'Southland' renewal looks likely

'Southland'Although you will find still three episodes to air this year, the cops on TNT's "Southland" have been in hot quest for a renewal. also it appears like they'll make it happen. Also, the cabler is within development on the nonscripted true-crime series to debut at the end of summer time or early fall. Turner brass -- including network topper Michael Wright and Steve Koonin, leader of Turner Entertainment Systems -- are formally waiting until all of the live-plus-7 information is in, but a season five for "Southland" appears confirmed in line with the current number-crushing and critical praise. Show, concerning the rank and file from the La Police Dept., comes from Warner Bros. Television. Ensemble cast includes Michael Cudlitz, Ben McKenzie, Shawn Hatosy and Regina King. Professional producers are John Wells, Jonathan Lisco and Christopher Chulack, who also directs. Rankings for that current 4th season are up from the season ago, and season three was much better than season two. With the first four episodes this season, the skein is calculating 3 million audiences when including live-plus-7 data. Both 18-49 and 25-54 demos also have elevated. On Tuesday of the week, the very first time, "Southland" edged in front of timeslot competitor "Whitened Collar" on USA in grown ups 18-49. "Southland" initially started at NBC -- filling the ten p.m. Thursday slot that were occupied for a long time by "ER" -- with seven episodes in '09 underneath the Ben Silverman era. Soon, though, after initially strong returns, the rankings started to wane and also the Peacock canceled the skein. TNT swooped in, acquired the series this year and contains been staple around the cabler since. Also employed in "Southland's" favor may be the series is really a hit with TV experts. That wasn't enough for "Males of the Certain Age," though, last year once the Ray Romano starrer got the ax. However, "Males" had far inferior rankings to "Southland" along with a split-season schedule did not help. With schedule openings for later around, TNT will goal to make a show that's similar in tone to some&E's "The Very First 48," the quantity of hrs following a crime in which a homicide analysis is most important. Contact Stuart Levine at stuart.levine@variety.com