I’ve said enough times just how much I love SOUTHLAND and I’ve gotten to see tonight’s all new “premiere” episode and I’m smitten all over again.  Since I want you to be, too, check out 5 reasons to tune in tonight (and for the rest of the season)!

It may be a cliché at this point to keep saying it, but there is no other cop drama on TV like this one.  The crimes don’t need to be solved every hour to make the show feel complete.  Sure, more often than not, the team of cops, detectives, etc, prevail, but there’s not always a happy ending like most shows seem to need.  It’s got a shaky camera that gets you right in on the action, and you feel at times like you’re privy to what other people might not be.

These characters are deeply flawed.  Regina King’s Lydia can’t adjust to a new partner.  Michael Cudlitz’s John is a pill popping cop who’s letting it get the best of him.  Ben McKenzie’s Ben Sherman is the new guy on the job, trying desperately to get out from the shadow of his wealthy family and prove he’s more than that.  I could keep going on and on, but you get the point.  There’s something flawed in each of them, but they are still people you root for one by one!

Yes the show is dark. Yes the show doesn’t take the easy way out.  Yes the show leaves you contemplating how you feel about various crimes, what you would do in various situations, and the result isn’t always a comfortable feeling.  But that’s what’s important about this series.  It’s not going to spell it all out for you, tell you how you should feel.  As Michael Cudlitz points out, there is no soundtrack in this show.  You need to decide what you feel, how you think, what you’re going to do about a certain situation.  It illicits a visceral response that not all shows can successfully do.

It’s one of my favorite shows on TV.  Should that really be a reason?  Maybe not, but when you compare it with the fact that I rank SONS OF ANARCHY, FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, and LOST among my favorites, it suddenly takes on a whole new meaning.  I look forward to every episode of this show, and hate the wait between episodes!  I think the cast is one of the best on TV – Regina King is a genius, and the rest of her cops and detectives just blow me away on a weekly basis.  It is not the show for everyone, just like SOA and FNL and LOST, but when you love something, you love something with your whole heart, and you want everyone else to!

It needs your ratings.  We need to, as a collective SOUTHLAND team, get the show some solid ratings to prove NBC wrong and prove TNT right, and hopefully get us some new episodes beyond the next 6.  Because from the sounds of it, we’re not going to be happy with just 6 this season, and we’ll be knocking down doors to get the next batch.

Do us all a favor – check out the official “season 2” premiere of SOUTHLAND tonight on TNT at 10/9c.