TNT saves 'Southland'

Actor Ben McKenzie stars in Southland, now to air on TNT

If you happened to hear random hollers of excitement and sporadic cries of happiness during the day yesterday, that would have been the Southland fans in your near vicinity.  It was confirmed yesterday that in a rare network move, TNT will pick-up the NBC dropped Southland. 

Starting in January, TNT will air all 13 produced Southland episodes, including the seven episodes from its first season and the six new hours that have yet to see air time.  As for producing more episodes, a TNT rep told E!,  "As with all of our series, TNT will evaluate the performance of Southland before deciding whether to order more episodes."

Southland will premiere on TNT on Tuesday, January 12th at 10pm.  It will air opposite its cancelled network's Jay Leno in that time slot.  President of Turner Entertainment Networks, Steve Koonin, says, "This is a perfect opportunity for us to introduce the series to new viewers."

This is a definite win for Southland fans, even if TNT decides not to produce any extra episodes.  Word on the street is that producing new episodes will cost TNT a shiny new nickle per episode, somewhere around $1.4 million.  So if you're a Southland fan, put aside your great and powerful DVRs in January because nothing less than immediate great ratings will convince TNT to lay down that cash per episode.  This is your second chance, a chance that most television fans never get, so don't waste it.