That makes it a step forward for basic cable, too, because "Southland" is a show of high caliber and riveting brilliance, instantly one of the finest hours of TiVo-worthy drama anywhere on the tube.

For Detective Lydia Adams, “coming to work is the easy part of my day.” For another cop, whose home life is falling apart, work doesn’t begin to compensate. “I don’t ...

Southland: Drama. 10 p.m. Thursdays on NBC. Harper's Island: Mystery. 10 p.m. Thursdays on CBS. One of the best things that could have happened to NBC's new cop series, "Southland," is premiering ...

The cop drama has been a tried-and-true TV formula for more than half a century, but the kinds of police officers we see on screen has changed dramatically since the early days.

Bottom line: If NBC had faith in “Southland,” the network could tell a grown-up cop story at 9 p.m. this season. NBC executives have seen these new “Southland” episodes, we haven’t.

The life of a TV drama can be just as dramatic as the turbulent world of its characters. Case in point: TNT’s “Southland,” which airs its season finale tonight. The cop show went through a ...

Time to update our Fall TV Scorecard! Just days before NBC is set to show its entire hand for the 2009-10 TV season, the network picked up the freshman drama Southland for 13 episodes.

It’s a cop show about life on the beat in the sprawl of Los Angeles. The action unfolds one incident, one suspect and one fast-food stop at a time. It’s “Adam-12” for the 21st century.

NBC brass considered the new episodes to be too dark and gritty for broadcast TV — especially now that the network's 10 p.m. week-night dramas must air an hour earlier to accommodate "The Jay ...

Southland — TV Review The first hour of NBC's new cop drama "Southland" features two shootings, one child kidnapping, a club to the head, and one gruesome demise that underscores why, if you're ...

"Southland" was originally slated to debut in its new Friday 9 p.m. time slot last month. But NBC decided to push the start to October 23 and air "Dateline NBC" in the meantime.