NBC delays 'Southland' return

Inside Analysis

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  "Southland" definitely has its fans and its support in the critical community, but the "We want to give it a bigger marketing push" party line from NBC feels like a bit of bunk. NBC gave the show its biggest possible marketing push last spring, along with its best possible time slot. Other shows -- "Kings" in specific -- suffered directly because NBC chose to concentrate on "Southland" and to make that show its spring prize. And that marketing and promotion yielded a big audience that dwindled and dwindled.

  "Southland" has been paired with what *ought* to be a compatible lead-in from "Law & Order," a show that has proven it doesn't require any promotion at all. The best chance for "Southland" to succeed isn't NBC's marketing might, but viewers sticking around out of "Law & Order." 

   

  Even spinning this as a dodge from the competitive Sept. 25 premiere date makes only questionable sense, since "Dollhouse" and "Medium" really aren't targeting the same audience. 

   

  It feels to me like NBC knows that if "Southland" loses to "Medium" -- a show NBC canceled despite higher ratings than "Southland" -- it makes the network look bad. With other high stakes premieres that week and in weeks before, NBC may want to delay that near-inevitable loss by a month, just to get in the way of trend stories.

   

  "Waves of Failure" -- It's my new unofficial NBC motto for the fall, at least until "The Jay Leno Show" is a shocking success. 

   

  -Daniel Fienberg