GUARDIANS OF ANGELES. 'SOUTHLAND' SEASON FOUR ARRIVES ON UK TV...

Law and order? It's just another day at the office for our dedicated police heroes of SOUTHLAND. Image: TNT.

New faces join the brave and the bold complimenting the Los Angeles Police Department team of SOUTHLAND, returning for it's new fourth season, ten episode run of powerful social/personal drama on the UK's MORE4 channel from tomorrow. The standout newcomer will surely be the lovely Lucy Liu, who, before joining the modern Holmes in ELEMENTARY, plays officer Jessica Tang, new partner to the volatile and opinionated older cop John Cooper (big bear-like Michael Cudlitz), now off his painkiller addiction, on the law and order beat, and early on proving a bit of a cold fish as their relationship starts off on rocky ground. Further mixing things up a bit in the long-term storytelling, stalwart and relatable heroine Detective Lydia Adams (Regina King) finally gets a new colleague she enjoys working with, ex-military man Ruben Robinson (Dorian Missick), whilst back to cop status ex-detective, Sammy Bryant (the always compelling Shawn Hatosy), trying to erase the spectre of his partner's death the season previously, goes out on the road with straight-as-a-die officer Ben Sherman (Benjamin McKenzie), in a street partnership that, amongst the gangs and day to day problems of the city's residents, starts encouragingly but may end up in tragedy...

John Cooper (Michael Cudlitz) and Jessica Tang (Lucy Liu) make an intriguing new pairing.

Behind the scenes: Southland season 4 Three New Partnerships - YouTube
Lucy Liu talks Officer Tang's 'Southland' past - YouTube

It's felt like forever since we last saw the show on UK television (Channel 4, why are you treating such a classy show so poorly!), and KOOL TV has missed its regular fix of such finely crafted US drama. Welcome back SOUTHLAND!

Check out our previous SOUTHLAND features here: KOOL TV: SOUTHLAND

OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE, FOR SHERLOCK HOLMES IT'S 'ELEMENTARY'!

Deductive duo Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu are on the case as the modern Holmes and Watson in ELEMENTARY. Image: CBS.

With no sign of a deer stalker or pipe to muse with, ELEMENTARY, Jonny Lee Miller's US take on the modern Sherlock Holmes, as previously given a fresh new spin of creative success in the UK courtesy of Benedict Cumberbatch's five parts brilliant, five parts nauseating portrayal of the Baker Street sleuth re-imagining, finally makes its anticipated debut on the UK's SKY LIVING HD from tonight.

As regular readers of the KOOL TV site will know, I'm strictly a classic Holmes kinda guy, but SHERLOCK was enjoyable enough, and ELEMENTARY, developed by Hollywood producing talent Rob Doherty (whose work includes STAR TREK; VOYAGER, as well as the quirky MEDIUM and TRU CALLING), looks similarly pleasing fare, albeit possessing the same kind of flashy, rapid and wonky storytelling visuals capable of sending viewers to the brink of insanity, a la many over the top CSI episodes! Away from Martin Freeman's meek but interesting performance as Watson, I think that the lovely Lucy Liu, playing Dr. Joan Watson, will prove to be the shows key asset, propping up Miller's relatively youthful performance, and providing a more spunky and seasoned incarnation of the Doctor (bearing tatoos no less!) than we've seen before. Intriguingly, Watson mark femme has an interesting character development to her bow, being a brilliant surgeon in exile after a previous patient death, and now acting as Holme's carer/companion as he's let loose within the streets of Manhattan to help the NYPD solve their most baffling cases. It's an intriguing change to the world of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's companion figure that will surely give this US version a noteworthy creative boost. I also look forward to seeing who will be the show's eventual Moriarty figure...

Trailer: Elementary Trailer Season 1 - YouTube

Early world on the opening episodes (involving a series of home invasion murders, a child abduction and the death of a Wall Street executive) confirm the aforementioned hectic pace, and a lively chemistry to the new TV pairing- big stared Miller giving a performance more lively and comparable to Downey Jr. than Cumberbatch- almost akin to the halcyon days of the bizarre investigated by Mulder and Scully from THE X-FILES, if not quite as compelling. Back here in Blighty, SHERLOCK's svengali Steven Moffatt, at work on what will be a long gestating third series of his own for the private investigator, need not have any worries that this long distance show will damage his own brand of "unique" storytelling, the overall Holmes franchise (oh, how I hate that word!) or the reputation of the Conan Doyle estate. Though whether ELEMENTARY will continue its adventures beyond it's premiere year on CBS is not yet known.