Today's Entertainment

‘Southland’ hopes to make it seven in a row (or more) By Kate O’Hare © Zap2it The LAPD drama “South- land” premieres its third season Tuesday, Jan. 4, on TNT, but in its previous two seasons, it has accumulated only 13 episodes — a normal single short season for many cable shows. But “Southland” is not your usual cable show. It began life on NBC, produc- ing a pilot and six episodes as a midseason replacement starting in April 2009. It then produced six additional epi- sodes of a 13-episode order for a second season, but NBC canceled the show be- fore any ever aired. TNT then picked up the show and aired the 13 existing episodes, starting in January 2010. In April, TNT announced it had ordered a 10-episode third season. Returning are Michael Cudlitz as veteran of- ficer John Cooper; Benjamin McKenzie as rookie officer Ben Sherman; Shawn Hatosy as Detective Sammy Bryant; Regina King as Detective Lydia Adams; Tom Everett Scott as Detective Russell Clarke; Michael McGrady as Detective Daniel “Sal” Salinger; Kevin Alejandro as Detective Nate Moretta; and Arija Bareikis as Officer Chickie Brown. Jenny Gago has also joined the cast in King takes a break inside the store, between the hard- ware and building supplies departments, and says, “I’ll call (executive producer) Chris Chulack on the morn- ing of day one, episode seven, and say, ‘Can I really come into work today?’ “What’s even more hilari- ous is we’re in season three, but we’ve only shot 16 epi- sodes, including these three.” “So,” says McKenzie, Michael Cudlitz, Regina King, Benjamin McKenzie and Shawn Hatosy (from left) star in “Southland,” returning for a third season Tuesday on TNT. the recurring role of Detective Josie Ochoa. On this chilly late Novem- ber day on the far eastern end of Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles (which is decidedly not the glamor- ous stretch of the road that descends to the Pacific Ocean), the cast and crew of “Southland” are working on episode three of that season. Cooper and Sherman are on the scene of a shooting in a small Asian restaurant. McKenzie emerges from the eatery with fake blood all over his hands. Calling in a few days after the filming, he says, “I was trying to stop Stutzman MOTOR SALES , INC. 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US 33 West, Goshen • 533-1166 Monday-Friday 5 am-3 pm Sat. & Sun. 6 am-3 pm Serving Breakfast All Day Lunch • Daily Specials 5230 BECK DRIVE (at CR 17) ELKHART • 574-333-3910 8 The Goshen News • Viewer’s Choice • Saturday, January 1, 2011 - Friday, January 7, 2011 Now Open the bleeding on a young kid who had been shot by a store owner ... (who) thought the kid was trying to rob him, but the kid actually just wanted to use the bathroom. “I’m in some ways cul- pable for that, for reasons that I can’t quite divulge. But that was episode three, so that’ll air ... we start Jan. 4, so on Jan. 18, at 10:35 p.m. (ET, PT), you will probably see that scene.” Three episodes into the season, “Southland” is still in familiar territory, but once production gets past episode six, the show moves into un- charted waters. “We’ve never shot more than six in a row,” says Cudlitz, sitting in the parking lot of a home-improvement store up the street from the restaurant a bit later in the day. “We shot the pilot, and then we shot six more, and then we shot six, and we got canceled by NBC. Regina had joked, ‘I’m not going to believe it until we get to episode seven.’ We all started laughing, and she said, ‘I don’t even know if we know how to do an episode seven.’ ” “episodes seven through 10, that’s probably when we’ll break out the musical num- bers, just do a lot of dancing, in order to celebrate. It may be a little nerve-racking. It may be scary to do 10 epi- sodes. We shall see.” But continued life on TNT came at a cost. Already a lower-budget show than many network dramas be- cause it shot with hand-held digital cameras largely on location (when it is in the stu- dio, says McKenzie, it shoots next to NBC’s new LAPD show “Law & Order: Los An- geles”), “Southland” had to tighten its belts a bit more. “It’s been pretty darn smooth,” says McKenzie, “especially considering the budget had to come down. We had to shoot the show faster.” As to whether it was lucky that the show had an on-the- fly style to begin with, McK- enzie says, “That really has been our saving grace, and the kind of discipline that we instituted early on.” Tighter budgets don’t ap- pear to have dampened the cast or crew’s enthusiasm. “Obviously, everybody had to take a reduction in pay,” says King. “You feel that. You take it, and you are apprecia- tive. 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Monday-Friday 8 a.m.-5 p.m. “We’re excited to be back,” says Cudlitz. “I can’t even put into words how excited we are.” According to Cudlitz, the LAPD seems pleased as well. “As far as I know,” he says, “they love us. The cops that I talk to — and I wouldn’t expect that the cops that I talk to represent every single cop — but the officers I’ve spoken with are extremely happy. I know the chief loves our show.” Deborah Ponce, RN, MSN, NP-C Nurse Practitioner Our friendly staff is ready to help you! of us at COLLISION SERVICE from all BILL’S Weblinks ABC Family’s “Pretty Little Liars,” about four small-town divas, returns with new epi- sodes Monday. Get ready by clicking on abcfamily. go.com/shows/pretty-lit- tle-liars The alien drama “V” returns on Tuesday with its second season for ABC. Learn 13024 US 20, Middlebury 574-825-2965 more about the Visitors and the humans of the Resis- tance by clicking on abc. go.com/shows/v The LAPD drama “South- land” returns Tuesday for its third season, the first one produced for TNT (the show premiered on NBC). Learn more at www.tnt.tv/series/ southland/ Now Accepting Medicare

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