Monday, April 27, 2009

Site

Post comments and criticisms of this site and my performance (on punctuality I would rate myself as poor).

Chic Daniel, Technical Advisor

Video with Chic Daniel, the show's technical advisor.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

103 See the Woman

I am extremely sorry for not posting this earlier, but I had family events to attend.


Ben Sherman has his a session with the department psychiatrist, standard procedure after a fatal shooting of a gang banger. The therapist says she's surprised when Ben says he went to Harvard Westlake, a swanky private school, for a semester until his dad stopped paying tuition. Ben reveals that after his dad, a scumbag defense attorney, left Ben and his mother, one of his clients broke in and beat up his mother. Ben, only 10, witnessed the attack. When asked about the shooting, he says he's okay with it. Cooper and Sherman are then called to the house of an NBA player who wants the cops to find (off the record) his Great Dane and vehicle that two of his extramarital girlfriends took. Cooper says they aren't PI's and the two leave for another call. The next call takes them to a possible overdose. It's much worse at the scene. A man was partying with a couple of women when one passed out. She had started to choke and he tried to give her a tracheotomy, but accidentally nicked her carotid artery and she bled to death. They arrest him for murder and take him down to the station, whimpering in his silk robe. The man asks, "Why are you arresting me I tried to save her life?" Cooper responds, "With a Bic pen." While patrolling, John sees Ben looking at the computer screen and gives him a pop quiz. "I just got shot. Where are we?" When Ben doesn't know, John lectures him, noting the street signs every time he makes a turn. He stresses how important it is to know where they are at all times. Ben and John then provide backup at a movie shoot where a women pointed a gun at a swanky actor. Dewey kisses the actor, Timmy Davis, ass. Reluctantly, Dewey says he'll take Davis in. At the station, Detectives Adams and Clarke explain the tracheotomy death to the victim's sister. After Ben gets a tongue lashing from the director, his Ferrari-driving friend emerges from his trailer and spots him on set. Turns out he hired Ben's father to defend him on the drug charge. And, that he hooked up Ben's sister Olivia and they're all going out tonight. In fact, he's talking to her on the phone and hands it to Ben, who speaks briefly with his sister. When he asks if Ben wants to join them tonight, he just shakes his head. The friend sarcastically asks John if he wants to search his trailer. In the car, John teases Ben about his "other life" and grills him about his motivation for being a cop. Dewey, Chickie and Timmy stop for coffee, but in true star antics, Timmy has "forgotten" his wallet. The star-struck Dewey's all too happy to buy, and gives the star a "C-note." As Chickie watches aghast, Timmy unapologetically pockets the change. When Timmy and Dewey want to smoke cigars on the way to the station, Chickie objects. Timmy tries to flirt but his cocky romantic overtures fall flat. Before she gets into the car, she shoots a glare at her misbehaving partner as he joins Timmy in the back of their cruiser-turned-cigar club so Chickie can chauffeur them to the station. Ben and John get a 2-1-1 in progress call and see the car leaving the scene and clipping another car. They attempt a pull over, but the crooks gun the engine in their Mercedes. After the suspects hit a parked car, they flee on foot. John screeches to a halt, and Ben jumps out and gives chase through the urban obstacle course. John cuts them off in an alley with the car as Ben orders them down on the ground. He calls it in, giving the exact address down to the half, impressing his training officer with his adeptness at following directions. At a wig shop, John and Ben bring the suspects to a bloodied transgendered woman. She says it wasn't them. However, another transgendered woman saw them beating her. Gentle and accommodating, John retrieves her wig from the chandelier. He says the police can protect her from the constant harassment, but she's not so sure. Dewey arrives, smoking his stogie. John wants him kept out while he talks to the women. Across the street, Ben spots the Bentley with the Great Dane inside. He asks if he should call it in, but John says no. Chickie, who left the car to avoid Timmy's lewd stories of conquest, returns to see Dewey "accidentally" let him escape. On their way to a domestic call, John warns Ben that they're tricky. When Ben says he's got it, John asks if his dad beat his mom. Ben avoids the topic, but John, unable to accept Ben's Beverly Hills background with his choice to be a cop, pushes further. He asks why he learned to shoot. Ben turns the tables, asking John how he learned. John says his dad taught him between stints in prison. At the domestic, a couple John knows all too well is at each other's throats. Sick of responding to their calls, John issues them an impromptu divorce and kicks the guy out of the house. At Timmy's house, he and Dewey fire his illegal high-caliber automatic guns at a mountainside in Los Angeles. Chickie is at home with her son when Dewey calls, begging her for her help. He has no idea where he is, just that he's at Timmy's house. John and Ben pull over the Bentley of the NBA player, the Great Dane standing the back. The women claim to be Dante's close friend. However, they don't even know the dog's name. She refuses to help her partner, and tells him to call his wife. Dewey becomes desperate, saying he's an alcoholic and needs to make amends, now. Meanwhile, Dante calls, wanting the police to bring him his car, but still won't press charges. So, John lets the women go. He then gets a call from Chickie to help Dewey. Ben and John navigate through a hip Hollywood party. In the bedroom, they're amused to see Dewey handcuffed to a wall sculpture, sans his regulation uniform pants and underwear. Ben and John laugh as Dewey screams at them to get him out of there. Instead, they take his picture. When Dewey can't tell them where his gun is, they search the party where John and Ben retrieves Dewey's gun from a dancing woman who's wearing his utility belt. They then leave Dewey to fend for himself. Ben sees John shifting in discomfort and asks about his back. John says it's an old injury and he's tried everything to quell the pain. They respond again to the fighting couple's apartment, where their kids are outside waiting for their aunt. They arrest both of the fighting parents. Later, John asks Ben again if his dad beat his mom. Tired of his questioning, Ben tells him about the drug dealers, adding that they knocked out his teeth when he tried to defend her. He couldn't sleep after the incident, so he learned to shoot. John says his dad, who's in prison, is a bigger asshole than that. "He raped and murdered someone." Later, John meets his ex-wife who gives him pain pills that she stole from the doctor. Ben takes up his sister on the invitation and goes to dinner, where he sees his dad. Ben's dad says, "Ben, hello." Ben says nothing and leaves.


