Southland

Southland turned out to be better than the ads for it made me believe. The ads seemed a little over the top, heavy handed even, but the show itself worked very well.

Michael Cudlitz's Officer Cooper has that nice combo of jaded and cynical but still obviously caring. His character seemed most likely to be over the top from the commercials, but in the context of the show came across about as close to perfect for the moment as you could ask. Looking forward to more with this character.

Benjamin McKenzie as Officer Ben Sherman also did very good. We didn't learn a whole lot about the character in the Pilot, but that makes sense in the debut as we will most certainly be learning more about him. Well acted by Mckenzie and has a nice rapport with Officer Cooper, that will by nice to watch develop.

Everything else in the show worked, and apart from a couple of moments that didn't quite jibe with the reality of the rest of the episode, makes me optimistic for the rest of the series.

Obviously a tv show will have some dramatic elements, but overall this was one of the most accurate cop shows made at that time. I have retired and I suspect the job isn't as enjoyable as it was in the 80's through early 2000's, but the creators got this show right. The themes, the attitudes, personalities and overall feeling of the job are very well done. Southland and Bosch do a great job of getting the details right when it comes to police stories.

Southland is absolutely one of the best cop dramas to ever be made! There are thousands of cop shows out there to choose from but this is among the best and most original I've ever seen. The cast is excellent and make it a very believable show. It really is one of the more underrated shows in television history!

I work in the field, and I was genuinely impressed. Based on the pilot this show looks like it could be excellent. What strikes me is the focus on the very real impact of the job on the officers. In the real world, an officer doesn't fire his or her weapon at another person and then respond in a cavalier way or crack one liners (as you might believe from watching other cop dramas). The normal reaction is actually shock, and a massive adrenaline dump. and it takes time to process and deal with it. And as for language, I agree that I would rather see this show on cable where the realistic language wouldn't have to be bleeped out. Real officers and real bad guys don't say 'shucks and darn'... But bravo for NBC for putting something like this together. Can't wait to see more!

I've been on IMDb for quite sometime now, but have yet to feel compelled to write a comment. I suppose my biggest concern is that one of my favorite shows (i.e. Freaks & Geeks, The Class, Undeclared, etc.) will again meet its' demise if not for full and utter fan support.

Right out of the gate, this show grabs you with not necessarily likable characters, but real characters. It makes no excuses for the way people act or the situations life inevitably holds for us on a daily basis. It is not over-dramatized, watered-down or needlessly careful. It's appeal is rather than being presented as a miniseries, it is shot more in the tradition of a motion picture or cable series (not unlike The Wire -- best show EVER) where measures are taken after the shoot to make it prime time friendly without being corny or sappy.

Though it's too early in the game to give this a 10, I can say that if you haven't checked this out yet, do yourself a favor -- you won't be disappointed.