TNT picks up Southland

Southland, NBC cop drama will get a new lease of life by TNT. This means, starting from January 12, 2010, Southland will air on TNT on Tuesdays at 10pm – keeping in line with the original time slot. This 10pm slot means Southland will also be competing for viewership with the franchise that pushed it off NBC: The Jay Leno Show.

The pickup of the discarded NBC show is part of TNT positioning, which is to expand its original programming strategy as opposed to broadcast webs. Turner programming topper Michael Wright said Southland fit squarely into the channel’s drama-centric brand. Thus, TNT will start its run of Southland with the seven episodes that ran the previous season on the Peacock, followed by airing of the other six episodes produced for NBC.

Based on the response received during this run, if TNT decides to put Southland back into production, the cable company will pay Warner Brothers $1.4-1.5 million an episode.

“After the first few weeks, we’ll know” whether TNT is picking up new episodes, he said. “We won’t belabor it… We enjoy a good relationship with talent. The last thing we want to do is abuse that.”

Ben McKenzie stars in Southand as a rookie cop assigned to a vet on the force played by Michael Cudlitz. Other stars in the series include Regina King, Tom Everett Scott, Michael McGrady, Kevin Alejandro, Shawn Hatosy and Arija Bareikis. TNT changes to the existing episodes will not be much, but they did confirm that they would let some expletives remain uncensored.

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