From nbc.com/southland
Adapted by A. Lowe southlandshow.blogspot.com

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Southland Crime Map

If you haven't seen it the SouthLAnd website has a neat interactive crime map featuring some of Los Angeles most famous crimes as well as some of the crimes on the show.

LA Crime Map

Friday, April 17, 2009

102 Mozambique

This episode begins with Detective Adams removing the clothes of baby. The focus then changes to officers Cooper, Sherman, and Brown inside a diner. Cooper explains the meaning and history of a “Mozambique” to Sherman. A Mozambique is two shots to the body and one to the head. Detective Clarke is then seen pulling out of his house, which happens to be across the street from Detective Salinger. While driving, Sherman spots a “2-11” or robbery in progress. Sherman then rushes into the store being robbed. Cooper and Brown enter the scene and Cooper explains to Sherman every single mistake he made while blindly rushing into the store. While driving, the patrol officers see a baby in the middle of the street. An investigation ensues by Adams and Clarke. The detectives find out that the father, Skyler, dumped the baby. After a short foot pursuit, the suspect is apprehended after a beanbag is fired at him. The rest of the episode involving this storyline focuses on Adams’ attempts to not have the baby become a ward of the state and to reunite it with its mother. Other stories in the episode center on Salinger’s daughter being stranded on the Hollywood Strip and Officer Dewey’s retirement party (he was shot in the series premiere). Jamila, witness from the first episode, returns with more information for Detective Bryant and he tries to get her into the Explorers program for young people interested in becoming cops. Hispanic gang members target her for her police involvement and stage a drive-by shooting of her home (she lives with her grandmother). While at Dewey’s retirement party, Sherman explains to Cooper what it was like growing up with a scumbag defense attorney for a father. The episode ends with Adams talking to her ex-husband (?) about her desire to have a child.

Written by: A. Lowe Copyright: A. Lowe, southlandshow.blogspot.com. All rights reserved.

Full Episode:
http://www.nbc.com/southland/video/episodes/#vid=1087506
Highlights:

2 Minute Replay:

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Upcoming Episode Preview, Keeping SouthLAnd Real, Real Police Officers on SouthLAnd.

Preview of the upcoming episode (#1.2) Mozambique.


A 2 1/2 minute video on keeping SouthLAnd real.


Real cops talk about SouthLAnd.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Southland Opening Credits

The Southland opening credits/theme.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Getting Southland on TV

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/09/arts/television/09sout.html?scp=4&sq=southland%20nbc&st=cse

A piece from the New York Times that chronicles some of what John Wells and Ann Biderman encountered when they shopped the show around.

101 Unknown Trouble

http://www.nbc.com/southland/video/episodes/#vid=1084383
Episode 1 "Unknown Trouble"

Rookie policeman Ben Sherman works his first day on the job. About one month out the academy, Sherman is paired up with veteran training officer John Cooper. As they go throughout the day, Sherman encounters instances in which he questions whether or not he can handle the job of being a police officer. As the day unfolds, a young black boy is brutally shot by Latino gangbangers. Gang detectives Sammy Bryant and Nate Moretta investigate the case but do not have much help along the way. Across town, Lydia Adams and Russell Clarke investigate the case of missing girl. While Clarke is not seen much in this episode, Adams must balance the rigors of investigation with her life outside the job which focuses on taking care of her mother. As the day unfolds, Sherman and Cooper run into the car of the Latino gang members. Knowing they have no time to waste, they proceed to make an arrest with the assistance of officer Chickie Brown and her partner, a large number of people are spotted. The officers move quickly to round up the lawbreakers and as Brown's partner escorts a suspect to a car without a pat-down, the suspect shoots Brown's partner. Officer Sherman responds swiftly with four blasts straight to the assailants chest. Across town, Detective Adams solves the disappearance (murder) of the young girl. The episode ends with Sherman at the hospital visiting his wounded colleague and conversing with the sister of the boy who had been shot. The viewer also sees Cooper finishing off his night at a bar--a gay bar. The final scene features the audio of what Cooper wrote in Sherman's log book. Sherman only had a day on the job, and still had to have his log book signed by his training officer. "...Officer Ben Sherman performed his duties to the highest standard. He is and will continue to be a superior police officer."

Written by: A. Lowe Copyright A. Lowe, southlandshow.blogspot.com. All rights reserved.

Monday, April 6, 2009

Southland Links


Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZLSj-z6izI

http://www.nbc.com/southland
Show website

http://www.nbc.com/southland/video/episodes/?vid=1079261
Pilot episode (note: only available until 4-10-2009

http://www.nbc.com/southland/bios/
Cast bios

http://www.nbc.com/southland/games/quiz/
Quiz on some cop codes

SouthLAnd Show

This is a blog I have started for fans of NBC's upcoming series Southland. Created in part by John Wells, Ann Biderman, and Chris Chulack, the series strives to show the lives of cops with and without the badge on. Set in Los Angeles, viewers are taken into a drama that strives to take an authentic look at the LAPD.

Written By: A. Lowe
Sources: http://www.nbc.com/southland/about/