is outstanding TV. John Wells and Southland will find a better home on another network. Shame on you NBC.

[lcva]

All NBC's prime time cost cutting is doing is making the network irrelevant and eroding the audience for the (very) few quality shows it still airs. My husband and I watched, oh, five or six NBC shows (including Southland) regularly last season Now the only time we tune to the NBC channel is for local news, if we remember it. And I gather from articles that I'm seeing about the decline in local 11 pm news ratings on NBC affiliates, we're not unusual as TV viewers go.

[Mulder]

Executive Email Carpet Bomb (EECB) to jeff.zucker@nbc.com and send snail mail to NBC, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10112. You should also send email to Jeff.Immelt@ge.com and voice your opposition to this move, as well as insist that he fire Jeff Zucker and his programming "executives" immediately, and fully commit to dumping Leno and airing a minimum of 22 episodes of Southland this season, with no pre-empting or rescheduling.

[Choc]

I loved the Southland episodes that I had seen. I was thankful for the diversity of the cast and the show is realistic. NBC is making a HUGE mistake!

Mr. Wells, don't let this go. Southland is worth it!

[Chris Mosby]

Save Southland!! http://www.savesouthland.com/

[Pete]

Giving the axe to smart shows and sticking to safe stuff is pushing NBC to stand for Nothing But Cr...!

[Pat]

I think Southland may have been the best NBC cop drama since Hill Street Blues, ironically Hill Street almost met the same fate in the same way as it was canceled and continued to run produced episodes waiting for it's replacement to wrap on it's first show.

Thanks to the critics and great rating the show kept going. With all the Dick Wolf crap NBC has been spewing out for years we deserved this one.

[Angry viewer]

NBC really blew it. This was one of the best cop drama's on TV. I hope in shopping it around Well's finds a new network!

[elle]

i am appalled that this show was cancelled. the season finale was a heart stopper. there was such talent on that show. what is happening to this world? all they want is fourth rate reality tv. i can not STAND reality tv. it is a waste and basically it is a bunch of non creative people trying to make an easy buck and americans and the like are stupid enough to buy into it.

now we will never know what happened to russell! i hope it is picked up by another network.

[John Adams]

LOL, that was the only show I watched on NBC. I guess I can skip that dial altogehter now..

[Dawn]

Wow I am shocked that southland cancelled. It was a heart stopping show that you never knew what to excpect, i love the storylines and the casts were great. It was a whole differnt type of cop show that shows the lives of cops on the streets along with their personnal problems. I was so looking forward to the new season, now i am stuck watching reality shows, jay leno, and biggest loser, they could take off all the reality shows, jay leno, and cut biggest loser from 2hrs to 1hr. I am so sad, nbc has really made some dumb choices about cancelling shows, i hope that another network picks up southland, its a great show !

[jimant60]

Why do the networks always seem to kill the best shows they have? This was one I could hardly wait for! NBC you are cutting your own throat on this! I was disappointed last season because it was only a mini-series. Now you kill it completely? What dummies!

[Richard E Massey]

March 16th, 2010
11:00 PM

I just watched a NEW episode of SouthLand, tonight, on TNT.
What an absolutely wonderful Television Drama this program is.
Get a few Emmy's ready to be handed-out for this show.
Great show. What a night.
If they have an industry award for really screwing-up big-time; would somebody please send it over to NBC Programming.
Imagine getting paid to be that stupid?

[Vic]

i am sick of NBC cutting shows. I hardly watch TV anymore only watch two shows regularly and they where both on NBC and now they are both cancelled.Heroes and southland should get picked up by a TNT or something. I hate the way they cancel shows too, mid season. The worst network. I'm done with NBC if I like something I'll catch it on HULU they aren't getting any ratings from me anymore.