NEW SOUTHLAND TONIIIIIITE!!!!!!
Okay, I know most of my f-list is all about White Collar at the moment, but if you have a DVR, PLEASE record this show. Because it is some of the best television I have EVER seen, and you won't regret it. Also, this show needs more fans.
(I WILL LEAVE MUCH OF THIS UNCUT because I hope that, in your scrolling, a phrase or a pic might catch your eye and make you give this show a chance. Um, sorry?)
Let me tell you why I ♥ Southland so much:
- Yes, it's a cop show. I don't really like them either. But Southland tells the stories about cops, their work and their lives, in a way that's never condescending (to the viewer or the genre itself), never oversimplified, never moralistic or formulaic. I can't remember the last time a TV narrative in the cops-doctors-lawyers group actually SURPRISED ME. In the pilot, you see a detective get knocked out by a perp in a dark backyard; in the next scene, instead of seeing her tied to a chair or fill-in-your-own-cliche, she comes to and the perp is crying next to her, still in shock over the crime he committed. Refreshing, right? And COMPLETELY BELIEVABLE.
- You've heard that Southland is "gritty" and "realistic". What this means is: the production ROCKS LIKE A GREAT BIG... ROCKING THING. Yes, the handheld camera will remind you of Cops (ew) but every scene is so well structured that you don't even notice the seams of the craft (framing, angle, depth) that turns the low-budget documentary style into ART. The cinematography on this show takes my breath away; it is a narrative unto itself. Oh, and the camera somehow manages to achieve the kind of POV-representational balance that I haven't seen even in most documentaries - unlike your typical cop show where you identify with (and support) the main cast's perspective, on Southland you also identify with the crowd, the passers-by, the witnesses, the people on the other side of the badge. (Tonight's episode features a mob scene that's a perfect example of this equilibrium of POV. I won't say more because I don't want to spoil you, but the camera work is MASTERFUL in the way it allows for moral ambiguity in the shot. Just... WOW.)
Anyway. To quote Dolly Parton: "You'd be surprised how much it costs to look this cheap!" Likewise, it takes exquisite skill to create television that looks THIS EFFORTLESSLY REALISTIC.
- The acting... oh my god. First of all, the writing is AMAZING in a sense that it's very, very spare and that it sounds UNSCRIPTED, but its quality truly comes across thanks to the talent of the people who know how to deliver those lines. (Btw, one of my favorite bits of info about Southland? Apparently the show that NBC deemed "too gritty" for their 9pm slot was written entirely by women in its first season. HA-FUCKING-HA. Btw, I have a huuuuuuge crush on Ann Biderman. *cough*) I'll get to the main cast in a moment, but let me just say that the supporting cast is ASTONISHING. I was actually uncomfortable a few times watching a scene because the domestic/street fight/perp's attempted escape looked SO REAL that I felt like a voyeur (which is one of the reasons I can't watch shows like Cops - it's exploitative, simply put). Oh, and watch out for the children actors on this show, because they will blow your mind. The girl who played Janila in the first season? Is going to grow up and win a bunch of Oscars. Wait and see.
- Okay, the main cast. I love the true ensemble nature of Southland, which was perhaps not too clear with NBC's marketing because they focused quite a bit on Ben McKenzie (Officer Ben Sherman on the show). I'd be bitter about this if I weren't kind of, um, amazed at how good he is in a role that could have played like a stereotype. Yes, he's the rich kid who goes into the force because he's got a Women's Protector complex the size of Texas, but a) he's actually aware of it, and b) in a scene where he gets to fulfill this vision of himself with a pretty, scared young woman who gets into his bed less out of attraction and more because she wants to feel safe? HE LOOKS TERRIFIED. It's a lot of responsibility, having a dream come true, because then you have to live up to it. And that rarely goes well. Not to mention that he does some wonderful work with very little dialogue; it can be much harder to deliver a good silence than a good line.
Let's take a break for some pretty. Hello, Officer Sherman:
Another acting choice which impressed the hell out of me - and made me watch each episode in season 1 several times, to make sure I got as many of the subtleties and nuances as I could - happens early on in the season. We find out that the 10-year-old Ben tried to defend his mom from some thugs and got his front teeth knocked out in the process. (Cue in aforementioned complex.) Throughout the first season, when Ben gets angry or frustrated or stressed out - when he feels bullied and/or out of control - his lips go tight and he sucks on his front teeth. It looks like a common enough grimace, but there is something subconscious and vulnerable about it with his character, and... yeah. This kinda broke my heart. Nicely done, pretty face.
You'd think Ben gets featured in the promos and whatnot because he is the hottest guy on the show. But you'd be wrong. Because the hottest guy on the show is his partner, Officer John Cooper:
(Shhh, it's OK. Just let it happen.)
