Fan Forum - View Single Post - News and Articles #15: New show means a lot more news!

**LoveBEN** · 04-16-2009, 10:09 AM

Thanks for the new thread Hanna

From the last thread:

From Entertainment Weekly - 'Southland': We're not in the O.C. anymore

Southland, the series that has gone into ER's time period, has one of the more annoying new lead characters of the year. It also has one of the most likable new characters. It's that kind of show: a mix of the bad and the good.
The bad one is gruff cop John Cooper (Michael Cudlitz), who barks out harsh advice and the sort of streetwise wisdom that comes with embossed exclamation points: "You're a cop because you don't know how not to be a cop!" (Dalton Ross remarked that Southland could be called Listen Up, Rookie!)
The good one is rookie cop Ben Sherman (Benjamin McKenzie), who kept his trap shut through most of the premiere and therefore came off like the truly wiser policeman. I know McKenzie is doing a lot of soulful looking into space the way he did on The O.C., but the guy is excellent at soulful gazing. Plus, by the end of the episode, his character proved he could shoot a gun really well -- in other words, we know he's the competent one we're going to root for.
The rest of Southland played out like a lot of other cop shows. Produced by ER guys John Wells and Christopher ChuIlack, it was created by Ann Biderman, who wrote some episodes of NYPD Blue, and there was a lot of blue language and NYPD-style grittiness in this Los Angeles-set series. At least one early review compared Southland to The Shield, but Southland doesn't come close to that show's hardboiled sheen. It's more like an all-cop version of another NBC/John Wells series, Third Watch: a collection of subplots about people under duress and in danger, guarded by flawed but ultimately sincere people... except for the corrupt ones.
Southland is certainly well-made and well-cast. Even though his character is obnoxious, Michael Cudlitz portrays Cooper's obnoxiousness with admirable commitment. The cast includes fine actors such as Regina King and Tom Everett Scott, and, as I said, I like McKenzie's performance. But both on its own and leading out from the gloriously zany 30 Rock, Southland may not be the show for viewers looking for something both less familiar and less self-consciously "gritty." I'll keep watching for at least a few more weeks, to see how the characters develop

'Southland': We're not in the O.C. anymore | Prime-Time TV commentary | last night, Television | Ken Tucker's Watching TV | EW.com
Ben on E!'s Daily Ten (number 1)
Ben on ReelTalk with Lyons and Bailes
'Southland' tops Thursday premieres

NBC cop drama nabs 9.7 million viewers

NBC's cop drama, 'Southland,' topped Thursday's premieres, nabbing 9.7 million viewers.

NBC's cop drama "Southland" led the pack of Thursday preems, posting respectable numbers as it moved into "ER's" old 10 p.m. slot.
Peacock's other preem for the night, comedy "Parks and Recreation" did just OK in its 8:30 p.m. bow despite a flood of promotion for the Amy Poehler starrer. Meanwhile, CBS' spooky new murder-mystery drama "Harper's Island" didn't scare up much of a crowd at 10 p.m. following "CSI."
"Southland" opened to 3.2 rating/9 share in the adults 18-49 demo and 9.7 million overall viewers, according to prelim Nielsens. That marked a nice tune-in bounce in viewers from its 9:30 p.m. "30 Rock" (3.1/8, 6.8 m) lead-in.
The Peacock's rookie drama about L.A. beat cops had no trouble topping the Eye's debut of "Harper's Island" (2.7/8, 10.6 m) in the demo, despite "Harper's" lead-in advantage from "CSI" (3.7/10, 16.1 m).
"Southland" also won both the 18-34 and 25-54 adult demo, making it a satisfying start for the drama exec produced by John Wells, who saw "ER" end its 15-year run last Thursday with strong numbers as well.
According to the Peacock, "Southland" is the first NBC drama since a January202005 broadcast of "Medium" to build on its 18-49 demo from 10 to 10:30 p.m.
The launch of the "Southland" Thursday night made for a happy Friday morning in Burbank.
"The fact is, I think, the ability for us to execute high-end, quality programming consistent with what NBC is and what we stand for," said NBC co-chair Ben Silverman: "With the midseason approach we used on these shows, we're pleased they paid off."
If "Southland" continues to perform well for the network, Silverman and his team may have to find a place for it on the fall schedule. Yet, with Jay Leno arriving to fill all the 10 p.m. weekday timeslots, the edgy cop drama will have to find a new home.

