Southland is a new NBC police crime drama about a police unit in Los Angeles, California. The drama premiered on April 9, 2009 and took over the time slot left open after long-running hospital series ER ends. Southland stars The O.C.'s Benjamin McKenzie and Tom Everett Scott of That Thing You Do..Official Site: Southland

• The police drama, Southland, is set in Set in Los Angeles, California, and revolves around the lives of cops, criminals, victims and their families. John Cooper (Michael Cudlitz) is a seasoned officer assigned to train the rookie Ben Sherman (Benjamin McKenzie). The squad is rounded out with Detective Lydia Adams (Regina King), the primary caregiver of her mother, and Detective Russell Clarke (Tom Everett Scott), an unhappily married man with three children.Official Site: Southland

• Michael Cudlitz as "John Cooper"
• Benjamin McKenzie as "Ben Sherman"
• Regina King as "Detective Lydia Adams"
• Tom Everett Scott as "Detective Russell Clarke"
• Michael McGrady as "Detective Daniel Salinger"
• Kevin Alejandro as "Nate Moretta"
• Shawn Hatosy as "Sammy Bryant"
• Arija Bareikis as "Chickie Brown"Official Site: Southland

On March 27, 2009, the cast and crew were filming Southland in South Central Los Angeles when they had to stop shooting due to a disturbance in the area. A local police officer told Radar Online, "This particular area is occupied by gangmembers and they are pretty mean. Usually, we are notified ahead of time so that we can offer some kind of protection to crews that are going to film here in South Central. But in this particular instance our Watch commander was not notified that they needed any assistance. Gangs are very territorial and they often don't take kindly to having their neighborhood's blocked-off, so, it pays to have the real police around when shooting in dangerous areas."Radaronline: L.A. Gang Shuts Down TV Police Drama (March 27, 2009)

""Southland" is well-sprinkled with sharp humor, much of it sardonic and dark. There is a role for alcohol. But the focus of week one is on what it means to be cops, the last row of sandbags where the water is 5 feet high and rising."Daily News: Raw L.A. Cop Show Southland Is Well-done (April 7, 2009)

"The series doesn’t seem to be banking on gore to draw viewers in. It’s evident as the episode goes on that behind the violent nature of the work these cops do is a show about the kind of people who can do this job. It’s dark and borders on gloomy but not so much that it's hard to watch. Based on the pilot, Southland has the potential to be a truly compelling series."Blend Television: Southland Review (April 2, 2009)