Lucy Liu is a big part of "SouthLAnd" on TNT - check it out tonight at 10pm. --- Hear our conversation with SF Sketchfest co-founders Janet Varney and Cole Stratton on the Channel Zero Podcast. --- TV news + The TV Junkie Must-Watch Plan in the full post. more ›

SoCal Starbucks fiends will soon be able to get a different kind of buzz from the coffee giant. While the company already offers beer and wine at some of its stores in the Pacific Northwest, Starbucks announced today that a handful of Southland locations will serve said alcoholic beverages by the end of 2012. more ›

Michael Cudlitz of "SouthLAnd" responds to our remarks yesterday and an interview is on the way! --- TV and comedy fans need to check out Greg Fitzsimmons hour-long showcase at the Laugh Factory tonight. --- All this and the TV Junkie Must-Watch Plan. more ›

We've got interviews with almost the entire cast of FX's "Justified" in advance of tonight's season premiere at 10pm. --- Letterman's comedian booker Eddie Brill was officially fired this AM. --- Check out the interviews and tonight's TV Junkie Must-Watch Plan. more ›

Tubas throughout the Southland are sounding a sad song following the recent string of tuba thefts at local high schools. Bandits have recently struck South Gate High School, Centennial High School in Compton and Huntington Park High School, escaping with thousands of dollars in tubas. more ›

A new investigation of several Southland bridges has revealed disturbing information that makes bridges even scarier. If not already plagued with gephyrophobia - a fear of crossing bridges - you may be after learning of Caltrans' recent discoveries. more ›

Southland temps are predicted to exceed 100 degrees today thanks to a monsoonal flow invading SoCal. Heat and humidity are on their merry ways. Community Cooling Centers have opened their frigid arms today to help Southlanders combat the heat. more ›

Beginning today, a warming trend will escalate valley temps to 100 degrees and above. The next few days are expected to be the hottest of the summer and will keep people sweating through the weekend. more ›

Please review our TV Junkie Must-Watch Plan for tonight. With NBC scheduling reruns instead of new episodes for this Thursday night we're trying to absorb as much comedy as we can between now and this weekend. --- "SNL" will have Zach Galifianakis return as host on March 12. --- "Community" season finale will include Josh Holloway from "Lost." --- Reminder: "Onion Sports Dome" is now on at 8pm on Comedy Central. more ›

Tuesday night is becoming very competitive, particularly in the 10pm slot. Let's look at what is vying for our attention: "Parenthood," "Detroit 1-8-7," "Glory Daze," "Lights Out," "Tosh.0"/"Onion Sportsdome," "SouthLAnd." We're more ›

Tonight marks the premiere of "SouthLAnd" on TNT at 10pm but there's plenty of science fiction to choose from if you don't want to watch the best cop show in years: a five hour block of new "Caprica" episodes, new "No Ordinary Family" and season premiere of "V" on ABC. --- The Largo will host a comedy night this Friday with Eugene Mirman, Sarah Silverman, and others to promote Fox's new animated series "Bob's Burgers." --- New Channel Zero podcast is up. more ›

If there is a core to TNT's "SouthLAnd," it is Michael Cudlitz's character, Officer John Cooper, who embodies the show: steadfast in his devotion to his job and the force, yet conflicted, flawed, and very real, just like the streets of Los Angeles the show is shot on. Cudlitz shared details with us about his character and the upcoming season of "SouthLAnd" which premieres tomorrow night at 10pm on TNT. more ›

We were big fans of "SouthLAnd" when it first premiered on NBC and were very pleased when the show was picked up by TNT after a badly handled dumping by the Peacock. "SouthLAnd" returns on January 4th with all new episodes premiering on TNT. This is a great show focusing on patrol cops and detectives shooting on location on the very real streets of Los Angeles. The energetic and masterful season premiere picks up right where we left off with key storylines led by Regina King and Ben McKenzie as Detective Lydia Adams and Patrol Officer Ben Sherman (respectively). We had a chance to ask the pair a few questions on a conference call late last week. --- Also check out our blurb about the Golden Globe nominations for TV as well as the TV Junkie Must-Watch picks of the night and full listings. more ›

With one Los Angeles Times article, suddenly we're talking apples and oranges here in Los Angeles. Specifically, L.A. being nicknamed "The Big Orange." For years New York City has been referred to colloquially as "The Big Apple," as millions of visitors and residents have sought to take their own bite out of the major metropolis. The origins of the moniker stem from the early 20th century, and a sportswriter who peppered his horse racing stories with popular slang, and seemed to employ "The Big Apple" as a term for any major city... more ›