'Southland' tops Thursday premieres - Entertainment News, TV News, Media - Variety
From the Washington Post:

washingtonpost.com - nation, world, technology and Washington area news and headlines

"What you'll love: McKenzie's performance perfectly captures a man whose naivete is fading in the face of the harsh realities of his beat."
NBC drama takes viewers on a thrilling, humorous cop ride

From the opening scene, McKenzie’s performance establishes that this show is not “The OC,” but a new and mature role by the actor. In fact the entire ensemble brings a solid performance from the beginning.

The Poly Post - NBC drama takes viewers on a thrilling, humorous cop ride
TV Guide - Top Moments

2. Best Show-Definer: Ben Sherman, the rich-kid cop of NBC's Southland, proves himself when a "superior officer" gets shot by a cuffed gangbanger who Sherman warns hasn't been searched — and Sherman stops the shooter cold. Yes, Southland also does the female-cop-as-hooker thing, but it balances her out with some male vice cops doing equally seedy jobs. We're loving this show

Kutner Dies on House, Southland Debuts Strong - Today's News: Our Take | TVGuide.com
From People.com

Taking the law into his own hands, Benjamin McKenzie shows off a pair of handcuffs during a visit Thursday to New York's WPIX Morning Show to promote his new NBC series Southland.

Star Tracks: Friday, April 10, 2009 - CUFF 'EM! - Benjamin McKenzie : People.com
Ben in USA Today - Ben McKenzie opens window on his world, 'Southland'

By Dan MacMedan, USA TODAY
Ben McKenzie, photographed at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, says he felt "a little out of place" in The OC. But new show Southland, he says, is "bizarrely comfortable."

Ben McKenzie says he doesn't lead an exciting life.

"I'd be the most boring Twitter-er," he says with a laugh over breakfast. "I'd be like: 'At home. Again. Walking my dog. Again.' "

The biggest thrill in McKenzie's life? His new series, Southland, which premieres tonight (10 ET/PT). The NBC midseason replacement is a far cry from The OC, in which McKenzie played Ryan Atwood, a troubled teen in Orange County, Calif., who was given a second chance.

In this new role, he's Los Angeles Police Department rookie cop Ben Sherman, who goes head-to-head with a by-the-books boss. It's a different twist on the procedural cop show, because there's not a crime being solved every week. It's a raw and uncensored look inside the police unit, but the series also shows the home life of the police, the criminals and the victims.

"I always felt like I was a little out of place on The OC because I was a little bit older and I'd been to college," says McKenzie, 30, who graduated from the University of Virginia. "Yet, I was doing this show that I was very grateful for and had a great time making, but it didn't come naturally.

"The thing that's strange about doing Southland is how bizarrely comfortable it is. I can finally breathe and relax. I'm not so much playing myself, but in a way this character is much closer to myself."

And stylistically, McKenzie liked that the show's creators wanted to try something new. The series has a reality-show quality, in the same vein of Cops.

"It doesn't do any good to try to look backward and duplicate what's been done before on television. You have to count that people's tastes have changed, their attention spans have shortened. And you really need to provide them with the immediacy of watching a scripted show that looks more like a real live series of events," he says.

"Hopefully we can get both the emotional payout of the drama with the authenticity of a cop show."

McKenzie is single, and taking his time: "It's more of a concern for my parents. I'm like, 'First of all, you don't really want to have a grandkid by me right now. There's a few steps in that process. You want me to have the girlfriend first, right? Then the wife? Then the kids?' " He says he hopes the OC faithfuls follow him to his new series.

"What I really like about the character I'm playing now is that he's ambitious. He's a very focused guy who expects a lot out of himself," McKenzie says, polishing off his breakfast salad. "He's going to take it and succeed or he's going to die trying. And I sympathize with that point of view."

