Breaking news from TNT: “Southland” will be back for a third season. The “too gritty for network TV” cop drama’s fate was in question after its recent second season didn’t grab big ratings (only about 2.7 million viewers vs. about 8 million for TNT’s “Men of a Certain Age”).

“Southland,” if you remember, was dumped from NBC last year for being too dark, too expensive and too much of a 10 p.m. show when the only 10 p.m. show NBC was interested in was Jay Leno.

I thought the six-episode second season was good but not great (I’ve been too spoiled by “The Wire” and “The Shield”), but it’s a solid show that deserves a shot. The new run of 10 episodes should air next January.