Cooper (played by Michael Cudlitz, who is awesome on a whole 'nother level by himself but that's another story) is the tough, sarcastic, ball-busting, hilarious, unscripted-sounding mix of Greg House, Gene Hunt, and every guy you ever wanted to call daddy but not in the familial sense of the word (oh come on, this LJ is a shame-free zone) and you are going to fall for him so hard, you'll offer to buy me drinks for the rest of the year in gratitude for introducing you to him. Oh, did I mention he's gay? In a PHENOMENALLY non-TV-stereotypical, dive-bar-going, sexually active, cute-boyfriend-who-kinda-bosses-him-around kinda way? And that he might just secretly be a sweetheart, judging by the happy greeting he gets in the pilot from a hot leggy blonde vice detective whom he trained years ago? ...Oh, and he's got some issues with addiction. And a difficult family history. And... okay, you need to watch the show. Trust me.
I LOVE COOPER A WHOLE LOT. You will too. You'll want to read write many, many stories about Cooper's past, his other trainees, his therapy sessions (because those must have been fun, my god), his relationship with his job, his transition from being married to a woman to accepting that he's gay and entering the lifestyle kind of late in life... oh, man. He is fascinating. (Also, hot. You're welcome.)
Speaking of hot people, REGINA FUCKING KING WILL BLOW YOUR MIND.
What I love the most about Detective Lydia Adams, played by the immaculate Ms. King, is that her compassion is incredibly genuine: she is NEVER a martyr (I'm looking at you, Cameron from House), often snarky but never jaded, and is basically the kind of person you'd want working your case because she will get shit DONE while still being human and kind and fantastically full of common sense. As a character, Lydia is not exactly COOL (there's a perfect little exchange between her and Janila that's, like, what awkward generational gaps are made of) but she is COMPLETELY FUCKING AWESOME. I... go into capslock mode a lot when I talk about her. Ahem.
And, as you can see in the pic above, she rocks the shotgun while not looking comfortingly sexed-up and extra-feminine! Oh, I love this show's gender politics.
The rest of the cast is also top notch. Tom Everett Scott, who is tall, dark, and handsome, somehow manages to flirt with other characters WITHOUT FLIRTING WITH THE CAMERA, so he comes across as rather sleazy. This is a borderline miracle, people, because that guy is gorgeous. (In fact, come to think of it? NOBODY ON THE SHOW FLIRTS WITH THE CAMERA. Take a moment and think about that. Fascinating, right?) Shawn Hatosy and Emily Bergl play a married couple that will hurt your head with how recognizably annoying they are in their relationship - but it's a gloriously truthful, funny, even touching train wreck and I for one can't look away. Arija Bareikis who plays Chickie is PERFECT in the role for another atypical female role model. Aaaand everybody else on this show is truly great in their respective roles. It's such a treat, seeing this level of sheer quality of performances on a weekly basis.
- One last thing I'll mention is the sound editing. Southland uses diegetic music for most of each episode with the exception of a track at the end, but that doesn't mean the sound production isn't AS BRILLIANT AS EVERYTHING ELSE on the show. There's a great scene in which a cop is driving at night, singing along to a song that somehow hasn't been already used in a Cialis commercial, when he gets cut off and crashes. The gangbangers in the other car are listening to rap. The two self-selected soundtracks clash more directly than the cars, and the sound in this scene makes the narrative far richer than the mere squeal of tires on the asphalt and breaking glass. Oh, and then the gangbangers steal the unconscious cop's gun AND HIS iPOD - the second being the kind of violation the audience probably relate to in a pretty visceral way. (Okay, maybe that's just me.) Anyway: the use of music on this show? Brilliant.
PSA: This is my personal Southland anthem: "Guns and Dogs" by Portugal the Man. You can download the acoustic version here for free on the NME site (I actually prefer it to the studio track). (Also: if you make me a Southland fan vid to this song, I will stan you like you've never been stanned before.)
ETA: You can check out a low-ish quality "Guns and Dogs" here on YouTube. The downloadable mp3 above, however, is PERFECT. Enjoy!
- OKAY, ONE MORE LAST THING: Southland is also the story of a city. Los Angeles comes across in the show as a magnificent, multifaceted, grotesque, diverse, gorgeous and hideous and exciting and stale and freeing and imprisoning and FASCINATING place that it is. I wish such a clear-eyed love letter of a show could be written about New York, but I'll take this for now with all my gratitude for the story of city life told so richly and truthfully.
..in conclusion: WATCH SOUTHLAND, TUESDAYS AT 10pm ON TNT. It's not an easy story, it is intense and powerful and not pretty like most TV, but it is fucking BEAUTIFUL and authentic and profoundly rewarding in a way I haven't experienced with television in a long, long time.
