TNT yesterday announced the renewal of "Dallas" for a third season.

That's good news for the Ewing clan, but this begs the question of two other original TNT series that have aired this year: "Southland" and "Monday Mornings."

The Atlanta-based network doesn't normally send out press releases when it cancels a series. Nonetheless, it will confirm if a series is officially dead. A spokeswoman has not confirmed either is gone for good. 

Not that this should give fans of either show much hope. "Monday Mornings," a medical drama based on a Sanjay Gupta novel, never gained traction in the ratings, drawing about 1.4 million viewers in a typical week, which is abysmal for TNT. While the show had its fans, there clearly weren't enough of them.

Ditto with cop drama "Southland," which just finished up a very strong fifth season from a viewer's standpoint. But again, there weren't enough of those viewers, with ratings down from season four. The series did hit a season high of 1.83 million viewers for its finale after the dramatic death of John Cooper's partner a week earlier.  Over ten episodes, its average overnight viewership was about 1.4 million, down from 1.8 million a year earlier (though its 18-49 ratings were higher than those of "Monday Mornings.")

Several stars of "Southland" have already been booked on pilots for next season, seldom a good sign for any show. If "Southland" gets picked up for a sixth season, they'd be contractually required to go back. Regina King, for instance, stars in an ABC comedy pilot "Divorce: A Love Story."

“Of course we want [Southland] to come back,” King recently told TVLine. “But there are just certain things that [make us think], ‘Are we?’ No one’s told us that we weren’t, but there are enough things that haven’t happened” – like promotional support — “to question, ‘Are we?’”