According to this story on The Hollywood Reporter, finally Friday nights are getting a second look by the networks. As a kid of the '70s and '80s, we remember Friday nights being a big deal only to see the night turn into reruns sometime in the '90s. We don't really see a lot of value in "Ghost Whisperer" and "Medium" and neither do viewers as the ratings for those shows have been trending lower. more ›

Before Ben McKenzie took the role of rookie Patrol Officer Ben Sherman on formerly NBC's and now TNT's "Southland", we all became familiar with him for his portrayal of the conflicted Ryan Atwood in Foxs "The O.C." Tonight the season finale of "Southland" airs at 10pm on TNT - we hope that this series, one of the best that premiered in 2009, makes it back for many more seasons. There is nothing formulaic about this contemporary portrayal of what patrol officers in Los Angeles do every day - the writing is superb and every episode brings a multitude of real LA locations to the screen with an incredible cast that makes every episode that much more real and gripping. more ›

The TV Junkie Plan: @aots (OK Go, Marvel Comics unveils), "Lost", "Southland" (unseen episodes), "The Daily Show", Letterman, Ferguson (Steven Wright!) more ›

The TV Junkie Plan: "Better Off Ted", "Dirty Jobs" (first 1/2), "Better Off Ted", "Southland" (see today's interview with series star Tom Everett Scott), Conan (Tom Brokaw), Fallon (Ringo Starr). more ›

One of the other mistakes NBC made last year (they made mistakes?) was canceling "Southland" after it received critical acclaim and solid viewership. But since Leno was going to take over the 10pm slot the show had to go after being labelled "too dark" for 9pm airing. Summarily dumped despite being produced by John Wells Productions, the guys that made at least $1 billion for NBC with such minor works as "E.R." and "The West Wing" among others. more ›

Did you make the mistake, like us, of watching the original "V: The Final Battle" on Syfy last weekend? We can't believe that series was such a big deal when we were kids but here's good news, the remake of the series that airs tonight at 8pm on ABC takes the premise and completely owns it in a very slick and well done (at least for the part of the pilot that we've seen) rendition. We'll be watching and not remotely comparing. more ›

Ten days ago we bitched about NBC's cancellation of "Southland" and we had a lot of dialogue about that. Now the industry wonders if this move will result in creatives avoiding NBC because why work for a place that would cancel the best-reviewed and highest-rated freshman series in 2008-09? Oh yeah, and it was a series created by John Wells Productions, the guys that created, among other things, "E.R.", which only won about a jillion Emmys and provided NBC with hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising dollars. more ›

From tsunami-watch to bad-acting-watch, news has it that Hawaii will be subjected to a CBS reworking of "Hawaii Five-O". Since "Fringe" co-creators Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci are writing the pilot, we will give it at least that shot, but unless they have continued involvement, we don't have a lot of hopes for the show. more ›

We also can't believe that on June 24th MTV's "Real World" will return for it's 22nd season. Has anything remarkable happened in the last 17 seasons? Oh wait, this season is essentially an episode for Cancun. more ›

One of the things we really liked about "Fringe" was the fact that the commercials were limited - a segment would end with an announcement of "Fringe will be back in 60 seconds" and sure enough, the show would be back on, we even timed it. FOX did this by charging advertisers more for each break and then limiting the breaks. The experiment is over and "Fringe" will now be as riddled with commercials as any other show. more ›

Late night TV is hopping tonight, everybody has at least one great guest, be sure to check the full listings after the jump. more ›

Did you watch Southland on NBC last night? Only four shows in and it looks like they'll be green lit for season two already. Last night's episode was extremely interesting, literally ripping topics from the headlines just months old: more ›

There's a ton of season finale's this evening but the most compelling TV is KCET's "SoCal Connected" and then just about everything on NBC from "Parks and Rec." through to 11pm - much like yesterday, late night has a lot of good options, although "Daily Show" and "Colber(t)" have been a little lackluster this week, so check out the full listings. Unless you tell us differently - please give us your suggestions. more ›

On last week's episode of Southland, the new LAPD crime drama, officers brought out their bean bag shotgun to subdue a suspect. Did NBC stretch reality in this situation? No, they didn't--this is standard protocol and something we've seen used a few times when car chases come to an end. more ›

The TV Junkie Plan: "SoCal Connected", "Parks and Recreation", "The Office", "30 Rock", "Southland", Kimmel, Fallon. more ›

An ad for NBC's Southland in last week's LA Times became the focus of controversy. Nevertheless, the show got some good play out of that and did pretty well in the ratings. more ›