Good news for fans of TNT’s Southland: the acclaimed drama has been picked up for a fifth season. The network ordered another 10-episode season of the show, which is sure to please the loyal fan base it has built since it’s rocky start at NBC, which carried over to TNT.
EW has the good news that the series has been renewed for season 5. The 10-episode order is standard for the show, which has been doing 10 episodes each season since TNT picked up the rights to the show in 2009. The series started out at NBC, where it aired a first season and was renewed. The second season had 6 episodes filmed, had its premiere date bumped, and then was suddenly cancelled. Not long after the cancellation announcement, TNT swooped in to the rescue, buying the rights to all of the existing episodes of the show and airing them.
Since then, TNT has ordered two 10-episodes seasons and as of today has gone ahead with the order for a fifth season. The show’s loyal fan-base still likes to complain about NBC’s treatment of the series, but it seems likely that the move to cable was the best choice for the cop drama. Cable is often the best place for anything that requires a little more grittiness and boldness in the writing.
The news on the renewal comes after the fourth season wrapped up on March 20th. If it follows the usual plan, we can expect to see new episodes of Southland in January of 2013.
