Don’t let that distract us from celebrating the birthday from an incredibly beautiful, talented and wonderful actress we have grown to love to hate from Southland: Ms. Emily Bergl!!

Even her toughest critics must admit, Emily has nailed it in her role on Southland as the oft-despised Tami Bryant, wife of Detective Sammy Bryant. Face it, for a woman as incredibly talented as Emily is, it takes amazing acting chops to come across on screen as clueless, naive and despicable as Tammi does – making her one of Southland’s characters that we all love to hate. That character is one that is undeniably indispensable, however, because it is her actions that lead to some of the best character development and actions on the part of Sammy throughout the first three seasons of the show.

Emily’s skills are not just limited to Southland, though. Many may recognize her from her first major role as the fiesty Rachel Lang opposite Jason London in The Rage: Carrie 2, more recently as Beth Young on the ever popular Desperate Houswives, or from her stint as Annie O’Donnell on the series Men In Trees, as well as numerous other roles in her television & big screen career spanning spanning more than a decade. She has also done a number of productions on the stage.

If you have been truly lucky, however, you have been privileged to see Emily perform in person in her cabaret show Kidding On the Square. In this show, Emily truly comes alive showcasing her true talent as a gifted singer featuring songs from the 920′s through current day (Madonna anyone?), with a style and flair that’s all her own. I personally have been privileged to see her perform twice in the LA area and will happily return to see here again whenever possible, even for the same show.

So please join us in wishing Emily a warn and heartfelt Happy (Belated!) Birthday here, even if you already did so on Twitter or Facebook! Love or Hate Tammi Bryant, Emily Bergl is someone worthy of your love and respect for her incredible talent. Let’s show here now!

Happy Birthday, Emily!

Photo credit: TNT/Doug Hyun

Happy Birthday Kevin!

Your character Nate may be dead on Southland, but you will forever live on in our hearts and minds as one of our favorites for all time. From every dramatic moment on screen, the amazing relationship with Sammy, the complicated ones with your daughter to the incredibly tender (and steamy!) scenes with your wife. With every scene you  brought a depth to the character of Nate Moretta that made us all love him, and you, so much that it is no wonder that your character’s death was one of, if not the, most talked about events of Season 3. You will be missed!

Most of all, we are eternally grateful to you for taking so much time from your extremely busy schedule to chat with us the Thursday after your big episode, answering questions for so many people. Your (and Shawn’s, Micahel Cudlitz’s, Michael McGrady’s & C. Thomas Howell’s) willingness to come chat with the fans one-on-one is just another indication of how different, and special, Southland and its cast really is. The show itself is great, but you actors make it truly special.

While we may not get to see you on Southland again, you have definitely earned fans for life. We all look forward to seeing your return to True Blood as Jesus this summer and seeing The Legend of Hell’s Gate when it is released.

Feliz Cumpleaños, Ese!

Michael McGrady as Detective Salinger

Happy Birthday to our favorite Detective Boss, Michael McGrady aka Detective Danial “Sal” Salinger!

Many fans were disappointed to see so little of Sal this past season, but we savored every moment we did see you Michael! You gave us several memorable performances, including your very moving speech to the detectives in Punching Water. We look forward to seeing much more of you in Season 4!

Fans, please join us in wish Michael a joyous Happy Birthday by leaving your birthday wishes in the comments below!

But 3D Southland? No 3D TV? Here’s How!

Okay – well, that title may have sounded like some kind of cheesy marketing scheme, but it’s not. No, really, it’s not. (Insert smiley face smiley here with your imagination)

I used to use 3D glasses on my computer long before the technology came out, and with Windows Vista, and DVI inputs on monitors, I thought the technology went way of the Dodo, for there seemed to be no way to get it working in Windows Vista again. That is until my companies that I deal with for 3D Viewing pleasure got around to updating it for us all to marvel at the 3D Universe again. Not only with games, with movies as well. You know what? That means that with 2D-3D conversion on the fly while watching, you can enjoy all your favorite SouthLAnd episodes in 3D too.

Let me explain the technology first though, so that those you who think that items will be popping off your monitor, and so forth – it doesn’t work that way. Basically what it does, is it gives a feeling of DEPTH to your screen, you feel as though you can actually see around objects, and feel as though you can reach into your computer screen and swipe that pencil off of Sal’s desk, or push some papers over on Sammy.

Are you ready to dive into the world of 3D on your computer? Okay – here we go, I’ll explain how I did it for those of you who might own the same technology, but you don’t necessarily need everything that I have in order for it to absolutely work. The newer packages are a come as they are technology.

