Southland - Pilot
Starring: Benjamin McKenzie, Michael Cudlitz, Regina King, Tom Everett Scott, Michael McGrady, Kevin Alejandro, Shawn Hatosy, Arija Bareikis
Created By: John Wells, Ann Biderman and Chris Chulack (Executive Producers)
Premieres: Thursday, April 9, 2009 at 10:00 PM/PT on NBC
NBC.com recently made the pilot episode of their new series Southland available for viewing online and after having a look at the first episode, I’d have to say that NBC definitely has a potentially great new series on their hand. This dark and gritty cop drama follows a group of cops as they take to the streets of the “Southland” area of Los Angeles, California. In the pilot, we’re introduced to Ben Sherman (Benjamin McKenzie, The O.C.) a rookie cop who’s partnered with seasoned veteran John Cooper (Michael Cudlitz, A River Runs Through It). Ben’s boyish looks and privileged background give Cooper plenty of reason to question whether the rook is cut out for this kind of job but we soon come to learn that Ben is serious about the job, despite the challenges that lay ahead.
Regina King (Ray, Jerry Maguire plays Detective Lydia Adams, who in addition to her work as a cop has a stressful home life as she serves as primary caregiver of her mother. Her partner Detective Russell Clarke (Tom Everett Scott, Boiler Room) is an unhappily married father of three. Also among the police officers are Detective Daniel “Sal” Salinger (Michael McGrady) The Thin Red Line), Nate Moretta (Kevin Alejandro, Drive, Ugly Betty) and Sammy Bryant (Shawn Hatosy, Alpha Dog). The pilot introduces these characters to varying degrees, but given the size of the cast, it’s understandable that we’re really only able to get a small taste of what each of them are about.
The pilot episode follows an investigation into a random shooting of a guy who just happened to get off the bus at the wrong place at the wrong time. There’s also a story involving a missing girl. What we see as the episode progresses and the cops attempt to bring down the bad-guys isn’t a CSI-like analysis of a standard police investigation but rather, a glimpse at everyday life for a bunch of cops working in a dangerous neighborhood. And from the looks of it, the characters’ home and family lives will play a role in the story as well.
NBC seems to be stretching the boundaries a bit in terms of the nature of the work these cops do. There are some fairly graphic scenes, though we’re only given glimpses of what’s going on. Just enough to allow our imaginations to do the rest of the work. For example, in one scene, Ben and Cooper show up on a scene after someone calls the cops complaining about a bad smell. They enter a house after Animal Control comes to remove the angry dogs that were in the residence. What Ben and Cooper find is the body of the man who has apparently been these dogs’ last meal. We see the man’s body slouched over, part of his fingers removed. The scene is shot in a dim room, allowing us to see a few glimpses of the gory scene and the cut to Ben running for the door and puking out on the lawn. Had they shown much more, I would’ve been right there with him but the almost-subtlety of the scene does a decent job of allowing us to understand just how tough this job is.
The series doesn’t seem to be banking on gore to draw viewers in. It’s evident as the episode goes on that behind the violent nature of the work these cops do is a show about the kind of people who can do this job. It’s dark and borders on gloomy but not so much that it's hard to watch. Based on the pilot, Southland has the potential to be a truly compelling series.
