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Worst TV Show of the Week Brought to you by the Parents Television Council	Share |
WARNING: Graphic Content!!! Do NOT push play if you don't want to see the explicit video!!!

Southland on NBC

With the departure of the The Shield and The Wire, networks are clamoring to produce the next critically acclaimed cop-drama. The latest contender, Southland (Thursdays, 10:00 p.m. ET), premiered April 9^th on NBC. According to the show’s website, it promises to be a “raw and authentic look at a police unit in Los Angeles.”  Where the show is set, however, matters less than what network is broadcasting it.  NBC apparently wants to ignore the fact that The Shield and The Wire were on basic and premium cable networks, respectively.  In an attempt to match the grittiness of the aforementioned shows, Southland contains an inordinate about of foul language and graphic violence for broadcast television, earning it the title of Worst TV Show of the Week.   

Rookie patrol officer Ben Sherman, rides with hardened veteran officer John Cooper at the beginning of the episode.  Cooper shares some war stories: “I get this mayhem one time.  There’s a guy with a little tent over his genitals.  Doc keeps signaling me to check under there.  The guy had scooped out his nuts with a spoon.  He said they’d gotten him into trouble his whole life.  So I took a Polaroid, right?  Put the picture in my pocket.”  The two continue to cruise the various neighborhoods and encounter the colorful citizens.  “Great.  Barry the basehead,” Cooper points out, “He’s spun.  Meth gives him that disheveled look.  Hey, [bleeped ‘s***’]-bird.  How you doing?”  Later, in the wake of a drive-by shooting, a witness offers his remedy for street violence: “Hey, you guys want to know how to stop all this gang-banging?  Give them all free marijuana.  Otherwise, we going to see this [bleeped ‘s***’] over and over and over again.”  The episode also splits time with detectives in the gang unit.  Detective Sammy Bryant argues with his soon-to-be ex-wife, complaining, “We don't have that much in common anymore.” She responds, “Oh, so who do you have stuff in common with, all those badge bunnies lining up to [bleeped ‘f***’] you?” 

Apparently, bleeped expletives count as the show’s primary innovation.  Anyone who’s ever watched Gordon Ramsay knows that profanity is nothing new to the reality show genre.  Occasionally, bleeped expletives also occur in sitcoms.  Drama, however, rarely uses this device.  Yet, it appears to be a regular feature of Southland.

Graphic violence also promises to be a fixture of the show.  Two scenes in the pilot stand out as particularly violent.  In the first, a teenager walks down the street when Latino gangsters in a souped-up Impala accost him.  The driver asks the teen, “Hey, cuz, where you from?”  When the teen insists that he doesn’t “bang” [participate in gangs], the gangsters open fire and hit him with a volley of shots.  Later, Cooper and Sherman respond to a call of a foul odor emanating from a home.  They arrive at the scene and discover the corpse of a man eaten by his own dogs.  A close-up shot of the man’s hand shows his finger partially eaten.  The man’s face and body also appeared gnawed.  Animal control arrives to put down the dogs, explaining, “She's tasted human flesh.  Once they've tasted human flesh you can never be sure.”

Certainly, this show seeks to draw the same mature audiences that watched The Shield and The Wire.  Its TV-14 rating, however, does not the truly reflect the demographic this show blatantly targets.  The content in this show is even more alarming when one considers the fact that NBC will soon eliminate its entire block of 10 p.m. programming to make room for Jay Leno.  Thus, Southland – a show more suited for cable – will air as early as 8 p.m. in the Central/Mountain time zone.

For excessively foul language and graphic violence, the premiere of Southland has been named Worst TV Show of the Week.