I’m sure that some of you must own the E-Dimensional 3D glasses that work with nVidia graphic cards. I’m not sure of the compatibility on ATI so I won’t even go there on this article. Here’s what I had to do to get it going…

Go to http://www.edimensional.com/product_info.php?cPath=21&products_id=28 these are the glasses and package you will need to get started on your “basic” 3D experience.
After that, you can upgrade your package with Tri-Def’s software at E-Dimensional by going here: http://www.edimensional.com/product_info.php?cPath=21&products_id=167 This software makes the glasses work with virtually any video card. I don’t have any others but nVidia, so no comments on that operation from me.

Okay, once you get your software going, you’ll notice that there are double images on the screen when you start playing your movie. Once you’re glasses are active, you’ll notice more of the 3D look to them. You want to make sure that you fine tune your viewing experience. The way you want to do that is by adjusting the 3D Depth and % In Front option. That will help get you the perfect adjustment for your eyes when you start out with the software. It takes about a week for the average person to get used to 3D, and once you do, you can start tweaking and adjusting them more. Want a little tip? Try watching it in a darkened room – then you’ll really get the right affect with 3D glasses.

This software is really incredible, for it gives those of us who do not own a 3D TV the possibility to convert movies on the fly with the glasses provided by E-Dimensional. Sure, it may be a kind of pesky to set up the Dongle that plugs into your graphic card, but in the end, the experience is DEFINITELY worth every penny that you spend on it. Not only does it do it for movies, but you can enjoy all your PC Games in 3D as well too. I highly recommend the 3D Glasses by E-Dimensional and the TriDef software package to everyone who wants a rich, 3D environment every time they wish to enjoy the daily adventures of John Cooper, Ben Sherman and the rest of the gang on SouthLAnd. It will truly transform the way you look at an all ready wonderful program.

While John won by random draw from among all the (disappointingly few) entries, I would like to commend him on his excellent review & commentary that he posted as well. It was both well thought out and insightful, a true delight to read.

Yes – first episode was fantastic….

Someone said online that the show was slow on the Facebook page. Slow? What show were they watching – there was no way this episode was “slow”. Not every day of a cop’s life is action, and shoot em ups, if it is, there’s something wrong with how they handle the job.

Dewey, I can see – maybe he’d be the exception.

However, the way that everything played out was placed well together in the script writing. I also have to say that the cast worked well together on the show as it always had, and was thrilled to see that each original cast member returned for the most part in the first episode – was also thrilled to see others, such as “Sal” returned for the second.

The moments between Cooper and Ben, especially in the transaction dispute was fantastic. The way Ben says “I’ll be in the car….” as if to say, “Here we go again….” was priceless.

As far as Lydia’s new partner is concerned, she’s not the brightest bulb in the world, with me being a computer guy, and she asks, “How much does memory cost? I went to best buy and bought a memory stick and it has 2 million gigabytes of memory in it….can’t be all that expensive…” Well, different memory for different things, and if a memory stick had that much, she’d need a wheel barrel to carry it around in, LOL….:-).

Who ever said this episode was slow was watching the wrong one – I didn’t turn away from the TV once while it was on, nor did I find myself wanting to change the channel. If you liked Southland before, you’ll LOVE it now – new stories to unfold, and yes, maybe some past ones returning as well…..especially with Tammi and Sammy.

Great job again on Southland Season 3 – I agree with the original reviewer. It was fantastic!

Once again, congrats to John for his win! For everyone else that participated, thank you for your entries and comments. We appreciate your involvement.

Stay tuned for our next contest and more opportunities to win those coveted jackets – coming soon!

CONTEST IS NOW OVER! Winner of 1 Southland Jacket will be announced soon! – SouthlandTvFans.com Staff

Sorry everyone for the delay but here is the review. The contest runs from now until Midnight Pacific time Monday January 24. For complete contest rules please see our earlier posting.

Review & Recap: Let It Snow

By Davina Gantz aka gingercara

Where to begin. Last time we saw a new episode was April. I have watched all the episodes so many times I have them memorized. I, as have so many others, have been anxiously awaiting the new season.

There has been much speculation as to what the new season was going to bring with the show switching networks. Many media sources were able to view the 1st episode of the new season and have written reviews. I have heard nothing but fantastic things about this episode. The promos have given us all a glimpse into what the new season holds. Having  just seen the new episode I had to immediately put my thoughts to paper. So here goes.