Ben McKenzie opens window on his world, 'Southland' - USATODAY.com

Articles scans - USA Today

benjamin-mckenzie.org - USA Today - April 9, 2009
L.A. Times to feature 'Southland' cop

Fake news story part of ad campaign

The front page of Thursday's Los Angeles Times is expected to include a major feature story on LAPD cop Ben Sherman, chronicling the rookie's rough first day on the job.
It's not unlike the kind of personality profiles that frequently grace the newspaper's "Column One" feature. But Sherman, however, isn't real - he's the lead character in NBC's "Southland," played by thesp Benjamin McKenzie.
And the story itself isn't really a story - it's part of a large, six-column ad that will appear under the fold of the L.A. Times' front page.
The fake news story - which will run in the first column, much like those regular L.A. Times stories - is in a different typeface and style than the paper's normal content. It will also be marked as an advertisement.
But that won't likely placate the newspaper's critics, many of whom have taken the L.A. Times to task in the past for blurring the line between editorial and advertising.
Most famously, the newspaper drew fire in 1999 when an L.A. Times magazine issue devoted to the Staples Center was revealed to be produced under an ad revenue-sharing agreement with the venue. More recently, the same magazine was turned over to the business side of the paper.
The decision to put an advertisement on the front page with content that might be confused for a real story is sure to open a new round of criticism against the already-embattled newspaper. Yet as newspapers struggle to remain afloat, advertising methods that would have been forbidden a few years ago are now accepted as part of the new reality.
That includes front-page ads, which have begun appearing in the L.A. Times, New York Times, Chicago Tribune and other major papers.
According to NBC, the L.A. Times came up with the idea of promoting "Southland" - which takes place in Los Angeles, after all - via a front-page ad.
"We thought it was an interesting, provocative, breakthrough idea," said NBC Entertainment marketing prexy Adam Stotsky. "Treating a fictional story in an editorial context for Angelenos inside the L.A. Times connected to our show."
Stotsky said he knew that the L.A. Times would take some heat for the ad - and said both the network and newspaper took pains to "walk a fine line."
"The L.A. Times has to strike a balance between creating innovative solutions for marketers and the editorial integrity of the product," he said. "I'm sure this concept was developed not without a fair amount of discussion and debate internally. But we've delineated it clearly enough to signal it to the reader that it's an ad."
For NBC, it's a coup: Not only will several hundred thousand L.A. Times subscribers see an ad for "Southland," which comes from John Wells and Warner Bros. TV, when they pick up the paper Thursday morning, but the viral effect of putting this ad on the front page may resonate far beyond the actual paper readers.
Mock newspaper articles aren't uncommon in the advertising world; direct response ads designed to look like news stories regularly appear inside newspapers, magazines and inserts like Parade. (One ubiquitous ad disguised as a fake story for fireplace mantles designed by Amish workmen seems to run in virtually every magazine these days.) Publications such as Variety have also run ads designed as fake stories (clearly marked as such as well).
Nonetheless, the front page of a major metropolitan newspaper has long been seen as sacrosanct - and Thursday's ad is likely to strike a new debate in newsrooms and journalism circles across the country.

L.A. Times to feature 'Southland' cop - Entertainment News, Publishing News, Media - Variety
Ben on WPIX (a local NY station) morning news:

NY PIX Morning News Blog – WPIX-TV
Scans from The New York Times, The Austin-American Statesman and TV Guide articles:
Ben's interview on the Today show
the Just Jared interview

Ben McKenzie Interview — JustJared.com Exclusive | Benjamin McKenzie, Southland : Just Jared
Hollywood Reporter review of Southland

TV Review: Southland

Bottom Line: That's some mighty fine shooting, partner.

The first hour of NBC's new cop drama "Southland" features two shootings, one child kidnapping, a club to the head, and one gruesome demise that underscores why, if you're going to die alone in your house, you should let the dogs out first.

That's right, the John Wells Fargo wagon is comin' down the street again, and none are to be spared. "Southland" was created and written with nimble expertise by relative television newcomer Ann Biderman, but in a lot of ways it's a combination of two of executive producer John Wells' previous successes, "ER" and "Third Watch," except here, the cops essentially do triage on an entire city.

The setup is classic: Young LAPD officer Ben Sherman (Ben McKenzie) is out for a training day with experienced Officer John Cooper (Michael Cudlitz), who rags him about his 90210 pedigree while showing him the ropes. Meanwhile, two other sets of cops and detectives respond to crimes and interview reluctant witnesses. It's a lot to digest, presented in a no-nonsense fashion -- as much must-see TV as don't-blink TV.

