Despite the gritty realism of its on-the-street look at the Los Angeles Police Department, Southland has always been more about the cops than the cases they work. In Season 5, which premieres Wednesday at 10/9c on TNT, the show takes its character-driven focus even further.
"This season is going to deal a lot more with all of our personal demons and putting them to bed or the inability to put them to bed," Michael Cudlitz tells TVGuide.com. "There are issues that have always been there, but now they're getting magnified. ... You're going to see a lot of what makes these people tick and what makes them explode."
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The new season finds Officer John Cooper (Cudlitz) returning to his role as a training officer only to be disgusted by his rookie's jaded view of the world. But it's the complications between John and the other man in his life — a long-term lover viewers are just now meeting — that will threaten John's hard-fought sobriety. Elsewhere, Detective Lydia Adams (Regina King) struggles with balancing her work with her new baby, and Officers Ben Sherman (Ben McKenzie) and Sammy Bryant (Shawn Hatosy) carry on a tense partnership that's been broken since Ben shot a pimp (possibly for reasons that go beyond heroic bravery). Read on for more of what you can expect for all the characters this season...
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Check one off the wish list for A.J. Cook. After seven seasons, the Criminal Minds star's dream has come true: She's getting beat up.
"My wish was granted! I was so excited when I got the script," she tells TVGuide.com. "It was like a kid in a candy store moment. I was just super giddy about it."
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Cook will show off her combat chops on Wednesday's episode (9/8c, CBS) when JJ faces off with an unsub who's been leaving dead bodies in lifeguard towers. And frankly, if you ask Cook, it's been a long time coming. After all, half the cast has been tortured and battered by the likes of C. Thomas Howell, James Van Der Beek and Luke Perry already.
"It started out as a joke. I guess there was a fan video put together with all the action and everyone getting beat up and shot, and we're like, 'JJ's done nothing but shoot a dog [in Season 2's "The Big Game"]. That was the most danger she's faced! It's her turn!'" Cook says. "It was that realization it's my ...
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Jeers to Southland for turning into LAPD Rehab.
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I have no doubt that police officers and their spouses suffer from substance-abuse issues at a high rate along with the rest of the population, but it seems like everyone's copping on Season 3 of TNT's crime drama...
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The Behavioral Analysis Unit on Criminal Minds has always prided itself on being a family, but on Wednesday, the family will lose one member: agent Jennifer "JJ" Jareau (A.J. Cook).
Cook's contract was not renewed by CBS in June, and the actress — who, with the exception of the pilot, has been a regular since the first season — will bid adieu to her BAU crew in...
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Like the skilled chess player Dr. Spencer Reid is, Matthew Gray Gubler was thinking ahead when he cut his hair last month (and he didn't do it himself this time).
"Every year, they do these cliff-hangers, so it's like, if you want to change anything, you have to ...
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