Happy New Year and New Decade, TNT Report readers! TNT is kicking off 2010 in fine style with a returning rookie series, the midseason premiere of an old favorite, the network debut of a broadcast-television import, and the syndication bow of one of TV’s best shows ever.

That’s right — I’m talking about Men of a Certain Age, Leverage, Southland, and Supernatural. Winter is getting hotter already, so continue reading to learn about all of the fantastic television fare you have to look forward to on TNT in January.

Boy, do I love TNT! The best network on basic cable has just landed the rights to air one of my favorite TV series ever, the chilling, sly, and often funny CW horror-fest Supernatural, which is currently in the middle of its fifth season. Make way for the Winchester brothers!

The news arrives courtesy of The Futon Critic, which reports in a December 13 exclusive that TNT “quietly” pursued and obtained the off-network rights to the fabulous show. I have no idea why the network didn’t want to make waves about such an awesome acquisition, but who cares now that it …read more

TNT’s lineup just keeps getting better and better, I tell ya. Today (November 6), the network announced its acquisition of yet another first-rate crime procedural, the hit CBS drama The Mentalist.

Currently in its sophomore season, the series stars popular Australian actor Simon Baker (pictured above) as the title character, a remarkably perceptive but fake psychic whose proper name is Patrick Jane.

There’s a bit more recent news on the Southland-to-TNT front. Apparently, the network and the cop drama’s production studio Warner Bros. are currently working out the last kinks in a deal.

According to The Los Angeles Times, the agreement will have TNT buying 13 episodes: the seven that comprised the first season, which aired in April and May 2009 on NBC, and an additional six episodes already filmed for the ill-fated second season that never made it to the small screen on the show’s original home network.

Former ER star and current mega movie star George Clooney has successfully shopped a drama pilot called Delta Blues to TNT through his production company Smokehouse Pictures. The actor is also set to serve as co-executive producer.

Yet another in a long entertaining line of crime dramas, Delta Blues tells the tale of a competent yet quirky cop who lives with his mom in Memphis, Tennessee. When he’s not busy fighting crime, the guy actually has a second job wowing crowds as an Elvis impersonator. Now that’s what I call quirky, and I can only imagine what kinds of crimes he …read more

In case you’ve been wondering, it seems the NBC exile Southland is inching closer and closer toward becoming a TNT series.

As recently reported, NBC stunned the television industry and fans on October 8 when it suddenly canceled the cop drama before it even had the chance to begin its second season, which was originally scheduled to premiere yesterday, October 23.

The Closer, Saving Grace, HawthoRNe, even syndicated Bones and Charmed. If you’re a woman or are partial to women, you’ve got to love TNT’s dedication to developing and airing TV series that prominently feature the gender.

And so it goes. According to recent reports, yet another show focused on a female crime-fighter is in the works at the network, this one tentatively called Rizzoli and based on a popular series of novels penned by Chinese-American medical doctor and New York Times best-selling author Tess Gerritsen.

Numerous television viewers were stunned when the news spread on October 8 that broadcast network NBC has canceled the sophomore cop drama Southland just a couple of weeks before its second season was scheduled to begin. Now rumor has it that the decidedly gloomy, California-set series may find a new home on basic cable’s TNT.

When the ax dropped at NBC last week, Southland’s cast and crew had already completed shooting six Season Two episodes. No wonder, then, that the people responsible for the show are reportedly working hard to find it somewhere else to air.

First Tuesdays, then Thursdays, and now this.
Don’t bother tuning in to TNT on Thursday nights at 8pm ET anymore to catch the latest fresh episode of the new original reality series Wedding Day. The network has once again moved the show to a different time slot, quietly and with no effort wasted on notifying viewers who happen to like the series.
As of now and until it’s moved yet again — although where it would go besides entirely off the air, I have no idea — Wedding Day will debut new episodes on Saturday mornings (yes, mornings!) at 9am ET (yes, …read more

And it’s chock full of Grrl TV!
MONDAYS | June 8
9pm ET: The Closer will remain on Mondays at 9pm during its upcoming fifth season, which begins with the premiere on June 8.
10pm ET: Season Two of the legal drama Raising the Bar, costarring Jane Kaczmarek (Malcolm in the Middle) and Gloria Reuben (ER), follows on Mondays at 10pm.