Jay Leno Kills His First Scripted Drama: Southland
We've got our first Leno casualty, and it isn't pretty: The NBC cop drama Southland, which premiered to good ratings in the ER time slot last spring, has been canceled. Yes, that's before its already-delayed second season (for which the show has already completed six episodes) has even premiered. You're going to want to read the excuse for this one, and THR has it:
While "Southland" has enjoyed strong support among NBC brass, after screening the finished episodes from the upcoming second season, the show's content was deemed too dark and gritty for broadcast TV, especially for 9 p.m.
There is a possibility for the series starring Ben McKenzie to be shopped to cable networks.
The cancellation of "Southland" ends (for now) a long relationship between NBC and Wells, who has been behind some of NBC's biggest series, including "ER" and "The West Wing," for the past 15 years.
When Jay Leno met the press to defend the scripted dramas that couldn't be produced for the 10pm hour in the wake of his Jay Leno Show, he pointed to basic cable, where the genre is thriving. Still, it's rather stunning that NBC is already beginning to snuff out the dramas it does have (watch out, Law & Order franchise) simply because they don't have enough ha-has to lead into Leno. Southland was a quality drama and an unusually intelligent one to come out of Ben Silverman's reign. It deserved better.
Developing...
Southland Canceled [THR]
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Comments
I think it might be time for a little Aaron Sorkin/Jay Leno Thunderdome to determine NBC's 10-o-clock timeslot!
Wow, that is sad. This show was promising. I was looking forward to the second season. If only NBC was smart enough to move the show to USA Network.
Riiiiiight... because Law & Order: Rape is a laugh a minute.
Why not give it the Saturday 10 p.m. slot or hold until football is over for a Sunday 10 p.m. slot?
I don't get it...what does leno have to do with southland?
The time-slot. They had it, now Jay's got it, and they're gone, because Jay's still cheaper.
the fact that they would call the show too "dark and gritty" for 9pm, but magically OK for 10pm makes my blood run cold. If I was a staffer on any level of "Southland" I would be filled with murderous rage towards the Peacock and Leno. I'm not saying I'm a fan of this show either (don't really care for procedurals in general) but this is loathsome. Truly loathsome.
It's a WB Production, I wouldn't be shocked if this ended up on TNT.
[Jay has] finished in last place every single night, with his numbers falling steadily and hitting a new low of 4.5 million viewers on Monday. Over those first two weeks, he represents a 25% dropoff from NBC’s 10pm offerings last year. - http://bit.ly/u57oO
From other sources, when Southland hit its stride, had 5-6 million a night though unfortunately couldn't hold its own against Nightline (8 mil viewers or so). This makes NBC seem pretty desperate. They're going the MTV route (cheap mass appeal shows). Hoping Southland finds a place on an appreciative cable channel somewhere.
This was a very good show. I found it well written and well paced. The actors were believable in their roles and the characters, while broadly drawn and hardly unique, were at least engaging.
I agree with the earlier comment about Law and Order:Rape. The version that is the "Rape of the Week Club" is entirely predictable, and the basic topic is offensive. Hollywood has a show about rapists being prosecuted, yet when one of their own pleads guilty, they blow it off as not being "rape-rape".
Jay Leno must have voodoo dolls of the GE management or naked pictures of somebody in a 3 way with Roman Polanski and a dead girl scout. He is not very funny, his skits are often mean spirited (Jaywalking? How about a new name, "pick on people for cheap laughs") and he has boring guests who do nothing but parrot what ever the PR guy tells them to say in response to the questions the PR guy wrote for Jay. And yet, he keeps getting work.
This is terrible news for Southland and generally bad news for any quality drama being made. I loved Southland and was eagerly awaiting its season two premiere.
I was an early supporter of Leno, back when he first started and was funny--does anyone remember his original OJ skits. But that was an awfully long time ago--back before he became so political. I haven't found him funny for at least the last 10 years-stale jokes and gimmicks. His so-called 10 pm experment, is really sad. A move to keep Leno from FOX, get a younger crowd with Conan, save money on production--is going to completely wreck NBC for years to come. I am so glad I have cable, Tivo, and DVR's. NBC live network TV is basically dead--they just haven't got the message yet. "Southland" had great potential, and I am sure it will find a home on a good Cable network. Actually, most new good TV is on Cable--"Closer", "Burn Notice", "Leverage", just ot name a few. I am also looking forward to the premire fo "White Collar". As for advertisers being afraid of Tivo/DVR is the ad is new or clever, we take the time to watch it. Also, they should figure that if we have the bucks to invest in the Tivo and DVR's/Cable--we probably have the bucks to spend on their product.
Grats NBC for trading a show I was going to BUY on iTunes with Leno who I will never pay to watch! I'm not overly-zealous about crime/cop shows but this one actually had my interest and I purchased the first season via iTunes.
There is a difference between someone doing something to you, and someone simply not giving you what you want. It' feels bad, but it's not loathsome. You have no right to other peoples resources.
I only watch Leno when someone I want to see is a guest. However, I do prefer him over all the other talk show hosts. Conan O'Brian, et al are not good interviewers in my opinion, because it's as much about them as the guest. I watched Conan interview Anne Hathaway and I learned more about Conan then I did about Ann. Jay focuses much more on the guest. Whether that guest wants to be interesting and forthcoming is a whole other issue. I have to exempt David Letterman from this criticism because I never watch him to know if he's like the rest. I can't stand to watch him. I always thought he was sleazy and the current scandal, from what I hear, is proving me right. I wish Jay continued success, if not neccessarily NBC.