• Network: TNT
  • Series Premiere Date: Apr 9, 2009
  • Season #: 1 , 2 , 3 , 4
Metascore
77 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 12 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 12
  2. Negative: 0 out of 12
  1. Reviewed by: Verne Gay
    100
    Here's to a long and fruitful run in the new home. Tuesday night proves exactly why Southland deserves one.
  2. Reviewed by: Ken Tucker
    91
    The tremendously exciting second-season premiere - the first of six new episodes - plunges us into numerous L.A.-cop story lines, the best of which finds Regina King's Lydia dealing with a cocky new partner
  3. 90
    Southland is a show of high caliber and riveting brilliance, instantly one of the finest hours of TiVo-worthy drama anywhere on the tube.
  4. King, Cudlitz and McKenzie carry this drama, in note-perfect peformances. They make Southland a worthy part of your Tuesday night stakeout.
  5. Just reciting plots can make Southland sound like a soap opera, and in some ways that's what ensemble shows are. But this one is more than that.
  6. Reviewed by: Brian Lowry
    80
    This gritty series about L.A. cops does have a niche cable sensibility, but it's exceptionally well made, with sharply drawn characters and, happily, more intense focus on the best of them in these initial patrols.
  7. TNT's cop drama Southland is like a hot date on a Saturday night. Just waiting for another episode to begin each week is a thrill, and once the show gets going the rush is like nothing else on TV.
  8. The personal business is interesting enough, if here and there inexplicable--like life, I hear you sigh--and does help make sense of why the characters act so needy around the office. But what Southland does best is to portray police work as a job--boring, trying, exciting by turns.
  9. Reviewed by: Mike Hale
    70
    The solemnities of the writing are balanced by some excellent performances and superior production values.
  10. There's a cool, no-nonsense attitude about Southland that may make it more challenging for viewers to embrace than some other shows, but this cop drama has so many strong performances and enough nuanced writing that it remains one of the better dramas currently in prime time.
  11. 60
    Much like last season, this one already has Adams and Ben standing in for viewers. Their insights, or their reactions, mold yours.
  12. It's a bland, interchangeable bunch, with most of them having a single identifiable trait.
User Score

Universal acclaim- based on 44 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 5
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 5
  3. Negative: 1 out of 5
  1. Not everything in that show is bad. The casting is ok and actors visibly try their best. Pretty much everything else is a disaster, the writing is specially poor, with bad dialogues, poor character development and plots that make no sense. Bad also the very weird editing and the musical theme. I very much understand the decision of the network not to broadcast this second season and to drop the show altogether, because under this current form Southland was unsalvageable. Full Review »
  2. Southland is such a good show. The show is always interesting and continues to keep me tuning in for more. The characters are very interesting and they have had some wild surprises. I don't know how anyone could call Southland a horrible show when its the exact opposite. I couldn't believe it when NBC cancelled but I am hoping that TNT continues to bring us more Southland. Full Review »
  3. 10
    This is no doubt the best television series on TNT, the second season premieres episode left me speechless, the plotting of the episode, the action, this is the best episode of the series. Ann Biderman and ER's John Wells have crafted a beautiful 8th episode, followed by another great episode written by CBS's newest Friday series "Blue Bloods". I look forward to see watch the next season has to offer from it's new network and budget cuts. Full Review »