The gritty, documentary-style cop show “Southland” returns to TNT for its fourth season tonight at 10 p.m. for ten episodes.

It’s the lowest rated TNT show that survived last year’s reshuffling, which included the cancellations of “Men of a Certain Age,” HawthoRNe” and “Memphis Beat.”

“I call us the cardiac cops,” said actress Regina King in an interview last month. “We just keep going and going!”

This season’s newest cast member is Lucy Liu, who has certainly done her share of action films with “Kill Bill” and “Charlie’s Angels” but nothing quite this raw. She’ll be playing Jessica Tang, an officer newly paired with John Cooper (Michael Cudlitz), who just returned to the force after back surgery and a secret rehab for addiction to painkillers.

“I’m loving it,” Liu said in an interview last month. “You get to really see parts of Los Angeles you don’t normally see. We get to wander.”

Her character has a rather open secret that reveals itself tonight.

The formerly dark Cooper appears to have turned a new page. “He could not be happier being drug free and pain free,” Cudlitz said. “He actually laughs once in awhile.” And Lucy’s character brings out different aspects out of Cooper than Ben McKenzie’s rookie character Ben Sherman, who is now a full-fledged cop.

Cooper is also a gay cop. Or rather, “he is a cop who happens to be gay,” Cudlitz said. “He’s got a life but it’s just part of his life.” Cudlitz said he hasn’t gotten a lot of feedback from the gay communty, which is probably just as well. “We’re not ‘Glee,’ ” he said.  The show, he said, gets more feedback from real cops who appreciate the show’s verisimilitude.

Meanwhile, King’s character Lydia gets a new partner yet again, her fifth since the show began. Ruben Robinson (guest star Dorian Missick), a former Marine and detective-in-training, is a well-adjusted cop with a family and three kids. “He brings the lighter side out of Lydia,” she said.

She wasn’t too keen on Lydia “rolling in the hay” with her former partner Josie’s son last season. “But that was what was written,” King said. “I kind of told myself it was out character for Lydia but things like that happen sometimes.”

King said Lydia will undergo a major change this season that is related to her lack of social life.

On TV
“Southland,” 10 p.m. Tuesdays, TNT

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By Rodney Ho, Radio & TV Talk