Photo Credit: TNT/Doug Hyun

You know the expression “Don’t believe the hype”? Put that out of your mind. NOW. This episode had me on the edge of my seat from beginning to end. I don’t think I breathed the entire time it was on. I don’t even think I blinked.

The first scene introduces us to Lydia’s new partner Josie Ochoa. It’s obvious to me that Lydia does not care for her or her attitude. Josie is older, has been on the force longer and does things very differently than what Lydia is used to. This is made obvious by the car chase. It is against policy in Lydia’s mind I believe. This is not how Lydia would have handled the situation. She is used to being in the drivers seat, not riding along at the whim of someone else who won’t listen to her.

Next scene we see Cooper walking slowly and painfully to the bathroom where he puts on his back brace and takes the last of his pain pills. He is obviously in a lot of pain. But like anyone dedicated to their job he puts on his uniform and goes to work.

Cooper and Sherman are called in to handle a potential missing person’s report. Lydia and Josie are brought in when it is determined the woman is indeed missing after a search of her locker reveals her purse was still there and it is discovered she never punched out from her shift. Lydia and Josie, with the assistance of a police dog, discover the woman’s badly beaten and raped body.

Sammy and Nate are called to a double homicide involving gang members. After some investigating they discover who the killer is and make the arrest. Sammy and Nate still have the great chemistry they had in the previous two seasons, love seeing them work together.

Cooper and Sherman pull over a woman changing lanes without signaling. The driver of the car comes onto Ben who lets her off with a warning and some flirting. Cooper’s only reaction was “did you get her number”.

Classic Cooper moment when the two officers are called to a toy store to deal with a distraught woman that can’t get a refund on a doll she purchased. Cooper handles the situation with his usual straight forward tell it how it is attitude.

Cooper and Sherman called in to assist with a bank robbery in progress. Very tense scene with much gun fire and an injured officer (Shots fired, officer down!). If you thought the riot scene from “Phase Three” was intense, this scene gives intense all new meaning. Cooper orders the other responding officers including Chickie to take off their vests to put over the window of the car so they can rescue the downed officer. They drive through the gunfire to get to the officer. Cooper pulls him into the car while Sherman chases down one of the robbers who ends up shooting himself in the head right in front of Sherman. Very intense scene, very well done.

My take on the new detective is she is a bit brash, seems uncaring but very caring at the same time. Maybe a bit prissy. She definitely gets under Lydia’s skin with her attitude. I think she will become more like-able once we see more of her. They do catch the killer and make an arrest after a not by the books car chase.

Lydia very obviously misses Russell and he misses her and his old job. He is not thrilled to be riding a desk.

Photo Credit: TNT/Doug Hyun

Very interesting moment after the bank robbery. Cooper asks Ben for assistance in standing up and walking across the street. Cooper is in quite a bit of pain, this is the first time he shows his pain to Sherman instead of brushing it off like it’s nothing. Cooper then goes to the hospital where his ex-wife Laurie works. He is very kind and caring to her but it is only to get pain pills from her. She tells him no, tells him he needs help. He gets a little angry, pulling away from her. She is on the verge of tears, you can see how upset she is about his addiction. There is definitely still a bond between them despite the divorce.

Sammy and Tammy. Last we saw them they were fighting because she was smoking pot and got her expensive camera and laptop stolen. Sammy feels bad about the fight and buys her a new camera. He comes home to her smoking, she says she is quitting and she is pregnant. What is in store for them other than a baby on the way? Sammy seems to be happy about it, Tammy, not so much. And then it starts snowing.

The episode is very well written, very well acted, it was great seeing SouthLAnd on my TV, shown the way it was meant to be shown. It is now a show for adults. TNT has allowed everyone involved with the show to make it the way it was supposed to be seen. If this episode is any hint as to what the rest are going to be like, fasten your seat belts, put on your helmet, we are in for one hell of a ride!

The good news – we are still going to have a contest and 2 lucky winners are still going to get the prizes! Rather than post it late and leave things rushed, thereby possibly excluding some people from participating in the contest, I’ve decided to change the format of the very first contest.

The not so great news (depending on your point of view) – it’s not going to be a creative contest like the original plan (Name That Caption!). We’ll save that one for another week (Episode 2 week maybe, with a screen cap from Let It Snow?).

Instead, we are going to post our full original review of the first episode, Let It Snow, on the site Tuesday night after the West Coast airing of the show.

