My Trip To Southland

Last night, after leaving the Campaign for Working Families tax preparation site where I volunteer, I walked down the street to a gas station mini-mart, bought a soda, and went back outside to wait for my bus. As I stood there, I noticed a man at the corner. He was just standing there, as far as I could tell, although at one point a passing car stopped briefly and he talked to someone inside. A moment after that, I heard a brief "woop" from a siren, and suddenly a police wagon turns at the intersection and pulls right up onto the sidewalk. See the photo below that I managed to copy from Bing maps, with the approximate positions of the wagon, the man and myself crudely marked with text boxes. (I tried to get the street view through Google maps but it was wonky -- the images were all blurred and unrecognizable.)

Two officers -- one male, one female -- got out of the wagon and walked up to the man, asking for his identification. He handed a driver's license to the female officer and she went into the wagon (to look him up on the computer, I assume). The male cop began searching him, and then had him stand up facing the side of the wagon, arms and legs spread, hands up against the van. The other officer came out of the van and I heard her say, "It's suspended." She then began to search along the ground, and then asked me, "Did you notice if he dropped anything?" I replied, "No, but he was over that way a couple minutes ago," and pointed towards the corner, a little behind where she was looking.

A patrol car then pulled up and she went to talk to the driver. Unfortunately, the bus arrived so I don't know what happened after that. But it was interesting. As I Tweeted via text message from my phone after I got on the bus, "I think I just went to Southland without leaving Philly!" It was very much like a scene from the police drama "Southland." Not one of those big, intense scenes where there's a chase or a shootout or whatever, just a stop for routine police work...although I guess nothing is completely routine, as something very quiet can turn dangerous at the drop of a hat.

By the way, the Season 2 finale of "Southland" is tonight at 10 pm on TNT. Preceding it is a marathon of all the Season 2 episodes, starting at 5 pm.

Southland Needs A Quality Check

At the Campaign for Working Families tax site where I've been volunteering, when we do a person's income tax return one of the site managers reviews it for accuracy before it's e-filed. I bring this up because whatever procedures TV and movie productions use to check for errors, someone on the show "Southland" apparently was off the job.

"Southland" is the cop show that was canceled by NBC because those geniuses decided it couldn't be aired in the 9 pm Eastern timeslot after the 10 pm slot was given to Jay Leno. TNT picked up the show, replayed the 7 episodes of Season 1 from NBC and then began showing the 6 episodes produced but never aired due to  NBC's cancellation. There were a few things I noticed in last night's episode that really had my head rolling:

• A possible suspect in a triple homicide was identified as "Wayne Dorff." Later, however, a man being interviewed by detectives referred to him as "Dwayne" instead of "Wayne."

• Detectives Moretta and Bryant (Kevin Alejandro, Shawn Hatosy) were part of a stakeout of a local auto shop believed to be a front for a criminal gang. Moretta saw someone familiar through his binoculars. "Isn't this that kid Orlando we busted last year?" It was. They decided to pick him up on a parole violation (gang association) and try to get some information out of him. As Orlando drove off, two other cops follow but their car was cut off by a fire truck and they lost him. Later (after a switch to the triple homicide plotline and a commercial break) the cops who had been on surveillance are now in their car, driving. They happen to spot Orlando talking to some people. As they jump out of the car and Orlando immediately bolts, one of the cops asks, "Isn't this that kid Orlando we busted last year?" The exact same line. Like they didn't know they spotted him earlier and wanted to arrest him? Upon repeated viewing I think they may have dubbed in the earlier line; if they did, I can only imagine why.

• Near the end of the show the sister of officer Ben Sherman (Ben McKenzie) set him up on a blind date. He arrived at the restaurant and his sister assured him that "you are going to love Lilla." She pronounced it "lie-la." (The spelling of "Lilla" is from the closed-captioning.) Then the woman and another couple arrived, and she introduced Ben. "Ben, this is Lilla." This time she pronouced it "lill-a."

I know there are continuity errors and similar goofs in movies and TV shows, but I almost never notice them. So for me to notice all of this, it has to be pretty bad. I gave "Southland" a chance when TNT began showing NBC's reruns and have stuck with it. It's not one of my favorites but I'm still with it, for now.

But they really need to clean up their act. Sort of like Ben McKenzie has, since his days on "The O.C.":

Wishing I Still Had HBO

Do you remember the actor who played Justin's father on "Ugly Betty" before they killed off the character? His name is Kevin Alejandro, and he's currently on the show "Southland" on TNT. Now he's also joining the cast of "True Blood" on HBO for its upcoming season. He'll play a love interest for a gay character on the show.

I haven't subscribed to HBO since shortly after "The Sopranos" ended, and haven't really felt like I was missing anything. Of the series they've run since then, none has interested me -- not even "True Blood," until now. If my financial situation improves between now and whenever the new season begins, perhaps I'll pick up HBO again. Being from HBO, there's always a chance of nudity. I wouldn't complain if Mr. Alejandro turned up naked on the show. Or at my house, for that matter.