Anyone watch this? It's the first cop show I've actually liked in YEARS. Started watching last season, but I still need to rent the first seasons.
Excellent cast and characters. It's not about single crime they cover in depth per episode, it's more about the ongoing stories of the cops and detectives and their perspectives of what goes on.
Last night was the second of the season.

This is weird as I was coming on to ask if anyone knew what the US police series was called I saw early one morning on UK TV and I think this is it! It is very good and quite gritty.

I've never watched "Southland" but I'm curious to know what makes this different from the tons of other cop shows that are on the air now and from those in the past.

I love Southland fantastic show

I've just 'found' the first series

I thought this was about Southland Corporation AKA 7-11.. :smirk:

Very well written, likeable, but realistically flawed, characters. The show is pretty hard hitting, but it isn't all serious. It's got some great humor in it, although it can be fairly dark humor at times.
Lucy Liu joined the cast this season, a nice addition.
Last night there was a streaker out for a run in broad daylight. The patrolling cops told him there was an ordinance against doing that in the city. He needed to get on the freeway.
They called CHP to deal with him then. LOL

I'll warn you now: C Thomas Howell is in it. He's a weak link in the acting dept, but his character is written to be so obnoxious that it works.

I really like this show as well, it's on late enough too that it can cross a line every now and then.

Dunno exactly...but somehow it's a bit different. And entertaining.

I think it gives a better view into how what we the public see, vs what a cop would see. What happens 15 seconds before the Youtube video starts. What happened to the cop on a call earlier in the day.

Usually they show a scene unfolding before you, then the show starts earlier that day, or that week. Towards the end of the episode, you then can see the leadup to and including the scene shown earlier, and then the aftermath, the consequences. It's kind of like showing the politician's "sound bite", then showing the entire speech, where you may get a very different context and better understanding of what they meant and why.

It also seems to give a more "real world" idea of what detective work must be like...less "Clue/Whodunit/SherlockHolmes", and more "many random cases, most just waiting for more clues, put it together when we have more info/evidence". More cooperation and coordination with the beat cops than you normally see.

Dunno, I just think that while there are more chills and thrills than would be realistic, at least the presentation of it, and the dialogue/characters seem more real, more like what I'd expect. Good show, good dialogue, great action/shootouts, IMO better quality all 'round than most "action movies".

But bar none, the actual scenarios these cops find themselves in, in the show, seem like they were literally taken from police incident reports (maybe even LAPD), not the imaginations of some dopey writer typing on his laptop in a Starbucks sipping a latte. I'm sure the writers of this show do that too, but instead of relying solely on their imaginations, they seem to actually talk with real cops about real situations and how those actually go down. THAT is what makes this a good show IMO.

Funny that this is the first thread I saw on here, I just watched the season finale from last March. The last 2 episodes had been sitting on there since then because I haven't had a chance to catch up on it. Finally decided a week or two ago that since the new season was about to start that it was time to watch the last couple of episodes. I think NBC should have held onto it, but TNT caught a gem when they decided to keep making new episodes.

Excellent show. I also enjoy Justified... I think of Bill Grant when I watch that show. Makes me chuckle. LOL

-Skater

I've just realised that the actor who plays Officer John Cooper (Michael Cudlitz) played Bull in Band of Brothers. I was watching thinking I know his face from somewhere!

Set to record!

WC

I keep reading that character into this one.

I will now I bet

Just finished watching the first series and what an ending!

BTW is Michael Cudlitz's character gay? It sort of hinted it at the end and the bar he goes in has all men in or maybe I'm putting 2+2 together and making 5? C Thomas Howell's character will have a problem with that I guess.

On to series 2...

I think so. Last season they showed him getting up for work in the morning and he had a buddy in there with him but they only showed that for a split second. Surprise! LOL
That was the only indication I've noticed. I think he tensed up the other night when his partner said something he misinterpreted as figuring that out, but she was asking about something else.
I think C Thomas is in for an ass whooping if he finds out and gives him a hard time. LOL

Yes, "officer John Cooper", former training guy, is gay. I think at the end of the first season, he's briefly seen hugging his "partner" outside at night. Also, in a later episode, he has a conversation or two with his ex-wife, whom I think they are still on good terms, and the subject comes up. Funny, I noticed many things, but I never noticed the bar he was in was all guys! I just assumed it was one of those 'after work' bars that women tend to avoid, and married men go just to grab a beer and check the game before going home. Anyway, it becomes very obvious that he's extremely protective of his personal life, pretty much saying next to nothing.

funny, I never picked up on Cooper being gay, I thought C Thomas Howell looked familiar but never looked him up on IMDb to know it was him. Hasn't aged well...

Just finished series 2, becoming addicted lol. Series 3....

Well, watched all 3 series and the 3 from the current one and it has to be the best TV show I've watched. Beats Walking Dead and Homeland.

It opened my eyes just to how dangerous it is in the US for the police with the amount of weapons around and as they said in one episode 'what would be a civilians worst nightmare is a daily occurance for the police', scary.

Be interested to hear what Magnum and SpongeBob think of it?