But here's the truth about "Southland": It's compelling from minute one to credit roll -- exciting, smart, realistic and brilliant, all in one brightly lit package. Unexpected and thrilling, "Southland" shoots us into this terrifying, sunny world where gangs rule with impunity and the cops' patois of humor and lingo is the only thing that keeps them sane. Phrases like "******* rodeo" and "badge bunnies," plus the insulting punch line "tuna boat," prove Biderman is more than ready for primetime.

There's some trouble in paradise, though: "Southland's" police force is very, very white (Regina King being the exception), and the perps are very, very non-white -- a lack of diversity that undercuts its realism. And NBC is taking a risk by shoving this show into a 9 p.m. slot once Jay Leno owns the 10 p.m. berth. But those are minor quibbles for now.

"Southland" is no tourist ad for L.A., yet despite the despair that leeches from the sidewalks and the humanity that all too briefly flashes in the faces of the officers, it's a place fans of smart TV should want to check into every week. To miss this series would be truly criminal.

TV Review: Southland
The New York Times review of Southland:

From the Pampered Life to Police Work on the Mean Streets

In the 1930s Franklin D. Roosevelt was considered a traitor to his class, and in the 1960s so was Mick Jagger. The lead characters in two new police dramas that begin this week are upper-class kids who defy their upbringing to become cops. That downward mobility has little to do with solving crimes, but it does suggest that these days, it is fashionable for the rich to be self-loathing.

Casey Shraeger, played by Amber Tamblyn (“Joan of Arcadia,” “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants”), is the heroine of “The Unusuals” on ABC, and she is a Gossip Girl gone good — a Dalton School alumna who trades her Birkin bag and Jimmy Choos for a gun and a badge on the meaner streets of New York. On NBC’s “Southland” Ben McKenzie plays Ben Sherman, a rookie in the Los Angeles Police Department who grew up in Beverly Hills and is teasingly called “Tori Spelling” by his elders on the force.

Until recently cultural collisions mostly worked the other way. On “Gossip Girl” a middle-class student at a snobby private school has to make his way past the wealth and privilege of his super-rich classmates. On “The OC” Mr. McKenzie played a poor kid from Chino, Calif., who mingled with the plutocratic teenagers of Orange County.

But that reversal isn’t so surprising coming from John Wells, who was a creator of “ER” before moving on to “Southland,” because Dr. John Carter of “ER” (Noah Wyle) also came from rich, snooty parents who sneered at emergency medicine as déclassé. But the fact that the creators of “The Unusuals” made the same choice suggests there is a broader shift at hand. There are other similarities: both shows seek a bold, contemporary tone by breaking with current fads and borrowing from series past.

Tough-minded, suspenseful and shot in an unnerving bleached light, “Southland” is by far the better drama — Thursday’s pilot is one of the most gripping opening episodes of any network crime series. That’s partly because “Southland” leaves behind the hokey forensics fetishes of “CSI” and the soap-opera anguish of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”; it bypasses the trend of eccentric, mind-reading detectives in favor of the harsh realism and moral ambiguities of cable shows like “The Shield” and “Rescue Me” and even, to a point, “The Wire.”

“Southland” finds eloquence in holding back. Ben’s first day on the job is so harrowingly tense that at times it also evokes “Training Day,” the movie that starred Ethan Hawke and Denzel Washington.

“The Unusuals,” which begins on Wednesday, isn’t nearly as thrilling. But it isn’t bad, just more predictable. It’s ambitious in a different way, trying to recover the mix of high drama and absurdist comic relief that distinguished shows like “Hill Street Blues.” It invests a little too much of its energy in attempted humor, including an unseen dispatcher who blurts out bulletins in a nasal Queens accent: “Second Squad, this is dispatch. Be on the lookout for a Puerto Rican man wearing a cape and no pants.”

Casey, who dropped out of Harvard to become a cop, is working undercover as a prostitute for the vice squad when she is suddenly recruited, still in her falsies and stiletto heels, to help investigate the murder of a veteran detective. It’s not a very imaginative way to start a new series about a female cop — more like the “jiggle TV” of yesteryear. But Ms. Tamblyn has an appealingly aloof, brooding manner that wipes some of the silliness off her character.

