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Worst TV Show of the Week Brought to you by the Parents Television Council WARNING: Graphic Content!!! Do NOT push play if you don't want to see the explicit video!!!

Southland on NBC

At first it was assumed that NBC’s gritty crime drama Southland would ride out the season in the plum Thursday 10:00 p.m. ET timeslot left vacant by ER’s departure until Jay Leno new show debuts there in September.  Instead, Southland has been relegated to the dreaded Friday night schedule, which normally signals the death knell for a show.  What’s most significant about the move, though, isn’t the day, but the time.  NBC currently broadcasts the show at 8:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. C/M – a slot far too early for a show that regularly features bleeped expletives, raw dialogue, and cinéma vérité style violence.   For being wholly inappropriate in its timeslot, Southland has been named Worst TV Show of the Week.   

The August 14^th episode showcased a day in the life of three officers of the LAPD – rookie Ben Sherman, veteran John Cooper, and the venal, alcoholic cop Billy Dewey.  The episode opens toward the end of Cooper and Sherman’s shift as they enter a wild party in the Hollywood Hills.  They find Dewey handcuffed to a bed without any pants on.  The action flashes back to the beginning of the shift on Cooper and Sherman’s first call.  They enter the posh Bel-Air mansion of a professional athlete named Dante.  Apparently, his girlfriend stole his Bentley and his wife’s dog.  Dante explains that his wife is out of town, “I don't give a [bleeped “f***”] about the car, insurance will cover it, but you gotta get me the dog back.”

Cooper asks, “Sir do you, or do you not want to file a police report?”

“I'm married, mother [bleeped “f*****”],” Dante exclaims, “I can't be filing no report.”

Cooper and Sherman leave after they tell Dante that they are not private detectives. 

For their next call, Cooper and Sherman respond to a call on Mulholland Drive and find a naked woman dead in her bed.  Her throat is soaked in blood. Apparently, the man she was with attempted to perform a tracheotomy on her when she began overdosing on the drugs they were taking. 

After the man is arrested for murder, Cooper and Sherman assist a call on a movie set where a deranged woman threatens to shoot actor Timmy Davis.  Dewey is there to assist as well, but finds himself immediately star-struck.  He is more than willing to appease Timmy, who is too busy filming a movie to speak with the detectives downtown about the incident.  In gratitude, Timmy invites Dewey to party with him after his shift ends.  Meanwhile, Cooper and Sherman grind through the rest of their shift.  They respond to a domestic violence complaint at a familiar address.

 The Husband screams at his wife, “I don't give a [bleeped “f***”]. 

The Wife tells Cooper, “This ass [bleeped “h***”] has been hitting me again!  I've been screaming all [bleeped] day! 

Cooper is fed up and says, “You know what?  [bleeped].  I'm sick of this.  I'm not coming back here anymore.  Put your hands on my badge.”

“What for?” the Wife asks.

“I'm giving you a divorce,” Cooper proclaims.

Dewey’s wild night continues.  He parties with Timmy in a hot tub full of bikini-clad women.  “True story.  I’m on this domestic call, right?” Dewey tells the ladies, “Husband and wife.  This chick’s been beat down, man, two black eyes.  She’s crying.  I’m feeling bad.  What the hell do you say to a woman who’s got two black eyes?” 

“What?” the woman next to him asks.

“Nothing.  He done told that bitch twice.”  The joke falls flat. 

Increasingly unhinged, Dewey calls his girlfriend: “I'm [bleeped “f*****”] up right now, okay? I need you.”  She refuses to bail him out of trouble yet again, and Dewey is forced to call Cooper for help.  When they arrive, Cooper takes a photo of Dewey in his pathetic state.  He tells Sherman, “We document the colossal [bleeped “f***”] ups, the indescribably grotesque, the profane, the ridiculous, the sacred.”

The shift ends, only for the next one to begin.

It is clear that Southland attempts to emulate the grim reality of law enforcement.  Unfortunately, NBC has forsaken responsible broadcasting while it shuffles its line-up.  By forfeiting the 10 p.m. timeslot, NBC is forced to dump its adult dramas like Southland on younger viewers at earlier timeslots.  There’s a time and a place for gritty crime dramas -- but 7:00 p.m. is not that time.

 For excessively foul language and violent depictions, Southland has been named Worst TV Show of the Week.