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NBC cancels 'Southland' before its premiere

NBC has canceled the well-regarded John Wells' cop drama "Southland."

No, the network hasn't started airing the show's second season yet. Why -- why do you ask?

Oh, that's right. Because axing a returning scripted drama right before its season debut is highly unusual.

It's sort of like shooting your racehorse in the starting gate.

The network has six produced episodes, which were originally scheduled to begin airing on Fridays starting Oct. 23. Instead NBC has shut down production on "Southland" and plans to keep "Dateline" in the slot.

Here's a Jay Leno-monologue-joke version of this story: "NBC's ratings aren't so hot. In fact -- and this is true -- this week the network canceled the show 'Southland' before it even came back on the air. Next thing you know they'll be canceling shows before writers can even think of them."

OK, so late-night jokes are tougher to write than they look.

And one could retort that having "Leno" at 10 pm is canceling shows before writers can think of them.

"I'm disappointed that NBC no longer has the time periods available to support the kind of critically-acclaimed series that was for so many years, a hallmark of their success," Wells told THR. "We remain extremely proud of 'Southland' and are actively looking for another home for the series."