Southland / White Collar

Tuesdays are a tango of time management. Thank goodness the two shows I slavishly follow are on cable channels so they get played multiple times in the span of one night.

This week's White Collar was a vast improvement over last week's snorefest. I adore Mozzie, but even his quips couldn't save last week's dredge. It's getting close to the end of the season, only two more episodes left, or one, but it doesn't seem like we're getting any closer to finding out what Kate's deal is with Fowler, or if Neal is ever going to get that music box. Personally, I think he should just listen to Peter, Mozzie, and everyone else and just give up on Kate. I always do a double take because she looks too much like Peter's wife, Elizabeth. Anyway, Neal went toe to toe with an old rival in some race against the clock to save the kidnapped daughter of one of the tycoons he victimized in his old con artist days. I wonder if the "scary" handler will make a reappearance, he didn't seem all that intimidating when Mozzie and Neal conned him out of suitcase he was supposed to deliver.

Neal's aversion to guns is adorable, and I love the secret "codes" he and Mozzie have, especially when they explain them to Peter. Oh! It was great to see Diane Neal as a guest star, it's fun to see female characters interact with Neal and be completely unaffected by his charm. I hope her character returns.

Southland is one of those shows I wish I had gotten sucked into the first time it was aired on TV, even though it had a short run on NBC. It's such a fast paced, smartly written show, that handles its ensemble of characters so well that I don't mind it when one story jumps to the next. Plus, it's based in my hometown, and I get such a kick out of playing "spot the location." NBC really tripped themselves up by failing to keep this show (in favor of Jay Leno at Primetime?! Whiskey Tango Foxtrot) but at least TNT stepped in to save it and give it a new home.

After replaying the truncated first season, TNT debuted season two of Southland and it was UH MAY ZING. AMAZING. Where do I even start to express my love for this show? I love that there are strong female characters, like Detective Lydia Adams, who is excellent at her job, loyal to her partner, and doesn't take guff from anyone. She had so many great moments in the first season, from chewing out a superior in her boss's office over homicide priorities to sticking up for a single mother, and finally in the season finale, sniping gang members who had invaded her home while she was harboring a witness in a gang related case. She's just made of so much win.

I love all of the characters, really, from the detectives to the cops, and I love that their flaws as well as their better points are presented. Southland gives us the mundane calls, and general idiocy that cops have to deal with which offsets the darker, grim cases that usually deal with homicide. I am so excited for this season, I hope it gets a greater audience now that it's on TNT and seems to be getting the attention it so rightly deserves.