Everyone is encourage to post comments/feedback to the review with their own reactions using the comment feature of this website. Remember – while you must create an account here to comment, you can quick register using any of the 12 Social Media services including Twitter, Facebook, Google, Yahoo, MySpace or others, so registering is quick and simple! Once you register, commenting and participating is simple and easy, plus your privacy is completely protected.

There are very few rules to this first contest. Here is a summary, with full rules and legalities to be posted with the contest when it launches.

1. Contest runs from the time the review is posted, Tuesday, 1/4/2011 until 7pm on Tuesday, 1/11/2011. Winners will be announced via posting on this website and through email notification on Wednesday, 1/12/2011.
2. You have to make a real comment/give real feedback! Simply posting “Cool review” or “Loved it” won’t work. Take a few minutes at least to give some real feedback of at least 20 words.
3. Only one entry per person, although you may comment on the review as many times as you like.
4. Contest open to residents of the USA and Canada only. Not open to professional/published reviewers or press members involved in the business of reviewing television shows or movies. Final determination of eligibility is at the discretion of the Webmaster and the contest sponsor.
5. If there are less than 10 responses to the review, one (1) prize will be awarded. Otherwise two (2) prizes will be awarded. Prize winners will be selected by random draw from among the eligible participants.
6. Shipping will be provided by SouthlandTvFans.com/InterFuzed using the method we determine to be most appropriate.
7. Void where prohibited by law.

Now, to answer the question many of you are probably wondering…. What do you win?

Why, nothing other than these fantastic SouthLAnd branded Nike Dri-Fit Golf Jackets!

So stay tuned to the website, follow us on Twitter and/or Like us on Facebook to make sure you stay updated on the latest news! This will be only the first of many contests to come throughout Season 3, and this is but one of the prizes we will be giving away! The best is yet to come for 2011!

Photo Credit: TNT/Greg Williams

As you should already know by now, the much anticipated Season 3 of SouthLAnd premieres next Tuesday, January 4, 2011 on TNT at 10/9 central. This is the first season of SouthLAnd written and produced entire for and by TNT and already the critics are raving over it.

I was privileged to see an advanced copy of the first episode of the season and I have just one word to describe it: Wow! Just… Wow. There is no doubt about it, fans – SouthLAnd is BACK, with a vengeance! Forget what you knew about the show before. Season 3 takes things to a whole new level, starting off with a bang and never looking back.

I don’t believe in spoilers, so I won’t be giving any out here (sorry folks!). Let me just say that having read the first couple of pages of the script on Facebook, I was still on the edge of my seat with my heart in my throat in the first 60 seconds. Throughout the episode I cried, I laughed, I was shocked, I was angry, I was surprised, but mostly I was entranced. It was, above all else, SouthLAnd.

You will be happy to know that all of your favorite cast members from the past are returning to SouthLAnd this season. While some of the recurring characters (like Michael McGrady’s Detective Salinger, Tom Everett Scott’s Russell Clarke or Emily Bergl’s Tammi Bryant) may not make it into every episode, they will be there and have a part to play. All of the key players, though, like John & Ben, Lydia & her new partner Josie (who you will love) and Nate & Sammy appear to be featured regularly as we’ve come to expect.

So sit back, tighten your seat belts and get ready for the ride of your lives SouthLAnd fans! SouthLAnd is back, with a TNT Twist! The long wait since Spring has definitely been worth it and if “Let It Snow” is any indication, the next 9 episodes will most definitely be ensuring us, at the very least, a Season 4.

Now, for the very dedicated SouthLAnd Fans – we are going to be running a series of Contests and Giveaways here on SouthlandTvFans.com to celebrate the return of the show, with prizes provided by TNT and our site sponsor, InterFuzed.

This past Tuesday, during our last pre-premiere Live Chat (also our biggest chat yet!), we gave away the first of our prizes two 2 random winners**. Chatters @aec702 and @hopsko were the lucky winners of special Nike® Dri-Fit® black Golf Jackets with the Southland & TNT logos embroidered on the back, courtesy of SouthlandTvFans.com and TNT*!  There are more of those to give away, too, as we will be conducting our first website contest starting later today through the night of the premiere, where we will be giving away 2 more of the jackets as prizes! We will be having website contests each week of different types where we will be giving away 2 jackets each week, throughout the entire season.

Also, as a very special treat to celebrate Premiere Week, during our next Live Chat (next Thursday on its new day, so as not to interfere with the show’s air date), we will be giving away 2 season downloads of SouthLAnd on iTunes to two lucky random winners in the chat, some time between 6 and 9pm EDT! You have to be in chat to win, though, so make sure you come chat with us. Our chat rooms are available for just about every possible user on just about every browser, operating system or mobile phone out there, so you have NO EXCUSE for not joining us!!