GO GO GO!!!
(I WILL LEAVE MUCH OF THIS UNCUT because I hope that, in your scrolling, a phrase or a pic might catch your eye and make you give this show a chance. Um, sorry?)
Let me tell you why I ♥ Southland so much:
- Yes, it's a cop show. I don't really like them either. But Southland tells the stories about cops, their work and their lives, in a way that's never condescending (to the viewer or the genre itself), never oversimplified, never moralistic or formulaic. I can't remember the last time a TV narrative in the cops-doctors-lawyers group actually SURPRISED ME. In the pilot, you see a detective get knocked out by a perp in a dark backyard; in the next scene, instead of seeing her tied to a chair or fill-in-your-own-cliche, she comes to and the perp is crying next to her, still in shock over the crime he committed. Refreshing, right? And COMPLETELY BELIEVABLE.
- You've heard that Southland is "gritty" and "realistic". What this means is: the production ROCKS LIKE A GREAT BIG... ROCKING THING. Yes, the handheld camera will remind you of Cops (ew) but every scene is so well structured that you don't even notice the seams of the craft (framing, angle, depth) that turns the low-budget documentary style into ART. The cinematography on this show takes my breath away; it is a narrative unto itself. Oh, and the camera somehow manages to achieve the kind of POV-representational balance that I haven't seen even in most documentaries - unlike your typical cop show where you identify with (and support) the main cast's perspective, on Southland you also identify with the crowd, the passers-by, the witnesses, the people on the other side of the badge. (Tonight's episode features a mob scene that's a perfect example of this equilibrium of POV. I won't say more because I don't want to spoil you, but the camera work is MASTERFUL in the way it allows for moral ambiguity in the shot. Just... WOW.)
Anyway. To quote Dolly Parton: "You'd be surprised how much it costs to look this cheap!" Likewise, it takes exquisite skill to create television that looks THIS EFFORTLESSLY REALISTIC.
- The acting... oh my god. First of all, the writing is AMAZING in a sense that it's very, very spare and that it sounds UNSCRIPTED, but its quality truly comes across thanks to the talent of the people who know how to deliver those lines. (Btw, one of my favorite bits of info about Southland? Apparently the show that NBC deemed "too gritty" for their 9pm slot was written entirely by women in its first season. HA-FUCKING-HA. Btw, I have a huuuuuuge crush on Ann Biderman. *cough*) I'll get to the main cast in a moment, but let me just say that the supporting cast is ASTONISHING. I was actually uncomfortable a few times watching a scene because the domestic/street fight/perp's attempted escape looked SO REAL that I felt like a voyeur (which is one of the reasons I can't watch shows like Cops - it's exploitative, simply put). Oh, and watch out for the children actors on this show, because they will blow your mind. The girl who played Janila in the first season? Is going to grow up and win a bunch of Oscars. Wait and see.
- Okay, the main cast. I love the true ensemble nature of Southland, which was perhaps not too clear with NBC's marketing because they focused quite a bit on Ben McKenzie (Officer Ben Sherman on the show). I'd be bitter about this if I weren't kind of, um, amazed at how good he is in a role that could have played like a stereotype. Yes, he's the rich kid who goes into the force because he's got a Women's Protector complex the size of Texas, but a) he's actually aware of it, and b) in a scene where he gets to fulfill this vision of himself with a pretty, scared young woman who gets into his bed less out of attraction and more because she wants to feel safe? HE LOOKS TERRIFIED. It's a lot of responsibility, having a dream come true, because then you have to live up to it. And that rarely goes well. Not to mention that he does some wonderful work with very little dialogue; it can be much harder to deliver a good silence than a good line.
Let's take a break for some pretty. Hello, Officer Sherman:
Another acting choice which impressed the hell out of me - and made me watch each episode in season 1 several times, to make sure I got as many of the subtleties and nuances as I could - happens early on in the season. We find out that the 10-year-old Ben tried to defend his mom from some thugs and got his front teeth knocked out in the process. (Cue in aforementioned complex.) Throughout the first season, when Ben gets angry or frustrated or stressed out - when he feels bullied and/or out of control - his lips go tight and he sucks on his front teeth. It looks like a common enough grimace, but there is something subconscious and vulnerable about it with his character, and... yeah. This kinda broke my heart. Nicely done, pretty face.
You'd think Ben gets featured in the promos and whatnot because he is the hottest guy on the show. But you'd be wrong. Because the hottest guy on the show is his partner, Officer John Cooper:
(Shhh, it's OK. Just let it happen.)
