Peacock plucked: NBC cancels 'Southland'

The now-unemployed cast of "Southland." (NBC)One more reason to hate NBC: The network canceled the sophomore cop drama "Southland" one day shy of two weeks before the show's season premiere. I had already made "Southland" the Oct. 18 TV Week cover and it was on the press; my editor literally got to yell, "Stop the presses!" It's the first time I've ever heard that happen -- except in the movie "The Paper."

Evidently some "Southland" covers will still be distributed -- collector's item! -- but most Oct. 18 issues of TV Week will have "Occupation," a BBC America Iraq War miniseries, on the cover. Wrote that story in 50 minutes, so excuse any typos, please.

As for "Southland," producer Warner Bros. will try to shop it to other networks. It's likely too expensive for basic cable but TNT would be a logical home for the cop drama, a good show to pair with "The Closer."

"Southland" actor Michael Cudlitz tweeted his frustration, noting, "we are still in production. The shows are very, very good............ They have broken thier word. I should know better."

Deadline Hollywood Daily proclaims the NBC 2009-10 TV season completely lost with nothing watchable. I'd argue Thursday 8-10 p.m. is worthwhile, but beyond that, NBC is a void. At least now the peacock should be a better bargain for whatever media company buys it from GE.

 


Posted Oct 08 2009, 09:23 PM by Rob Owen
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Comments

Pittbull wrote re: Peacock plucked: NBC cancels 'Southland'
on Fri, Oct 9 2009 5:43 AM

NBC, Nothing But Crap, stays true to its name.

I am so happy I have kept the TiVoed episodes from last season to enjoy again.

What a sorry state of affairs network TV has become.  Except for Modern Family, the others are just cookie cutter spinoffs. So much for originality.

I've been noticing ABC studios a lot at the beginning of most of their shows.  I understand that that eliminates the middleman, so these are the shows they like to program.

I am still perplexed as to why an ABC studio production, Army Wives, is on Lifetime, instead of ABC.  Sure would fit good on Wednesday nights at 10 pm, since Eastwick is tanking bad.  When Leno beats you, something is definitely wrong.

Rob Owen wrote re: Peacock plucked: NBC cancels 'Southland'
on Fri, Oct 9 2009 8:04 AM

ABC Studios has always produced those shows, they just decided to put the credit up front rather than at the end of the show for some reason this fall.

ABC owns a stake in Lifetime so it wouldn't be in their financial interest to take from Peter to pay Paul.