Casey’s new partner is Detective Jason Walsh (Jeremy Renner), who used to share his cases with the victim, and is a retired baseball player who in his off time runs a tiny diner. Walsh and Casey work well together despite the preening, idiotic interference of Detective Eddie Alvarez (Kai Lennox), who refers to himself in the third person and is the joke of the squad, a little like the Frank character on “M*A*S*H.”

No show is totally original, but “The Unusuals” lifts a scene from “The Wire” so blatantly that it’s practically plagiarism. Two of the more screwball detectives are questioning a suspect in a series of cat killings, and tell the man that the copier machine is the latest high-tech lie detector, before asking him questions and photocopying his hand with the word “true” on it. That ruse worked on “The Wire” because those detectives were questioning hardened teenagers from the ghetto who knew everything about drugs and weapons, but had no idea what even basic office or school equipment looked like. On this show the suspect is a well-spoken middle-class adult, and the prank makes no sense.

“Southland” doesn’t steal from “The Wire,” but it is inspired by that HBO show’s intense, intimate look at the inner workings of street crime and beat police work. Ben is assigned for training, not to say hazing, at the hands of a hardened police-force veteran, John Cooper (Michael Cudlitz), who subjects his charge to an endless stream of insults and sexist jokes. Ben, determined not to be baited, tries not to flinch or react, which prompts Cooper to call him a Canadian.

Most of the police officers who surround Ben are as crude and unfeeling as the suspects they hassle. It’s the crimes that are heartbreaking: a teenager killed for no reason by gangbanging ex-cons driving past him, a girl snatched outside her house when her father’s attention strays for a moment. Ben is almost as spooked by his new colleagues as he is by the criminals, and with good reason.

Even the most hard-edged network shows tend to surrender to expectations after a while and go soft, diluting their power with mawkish sentimentality and romantic subplots. For now, at least, “Southland” is commendably stinting and cold, a series that doesn’t aim to please, and is all the more pleasurable for it.

http://tv.nytimes.com/2009/04/08/art...html?_r=1&8dpc
The NY Daily News review of Southland:

Raw L.A. cop show 'Southland' is well-done

NBC'S intense new cop drama "Southland" won't be the last broadcast drama that shoots for the attitude and style of the critically acclaimed cable shows that have become the darlings of TV drama these days.
It's not that "Southland" goes much further than, say, "NYPD Blue" in language and content. It also didn't invent characters whose flaws make them strangely compelling, since the John Wells production team that created "Southland" did the same thing with its previous "ER" and "West Wing" casts.
What "Southland" has, already, is its own swagger, a get-outta-my-way style of moving and talking that says it's going for the raw edges we see on cable shows like "Breaking Bad."
"Southland" pulls it off, too. If Thursday night's premiere episode is an indication how it plans to roll, it's a keeper.
The show is set in Los Angeles and should do for that community's image what "Fort Apache" did for the image of the Bronx a few years back.
John Cooper (Michael Cudlitz) tells his new rookie partner, Ben Sherman (Ben McKenzie), that cruising their patrol area is "like driving through a sewer in a glass-bottomed boat."
I don't think we're in Mayberry anymore.
Cooper initiates his rookie about as gently as General Patton initiated the troops in his Third Army, calculating that the best way to survive is to get tough fast.
"You do what they teach you in the Academy, you'll be dead," says Cooper.
The interesting twist with Sherman is that he's a rich kid - arriving one night, ironically, after ABC started featuring a female rich kid in another new cop drama, "The Unusuals." In the blue-collar cop world, this makes him a suspect.
When Sherman loses it after seeing a decomposed, half-eaten body, Cooper tells the others, "Tori Spelling just threw up all over his brand-new Mary Janes."
But when it counts, the rookie has a tough side, too.
The rest of the squad, from what we see, shows dramatic promise. Lydia Adams (Regina King) is a single woman who takes care of her mother. Mothers are always good for a subplot in a pinch. Russell Clarke (Tom Everett Scott) has a shaky marriage and a wife who keeps calling him at work to have the Conversation ("How come you never talk to me anymore?").
"Southland" is well-sprinkled with sharp humor, much of it sardonic and dark. There is a role for alcohol. But the focus of week one is on what it means to be cops, the last row of sandbags where the water is 5 feet high and rising.
John Cooper makes his own declaration about what constitutes "God's work" in police situations. But like all good shows, "Southland" lays out the case and lets the viewer make the call.

Raw L.A. cop show 'Southland' is well-done