Cooper (played by Michael Cudlitz, who is awesome on a whole 'nother level by himself but that's another story) is the tough, sarcastic, ball-busting, hilarious, unscripted-sounding mix of Greg House, Gene Hunt, and every guy you ever wanted to call daddy but not in the familial sense of the word (oh come on, this LJ is a shame-free zone) and you are going to fall for him so hard, you'll offer to buy me drinks for the rest of the year in gratitude for introducing you to him. Oh, did I mention he's gay? In a PHENOMENALLY non-TV-stereotypical, dive-bar-going, sexually active, cute-boyfriend-who-kinda-bosses-him-around kinda way? And that he might just secretly be a sweetheart, judging by the happy greeting he gets in the pilot from a hot leggy blonde vice detective whom he trained years ago? ...Oh, and he's got some issues with addiction. And a difficult family history. And... okay, you need to watch the show. Trust me.
I LOVE COOPER A WHOLE LOT. You will too. You'll want to read write many, many stories about Cooper's past, his other trainees, his therapy sessions (because those must have been fun, my god), his relationship with his job, his transition from being married to a woman to accepting that he's gay and entering the lifestyle kind of late in life... oh, man. He is fascinating. (Also, hot. You're welcome.)
Speaking of hot people, REGINA FUCKING KING WILL BLOW YOUR MIND.
What I love the most about Detective Lydia Adams, played by the immaculate Ms. King, is that her compassion is incredibly genuine: she is NEVER a martyr (I'm looking at you, Cameron from House), often snarky but never jaded, and is basically the kind of person you'd want working your case because she will get shit DONE while still being human and kind and fantastically full of common sense. As a character, Lydia is not exactly COOL (there's a perfect little exchange between her and Janila that's, like, what awkward generational gaps are made of) but she is COMPLETELY FUCKING AWESOME. I... go into capslock mode a lot when I talk about her. Ahem.
And, as you can see in the pic above, she rocks the shotgun while not looking comfortingly sexed-up and extra-feminine! Oh, I love this show's gender politics.
The rest of the cast is also top notch. Tom Everett Scott, who is tall, dark, and handsome, somehow manages to flirt with other characters WITHOUT FLIRTING WITH THE CAMERA, so he comes across as rather sleazy. This is a borderline miracle, people, because that guy is gorgeous. (In fact, come to think of it? NOBODY ON THE SHOW FLIRTS WITH THE CAMERA. Take a moment and think about that. Fascinating, right?) Shawn Hatosy and Emily Bergl play a married couple that will hurt your head with how recognizably annoying they are in their relationship - but it's a gloriously truthful, funny, even touching train wreck and I for one can't look away. Arija Bareikis who plays Chickie is PERFECT in the role for another atypical female role model. Aaaand everybody else on this show is truly great in their respective roles. It's such a treat, seeing this level of sheer quality of performances on a weekly basis.
- One last thing I'll mention is the sound editing. Southland uses diegetic music for most of each episode with the exception of a track at the end, but that doesn't mean the sound production isn't AS BRILLIANT AS EVERYTHING ELSE on the show. There's a great scene in which a cop is driving at night, singing along to a song that somehow hasn't been already used in a Cialis commercial, when he gets cut off and crashes. The gangbangers in the other car are listening to rap. The two self-selected soundtracks clash more directly than the cars, and the sound in this scene makes the narrative far richer than the mere squeal of tires on the asphalt and breaking glass. Oh, and then the gangbangers steal the unconscious cop's gun AND HIS iPOD - the second being the kind of violation the audience probably relate to in a pretty visceral way. (Okay, maybe that's just me.) Anyway: the use of music on this show? Brilliant.
PSA: This is my personal Southland anthem: "Guns and Dogs" by Portugal the Man. You can download the acoustic version here for free on the NME site (I actually prefer it to the studio track). (Also: if you make me a Southland fan vid to this song, I will stan you like you've never been stanned before.)
ETA: You can check out a low-ish quality "Guns and Dogs" here on YouTube. The downloadable mp3 above, however, is PERFECT. Enjoy!
- OKAY, ONE MORE LAST THING: Southland is also the story of a city. Los Angeles comes across in the show as a magnificent, multifaceted, grotesque, diverse, gorgeous and hideous and exciting and stale and freeing and imprisoning and FASCINATING place that it is. I wish such a clear-eyed love letter of a show could be written about New York, but I'll take this for now with all my gratitude for the story of city life told so richly and truthfully.
..in conclusion: WATCH SOUTHLAND, TUESDAYS AT 10pm ON TNT. It's not an easy story, it is intense and powerful and not pretty like most TV, but it is fucking BEAUTIFUL and authentic and profoundly rewarding in a way I haven't experienced with television in a long, long time.
GO GO GO!!!