So that is it! If you didn’t already have enough reason to watch SouthLAnd Season 3 for the show itself, now you have even more reason – Win Really Cool Stuff at SouthlandTvFans.com! Some of our contests will require that you have seen the latest episode, so be on your toes and pay close attention – you never know when the contest will require you to answer a trivia question about the most recent episode!

* Contest prizes provided by TNT Promotions/Public Relations to be used at the discretion of SouthlandTvFans.com for promotional purposes. TNT is not involved in, or responsible for, any contests or giveaways conducted on this site in any way.

** Contest and Giveaways are open to residents of the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico & the US Virgin Islands only. Shipping, if any, will be taken care of by SouthlandTvFans.com. Taxes and duties, if any, are the responsibility of the recipient. Only one prize per household (verifiable roommates excepted) allowed for the period of 12/15/2010 through 3/31/2011. Full contest rules will be posted with the first contest.

So while this might not be all that great of a surprise, once again we wish Michael and Shawn a great big Happy Birthday! With Season 3 just around the corner, a glorious wedding for Shawn just before Christmas and the worldwide success of Southland, 2010 has been an incredible year. We all join in together in wish both a wonderful birthday and all the best for an even better 2011!

And now for the fan contributions. If you didn’t get a chance to contribute earlier, please feel free to add your comments below using the comment feature!

Happy Birthday to Michael and Shawn. Another year gone by and you guys look great. Hope Santa was good to you, and you enjoyed your birthdays.

Michael G.

Happy Birthday Michael and Shawn. Thank you for all the hard work on the show. Hope you both have a wonderful birthday and an amazing year

Gina

Happy birthday Big Guy! Have a blessed new year of life.

BlueGrassBabe3

BlueGrassBabe3

Michael and Shawn, I hope you guys have a spectacular birthday!

Shots. Southland style. Cheers

Shelley

For Michael:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbXXCGzOwL0

Davina

Celia

For Shawn:

Davina

To Shawn:

You gave me a lot of happiness in this year. I think that I should return to you this happiness again. You might surely understand how large the happiness that you gave was if it does so. I saw a lot of work of you in this year. And, I was very deeply impressed. I am wishing that everyone keep seeing your wonderful performance.
Please pile up the fantastic experience as well as the situation to date. I am wishing that this new year becomes satisfactory life for you.
･･･and, I am very glad when you noticed that there is your big fan in Japan too.

Emiko

To Michael:

I am happy to know you. If I didn’t meet SouthLAnd, I might not have known you. It will be a minus for me. I want to meet you early in the television too of Japan.
I am wishing that this new year happy for you.

Thank you for reading my sentence that is weak in English.

Emiko

Karen

Happy Birthday, Shawn! Thanks for being such a great part of a great show.

Karen

Michael,

Here is a little something for your birthday. I hope you enjoy it!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcaE_SF-IEo

Cathy

Celia

Michael and Shawn,

Thank you so much for all that you do, both on and off camera. Without you, there would not be a Southland and all of us would not have found so many wonderful friends throughout the world! You have literally helped us make the world a little smaller and brought a whole bunch of people together who would never have met otherwise.

We wish you all the best for the coming year and look forward to seeing much more of you in Season 3 … and 4, and 5 and….

All the best,

Chris and Bob

Happy Birthday, Michael & Shawn! It was Michael’s twitter that changed me from a lurker to what I am today. Shawn, you are one of the actors I’ve been impressed with. Thank you so much for bringing me this wonderful world through Southland.

Hinako

While most of us, obviously, recognize Tommy from his regular appearances on SouthLAnd as Officer Dewey, many of us remember him fondly from his early appearances in in classic movies like The Outsiders (with Tom Cruise, Ralph Machio, Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe and others), Steven Spielberg’s E.T., Red Dawn, The Hitcher and Soul Man, with over 138 acting credits to his name (at last count) on IMDB.

Later in his career, Tommy has expanded beyond acting to behind the camera, including writing, directing and producing. Some of his hits include SciFi (or SyFy) Channel movies like H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds and The Day the Earth Stopped. He is, indeed, a man of many talents!

So please, join us in wishing Tommy a warm Happy Birthday, SouthLAnd Style!!!

Everyone is welcome to add your Birthday wishes by adding a comment here – if you don’t already have an account, no worries! Simply use your existing account on one of the 12 linked Social networking sites that we support to register with just a couple of clicks, 100% secure!