Southland Gets Picked Up
After three airings, NBC has picked up the cop series Southland for the Fall Season. This takes place even as the series has declined from viewership since it first aired.
The series follows the lives of cops in Southern California and has apparently been favored by critics. I’ve seen only one episode of this show so far and I’m kind of reminded by The Shield, about how gritty it is.
The details to Southland’s pick up are after the cut…
Excerpts from Variety:
NBC execs spent Friday and Saturday zeroing in on a handful of new series pickups to present to advertisers at its "Infront" event in Gotham on Monday. During the weekend it became clear that the Peacock intends to focus much of its presentation on touting a small number of new prospects, and will leave decisions on the fate of other pilots and bubble shows, including "Chuck," for at least another week.
That said, Warner Bros. TV got the nod late Friday for a 13-episode renewal of cop drama "Southland," which has performed respectable since its bow last month as a late midseason entry.
NBC execs had already said that they would not unveil a full-blown schedule until the week of May 19, when the rest of the broadcast nets host their upfront presentations.
Biz insiders said that pickup and renewal conversations at NBC and other nets this year have been entirely about one thing: costs, and how much can be trimmed from budgets and license fees. The belt-tightening caused by the economic meltdown and the expectation that upfront ad coin will be down sharply this year has made the grueling process of negotiating series agreements that much more difficult, across the board.
Among NBC’s half-hour contenders, the show to watch for the past week has been Sony Pictures TV comedy "Community," which stars Joel McHale as a guy who becomes part of an offbeat extended family after he enrolls in a community college course. Industry insiders said the show seemed to be a lock for a pickup.
Also high on the buzz radar is "100 Questions for Charlotte Payne," from Universal Media Studios, which stars Sophie Winkleman as a young woman living in New York and using a dating service. It’s understood to be seen by some inside NBC as a next-gen "Friends." Buddy cop comedy "Off Duty," starring Bradley Whitford and Romany Malco, is also still kicking.
On the drama said, "Trauma," UMS, is said to have screened well among NBC brass and is seen as a good fit with the network’s needs next season, when its drama real estate will shrink with the bow of "The Jay Leno Show" in the Monday-Friday 10 p.m. slot.
Peacock execs also remain supremely confident in the prospects for UMS/Imagine TV’s hourlong adaptation of 1989 pic "Parenthood," even though that pilot was still filming as of the weekend.
"Community," "Trauma" and "Parenthood" are expected to be shown off to the assembled advertisers on Monday. Leno’s new offering is also expected to be talked up, along with "Southland," which has fared well with critics.
