The Big Picture

• Southland offered a gritty, realistic portrayal of police officers in Los Angeles, tackling tough moral issues like The Wire.
• Much like its predecessor, Southland featured a phenomenal cast including Regina King, Michael Cudlitz, and Ben McKenzie.
• The show faced struggles on its first network but found a devoted fanbase who appreciated its raw, unvarnished storytelling.

The Wire is often held up as one of the best drama series ever created. With its gritty look at the drug scene in Baltimore, the show still earns fans through streaming, even nearly 16 years after it stopped airing on HBO. The show also consistently lands on 'best of' lists, and fans still talk about what the show and its characters meant to them. Part of the devotion comes from how the David Simon series, which aired from 2002 to 2008, accurately portrayed the messiness of law enforcement and the criminal world. Instead of the cops being the perfect protagonists, some characters were every bit as corrupt as the bad guys they were trying to catch. The show never shied away from depicting how flawed our justice system is or how the world is never as black-and-white as people think.

But there is another cop show that hasn't fully received the attention it should have (especially when compared to other police procedurals with a little more name recognition). When Southland hit the airwaves in 2009, it appeared to be The Wire's heir apparent. It featured the same emphasis on representing police officers as dysfunctional figures, who sometimes got it wrong when they were trying to mete out justice. Although the show didn't focus as much on the criminals' perspectives (as The Wire did), there was the same rough-around-the-edges spirit that its predecessor had. Until it went off the air in 2013, Southland featured innumerable car chases, fight sequences, and all the intense drama that goes along with being a police officer in a major US city. Instead of Baltimore, the series was set in Los Angeles, which provided an exciting backdrop where anything could happen (including gang violence, angry mobs, and corrupt cops).

'Southland's Ensemble Cast Is Full of Phenomenal Actors

Much like The Wire (which boasted impressive actors such as Dominic West, Wendell Pierce, and Michael K. Williams), Southland was successful as a series in large part because of its cast. Regina King starred as Lydia Adams, a tough-as-nails detective whose complicated personal life often crossed over into her professional responsibilities. King had already made a name for herself in Hollywood (and hadn't yet gone on to win her Oscar for If Beale Street Could Talk), but her portrayal of Adams will always be a career highlight because of the authenticity she brought to the part. Two other standouts were Michael Cudlitz (who would later star as Abraham Ford in The Walking Dead) as Officer John Cooper and Ben McKenzie (The O.C., Gotham) as Officer Ben Sherman. The relationship between these two characters formed the backbone of the series; the scenes between the hard-cracking training officer and his eager-to-please 'boot' crackled with intensity.

But it wasn't just the lead actors that helped earn Southland fans. The show also did a fantastic job casting the supporting actors. Shawn Hatosy, as Sammy Bryant, provided much of the conflict between officers because he was never willing to back down from a fight. And Lucy Liu (Charlie's Angels) joined the cast as a guest star for all of Season 4 as Officer Jessica Tang. But it was C. Thomas Howell (The Outsiders) who continually stole scenes as Officer Bill "Dewey" Dudek. The character was often loudmouthed and offensive, but he provided much of the necessary comic relief in the series. He also offered a convincing portrayal of alcoholism (especially how it can impact those in law enforcement), which added another layer of depth to the show.

'Southland' Features Realistic Storylines in Every Episode

Many television shows that feature cops are one-dimensional. The cops are tough with a heart of gold, and they always do the right thing. But just like The Wire, Southland also showed how protecting the public is often a complex and morally ambiguous job. The series demonstrated that police officers are often exposed to the worst people on the planet (who do some downright despicable and inexplicable acts). The series never shied away from that cold-hard truth, and even went so far as to dive into the effects of how seeing those things can impact the psyches of police officers. Because the series was shot on location in Los Angeles, the show sometimes felt like a documentary, by showing a raw look at everything from custody issues and domestic violence to drive-by shootings and drug deals. Each episode felt like a roller coaster where the characters were perpetually in danger (sometimes just from their own personal demons).

However, it was this grittiness and harsh storytelling that meant that network executives often didn't know what to do with the show. Southland originally premiered on NBC for its first season but was canceled after the first seven episodes. This was despite earning rave reviews from critics, including The New York Times, who called the show "a series that doesn't aim to please, and is all the more pleasurable for it." TNT ended up rescuing the show after the cancelation; this seemed to be the right move for the series, as it could portray much more graphic scenes of violence and use more adult language when airing on cable versus network television. But many people believed that executives still struggled to market the show effectively. It consistently flew under the radar, and after four more seasons on the network (five in total), Southland was canceled permanently.

Ben McKenzie Is 'Southland's Standout

While the cast was full of standout performers, there was one actor that really drew the entire show together. McKenzie had previously become a household name with his role as Ryan Atwood in The O.C. (from 2003 to 2007). Ryan was the tough kid from the wrong side of the tracks who found himself living in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in America. But with his role of Sherman in Southland, it was the first time that McKenzie was allowed to fully showcase his range. Sherman was connected to many of the show’s most dramatic scenes, including an officer-involved shooting on his very first day on the job.

But it was McKenzie’s scenes with Cudlitz that were the most realistic and emotionally-charged (especially when it came to discussing Cooper’s addiction in Season 3). The most authentic part of Sherman was that of his overall character arc. By Season 4, he had become much more cynical about his role as a law enforcement officer. He was often still the moral center of the series, but was no longer the optimistic kid he started out as in Season 1. A lesser actor would not have been able to illustrate this shift as well as McKenzie.

By the time the series was in its fifth season, much of the cast had been ready to move on. Several of the actors were tied to bigger projects, and their careers flourished after the series wrapped. But many fans of the show felt like it deserved several more seasons so that the audience could watch the characters evolve even more than they had in previous episodes (especially rookie Sherman). But since its cancelation, Southland has continued to find new fans who didn't know about the show when it originally aired and are just now catching it on streaming services. Just as The Wire paved the road for Southland, the series showed in its own way what cop shows can accomplish when they cast talented actors and stick to honest and unvarnished stories of the realities of being in the law enforcement field.

Southland is available to watch on Tubi in the U.S.

Watch on Tubi