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When Baze (Kristoffer Polaha) tells his parents (guest stars Robin Thomas and Susan Hogan) about Lux, they insist on planning a dinner at which they can meet their granddaughter and Cate (Shiri Appleby). Cate reluctantly agrees to go to the dinner and is further annoyed when her overbearing mother (guest star Cynthia Stevenson) and neurotic sister (guest star Alex Breckenridge) show up unexpectedly.

You will see that the guy who plays Baze’s dad (Robin Thomas) is perfectly cast as the never-pleased father. Poor Baze.

Meanwhile, when Cate (Shiri Appleby) hears about a gang fight at Lux’s school, she immediately decides to have Lux transferred to her and Baze’s alma mater, Westmonte. But Lux isn’t going to be happy with that decision.

In the longrun, Lux does something so sweet in this episode that you won’t believe. It shows you how much she cares for her new parents, even though they don’t have everything figured out yet.

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One of those characters, gang detective Nate Moretta, played by Kevin Alejandro, will be taking center stage in the next couple of episodes as Nate’s personal life comes more to the forefront.

For Alejandro, the chance to play a LAPD cop has been exciting.

“I love the opportunity to jump into something that I didn’t know anything about — doing research for my character, doing ride-alongs with the LAPD and doing weapons training,” Alejandro said.

But it also has made him realize how dangerous the job of a cop can be – literally putting your life on the line everyday.

“You gain a new perspective about what these guys do for us, and they are outnumbered,” Alejandro said. "It gives you a window into a world that’s very real and scary, especially when we are out there shooting scenes in those areas."

Alejandro, 33, said that while shooting a late night shot with his character Nate’s gang detective partner Sammy (Shawn Hatosy, Alpha Dog), production had to be stopped because of a gang alteration nearby.

“That’s how real the situations you get into. That’s what is intriguing about using LA as a natural backdrop,” Alejandro said.

In the episode airing Tuesday, Feb. 2, "Sally in the Alley," Sammy and Nate will have their work cut out for them when an unidentified female is found dead in the middle of a Los Angeles alley, her body being used for target practice by gang members. While they are dealing with that, Nate’s tension mounts when his little sister Mercedes disappears, revealing a secret from Nate’s past that blindsides Sammy.

The Mercedes storyline definitely will change Nate’s current life for his family. I’ve already seen the episode when it originally aired on NBC, but I don’t want to reveal it for new fans of the show – but it’s juicy.

“A story unfolds with our characters starting in the next episode. You get to start figuring out who we are," Alejandro said.

Following the Feb. 2 "Sally in the Alley" episode, the following Southland episodes will air: "Two Gangs," "Westside" and Derailed." These episodes were part of the original episodes shown on NBC. A week or so before new episodes were supposed to start, NBC decided to drop the show — leaving Southland fans mystified. Thankfully, TNT picked up the series and began airing the original episodes in January as a new series, so new fans could start out from the beginning. Southland airs at 10 p.m. ET/PT on TNT on Tuesdays.

Starting March 2, TNT will air six all new episodes that haven’t aired, bringing a total of 13 episodes to TNT.

"The next episodes are very explosive, very true to the show we have created. Great things are happening. Now that we are on TNT they are letting us have a little more liberties with our imagery," Alejandro said.

Alejandro, who has played numerous roles on television over the years, is very happy with his role on Southland.

“I absolutely love being part of the show. It’s being run by a group of wonderful people and the amazing John Wells. The cast is extremely talented — they are a great bunch of people to be around. It’s a classy project and I’m proud to be a part of it," Alejandro said.

Alejandro hopes that the fans and TNT will agree, letting the show continue after the final six episodes air.

"So far it’s been great for us. The numbers are doing really well. We are at a good time slot. We have a lot of new audience members, which are helping us. Hopefully the viewers will let us go on for another season," Alejandro said.

Alejandro also is playing a new role on the popular HBO series True Blood, which will air this summer. Timing worked out perfectly for him, because he’s had a long break from Southland’s filming and True Blood is filming right now, freeing him for the role.

On True Blood, Alejandro will play a love interest for Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis) in season three. His character, Jesus, is an orderly who is caring for Lafayette’s mom (Alfre Woodward). If you watch True Blood, you know that Lafayette is totally hilarious, so this will be totally worth watching.

Alejandro’s TV roles are numerous, including stints on Shark, Ugly Betty, Drive, Sleeper Cell and Weeds, as well as one-episode appearances on several shows ranging from 24, Heroes and CSI: Miami, among others.

With the recent news of the cancellation of Ugly Betty on ABC, Alejandro said he still stays in touch with Ana Ortiz, who played Hilda Suarez.

Alejandro played Santos, a love interest for Hilda and the father of Justin Suarez. His character was killed in the first-season finale.

"I keep in touch with Ana. She’s wonderful and talented. And when you are talented, you know you are destined for great things. Sometimes things like this happen for a reason. And you never know, happiness and something better may be around the corner," Alejandro said about Ugly Betty’s cancellation.

Alejandro is a Texas native, born in San Antonio, moving to another small Texas town, Snyder, at age 8. He received a scholarship to study theater arts at the University of Texas in Austin, Texas. After two years in Austin, he set off to Hollywood where he began his professional career in acting.

Alejandro also was voted No. 7 in Entertainment Weekly’s "15 Smartest, Sexiest Crime-fighters of ‘09: the Men" on EW.com, in August 2009.

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Southland airs at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Tuesdays on TNT.

Images: TNT/Southland/Mitch Haaseth.

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Josh Schwartz

CBS has greenlit a Josh Schwartz half-hour comedy pilot, according to Hollywood Reporter. This Warner Bros. TV pilot from Schwartz and Matt Miller is called Hitched and focuses on a twentysomething newlywed couple who are still learning about each other, surrounded by family and friends.

Schwartz is the co-creator and executive producer of Chuck and Gossip Girl and former executive producer of one of my favorite shows, The O.C. Miller is a Chuck executive producer.

While I’m happy Schwartz is working on new projects, I hope he continues to work hard on Gossip Girl, which I love.

CBS also greenlit an untitled comedy pilot from writer Tadd Quill (Scrubs) about a widowed father who is raising a 12-year-old son while reentering the dating scene.

It will be interesting to see who will be cast for these pilots.

Image: INF

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