‘Southland’ canceled by TNT after four seasons; a great cop show falls

While TNT has ordered a pair of ambitious new series this year in “Legends” (starring “Game of Thrones” headless hand of the king Sean Bean) and “The Last Ship” (starring “Grey’s Anatomy” plane crash victim Eric Dane), the network as a whole has decided to send one of their best into the TV graveyard: “Southland.”

This show, perhaps more so than anything else on the network schedule, has had a bumpy road that only seems appropriate for something so gritty and dark. It started on NBC, but was canceled due to a combination of ratings and the fact that the peacock felt a little nervous that the show would delve somewhere that would send overly-concerned parents (who probably shouldn’t be letting their kids watch such a show in the first place) into a panic. They canceled it, and then TNT became the knight in shining armor … for a while.

In a statement, here is what the network had to say:

“TNT has made the difficult decision not to renew Southland for another season. We are enormously proud of Southland, which stands as one of the best police dramas ever made. Executive producers John Wells, Chris Chulack and Jonathan Lisco, along with creator Ann Biderman and our partners at Warner Bros. Television, have given us five seasons of powerful, unforgettable storytelling, for which we are deeply grateful. We also want to thank the amazing cast for their impassioned, no-holds-barred performances, and the production team for their tenacity shooting on the streets of real-world Los Angeles. We wish everyone associated with Southland the very best.”

We have to say, we would have been more surprised (in a “you get an extra day of Christmas” sort of way) if the show had been renewed, as many of the stars have already booked pilots elsewhere. This was a long-expected move, and the best thing we can do is thank “Southland” for bringing us great television, and for it even getting a second chance to begin with.

This may be too soon, but TNT has already released some trailers for what they are adding to their schedule in lieu of this terrible subtraction.

Photo: TNT