Teddism.com

This week, NBC’s new police drama, ‘Southland‘ Premiered in the slot previously held by ‘ER‘ for an unprecedented 15 Seasons – until last week’s Series finale.  To say that the ‘Southland’ pilot was not a good show is too simple and is not exactly accurate.  The episode struggled and teetered, once or twice on boring, but saved itself in the end.

Michael Cudlitz (“A River Runs Through It”) plays John Cooper an experienced Los Angeles policeman who is assigned to train young new cop, Ben Sherman (Ben McKenzie, “The O.C.”).  Cooper’s straight, honest approach to the job leaves Sherman questioning whether or not he has what it takes to become a police officer.

The acting by Cudiltz and McKenzie was great, they were involved and absolutely felt the roles.  The supporting actors and the script were a bit week.  As is often the case with new shows, it takes a few episodes to find its groove.  Southland has an extra hard task – taking over a time slot that had been the king of time slots for many years.

There is hope in this new show but they need to turn it around in a few episodes.  ‘Southland’ needs to pick up the pace, get rid of the boring moments, develop the characters nicely and have great story lines.  Otherwise, it will show up sick in the ER!