Set and filmed on location in the Southland region of Los Angeles, this police drama follows the investigations of a group of uniform Officers and Detectives from the LAPD. Southland, in contrast to most American cop shows, actually shows the policemen interviewing suspects, conducting investigations and gives us only occasional glimpses into their personal lives.

In the first three seasons the cast was divided between the uniformed patrol and two detective squads. The unformed unit was made up of newbie Probationary Officer Ben Sherman (Ben McKenzie); cynical, sarcastic veteran Senior Officer John Cooper (Michael Cudlitz), Ben's training mentor; alcoholic and unstable Officer "Dewey" Dudek (C. Thomas Howell); and his put-upon partner, Officer Chickie Brown (Arija Bareikis), who has aspirations of being the first woman in the LAPD's SWAT unit.

The first group of detectives we encounter are Detective Lydia Adams (Regina King) and Detective Russell Clarke (Tom Everett Scott) from the Robbery-Homicide Unit whose investigations are often grizzly and depressing; from the Gang Unit we encounter laid back Detective Nate Moretta (Kevin Alejandro), Detective Sammy Bryant (Shawn Hatosy), whose issues with his wife spill over to his job, and their boss, Detective "Sal" Salinger. Sal is a good cop and leader but his philandering ways cost him everything.

In my opinion the first three seasons are the best, and have tight, engaging stories and believable characters and situations. The fourth season (the fifth and final season will be on More4 early next year), mixes the characters up, going for two uniformed squads (Ben and Sammy at one station and John and Officer Jessica Tang - played by Lucy Liu at another) and Lydia and her new partner, who remain in Robbery-Homicide. But part of the magic seems gone. Not to say it's still not an excellent show, but personally, I feel the changes made it lose something.

The reason why this show works so well is because it focuses on policing rather than video-game like analysis and cartoony autopsies. Whenever victims and witnesses are shown they are played in a very believable way and the almost documentary-like cinematography makes you sometimes forget that this is a drama. Contrasting with the CSI franchise, with their stylized acting, camera-work and over-use of music, Southland uses much more simplistic editing, focusing on characters and showing the actors...well, acting. It also breaks the mould by having very little in the way of incidental music and almost never having a montage, whereas CSI has one at least once an act.

Something which comes across on Southland that few police procedurals (save maybe Cagney & Lacey) fail to show is that the characters work their shifts and go home. On most other programmes on the genre you get the feeling that these characters only exist when they're doing their jobs. Hell, on Southland they show their characters in bathrooms several times. Seriously, try imagining Lieutenant Horatio Caine on the toilet. You can't. Can you? That's because he's badly written and atrociously "acted." The best actor on Southland has to be Ben McKenzie, who can say more in just a look than you could in ten pages of dialogue. Michael Cudlitz is a pretty close second, sometimes making you forget he's an actor - he seems to live his part as a cynical, seen-it-all cop.

If you want a challenging (but sometimes hard to watch) cop show, then Southland is worth a try. Otherwise stick to Diagnosis: Murder or Murder, She Wrote – they’ve got more literary merit than CSI.